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Showing posts from 2014

Trained With An Expectation of Project Work

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In November, we added 26 newly trained green belts to the program. All students entered the training with the expectation that they would follow through and complete two green belt projects to complete green belt certification. In theory, that should mean that 52 green belt projects will flow out of this one green belt class. In reality, only about 40 percent of the students (10 of the 26, in this case) historically follow through to complete projects. Some of the reason for the project deficit are (1) the rotational nature of our workforce (i.e., green belts move on to new assignments before completing projects), (2) our "bottom up" deployment strategy that relies on green belts to generate project areas, and (3) our strategy of conducting projects with collateral duty green belts (i.e., project work is voluntary extra duty).

MAES Workshop at the 40th Annual Symposium

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I recently presented an overview of Lean Six Sigma to a group of engineering professionals and students at the 40th Annual MAES Symposium in San Diego. Our Creative shop put together a nice posterboard to put on the eisel outside the event. The idea was to promote attendance at the event by the symposium attendees.

When to Take Credit for Improvements?

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From August of 2012 through August of 2014, we initiated 50 projects in our relatively modest Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) program. Some of those projects resulted in significant improvements and big financial savings. Some resulted in marginal improvements. And a few had no impact, were never completed, or were cancelled. However, every single one of the 50 projects had collateral benefits and training value to the organization. By collateral benefits, I mean three types of improvements that are not typically attributed to a CPI program. 1. The first type of improvements are undocumented changes that result from focus on a problem. Whenever I initiate a project and start asking questions about data availability, the process changes for the better. It happens every time. Scrutiny of a process leads to undocumented process improvements. 2. The second type of improvements are documented changes that are not called CPI. These improvements would not have happened if the C

What's In A Record?: Improved Statapult Performance

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We had a stellar Green Belt class last week. We set a new world record for accurate ping pong balls shot with a catapult in 5 minutes. Team Cinco Amigos (pictured here) hit 210 of 233 shots, breaking the old record of 198 hits. However, the overall profit title went to Team Bombs-R-Us, and the overall yield title went to Team Acme Missiles with 98.4 percent accuracy (3.7 Sigma quality). Team Dead Eye was a honorable mention for also breaking the old world record with 201 of 212 shots. Everyone got A's for the day. Although Cinco Amigos produced the most hits, they also produced 10% waste and finished behind some of the other teams in other performance areas. The cross-team comparison made me rethink how I emphasize the various instructional points in the curriculum. Because I used the idea of breaking the old world record to introduce the concept of process entitlement, I think I may have encouraged the teams to focus exclusively on productivity measures to the exclusion of qual

Lean Six Sigma Is A Knowledge Management Technique

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Building Organizational Intelligence by Jay Liebowitz My rating: 2 of 5 stars View all my reviews "Knowledge management (KM) is the process of creating value from an organization's intangible assets" - Jay Liebowitz "Knowledge is information with a process applied to it" - Jay Liebowitz "Many organizations are drowning in information and starving for knowledge" - Jay Liebowitz I never thought of lean six sigma as a knowledge management technique until know. After reading Liebowitz's introductory chapters, I have a little insight into the overlap and connections between the allied disciplines. I didn't really enjoy the book -- I thought it was light on useful content -- but it definitely made me think.

How to Measure Organizational Learning

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One of my tasks at work recently was to measure organizational learning. "How would I know if my organization is a learning organization," I wondered? Training activity seemed to be the most common answer. The logic is easy to refute when simply stated: If we offer a lot of training opportunities and a lot of people attend, then we must be a learning organization. The evidence of individual learning is a change in behavior, or at least a change in the behavioral options available. But how does that translate to the organizational level? With just a little bit of background reading (thank you Peter Senge), I came up with a tentative checklist. It still needs some refinement, but here it is: 1. Does the organization have a shared vision; does everyone know what it is and how their actions support it? 2. Is personal mastery expected; are learning and growth required of individuals in the organization? 3. Does the organization utilized team-based approaches to learn

Keeping Backyard Chickens

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My chicken journey started in 2013. I was experimenting with gardening, and learned from a library book that chicken manure is prized as a fertilizer. As I investigated further, I learned more about the conditions in which chickens are raised on industrial farms and was very surprised. Partly in protest, partly for the fertilizer, partly in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to try raising a small flock. The reasons people raise chickens at home are varied, and the trend is growing. No one tracks chicken ownership statistics, but my own experience suggests that the trend is exponential. When I bought my first set of chicks, no one I knew in my suburban community was raising backyard chickens. Twelve months later, five families in our immediate area have started small flocks. Before joining the trend, prospective chicken owners should consider the following points: .. Check Local Ordinances and Rules Read the whole article: http://voices.yahoo.com/keeping-backyard-chick

A Value-Added Approach to Meetings

Be honest: have you ever taken 1-second naps at a meeting? What if the room is hot, the meeting is after lunch, the topic is boring, and the speaker has the charisma of a rock? Have you ever drawn doodles at a meeting? Daydreamed? Checked your messages? Do you think it is rude to act bored at a meeting? It isn't. It is rude to have bad meetings. If my meetings are bad, I am at fault. If your meetings are bad, then it is your fault. Most meetings are "BAD" for two reasons: (1) Nobody wants to be there, and (2) Nothing gets done. Part of the problem is that many meetings are simply not necessary. There is only one reason to ever call a meeting; meetings are to develop shared understanding. If you need shared understanding, call a meeting. Otherwise, don't. If you must have a meeting, then you owe it to the attendees to plan for success. The first rule of successful meetings is: Rule #1. Only call a meeting if you plan to keep minutes. Read more: http://voices

Key Performance Indicators in a Nutshell

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KPI Definition Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) are measured evidence that desired business results are being achieved. KPI's are feedback about how the business is performing. KPI's are essentially metrics linked in a meaningful way to an important business objective. These are the "critical few" measures that you need to know to get the job done. Goals define the end results we hope to achieve, and KPI's define the measurements used to monitor progress toward goal attainment. As a general rule, if you will not make business decisions based on a measure, then that measure is not a KPI. Purpose of KPI's When structured to reflect business strategy, KPI's provide business owners with answers to important business questions, help managers understand how their organizations are performing in relation to their strategic goals, and provide an indicator to determine whether performance is on track. The term KPI tends to be misunderstood and