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Featured Articles
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.
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?
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: 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.