The Sixth Sigma

A foundation of discipline, based on Six Sigma or lean, is a good place to build from.  However, an enterprise needs the agility to respond to non-standard or non-traditional business events.  Don’t try to force everything through the company’s default methodology.  …

…   “The most important corporate initiatives are often non-routine. These include projects to integrate company mergers, fill market gaps that fall between current business units … “   …

via FT.com: Great execution.

Tangible benefits are realized using LSS at Polyone.  …

…   “Newlin credited the program with improving PolyOne’s cost fulfillment and reducing the firm’s inventory and waste, Financially, Lean Six Sigma also allowed PolyOne to reduce its working capital by $129 million during 2009. “   …

via Plastics News: Six Sigma and PolyOne.

Cardinal Health deploys Six Sigma expertise to manage supply constraints for customers. …

… “In response to the supply shortage, the nuclear team engaged several of our own Six Sigma operational excellence black belts to maximize the available product through just-in-time delivery, working closely with our customers to adjust patient schedules and calibrate delivery times, to help meet the needs of the most critical patients first. ” …

via Seeking Alpha: Cardinal Health Q3 2010 Earnings Call.

Six Sigma manages Cardinal Health supply challenge

Bell Helicopter opens supply center in Canada that incorporates design features based on Six Sigma principles. …

… “The layout of the new facility, combined with the incorporation of Six Sigma into our processes, has greatly improved our efficiency, and reduced the amount of floor space within which we function. ” …

Via Vertical Magazine: Calgary Supply Center

Milliken & Company forms a dedicated business group to provide Performance Improvement Services to the manufacturing sector. The new group is called Milliken Performance Solutions and will serve customers from the company’s Spartanburg, South Carolina headquarters. Milliken is one of the largest privately-held textile and chemical manufacturers in the world. …

… “The formation of Milliken Performance Solutions will expand these services to support companies outside of Milliken’s traditional base and will report to Craig Long, Vice President of Six Sigma and Quality. The Milliken Performance System is a daily management system that provides a systematic, step by step method of running any operation more effectively and efficiently. The system is in place at over 60 plants worldwide and can support both discrete and continuous process manufacturing plants. The system overcomes the limitations of conventional Lean Six Sigma programs by providing a more comprehensive approach that leads to dramatic breakthroughs in cost reduction, higher morale, increased customer satisfaction, and a cleaner safer environment. ” …

Via Milliken & Company: New Business Line Provides Performance Improvement Services

EMC uses Six Sigma methodology to drive availability improvements in its products to five-9s performance levels. …

… “Traditionally, only high-end storage systems designed for the most mission-critical applications have delivered Five 9s availability. EMC designed an entirely new midrange architecture – UltraScale – to deliver the highest levels of availability in affordable, scalable and easy-to-use systems that meet a wide range of storage needs. Over the past year, EMC utilized a comprehensive Six Sigma-based approach to track and calculate availability metrics of both the Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel/iSCSI versions of the EMC CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale systems, including a thorough analysis of the root cause of unplanned customer system downtime whether hardware, software or process-related. ” …

Via EMC: EMC Clariion CX3 Ultrascale Systems Achieve Highest Midrange Storage Availability and Quality Benchmark

Information technology is not leading Six Sigma business process improvement in financial services. …

… “majority of global financial services companies are using some form (or combination) of modern process improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma or Process Management. ” …

Via Bank Systems and Technology: Bank Process Improvement

It is expected that Six Sigma will integrate with ITIL in the continuous improvement of IT services. …

… “Hydrasight foresees that the majority of enterprises will continue to mix aspects of ITIL with other process disciplines (e.g., COBIT, Six Sigma, SDLC, ASL, and internally-developed procedures). ” …

Via IT-Director: ITIL Six Sigma Convergence

Cummins is an exemplar in the application of Six Sigma to all business process and has integrated the methodology into its culture. …

… “The diesel-engine maker estimates it has completed 2,500 Six Sigma projects since 2000, saving or avoiding more than $1.4 billion in costs. ” …

Via Indianapolis Star: Six Sigma Success Story

Minitab is recognized by Frost and Sullivan with its Award for Customer Value Leadership of the Year in the quality compliance, manufacturing productivity and statistical process control market. …

… “Using the Minitab packages, customers have been able to achieve a greater degree of standardization in their quality improvement projects, which in turn has made these projects easy to supervise and manage. This has minimized the amount of resources required to complete individual projects and saved companies time and money at the overall project level. In addition to reducing costs, Minitab software has enabled project leaders to easily access more information at various crucial stages of a project, allowing them to make more informed decisions. Minitab’s wide set of customer services and allied support activities are other competitive advantages that differentiate it from other participants. The company boasts of a strong technical support suite that provides free assistance to its users and helps identify customers’ most recent requirements, thereby obtaining their confidence. Minitab‘s recently released Minitab(R) 15 Statistical Software includes very useful enhancements, such as probability distribution plots, broader Gage R&R capabilities, the ability to attach formulas to columns in the worksheet and the latest reliability methods for forecasting future warranty claims. ” …

Via Frost & Sullivan: Frost & Sullivan Extols Minitab Inc. for Its Ability in Assisting Customers to Make Optimum Utilization of their Resources

Minitab is recognized by Frost and Sullivan with its Award for Customer Value Leadership of the Year in the quality compliance, manufacturing productivity and statistical process control market. …

… “Using the Minitab packages, customers have been able to achieve a greater degree of standardization in their quality improvement projects, which in turn has made these projects easy to supervise and manage. This has minimized the amount of resources required to complete individual projects and saved companies time and money at the overall project level. In addition to reducing costs, Minitab software has enabled project leaders to easily access more information at various crucial stages of a project, allowing them to make more informed decisions. Minitab’s wide set of customer services and allied support activities are other competitive advantages that differentiate it from other participants. The company boasts of a strong technical support suite that provides free assistance to its users and helps identify customers’ most recent requirements, thereby obtaining their confidence. Minitab‘s recently released Minitab(R) 15 Statistical Software includes very useful enhancements, such as probability distribution plots, broader Gage R&R capabilities, the ability to attach formulas to columns in the worksheet and the latest reliability methods for forecasting future warranty claims. ” …

Via Frost & Sullivan: Frost & Sullivan Extols Minitab Inc. for Its Ability in Assisting Customers to Make Optimum Utilization of their Resources

Bearing Point will assist military in their improvement program, which builds on Lean Six Sigma methods. …

… “The Air Force’s Smart Ops program charter incorporates both Lean and Six Sigma business process improvement tools. ” …

Air Force Work Process Improvement

Bearing Point will assist military in their improvement program, which builds on Lean Six Sigma methods. …

… “The Air Force’s Smart Ops program charter incorporates both Lean and Six Sigma business process improvement tools. ” …

Air Force Work Process Improvement

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation reports first quarter net loss and affirms commitment to operational efficiency through Lean Six Sigma. …

… “Rick Frost, CEO: I do not see this market improving substantially for the rest of 2007, Frost continued. We will remain persistent in completing our strategic capital projects, working to increase market share with our most important customers, and implementing cost and process improvements through our Lean Six Sigma efforts. ” …

Via Louisiana-Pacific Corporation: First Quarter 2007 Results

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation reports first quarter net loss and affirms commitment to operational efficiency through Lean Six Sigma. …

… “Rick Frost, CEO: I do not see this market improving substantially for the rest of 2007, Frost continued. We will remain persistent in completing our strategic capital projects, working to increase market share with our most important customers, and implementing cost and process improvements through our Lean Six Sigma efforts. ” …

Via Louisiana-Pacific Corporation: First Quarter 2007 Results