Blog Archives - The Institute for Strategic Improvement

Quality Management

2/28/2017

Quality Management Systems

Always wanted to know about Quality Management and Quality Certification pursuit? Here's your opportunity to learn the fundamentals on really running a quality business.

You receive two training PowerPoints over 170 slides on quality management history, PDSA, and Quality Management Systems including ISO certification. The course includes a sample ISO certification checklist and Certificate of Educational Experience.

Provides the necessary understanding of Quality Management Systems for industry certifications including International Standards (ISO) certification pursuit. ISO 9001

Course Requirements:
25 question test passing score of 70.
3 to 5 page whitepaper of the use of Quality Management Systems and how you may use them in your organization or your industry focus to improve specific quality concerns.
Cost: $38.00

Contact us here https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/contact-us.html before March 4th and request a half price cost of only $19.00

What's the next step?

2/26/2017

Thinking of your next steps for improvement this year? Try our Blue Ocean Strategies Course for only $39.00
This course teaches you the relevance and importance of the concept of blue oceans as a business strategy. Whether you work for a company or at your own business you can use these strategies to improve your position or stature in the marketplace.

Blue ocean strategies are credited to two authors Professor Chan Kim and Professor Renee Mauborgne. They authored “Blue Ocean Strategy”.

Learn about Blue and Red oceans
Learn about concepts behind Blue Ocean Strategy development
Learn about open innovation and how to create your own net.
Formulate ideas on how you might be able to apply these ideas to your own workplace or business
Learn the Six Principles of Blue Ocean Strategy:
- Reconstruct market boundaries
- Focus on the big picture, not the numbers
- Reach beyond existing demand
- Get the strategic sequence right
- Overcome key organizational hurtles
- Build execution into strategy

Learn how to Eliminate, Raise, Reduce, and Create within your company using our templates for ERRC and the strategy canvas.

You get the course PowerPoint, ERRC template, and the strategy canvas template.

Course completion requires a 25 question test and 1 to 2 page white paper. Once complete you receive a course certificate suitable for framing. Show your expertise to colleagues!

Try our Blue Ocean Strategies Course for only $39.00

5S

2/23/2017

A coworker was discussing Lean White belt and Yellow Belt tools the other day. We were discussing the ease at which 5S can be used in any workplace or environment.

The 5S method is a tool to control outcomes and make improvements to keep track of the changes implemented.

5S stands for sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain.

It can be used for any process or service.

Sorting is just as it states, organizing and separating what you need and don’t need.
Straighten means to straighten up and arrange items you need for your process or service so they are easily identified.
Shine means to clean up your area and set it up where you can keep it clean.
Standardize means to organize the first three s’s so everything has a place.
Sustain means to keep it going in all of your areas.

The 5 S method improves safety and communication, improves process flow, increases compliance, reduces space requirements, boosts morale, removes non value added steps, and reduces wasted time looking for items.

Want to know more?
Our 5S quick sheet is available for only $1.49 here:
Https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p30/5S_Lean_Management_Tool_1_page_Quick_Reference_Sheet_.html

Our 5S course is available here for only $29 and comes with a certificate of training:
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Turn this into This

The Benefits of Six Sigma Deployment and Good Strategies

2/19/2017

The Benefits of Six Sigma Deployment and Good Strategies
Deploying Six Sigma as a business strategy through Six Sigma tools usage and projects is an effective way to realize the benefits of Six Sigma deployment. Six Sigma projects offer better bottom-line results and they allow for better feedback and increased communication for process strategies and critical business processes. To properly create the infrastructure all projects should be used to meet the company’s business strategy and use Six Sigma as a plan and map to effectively meet those goals.

Organizations fail at Six Sigma implementation because they are missing the proper infrastructure. The infrastructure can be a number of things employees, strategy, metrics, or technology. Companies should focus on deployment, execution, and results. Meaning, they should focus on the actual work of Six Sigma not just training employees. Many companies train and fail to deploy and execute. The leadership of your company is responsible to provide the structure, direction, vision, and organizational culture for Six Sigma success. Combining the vision in conjunction with the deployment and execution provides your company the competitive edge for the business economy of today. Businesses and companies have always had challenges. Six Sigma will help you meet the new challenges which evolve highly around technology improvements and new innovation.

Having looked at the Six Sigma infrastructure and implementation remember, now is the time. There is no better time than the present to implement Six Sigma and companies often find many reasons to prolong beginning improvement initiatives. Leadership is key to influencing the change and mentoring the culture. Company leaders have to be willing to do themselves what they’re asking employees to do. This involves direct engagement in their activities. The core competency to sustain Six Sigma improvement is seen through experience and growth over time.

This chart shows the key strategies, deployment components, execution principles and the Six Sigma results of their implementation.

Just in time

2/16/2017

Todays lean blog discusses just in time environments and how their quality improvement culture functions.

Building a quality improvement culture is very important within the just-in-time framework. The just-in-time framework is based on collaborative efforts from management and employees to continuously improve.

The leadership of the organization must be committed to the success of just-in-time implementation and the sustainability of a culture of quality.

The process side of quality improvement requires the right infrastructure, processes, and systems, for effective quality and the human side requires the development of a culture, proper training, employee support, and transparency.

In the just-in-time environment quality improvement infrastructure include quality improvement plans, performance management systems, and quality improvement committees. Collectively through the performance management council, quality improvement plan, and the performance management system, companies are able to focus on the customer, employee empowerment, teamwork, and culture of continuous process improvement.

Check out this structure for quality in just in time.

Happy Valentines Day

2/13/2017

5S improvements

2/12/2017

Improvements

The 5S method is a tool to control outcomes and make improvements to keep you on track for the changes you have implemented. It basically stands for sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain. You can use it for any process or service. Sorting is just as it states, organizing and separating what you need and don’t need. Straighten means to straighten up and arrange items you need for your process or service so they are easily identified. Shine means to clean up your area and set it up where you can keep it clean. Standardize means to organize the first three s’s so everything has a place. Sustain means to keep it going in all of your areas. The 5 S method improves safety and communication, improves process flow, increases compliance, reduces space requirements, boosts morale, removes non value added steps, and reduces wasted time looking for items.

5S means the workplace is clean there is a place for everything and everything is in its place.

5S helps you by eliminating the unnecessary, establishing a place for what remains, and cleaning up remaining equipment, tools, and storage devices. This helps reduce clutter and needed items are readily found. Use visual cues and visual management. These are signs, labels, stickers, and cards marking where things go. The steps are listed below.

Sort—Eliminate whatever is not needed
Straighten—Organize whatever remains
Shine—Clean the work area
Standardize—Schedule regular cleaning and maintenance
Sustain—Make 5S a way of life

Wand to learn more and receive a certificate in training for only $29.00? visit us at
https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p50/5s_Course.html

Supplier assessment

2/9/2017

Lean question of the day
Supplier assessment and feedback allows the organization to determine supplier performance in terms of quality and service. Which form of cost management is a quality related term that encompasses the physical aspects of a product, its desired performance, and its appropriateness of application?

Improved form, fit, and function.
Improved quality and use.
Administrative savings and heightened quality.
Easier use and improved capability.

Answer: A – Improved form, fit, and function is a form of cost management term that encompasses the physical aspects of a product, its desired performance, and its appropriateness of application. The remaining answers do not define forms of cost management; improved quality and use, easier use and improved capability, and administrative savings and heightened quality.

Six Sigma and Efficiency, Productivity, and Costs

2/5/2017

Six Sigma and Efficiency, Productivity, and Costs

Efficiency, productivity, and costs generally top the list of desires of leadership to improve upon implementation of Six Sigma to improve quality. Productivity may prove difficult to manage for extremely large companies with locations in remote regions or within different cultures. Six Sigma helps them to determine the root causes of low productivity which may lie in insufficient training or inadequate processes. Six Sigma helps to reduce costs by preventing development of defective products and by reducing reworking defective products. Rework is the major contributor to cost overruns. Six Sigma has significant impact in manufacturing and business environments to identify waste an untapped creativity. This is typically in the form of a reduction in eliminating excessive work processes, overproduction, and replacement of systems which cannot meet the requirements. Six Sigma can also be used to improve the quality of employee satisfaction by elimination of frustrating processes, rework, and lost efficiency.

Finally, one of the most important quality aspects that Six Sigma can provide a company, is to increase their competitive edge. This competitive edge comes in the refinement of processes a reduction in variables to provide the customer their needs. Six Sigma provides the standardization needed to enhance performance and improve consistency for customer satisfaction.

Lean question of the day

2/1/2017

Here's your lean challenge for today

Which of the following is the reason for standardization of a process?

A. Without standardization there is no benchmark for improvement.
B. Without standardization cost per unit varies.\
C. Without standardization production time varies.
D. Without standardization each employee works at their own speed.

Answer: A – The reason for standardization of a process is because without standardization there is no benchmark for improvement. Taiichi Ohno stated “without standardization there could be no improvement”.