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Featured Articles
Do This One Thing Before You Implement 5S ….
Many continuous improvement journies are stereotypically launched with 5S as a quick way to ….
What Drives Competitive Advantage?
How would you describe the most important driver for the success of an organization today?
First Step in Data Analytics
Data and prediction analytics projects never start out with the goal of building a prediction model. Instead, they are focused on ….
Lean Six Sigma Project Scope for Beginners
In Lean Six Sigma and similar initiatives, scoping out the right amount of change can and often is challenging at first. My favorite approach is to carve out change using the following three lenses.
3 Steps Leader Standard Work Improves Retention
Leader standard work refers to routine activities that represent the current or target best practices for leaders in managing planning and controlling organizational work processes whether in manufacturing or in cross functional value streams.
RPA Decision Tree
As you may have already experienced, process automation and machine intelligence is taking off exponentially across all industries. Just like day trading the stock market, one has to be careful where to play and how to play.
The Gemba Chronicles
Once upon a time, one of my distinguished colleagues sent a note out to the team inquiring if there were any GEMBA templates or checklists for capturing or documenting a GEMBA visit.
Hypothesis Testing Decision Guide
The purpose of this article is not to teach hypothesis testing, alpha risk, etc. It's a simple hack to help practitioners wrestle through the mechanics of hypothesis testing and to develop some muscle memory through a simple graphical routine.
Effective Process Measures
Organizational process measures or metrics can become a proxy for leadership if the measures are well thought out and have a goal in mind. How might we leverage that expression to drive organizational behavior?
Getting Hosed by Lean?
A couple of weeks ago I taught a two-day introduction to Lean Six Sigma at one of our hubs. It brought me back to the confusion participants experience when they entertain the topic of process lead time versus process throughput.
6 Sanity Checks for Root Cause
Is getting to root cause "cramping" your style? You're not alone. Determining root causes to poor performing products or processes can be challenging at best. In most cases it’s not the tools that pull people into the proverbial rabbit hole.
3 Mandatory Flipcharts
In my current role, I attend a lot of meetings (both virtual and in person) and most of you do as well. Keeping meetings on task and productive can be a challenge. Here are my favorite flip-charts to keeping meetings on task.
Decoding Gage R&R Output
Removing measurement system error from total observed error can be what I call a “quick win”. Who couldn’t use a quick win these days? If you look at a process distribution, we ask ourselves, what percent of this variation is assigned to measurement system variation?
Brainstorming Tip
Whether you're exercising a fishbone analysis or just brainstorming pain points for later root cause analysis, one tip that helps to clarify ideas and "keeping it real" is to write (2) things on a 3x5 post-it.
10 Things All Leaders Should Know
Whether you're involved in continuous improvement, operational excellence, innovation or lean six sigma, don't forget to capture the voice of the most important stakeholder in the organization - your employees.
Is Your Process at Best or at Rest?
The purpose of this article is to provide readers with some insight to the shape of two common process distributions and to quickly understand whether their target process is currently at "Best" (close to entitlement) or at "Rest" (much room for improvement). This is especially important for operational leaders.
The Four Agreements
Ground rules for meetings or events can get laissez-faire at times. Some common ground rules such as "one conversation at a time" or "laptops closed" may only scratch the surface. Let's spice this list up with some creativity, shall we?!
Data Collection Blind Spots
In a previous article, “Are You Ready for AI?”, I posed the question if organizations were ready for Artificial Intelligence or Data Analytics based on how they would sequence the 5 Post-Its in figure 1 below.
Data: The Chicken or The Egg?
If you can pass this five Post-It quiz 100%, then you “may be ready” for Lean Six Sigma or Process Analytics. Most people I’ve taught and coached in the Lean Six Sigma and Data Science world do not pass this 100%.
What is Rational Sampling?
In my years in operations and consulting, I've seen varying successes in the implementation of statistical process control topics. The Shewhart Chart or more commonly referred to "Process Control Chart" is a particular challenge.