Pete Abilla is the founder of Shmula. He helps companies like Amazon, Zappos, eBay, Backcountry, and others reduce costs and improve the customer experience. He does this through a systematic method for identifying pain points for the customer and the business and encourages broad participation from the company associates to improve their own processes.

His work is used in case studies at the Harvard Business School, Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and at Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon University. He’s been quoted by various authors, most notably, Clayton Christensen in his book The Innovator’s Dilemma. Continue Reading

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Update: Week of 1/6/2014

Hey there. I wanted to update you on a few things. You can find the items discussed below in the content libraries and in the video section.

Templates

We’ve added the following templates this week:

• Signal to Noise Ratio
• FMEA Excel Spreadsheet
• Countermeasure Worksheet
• Takt Time Calculator
• Kanban Card Generator
• Attribute Gauge R&R Automated Sheet
• Paired T Test Template

eBooks

We’ve added a lot of eBooks this week for you:

• Overview: Cause and Effect
• Overview: Histogram
• Overview: Run Chart
• Overview: Scatterplot
• Overview: SMART Action List
• Overview: KPI and Business Needs
• 4Q Project Management
• Tree Diagram Guide
• What is the Matrix Diagram?
• How to Use the Prioritization Matrix
• Opportunity Storming
• Overview: Control Charts
• Overview: 7 Wastes and Lean
• Basic Tools: The Flowchart
• Basic Tools: Frequency Plot

Videos

I’m finishing up several videos that I’ll place on the DMAIC Table of Contents next week.

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In the healthcare industry, there is plenty of room for improvement. I have studied healthcare operations for the last 8 years and have found that there is a lot of excess and not a lot of improvement or innovation. For example, in 2011, Medicare spent $549.1 billion on health care coverage (about 15% of the national budget) for 48.7 million beneficiaries. One could easily argue that Medicare is one health care organization that has a lot of excess/burdensome processes with not a lot of solutions for its stakeholders. Not to mention the VA, who most recently shocked Americans when it was discovered that 731 VA facilities were operating wait lists of roughly 57,436 veterans awaiting scheduled care and another 63,869 who enrolled in VA benefits (over the last 10 years) and have never been seen for an appointment (CNN.com).

Healthcare, and operations management, is my preferred career. News of inefficient health care processes not only keeps me employed but also motivates me to seek tools to protect my organization from burdensome business practices.

For roughly two years I had been searching for a Six Sigma training program that met my needs as a professional in the healthcare industry. After a recent job transfer, I had the pleasure of meeting Pete Abilla, founder of Shmula.com. I was impressed with his wealth of knowledge and I quickly became a member of Shmula.com. I continue to be blown away at the knowledge, tools, and experiences that I’ve gained. Shmula’s training model is unique, clear, and concise. The learning modules are filled with content that help drive concepts and encourage real-world application. The videos presented in each module are professionally produced and further illustrate the quality of the knowledge found in each learning module. My current job role has drastically improved as I’ve learned to apply the lean strategies and tools into real organizational problems to streamline work processes.

I highly encourage operational leaders to invest their time into Shmula.com’s program. As Albert Einstein once said, Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. This program will inevitably add value to your organization and increase your marketability as a leader.

– Rico Jensen, MHA

The post Scratchpad – NEVER PUBLISH appeared first on 6sigma.

But never mind all of that. I want to talk about one quote that, at least for our purpose today, makes a ton of sense.

I know that I’m inferior to everybody in some way. You may be a better singer than I am or more centered in some ways. But I also know that I’m superior to you in something else. I know how to create a process to achieve things, and I never, ever give up. That makes us equal.

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The post Self-Improvement Means Creating a Process to Achieve Things appeared first on 6sigma.

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The post Value and Foundation of Six Sigma appeared first on 6sigma.

Since 2006, Great American Cutlery has built the reputation for making the finest quality traditional pocket knives in the US. Located in historic Titusville, PA, the brand focuses on a hands-on process which yields the most beautiful and high quality pocket knives on the market. Their products exceed expectations from customers by producing a product that first became a mainstay in the late 19th century.

Check out the unique insights to the process that is Great American Cutlery!

The post [VIDEO] Great Eastern Cutlery Factory Tour appeared first on 6sigma.

The alignment of strategic goals in an organization can be frustrating for some organizations. Leadership is thinking in one direction, mid-level managers are running in another direction, and production is trying their best to appease both sides. It can be a frustrating and wasteful situation for all. The process of Hoshin Kanri aligns strategic goals up and down the organization and ensures everyone is working in precisely the same direction.

Take time and watch this informative video!

https://youtu.be/wJGGfkvmjtU

The post [VIDEO] Align and Develop Strategic Goals with Hoshin Kanri appeared first on 6sigma.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can shape strategy and fact-based decision making inside businesses, only if those inside the organization act on them.  It doesn’t matter how brilliantly you’ve aligned your KPIs to your strategy, or even how brilliantly you have captured and presented the relevant KPIs, if they aren’t used as they were intended. If you aren’t using your KPIs to inform your decisions and drive performance, then you are wasting your time and effort.

Check out this informative video!

The post [VIDEO] Building Strength With Key Performance Indicators appeared first on 6sigma.

In Lean production, it is commonly understood to use pull production instead of push production, which is implemented with a Kanban system. But what makes the pull production system the way to go?  Why not use a push production system? For most, the answers are about as clear as muddy water.

A pull production system simply limits the amount of work in a process which can be in the system. Work methods that use pull systems allow people to manage the flow of resources by limiting work in progress and allowing those doing the work to focus. They are driven from a high level that strictly focuses on capacity and material based on actual customer demand. Pull production design is perfectly balanced due to the demand placed on the organization. They are designed to be agile, with the ability to quickly respond to any changes in customer demand. It is often referred to as a Kanban’ system, which is a method for planning, executing and replenishing inventory that allows for greater control.

Push production revolves around extensive planning and forecasting. It does not have limits on the amount of work that can be in the system. The common assumption in a push production system is that everything remains constant. Everything that is required for capacity is on hand, which includes inventory and support staff. Even though it seems agile and proactive, in reality it is not. Often, pull production becomes obsolete before being executed because of the every changing market environment and customer demand. It is slow to adjust to these variations in a manufacturing environment.

While push production is heavily front loaded with planning and forecasting, pull production is agile and customer demand focused. It remains flexible enough to meet ever changing market adjustments and customer demands.

The post Pull Production Makes Only What the Customer Demands appeared first on 6sigma.

In taking a cue from manufacturing, marketing departments are embracing the principles of lean agile practices. Research shows that over the past five years, 77% of marketing departments have embraced lean agile principles, and 67% of those have shown increases in both revenue and profits. Needless to say, lean agile principles are making an impact in the marketing community.

Please take some time and watch this informative video on the topic!

https://youtu.be/j-r5W_Eq4G4

The post [VIDEO] Lean Agile Sprints for Marketing appeared first on 6sigma.

PDCA is all about innovation! By using a methodical approach to problem solving, PDCA is one of the most valued tools available to Lean Manufacturing. When applied properly, PDCA creates a culture of innovation throughout the manufacturing process. It prevents decision paralysis, and methodically moves improvement forward through measured trial and error.

 Watch this educational video on PDCA!

The post [VIDEO] PDCA Is About Innovation appeared first on 6sigma.

Visual management boards can be too much! If you walk through a Lean manufacturing organization, you can tell immediately whether or not their visual management system is working or not. The walls have been plastered with charts and graphs, which sometimes tend to resemble a wallpaper convention. First, you will spend an excessive amount of time trying to understand what visual management boards apply to what part of the operation. Once you have figured out what boards apply to what, then you begin to examine the data outlined. Things then begin to become mind-numbing. Charts and graphs that line the walls contain confusing, disorganized and outdated information that truly has no relevance and doesn’t contribute to the effectiveness of visual management boards. 

In most companies, there is a culture of hiding embarrassing data. The organization culture is all about hiding the dirty laundry. No one really wants to expose their weaknesses. This in itself is a major issue and a truly defeats the purpose of visual management. Leaders must instill a culture of loving their problems. Identifying problematic data is a way to quickly identify issues and work to get them resolved.

The next issue is the standards of work. This is a fairly obvious requirement for most manufacturing operations. It is crucial to understand what is the standard of work for each position. Without this being established, the visual management system is rather useless. The number of widgets John should make every hour or the number of boxes Jane packs per hour are at the heart of understanding your operation. Clarity is established when the boards reflect accurate production data. Both leaders and workers know instantly where they stand and if there is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Effective visual management boards should allow anyone to know in real time exactly how the process is performing and where the issues are. To get there, organizations must clearly define what processes and improvements they want to measure. The key questions then become what exactly do you want to know about a process, then what are the critical metrics.

Visual Management Boards Create Clarity 

Organizations who fail with visual management boards fail to start simple and keep it that way! Everyone needs to get used to simple boards that reflect simple data. It may not at first produce significant operational results — you will get the organization used to the boards and respond to the information they are receiving. It will also create a habit of keeping the boards updated regularly with current, accurate data. Once they are comfortable with the boards, establish the standards for each job or process. Now the expectation is set and the real meaning of the boards will become clear to anyone in the operation. With all the processes within an operation, it then becomes essential to identify the essential measurements that will ensure the organization meets or exceeds annual goals. 

The post Why Visual Management Boards Fail appeared first on 6sigma.

“Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.”  ~Sir Winston Churchill

There has been much made about America losing its competitive edge in manufacturing overseas. Depending on who you ask, you will hear a variety of reasons on why we are losing our competitive edge. You will hear about productivity, pricing, environment and tariffs that have impacted our manufacturing industries. No doubt, those are some of the factors that have impacted our competitiveness. When you look at things without the filters, you will see that things just are not as bad as they appear, and America can easily retake the role of leader.

The U.S. has lost five million manufacturing jobs since 2000, and those losses have reverberated across the country. The scale of those losses has overshadowed areas of growth. For example, the number of workers employed manufacturing medical equipment and supplies has grown eight percent over the last two decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, even as overall manufacturing employment has fallen 28 percent over that same time period. Manufacturing job losses have been concentrated in lower pay, lower skill jobs. Since 2000, jobs in manufacturing for people with graduate degrees have grown by 32 percent. While manufacturing jobs for people with less than a high school education fell 44 percent between 2000 and 2013, those for people with an associate degree in academic fields rose 17 percent.

Manufacturing and Innovation

The fact is, we can get right back in the game with the right approaches. We can now profitably get back into manufacturing through the cost advantages of automation and the ability to have skilled workers manage the outputs that previously were assigned to more than one person. It is a matter of transforming our most valuable resource ¦ the human worker. Gone are the days of the unskilled and uneducated factory worker. The jobs that demand that type of labor will be lost to Mexico and China. The new American factory worker will be skilled and educated. It must become a national priority to dedicate the resources required to enhance the skills of our workforce so they align with the innovative practices that will further accelerate the modernization of America.

Manufacturing must start partnering with universities to provide manufacturers with opportunities to find creative solutions to existing problems and scout upcoming talent. Universities bring bigger talent pools and give manufacturers a closer look at candidates outside of a formal hiring process, allowing them to tap into the creativity of the next generation. Community colleges and trade schools provide resources for current staffers to take a few classes that will help their on-the-job performance. Many instructors in such programs create real-life scenarios that provide hands-on training and feedback that are essential for success in a manufacturing environment. 

Finally, this includes a new approach from the C-Suite. Leaders must incorporate innovative, automated solutions to their manufacturing process that is supported by a skilled and educated workforce. This will require not only recruiting new talent, but retraining the experienced worker in their organizations to meet the more skilled demands of the future.          

The post Lean Leadership and the Competitive Edge in Manufacturing appeared first on 6sigma.

A best practice in the manufacturing sector and considered the gold standard for measuring productivity, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) provides crucial insights in manufacturing. It was a term coined by Seiichi Nakajima in the 1960s to evaluate how effectively a manufacturing operation is utilized. It is based on the Harrington Emerson way of thinking regarding labor efficiency. The results are stated in a generic form, which allows comparison between manufacturing units in differing industries. It is not, however an absolute measure and is best used to identify scope for process performance improvement, and how to get the improvement.

It is understood that manufacturing is a complex and costly process. Absolute efficiency is crucial to success — using metrics and guidelines, manufacturers remain in control over process and production. OEE is the tool which combines manufacturing issues and data points to provide information about the process. Every member of a manufacturing team can use the data to better understand the current state of a process. It provides a strong framework to accurately track underlying issues and root causes, along with a framework for improvement. OEE metrics can accurately and quickly reflect the current state of any manufacturing process. Conversely, it can also be a very complex tool, allowing an understanding of the true effects of various issues. 

The four components of the OEE framework are: OEE, Availability, Performance and Quality (OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality). The Availability key refers to the machine being available. The Performance key refers to how much waste is created through running at less than best speed. The Quality key focuses on the time wasted by producing a product that doesn’t meet standards. It then allows manufacturing companies to pull together separate business functions into simple, but powerfully useful metrics. Finally, by using OEE concepts, waste can be exposed and understood, and efficiencies maximized.

The post Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE): Understand, Measure and Improve appeared first on 6sigma.

We are proud provide you a recap of five of our most recent blogs for your enjoyment and reference. Please do not forget to dive into the archives from time to time and catch up on reading you may have missed!

Using Regression Analysis to Improve Cause and Effect Analysis

Understanding the Change Acceleration Process Model (CAP)

What Are the 5 Factors for a Successful FMEA?

What’s the Connection Between a Scatter Diagram and Correlation Analysis?

7 Steps to Better Benchmarking

The post The Best of Shmula appeared first on 6sigma.