Thank you for a great 2016 and best wishes for 2017.
 #Mura
Throughout 2017 we will be providing quality management and lean terminology questions and answers in between our blogs. Continuous process improvement includes a focus on the processes of the organization where non-value added activities are eliminated. Which of the following describes Mura in a waste analysis? A. Unevenness in work and demand flow. B. Has necessary but non value adding waste. C. Greater demand than capacity in any given time or overburdening the process. D. Has unnecessary, non-value adding waste. Answer: A – Continuous process improvement includes a focus on the processes of the organization where non-value added activities are eliminated. In a waste analysis designed to remove waste Mura is the unevenness in work and demand flow. Muri is having a greater demand than capacity in any given time or overburdening the process. Muda waste has two types, type 1 is the necessary but non value adding waste. Type 2 is unnecessary, non-value adding waste.  The Benefits of Six Sigma
Looking towards the New Year and creating strategies for developing quality? Have you thought of getting your Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Green Belt certification? Our certification courses are half price through January 15th. There is no better time to get started with new skills. Our courses are easy to understand and we help you through every step of the way with instructor interaction. Six Sigma can help your company improve, increase, or decrease any measurement which has a process involved whether human interaction is involved or not. Six Sigma helps you to develop improved customer loyalty, develop standards and expectations for quality, and help you measure customer service. Operationally Six Sigma can help with organization, time management, efficiency, and processing times. Culturally Six Sigma can help promote a culture of effective leadership, teamwork, and a highly motivated environment. There are key fundamental traits that Six Sigma can provide your company.
Kaizen Events Kaizen is a Japanese word which means “Change for the Good”. Kaizen involves making small changes and overcoming resistance to change. Kaizen eliminates waste by removing Non Value Adding Activities which result in improved standardized systems, efficiency, processes, quality, delivery, service and cost savings. Kaizen roots began in the 1930s. Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota, challenged his coworkers by saying “Open the window, it is a big world out there”. Kaizen can be used on any process, task, or function. It can be used for improvement for administrative tasks, maintenance, engineering, business, and logistics just to name a few. Kaizen eliminates waste by removing Non Value Adding Activities which result in improved standardized systems, efficiency, processes, quality, delivery, service and cost savings. Kaizen is considered to be the "building block" of all lean production methods. Its roots began in the 1930s. Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota, challenged his coworkers by saying “Open the window - it is a big world out there”. In the 1950’s Toyota implemented quality circles leading to the development of the Toyota Production System. The Toyota Production System is a system of continuous improvement in quality, technology, processes, company culture, productivity, safety and leadership. The continual small improvements (Kaizen) from these activities lead to substantial long term benefits as a whole to the organization. Kaizen uses the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle as a Lean operating model. It is based on the idea that you create a plan for change, do a trial of the change, check the outcomes or results, and then act upon the results to implement the change. Lean and Six Sigma are longer duration endeavors. Kaizen is more a continuous improvement mindset as opposed to a specific tool. Kaizen uses personal creativity and ingenuity to identify problems and then develop and implement ideas to solve the problems. The best method is whichever method is appropriate for the project. They all have specialized tools and none of them fit every job or process you are trying to improve. There are instances where Lean principles are most appropriate, others where Six Sigma is the best fit, and still more where Kaizen is the best application. Kaizen is an intensive burst of business process improvement.
   r2017 Strategic Course
Have You developed your strategic ventures for 2017. Don't wait until New Years Day start planning now through next week. You want to first evaluate your current performance levels by asking questions about the current state. Questions such as:
Systems Thinking“Systems Thinking” allows you to see how all of your processes and systems work together. Do you put thought into your overall processes and systems to find efficiencies and opportunities? Peter Senge the author of the Fifth Discipline has authored some of the most well know books in terms or best practice references for learning organizations. In his books there are five core disciplines used to advance learning organizations. They are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, and team learning. “Senge advocates the use of ‘systems maps’ – diagrams that show the key elements of systems and how they connect. However, people often have a problem ‘seeing’ systems, and it takes work to acquire the basic building blocks of systems theory, and to apply them to your organization. On the other hand, failure to understand system dynamics can lead us into ‘cycles of blaming and self-defense’”. Systems thinking is the cornerstone of the learning organization. Systems thinking is a way of thinking about, and a language for describing and understanding, the forces and interrelationships that the behavior of systems. This discipline helps us see how to change systems more effectively, and to act more in tune with the larger processes of the natural and economic world. Personal mastery is learning to expand our personal capacity to create the results we most desire and creating an organizational environment which encourages all its members to develop themselves toward the goals and the purpose they choose. “Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs” Mental models are reflecting upon, continually clarifying, and improving our internal pictures of the world, and seeing how they shape our actions and decisions. Shared vision is the building of a sense of commitment in a group, by developing shared images of the future we seek to create, and the principles and guiding practices by which we hope to get there. Team learning involves transforming conversational and collective thinking skills, so that groups of people can reliably develop intelligence and ability greater than the sum of individual member’s talents. The Five disciplines are adapted from (Senge) “He adds to this recognition that people are agents, able to act upon the structures and systems of which they are a part. All the disciplines are, in this way, ‘concerned with a shift of mind from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality, from reacting to the present to creating the future’ The leaders leading learning organizations must act as designers, stewards, and teachers of the learning organization. Senge says that leaders of the past need new direction and have typically been people who were deeply individualistic with a non-systemic missions. Where are you headed with your organization?  Meeting Standards and Expectations How do you know if you are meeting expectations of your customers? In order to tell if standards and expectations are met business performance measures must be developed which include the balanced scorecard, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the underlying financial impact of customer loyalty. Performance measures allow the organization to determine how well it is operating compared to strategic goals, benchmarks, and customer satisfaction. Building a consistent customer base has a synergistic effect of more utilization by the customer through additional purchases or new products, more purchases through word of mouth to new customers, and new sales as a result to innovation. Customer loyalty results in a known CTQ measure where the organization can more readily determine improvements. The balanced scorecard is used by many organizations to drive performance and accountability. The balanced scorecard focuses the organization on what was typically only financial measures. The balanced scorecard helps translate organizational strategy into action. Using the Balanced scorecard the organization develops performance measures in each of the four categories:
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are measures used to track the performance of the organization to a high level strategic goal. Key performance indicators plays a role in the selection of Six Sigma projects. Two important KPI’s are “net present value” and “return on investment”. Financial measures help determine revenue growth, market share, margin, and the cost of quality (COQ) The cost of quality (COQ) are those costs associated with providing quality products or services. Cost of Poor Quality is the sum of internal and external failures. There are four categories of quality cost. These are the appraisal, detection, internal failure, and external failure. The internal failure costs are costs associated with defects found before the customer receives the product or service. Internal failure costs are costs that are caused by products or services not conforming to requirements or customer needs. The external failure costs are costs associated with defects found after the customer receives the product or service. External failure costs are costs that are caused by deficiencies found after delivery of products and services to customers. Appraisal costs are costs incurred to determine the degree of conformance to quality requirements. Appraisal costs are associated with finding defects. Prevention costs are costs incurred to keep failure and appraisal costs to a minimum. The Cost of Poor Quality is the sum of internal and external failures. What are your quality costs? What are you doing to manage them?   Happy holidays start the new year off right with our collection of quick reference sheets. We'll even build the sheets of your choice for personal improvement, business improvement and more. You choose the topics, we'll develop a list of quick reference ideas and best practices.
https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p34/Quick_Reference_Sheet_Collection.html The Best Customer Service We all strive to provide the best products and services available to our customers within the constraints of our company. The factors that go into providing these products and services are many. If we manage the constraints through proper planning and active engagement to produce the optimal Six Sigma based results we are able to develop energy to promote our businesses to the next level and ensure our viability for the future. When you are preparing for the optimal customer experience you need to ask yourself these questions: What keeps you awake at night? Where are your highest costs? Where are your highest and lowest rates of customer and employee satisfaction? Which areas do you have the most delay and bottlenecks in? What problems do employees bring to your attention? Which areas would you like to improve your quality? Which part of a process bothers you the most? Which departments most frequently request more resources? If you are awake at night, costs are high, and quality is low, Six Sigma is the solution. Six Sigma allows you to provide the value actually desired by customers. It allows you to provide world class products and services in a manner that is the most cost effective, efficient, and valued. Six Sigma implementation will help you and your company. Using the Six Sigma DMAIC companies have a statistical problem solving methodology system using data driven techniques to instill change management values and build a culture of continuous improvement. As you have seen Six Sigma can improve all levels and aspects of a business. No matter the size, type, or number of problems, there are Six Sigma tools to make an improvement. Six Sigma is able to reduce defects, prevent rework, and eliminate waste in all processes. Six Sigma helps to execute strategic change, accelerates the rate of improvement, generates the framework for sustained success, and improves customer value. We hope this Introduction serves you well and sparks the need for improvement innovation within your company or business. Remember you can start small with little investment and will soon realize great rewards!  Quality Management Systems  The International Standards Organization (ISO) provides many of the standards related to Six Sigma specifically for the management of quality systems. Six Sigma provides the tools, quality management systems provide the process and documentation. Six Sigma and the ISO standards complement each other and work in tandem. The nice thing about ISO standards as they provide some guidance in the absence of solid thoughts on performance measures.
These are the keys standards under the ISO 9000 quality management standard series to provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements, and that quality is consistently improved.
Want to know more about Quality Management Systems and receive a certificate for training in Quality Management Systems? Only $19.50 for our normally priced $49 course. https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p8/Quality_Management_Systems.html |
AuthorRobert Kent Six Sigma Black Belt and improvement professional Archives
February 2021
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