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PAST EVENT: 2nd Annual Global Six Sigma Summit & Industry Awards
Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV, USA (Summit: October 23-26, 2007. Workshops: October 23 and 26, 2007) |
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| October 2007 |
CenterBeam CEO to Participate in WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit & Awards
Kevin Francis Joins Industry Leaders as Part of the Exclusive CEO Benchmarking Forum
SAN JOSE, CA - October 16, 2007
CenterBeam President and CEO, Kevin Francis, will be a member of an exclusive panel of top executives participating in the upcoming Six Sigma CEO Benchmarking Forum. This prestigious event is part of the Worldwide Conventions and Business Forum’s (WCBF) Global Six Sigma Summit & Industry Awards taking place on October 24, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CenterBeam is an industry pioneer and leader in the fast growing field of managed IT services, and has invested in the principles of Six Sigma to deliver quality throughout its organization.
The WCBF Global Six Sigma Summit brings together thought leaders from a cross-section of industries who are recognized for their achievements, innovations and dedication to quality and quality processes. During the 90-minute benchmarking session, the panel will discuss various attributes of Six Sigma and their ramifications for businesses of all sizes.
“Having been invited to participate in such a prestigious event is very gratifying,” says Francis. “It shows that in addition to our customers, CenterBeam’s efforts are being acknowledged by those who care deeply about quality.”
Juliet Simmonds, WCBF Summit Director, says, “We are very happy to have Kevin Francis as part of the Benchmarking Forum. There is no question that his perspectives on making quality a truly meaningful imperative for the entire enterprise will be a valuable addition to those of our other panelists.” Joining Francis on the panel are David Jones, CEO of Stanadyne Corporation, Tim Solso, CEO of Cummins, Fred Strader, President and CEO of AAI Corporation amongst others.
Francis has been instrumental in implementing a total quality process throughout the company. CenterBeam’s Total Satisfaction Guarantee has institutionalized excellence as a daily priority and consistently increased customer satisfaction from 95 in 2005 to 100 for 2007 year-to-date. Statistics like these distinguish CenterBeam as the clear industry leader when it comes to customer satisfaction.
In addition to his CenterBeam responsibilities, Francis is a member of the Board of Directors of Softchoice Corporation, a member of the CEO Council for the Entrepreneurs’ Foundation and has served as Director of the National Quality Institute and the Public Policy Forum. Francis also held numerous leadership positions with Xerox Canada (a corporation committed to quality and customer satisfaction) including chairman, president and CEO. In 2005 he was recognized as “Industry Leader of the Year” and received New Brunswick, Canada’s Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement (KIRA) Award.
About CenterBeam, Inc.
CenterBeam, Inc. is an award-winning North American-based IT outsourced services company that delivers more than 140,000 daily services in a SaaS architecture for mid-sized clients with end users working in forty-five countries across six continents. Founded in 1999, CenterBeam pioneered the application of quality management techniques to IT and currently earns a 100% client satisfaction rating as measured by Quality Resource Associates. CenterBeam is headquartered in San Jose, California and can be reached at (408) 750-0500 or www.centerbeam.com.
http://www.centerbeam.com/newsroom/pressreleases/stories/PR_WCBF.html
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| May 2007 |
Spotlight on customer
14 May 2007
Mint
Copyright 2007. HT Media Ltd.
By Rajeshwari Sharma
Vox pop in the inner voice for Nancy K.M. Rees, senior vice-president, Xerox Lean Six Sigma, Xerox Corp. And her inner voice has never let her down. As the worldwide head of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology, Rees has tried to inculcate a culture of being sensitive to the needs of customers with statistical acumen. The approach has resulted in significant contribution to the net income of the $16 billion document-management technology and services company. LSS combines the speed and efficiency of Lean, reflected in the performance of Toyota Motor Corp. and Dell Inc., and the precision of Six Sigma, which catapulted General Electric Co. into the big league. Rees is now helping clients such as Lloyds TSB, FG Wilson Engineering Ltd and North America Finance to bolster growth. In an interview with Mint, Rees says that in the future, speed and a sharp focus on quality in addressing customer needs will be key to the growth of businesses. Excerpts:
From a net income of $91 million in 2002 to $1.2 billion in 2006, Xerox has clearly got over the impact of the two scandals in 2002 that the company was involved in the bribery incident concerning its Indian subsidiary and the $2 billion accounting error in its revenue statement. What's the contribution of the LSS programme in Xerox's comeback?
We introduced the LSS programme in 2002-03 in all our offices worldwide. It helped us achieve significant cost and lead-time reductions. It has contributed millions of dollars to the company's bottom line through cost savings, productivity and revenue growth. Internal financial targets have been met or exceeded every year since the launch of the programme. Apart from improving business results, the programme has helped change the way the leadership functions. The entire culture of Xerox has become skewed towards the customer and decision-making based on facts.
How can companies improve profitability and drive growth?
Time and quality are the most important metrics in improving any company's production and profit. To achieve this, besides tracking results, one needs to look at the strategy and the gaps in it, and work on them accordingly. The objective should be to achieve a high output with low effort, optimize costs and resolve customer complaints quickly and satisfactorily.
What are the challenges faced by companies?
Executing strategies the right way is perhaps the biggest challenge a company faces today. The challenge is how to support a creative, often born out of chaos, develop it and quickly get it into the market. Innovation without discipline is much ado about nothing. The key is to combine innovation with discipline and bring the product into the market before your competitors do.
Companies also have to get out of the traditional thinking mode of "I have this. Therefore, this is what you want". Companies need to remain connected to their customers and strategies have to be developed around the needs of the customers, not the other way round.
What are your plans for India and across the world?
Our goal in India is to gain a strong foothold and expand our market share in the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment, which has been identified as the fastest-growing segment by IDC, a provider of technology intelligence and market data. Last year, Xerox India earmarked Rs17 crore for brand building and product marketing. Out of this, Rs12 crore has been assigned towards demand generation and market development in the SME segment.
Globally, our aim is to be a leader in consulting services and colour products. We are also betting big on our Smarter Document Management product, which improves productivity and optimizes use of people, processes and infrastructure, resulting in 30-40% savings for a company.
Nancy Rees, SVP, Xerox Lean Six Sigma and Corporate Deployment Officer at Xerox Corporation is speaking at WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit & Awards, Oct 23-26 2007 in Las Vegas http://www.gsssa.com.
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| May 2007 |
Six Ways to Link Human Resources Development to Your Bottom Line
21 May 2007
Workforce Management
Volume 86; Issue 10; ISSN: 15475565
2007 Workforce Management. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning.
In today's cost-conscious, rapidly changing environment, efforts to sustain the relevance of human resource development hinge on three golden words: return on investment (ROI). Demonstrate the RO1 of human resource development and chances are it will not go M1A. But how can HR demonstrate bottom-line value?
1. Set expectations before learning begins-Setting expectations and providing management support before formal learning begins helps participants understand what will be expected of them and how training will relate to their work.
One pharmaceutical manufacturer had received a warning letter from the FDA citing a backlog of open investigations and failure to consistently find root cause. To remedy the situation, facilitators were developed to conduct workshops in problem solving and prevention for all employees involved in the writing of investigations. In one of the company's facilities, the facilitators also conducted hour-long pro-workshop meetings that set expectations for the workshop participants. When results were measured, this facility outperformed all others. In addition, by identifying issues for future resolution and targeting investments accordingly, the company could forecast probable outcomes and then calculate ROI.
2. Provide coaching to support success-Coaches can often guide employees as they apply their new skills. For instance, a medical insurance company found that it needed to expand its IT staff's problem-solving, decision-making and project management skills. Facilitators were trained to conduct workshops to impart these skills and to provide coaching support afterwards. The news spread quickly to the rest of the organization, which began requesting coaching help. This maximized ROI and also ensured that the ongoing benefits of training were documented.
3. Require evidence of application of new skills-One key challenge for new learners is to identity application opportunities. When engineers at an oil refinery were trained in troubleshooting, management set the expectation that they would be required to begin specific troubleshooting applications during class and then complete them back on the job. In the process of working on a gasket problem, one participant discovered that a recent explosion in the plant had loosened gritty material, which had begun to work its way through the system. He then asked, "Where else could this material be?" The material was found in an important but rarely used part of the plant that was due to be started up shortly.
If this participant had not been required to apply his new skills, ask questions and find the cause of the gasket wear, the line would have shut down at the moment it was most needed. Sure, it's important to connect the front end of skill development to the business, but it's equally important to ensure that results improve ongoing business operations.
4. Create a wodc environment that supports die use of new skiQs-If the work environment makes it difficult to use new skills, development dollars are wasted. Sun Microsystems sought to reduce the amount of time Sun engineers were taking to solve customers'complex problems by implementing the Sun Global Resolution Troubleshooting method. The approach went well beyond classroom training to include coaching, performance system changes, process redesign, software tool development, and Six Sigma discipline. This 360-degree approach ensured that classroom learning was integrated into the workplace environment and that engineers had the motivation, resources, and supporting processes to excel. Result: Sun reduced customer wait time by over 1200 years per year, and average time to solution decreased 52 percent for internally escalated cases.
5. Monitor ongoing application of new skills-How can you encourage learners to use their new skills, now and in the future? A major food manufacturer initiated a program that added the application of newly acquired problem-solving and decision-making skills to its associates' scorecards. Managers required documented use of the new skills each quarter. In this way, managers set expectations for participants and provided them with self-regulating feedback. Within a year, application of the skills became 'the way work was done'. Measuring and monitoring the ROI ensured that its value to the business wasn't left to chance.
6. Keep learning results-based-The purpose of learning is measurable results. Skill development must be driven by strategic and operational objectives. For example, Kepner-Tregoe skill development efforts can involve integrating classroom learning with work-related applicaton. During a workshop in manufacturing setting, participants learn problem analysis and move directly to their plant floor to apply the newly learned concepts to existing and potential problems and to document results and savings. At Honda Motors of America, we've provided an approach that combines facilitators with classroom and online learning. The focus is on rapid skill transfer and business results.
Final note -By taking these six actions to improve the ROI of your development efforts, you'll likely keep the cost cutters looking elsewhere to reduce overheads.
Hear key case studies on the challenges for Six Sigma in HR from Stephen J. Wittig, VP, Six Sigma at Masco Builder Cabinet Group and Andre Booyzen, Master Black Belt at Lonmin (Winners of the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Manufacturing Award 2006) at WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit, October 23-26 2007 in Las Vegas http://www.gsssa.com
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| September 2007 |
GENERATING POWER FOR CUMMINS; The engine maker is getting a boost from generators as its mainstay business sputters
24 September 2007
BusinessWeek
Volume 4051
(c) 2007 McGraw-Hill, Inc.
By Brian Hindo
Sales of Cummins Inc.'s signature product--diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks--are down about 40 this year. Yet even as its core market has plunged, Cummins shares have returned 98 since January, third-best among all companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.
What gives? While engine demand fell as big-rig fleets stockpiled older engine models in advance of tighter emissions standards, Cummins was enjoying a booming--if less renowned--business in power generation. Sales of the company's power generators, from portables that can serve an RV to house-size machines that back up factories, have more than tripled in the past four years. Indeed, over the past decade, the company has built virtually from scratch what's expected to be a $3 billion business line in 2007, which would represent about 20% of Cummins' total sales.
For the power generation segment, sales grew 21 last year, and are expected to surge at least an additional 25 this year. In the U.S., businesses are increasingly willing to view a Cummins standby generator as a six-figure insurance policy against power disruption. But the real tailwind comes from the massive infrastructure development seen increasingly in emerging markets. The global appetite for power is growing--far faster than the amount of juice that can be spit out by local, often rickety, electrical grids. "No one is spending money on [the grid], not even in the U.S.," says David Raso, a Citigroup analyst.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
Just four years ago, power generation was the only one of Cummins' four business segments to lose money, falling $19 million in the hole on sales of $1.3 billion. It had benefited from the buildout of telecom networks during the tech sector's boom years, but when those companies fell into a slump, "we took a huge dive," says Tom Linebarger, then the company's chief financial officer, who moved in 2003 to head the fledgling business.
A companywide belt-tightening, including a Six Sigma push and layoffs, drove costs down. Linebarger reorganized the division around product lines, rather than territories. That, he says, allowed Cummins to pounce on emerging markets, such as the Middle East and Brazil, which had received little attention before. Its generators have powered gold mining in the Saudi desert, where the grid doesn't reach; have provided more-reliable power to a pasta-making company in Colombia; and will back up Abu Dhabi's soon-to-be-opened Sheikh Zayed Mosque. The mosque, one of the world's biggest, covers about 5.4 acres.
Now, Cummins plays a strong No. 2 to the global market leader, archrival Caterpillar Inc., which Citigroup estimates will do about $4.4 billion in power generation sales of its own this year. But the emergence of power generation is proportionally more important to Cummins, which is about a quarter of Caterpillar's size by market value and lacks the bigger company's diversity. Indeed, as the truck engine crunch loomed last winter, Linebarger told his managers in a meeting, "Hey, this is our year." In fact, Cummins managers dubbed the effort "Breaking the Back," as if to shatter once and for all the company's singular association with big-rig engines. "There's a legacy there that's hard to shake," says Linebarger. "We wanted to prove that in a year where truck engines are down, the new Cummins can do really well."
Of course, the company will still feel cyclical pressures. To mitigate a potential pinch, Cummins is branching out into new product lines, such as small home generators for sale at Costco. But the big opportunity lies abroad. The power generation unit already gets 65 of its revenue from outside the U.S., compared with 50 for Cummins overall. Linebarger runs several plants in China and India and has begun exporting cheaply from those bases. So he is relatively untroubled about the threat of a lower-cost competitor striking while the market is hot. "We will be one of those Chinese manufacturers," he says.
Tim Solso, CEO at Cummins is speaking at WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit & Awards, Oct 23-26 2007 in Las Vegas as the recipient of the Six Sigma CEO of the Year Award 2007 http://www.gsssa.com.
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| June 2007 |
LEAN SIX SIGMA EFFORTS NEAR $2 BILLION IN SAVINGS
04 June 2007
States News Service
(c) 2007 States News Service
Lean Six Sigma techniques implemented throughout the Army continue to prove successful, and leaders anticipate reaching a $2 billion-savings mark this year.
One of the latest LSS successes took place at West Point, N.Y., home of the U.S. Military Academy. Five officers-in-training who had completed green belt training applied a lean process called value stream analysis to figure out more efficient meal scheduling, which would result in a reduction in the amount of discarded meals in the mess hall.
The cadets were able to predict how many of their brethren dined on certain optional meal days and in the end were able to show how the school could save precious resources by cutting costs and more efficiently allocating resources.
Lt. Col. Donna Korycinski, the cadets' advisor, teacher, mentor and project director, said her students understand the LSS process, were able to pull the techniques together and in the process they're leaving a "long-lasting legacy at West Point."
"All the cadets follow the same LSS framework, the same training taught at other green and black belt courses across the Army," said Ronald E. Rezek, assistant to the deputy undersecretary of the Army for business transformation. "The cadets are comfortable with this important responsibility, and they are happy and enthusiastic."
Inside Army headquarters, value steam analysis led to a large number of recommendations to streamline the communication process across the chain of command through lieutenant generals.
Director of the Army Staff Lt. Gen. James Campbell has been using LSS techniques to improve the way "taskers" are processed in Washington. He commissioned a study, and while he found some efficiencies were already in place, there were many steps that could be eliminated through an automated system. Reducing waste and speeding up the information-management process was made a top priority because in the end, he said, moving information efficiently to and from senior leaders is the key to success for an effective staff.
"Building on early success for in-house improvements pointed us toward several actions now being implemented to improve the quality of Army headquarters staff work," Lt. Gen. Campbell said.
Other LSS successes since it's the program's inception include the "Just Do It" Army recruiting process. Before LSS implementation, 32 steps were required to process recruits. Today, that number is down to 11.
At Fort Bragg, N.C.'s Central Issue Facility, a one-stop equipment and clothing outlet for base Soldiers was able to reduce issue and turn-in times by 50 percent and its inventory by more than 65 percent. Installation officials expect a 20-percent cost savings by October.
Employees at Red River Army Depot, Texas, focused on projects involving the Bradley fighting vehicle to earn almost $600,000 in savings. Fuel-recycling initiatives there also saved more than 37,000 gallons of fuel, with a value of roughly $85,000 in just one year.
For more information on the Army Business Transformation Strategic Framework go to http://www.army.mil/armybtkc.
Hear from Marko Nikituk, Lean Six Sigma Program Directors in the US Army at WCBF’s Government & Defense Benchmarking Forum at WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit & Awards, October 23 – 26 2007 at the Rio All Suite Hotel, Las Vegas http://www.gsssa.com
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| August 2007 |
First things first
Joe Jansurack, Editor, Six Sigma in Quality & Manufacturing Newsletter from SME%
Valuing your organizations readiness before committing to a fully embedded lean six sigma (LSS) deployment is a critical step in a successful launch. Whether organizations deploy from the grass roots or at an enterprise-wide level, it is critical that some degree of cultural integration is essential prior to deploying LSS.
Having common tools and processes will enable the leaders to move the organization toward a more common culture, while common performance management practices will accelerate the creation of a high-performing organization that would subsequently be more apt to accept more advanced tools like lean and six sigma
Before implementing lean six sigma (LSS), companies should consider developing a “tiered CI (continuous improvement) roadmap” to help expedite deployment and to provide a more robust LSS program, according to Jim Kaminiski, formerly of Columbus, Ohio, based Huntington Bank, and currently director, continuous improvement for Limited Brands, www.limited.com.
“These are simply building blocks for improving performance at every level,” says Kaminski. ”Each layer of the building block builds on those below it, providing increasingly sophisticated tools and practices for setting goals and measuring and improving performance.
Kaminski also says that implementing a CI model prior to LSS provides a consistent framework with standardized methods for developing and executing LSS projects “It provides a framework that involves operation management teams driving accountability and competency by requiring a current state and future target assessment and identifying gaps in performance.” See model below.
Some variables that make up the CI “framework,” says Kaminski, are VOC and VOM.
“VOC, or voice of the customer is a process we use to capture the requirements/feedback from the customer (internal or external) to provide the customers with the best in class service/product quality. This process is all about being proactive and constantly innovative to capture the changing requirements of the customers with time.”
Kaminski continues, “We also need to understand the value for the customer by researching emerging products in our marketplace using VOM, voice of the market data. This includes benchmarking, analyzing research briefs researching process capability in our market and performing targeted benchmarking in other industries.”
Below are the tools Kaminski suggests for implementing and sustaining a LSS effort:
Scorecards for representing your service performance. Create a common simple language that everyone understands; acknowledge and address what isn’t working well.
Business reviews can be a forum for team-oriented communication regarding past performance and future strategizing. It uses quantitative and qualitative data and is driven by commitments to the operating plan. It also facilitates and communicates information on how the business is performing in comparison to forecasts. And it identifies opportunities to improve the business unit performance.
Operating plans help yield consensus on performance improvement opportunities and agreement on where to allocate resources. It also allows for regular status on operating plan commitments and improvement initiatives that drives potential LSS projects.
Just remember that the successes of those leading LSS initiatives and what you can put on the table will inevitably earn you the opportunity to go in and lead the next deployment.
Editor’s note: Jim Kaminski will be among the speakers at the WCBF 2nd Annual Global Six Sigma Summit and Industry Awards, Oct. 23-26, Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.gsssa.com.
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| September 2007 |
Six Sigma: So Yesterday?
In an innovation economy, it's no longer a cure-all
Business Week, June 11, 2007
At Home Depot (HD ), ousted Chief Executive Robert Nardelli was devoted to Six Sigma. "Facts are friendly" was a favorite mantra of his, neatly summing up his managerial point of view. Six Sigma was used to streamline the check-out process and strategically place vacuum-cleaner displays, for example. But by-products of the program irritated many at the retailer's stores, who thought its constant data measurement and paperwork sapped time given to customers. The bottom line on Nardelli's tenure: Profitability soared, but worker morale drooped, and so did consumer sentiment. Home Depot dropped from first to worst among major retailers on the American Customer Satisfaction Index in 2005.
Now Nardelli's successor, Frank Blake, another General Electric (GE ) alumnus, is dialing back on the Six Sigma rigor, giving more leeway to store managers to make decisions on their own. The story unfolding at Home Depot echoes closely what's happening at 3M after James McNerney's reign. There are signs of a similar pullback at many companies, even at GE, where CEO Jeff Immelt is trying to reprogram his management ranks to innovate around a theme of "ecomagination," with mixed success. And at Young & Rubicam, where GE board member Ann Fudge flamed out as CEO after she tried to sell ad execs on Six Sigma.
So has the Six Sigma moment passed? "I think it has," says Babson College management professor Tom Davenport. "Process management is a good thing. But I think it always has to be leavened a bit with a focus on innovation and [customer relationships]." The discipline was developed as a systematic way to improve quality, but the reason it caught fire was its effectiveness in cutting costs and improving profitability. That makes it a powerful tool—if those are a company's goals. But as innovation becomes the cause du jour, companies are increasingly confronting the side effects of a Six Sigma culture.
Six Sigma clearly had a profound impact on the corporate world. According to the American Society for Quality, 82 of the 100 largest companies in the U.S. have embraced it. And that's quickly trickling down: Six Sigma consultants are as busy as ever as the quality-improvement system migrates from its traditional focus on U.S. manufacturing companies to the financial-services industry and abroad. In recent years, companies as varied as DuPont (DD ), Textron (TXT ), Bank of America (BAC ), and Sun Microsystems (SUNW ) have all made Six Sigma bedrocks of their culture. Hybrid formulas have spawned, such as Lean Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma. WCBF, an organization that organizes conferences about the process, has 14 events planned this year, up from seven last year.
But as its popularity endures, the notion of Six Sigma as a corporate cure-all is subsiding. Once a company has done the requisite belt-tightening, "the strategic needs of a business change," says Robert Carter, a consultant at defense contractor Raytheon (RTN ). Kick-starting the top line becomes paramount; the best way there apart from an acquisition is innovation. At Raytheon, Carter is leading a Six Sigma effort to promote innovation. But while "most Six Sigma practitioners are very strong on the left brain, innovation very much starts in the right hemisphere," says Carter. Even he, a Six Sigma expert, acknowledges the "define, measure, analyze, improve, control" mind-set doesn't entirely gel with the fuzzy front-end of invention. When an idea starts germinating, Carter says, "you don't want to overanalyze it," which can happen in a traditional DMAIC framework.
Of course, Jack Welch has argued that a leader needs to single-mindedly inculcate Six Sigma into every corner of an organization. Should a CEO hedge and say, "Let's do both Six Sigma and also be creative," employees will tune out the part they don't want to hear. Welch has said that even if the concept is applied in areas where perhaps it shouldn't be, it'll be worth it in the long run. It can always be fine-tuned once the workforce gets it. Call it the break-some-eggs-to-make-an-omelette approach.
Problem is, you don't know which eggs you're going to break. When Steve Bennett left GE in 2000 to take the CEO post at software maker Intuit (INTU ), he was eager to roll out Six Sigma. But he did it gingerly, pilot-testing the quality-improvement tool in certain groups for a year to prove its worth. He was unsure of how a Silicon Valley company would react, given its associations with Six Sigma—"most of them bad," he says. So he cloaked the move under the benign-sounding banner of "process excellence," deliberately avoiding using the name Six Sigma. Says Bennett, "The term gives me an allergic reaction."
Innovation is one of the topics covered at the Global Six Sigma Summit, October 23-26, 2007, Las Vegas. http://www.gsssa.com
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| August 2007 |
Shift ahead for DFSS, says DaimlerChrysler black belt
Joe Jansurack, Editor, Six Sigma in Quality & Manufacturing Newsletter from SME%
Harry Flotemersch is all about the future when it comes design for six sigma (DFSS) and system-wide innovations. As a certified DaimlerChrysler Master Black Belt and structured innovation leader, his “long-term project is to lead the integration of structured innovation methodologies into our DFSS, problem solving and transactional (business processes) programs.”
To help accomplish this, Flotemersch is overseeing dual-level, mapping-innovation efforts.
“On one level we are mapping innovation to communicate to our army of Black Belts where in their methodologies structured innovation is applicable. I think this will speed the integration of structured innovation methods into our DFSS, problem-solving and transactional initiatives. We want them be aware of that even though they are not working in the design dome, there are instances calling for clear innovative concepts to meet our business needs. If they can solve the problem quickly, fine; but if it seems too complex, then instead of struggling they should refer to the map and apply the tools, or call for help instead of losing precious time struggling.”
Flotemersch continues, “Our Master Black Belts are continuing to find places to adapt the innovation tools; we’ve had some invigorating breakthroughs by applying new ‘dialoguing’ techniques to capture experiences and to grow ideas more productively. Various factions have different sets of words they use to describe the areas where they create, and collecting and interpreting all these has been quite a learning experience for me.”
At a higher level, Flotemersch says that “mapping innovation” for the long-term technical strategy must also be done. As output and confidence increases because innovation challenges are effectively met, there becomes a greater need for steering the company’s capabilities.
“It’s like when you drive your car faster, you need to look further down the road and there are many choices to make ahead that can be pivotal,” says Flotemersch. “So, too, when your employees believe they can provide solutions to defined innovation challenges, leaders will need to get out in front of those efforts and plan directions and strategies even more. This is a deliberate act of choosing where to aim your business innovation resources in the marketplace by proactively shaping your successful future.”
Eye on the future
DaimlerChrysler currently employs the following DFSS tools: quality function deployment, taguchi robust optimization, finite element analysis, FMEA, computer-aided engineering, axiomatic design, multigenerational product planning, and design verification and report.
As for the next-generation tools for DFSS, Flotemersch says they’ll focus on the big picture.
“As we all get better at making subsystems and components that are created with strong connection to the needs and wants of the customer, our focus will shift to the vehicle system as a whole. This “vehicle-centric” perspective is already emerging in our industry. New tools/methods that help us consider millions of aspects of the vehicle as a system, and still offer it in a timely fashion for our customers will be in demand.”
He continues, “One subtle but powerful dynamic that must not be forgotten is the culture of a company. Our dialogue will shift gradually from directives to communication flow in both directions. The continuing evolution towards real dialogue will be a key “next-generation” tool for creating exciting products on pace with the pull of the market. We can no longer expect to compete when only a few folks are expected to have all the answers and the rest are there to implement. The world is communicating information in many directions and this same change needs to happen inside the culture of a company as well.”
Editor’s note: Harry Flotemersch will be among the speakers at the WCBF 2nd Annual Global Six Sigma Summit and Industry Awards, Oct. 23-26, Las Vegas. For more information, visit http://www.gsssa.com
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| August 2007 |
Innovation to Drive Value for 2008 and Beyond
In today’s highly competitive, global marketplace, innovation is as important as ever to survive. The fundamental question on industry leader’s minds is how they can creatively face the challenges of the future, and Six Sigma has a major role to play as an enabling tool in support of successful innovation.
Unleashing the Power of Six Sigma for Innovation
Six Sigma remains the methodology of choice to reinvigorate processes to drive value and performance excellence. Mike Cook, Managing Director of Operational Excellence Services, and his colleagues at Fidelity Investments have a very creative approach for process improvement professionals and operators as we move into the future, enabling innovation and operational excellence.
As well as operational Lean and Six Sigma projects, innovation can also be applied to product development through Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) for business robustness. Many industries fail to fully appreciate the use of innovation and product development DFSS as a successful means to meet customer and business needs. Six Sigma tools in the form of product development templates have been successfully translated into service and transactional environments, led by Tony Lemus, Senior Vice President of Six Sigma, Business Development at ACC Capital Holdings (ACCH).
Transformational change for innovation has also been achieved in pockets of the US Armed Forces. Rear Admiral Miles B. Wachendorf, Chief of Staff at the US Joint Forces Command in the US Navy, has accelerated the implementation of state of the art technology to facilitate command and control of Military Forces.
Balancing the intellectual, organizational and human element are fundamental for successful innovation, according to Bob Carter, Senior Consultant at Raytheon US. Bob is currently leading Raytheon’s Six Sigma efforts for Innovation and Growth by developing thought provoking training to enable new leadership behaviors towards innovation and growth. His recent book “In2thestratosphere” addresses how to achieve ‘out of this world’ performance through Innovation, Growth and Six Sigma.
The US Navy, Fidelity Investments, Raytheon and ACC Capital Holidays will share insights into the future for innovation and performance excellence through Six Sigma at WCBF’s 2nd Annual Global Six Sigma Summit and Industry Awards, October 23-26 2007 in Las Vegas. Mike Richman, Publisher/ Managing Editor of Quality Digest will open WCBF’s Global Six Summit to debate the question of “What’s next for innovation and what lessons can be learned from industry leaders?”.
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| August 2007 |
Business Growth through Six Sigma in Service and Transactional Environments – Making it Work
If successfully applied and maintained within the organization, Six Sigma and the continuous improvement tool-kit can drive significant hard savings and performance excellence in the transactional world.
Winners of the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Service and Transactional Environments Award at WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Awards in 2006, Capital One DirectBanking have successfully achieved business transformation through Six Sigma.
At the end of 2004, Capital One DirectBanking undertook a major transformation in its strategic positioning, product offerings and marketing channels. The business leaders recognized that they needed a set of tools and a culture, rooted in process excellence, to enable this transformation. They choose Six Sigma as that discipline and have successfully transformed the business to not only meet its strategic objectives but also position the business for long term success.
Aravind Immaneni, Vice President, Strategic Analysis and Improvement at Capital One led their award-wining business transformation and application of Six Sigma to develop and execute a sound business strategy.
At Huntingdon Bank, Jim Kaminski, Former Director of Quality and the Productivity Group, and his team established a more creative approach to transactional Lean Six Sigma to impact their bottom-line. Through the creation of a clearer understanding and visibility within the organization, and close collaboration with business units and process owners, the Huntington Bank have sustained great savings and efficiency through their deployment over time.
Although there has been a huge amount of progress for the application of Six Sigma and Lean in Service and Transactional environments, successful deployment and advancement is considerably more complicated in Service and Transactional environments than Manufacturing.
Applying techniques such as Design of Experiments (DOE) in a transactional environment is not as widely practiced as DOE in the manufacturing world. Yet DOE can be a powerful tool in determining and optimizing factors and levels that impact performance parameters in healthcare, banking, retail services, and call centers, just to name a few according to Don Owen, Senior Director of Operational Excellence and Product Development at Mannington Mills.
The application of Six Sigma in transactional environments remains a major stumbling block for companies across industry and practical experience is scarce.
Practitioners from Capital One, Mannington Mills and The Huntington Bank will be sharing their experiences of Six Sigma in Services & Transactional environments at WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit & Awards, October 23-26 2007 in Las Vegas, as well as key insights from deployment leaders at Fidelity Investments, North Shore LIJ Health Systems and Hewlett Packard.
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