General Archives - 6sigma

[VIDEO] The 10 Most Secure Places on Earth

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:16:16 +0000

Since the beginning of time, man has had to protect his possessions and valuables against damage and theft. With the advance of technology, protecting what is valuable to us is becoming easier. However, just like the old saying goes, if man can build it, man can break it. Look at today’s digital technology. It just barely stays one step ahead of hackers who are bent on accessing our most valuable data and goods. Nothing is foolproof, and there will always be a way to ‘get the goods.’ We thought it would be interesting to explore the 10 most heavily guarded places and earth and see how they do it.

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Celebrating the Workers That Make America Great

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:16:14 +0000

America is known as the manufacturing powerhouse of the globe. Time and time again, the power of America’s manufacturing prowess has made this country strong for over a century. Technology over the years has played a role in that strength. Our manufacturing operations have figured out the most difficult challenges and produced the best products. The one thing that played the biggest part in that story is the American worker. We are a country of immigrants and a strong work ethic, with a sharp competitive edge. But we cannot forget the struggles those workers endured during their rise to the top. In the early 1830’s, American manufacturing workers were paid poorly and struggled with a 70+ hour a week schedule. Over the years, those conditions have significantly improved. Today, American manufacturing workers enjoy safe and productive work environments and are compensated in a fair and reasonable manner. Lean Six Sigma methodologies have contributed to the advancement of of the American workforce over the past few decades.

We can never forget the sacrifices and tireless efforts of the American manufacturing worker. Today, we should celebrate Labor Day with the thoughts of a grateful nation!

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Total Quality Management: A Modern Path to Business Excellence

Kumar Satyam — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:16:06 +0000

Since the 80s, several quality management systems/programs, such as ISO 9000, TQM, Six Sigma, Re-Engineering, Lean, etc. have been launched. Most of the above-mentioned iterations have been widely recognized and adopted by industries around the world.

Every firm expects quality results from the implementation of these programs. But the “good” and only be received only if the individuals who are working under its premises are fully aware of the functionality and the way it transforms the business. In order to help you out, we will discuss the meanings of quality, its evolution, and the practices of quality imperatives.

What is QUALITY?

As per the textbook term — Quality — means the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something. But in business terms, it takes different forms.

In business, quality is:

Conforming to standards and specifications.
Meeting zero defects.
Meets customer expectations and needs
Assessed by customers
Determined by deviations
Customer satisfaction

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management is a management approach that describes the culture of an organization that strives to provide customer satisfaction with products and services of their preference.

This “culture” requires quality in all aspects of the organization’s operations with processes being done right the first time and defects and wastes are removed entirely.

It’s a management philosophy that attempts to blend organizational functions to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives.

TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains organizations strive continuously to improve processes by incorporating the knowledge and experiences of workers.

TQM’s main motto is

“Do the right thing, right the first time, every time.”

History of Total Quality Management

TQM began initially as a term coined by Naval Air Systems Command to describe Japanese styled management processes to quality improvement. It’s a form of umbrella methodology to continually improve process’s quality by taking elements of:

The behavioral sciences
The analysis of quantitative and non-quantitative data
Economics theories
Process analysis

1920s

Quality Management first saw its establishment and usage as the principles of scientific management in the U.S. Industry.
Businesses separated the processes of planning and carrying out the plan, and union opposition arose as workers were deprived of a voice in the conditions and functions of their work.
The Hawthorne experiments in the late 1920s demonstrated how the productivity of workers is impacted by participation.

1930s

Walter Shewhart developed the methods for statistical analysis and control of quality.

1950s

W. Edwards Deming taught statistical analysis methods and quality control plans to Japanese engineers and executives.
Joseph M. Juran taught the concepts of controlling quality and managerial breakthrough.
Armand V. Feigenbaum’s book Total Quality Control was published.
Philip B. Crosby’s promotion of zero defects paved the way for quality improvement in many companies.

1960s

The Japanese named their approach to total quality “company-wide quality control”.
Kaoru Ishikawa’s synthesis of the philosophy contributed to Japan’s authority as a quality leader.

2000s till present

TQM is the name for the philosophy of a broad and systemic approach to managing organizational quality.
Quality standards such as the ISO 9000 series and quality award programs such as the Deming Prize and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award specify principles and processes that comprise TQM.

6 Cs of TQM

1) Commitment

TQM development is always proportional to the implementation of quality in processes. It’s a normal essential. Without this, all else fails. It is impossible to make a segway in implementing TQM without quality, thus expectations must be made clear with the support and training necessary to achieve.

2) Culture

Training is always at the epicenter of effecting change in cultures. Management accounts associate creativity with creative accounting thus enabling negative perceptions. This must be altered to encourage individual contributions and make ‘quality’ a normal part of everyone’s job.

3) Continuous improvement

Recognizing TQM as a process and not a program necessitates that an organization is committed in the long term to a never-ending search to find ways to do a better job. After all, there is always room for improvement!

4) Co-operation

Total Employee Involvement (TEI) principles and applications are paramount. The on-job experience of every employee must be fully utilized and their involvement and co-operation in developments must be measured for better performance.

5) Customer focus

The need for customers is the primary driving force to both — external and internal customers. Perfect service with zero defects is the only viable solution to this. TQM implementation allows you to focus entirely on customer satisfaction thus bridging the relationship.

6) Control

Documentation, procedures, and awareness of current practices are necessary in order to make TQM implementation a success. The need for control mechanisms is often overlooked. Unless procedures are in place, improvements cannot be monitored, nor they can be corrected.

Implementing TQM

The first step to implement TQM is to assess the organization’s current performance and reality.

Organizations’ history, current needs, precipitating factors leading to TQM, existing employee quality, Work-Life structure, elements like such should be charted out and data should be gathered to perform analysis on it. If the current reality of an organization lacks preconditions, TQM implementation should be delayed until the organization is in the state where TQM is likely to succeed. However, a certain level of pressure is probably acceptable to initiate TQM. After all, if the vision’s in the gut’s feeling, you have to approach it anyhow.

A successful TQM implementation requires:

A committed leadership
Customer-based approach
Process Management
Good Communication
Knowledge Management
Empowerment
Staff Involvement
Organizational Culture

The Key Players — Customer, Suppliers, and Employees

To achieve success with TQM, managers must understand the quality goals of their organization. They must communicate goals, understand the employees, have knowledge of the product/services, and create processes that dive deep into creating a value chain.

TQM’s philosophy is comprehensive, thus making suppliers a crucial part of its execution. Organizations must appraise new suppliers and carry out regular audits to guarantee the stock meets market standards.

Lastly, customers hold the major responsibility for a successful TQM implementation. After all, they are the reason TQM is in existence.

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Understanding Waterfall Project Management

Kumar Satyam — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:16:06 +0000

As a methodology, project management is an essential element to ensure end products are produced as planned. It keeps the budget in check and ensures it doesn’t blow out or runs behind schedule.

To keep the project flow the way it’s supposed to be, waterfall project management is a well-recognized methodology that adds intense rigour and structure to the disciple. By implementing the methodology, processes can be improved and replicated for future prospects.

Below we have charted out the entire Waterfall Project Management methodology so that you can formulate when to use and avoid the methodology.

What Is The Waterfall Approach?

Waterfall management follows a continuing trajectory methodology that completes a project in sequential steps. You create a detailed project plan that includes the requirements, expectations and other elements before proceeding further to a defining phase.

Waterfall methodology has a huge documentation process to be followed which can at times become a task in itself. But being prepared at a task cost no risk and that’s exactly what this methodology does. The methodology is agile, flexible with an iterative approach that develops a project in stages. To help you understand, consider the following approaches:

Lean: This approach cuts waste and inefficiencies by choosing the most valuable features for the software.

Kanban: This flexible approach promotes continuous collaboration and emphasizes work visualization through boards and cards.

Waterfall methodology projects

The waterfall approach is considered in play for limited projects these days. Below we have pointed out a few of the project types that utilize this approach to create a seamless project phase.

Payment gateways
Stock trading
Examination portals
E-Commerce supply chains
Anti-virus software
Flight controls
Manufacturing plants
Construction zones
Healthcare – Pharmaceuticals development
Government projects

Waterfall Phases

The waterfall model of project management has five distinctive phases which must be planned and executed carefully as each phase is a prerequisite for the next. Let’s get a walkthrough on what to expect in each phase.

1) Planning

The first phase prepares your project for the subsequent phases. Here, you assemble important information on the project through brainstorming sessions and interactive conversations.

The planning phase identifies specific deliverables needed throughout the project’s life and what it will take to produce them.

These should be queued up as the project proceeds throughout the phase. This allows the team to have a clear idea of which deliverables they’ll need to work on.

As this being the first step, make sure to put a sizable amount of time and effort to ensure you stay on the course and not go back on the drawing board.

2) Designin

The second phase establishes project specifications. Here is where you plan every action taken to deliver the project scope. This is also where you chalk out documents expected for the project timeline, budgets, etc.

Design is all about compressing the ideas and documenting the decisions from the first phase. It’s more of building a solid structure on the plan you laid out.

3) Implementation

In this phase, you execute the plan and document. A bulk of the time will be spent in this phase. Similar to the last phase, document your activities. Keeping records for external and internal use is imperative as it can be of any use in future.

4) Testing

This phase is you looking for problems in the deliverable. From the minute detail left to major changes, this is the phase where you can filter out the entire task you just completed. If your original plan was intended well, you will face little to no buffer in this phase.

5) Maintenance

This phase focuses on the maintenance to tie up loose strings, issues or defects. You can optimize the process. This phase is also a learning phase for organizations as they can utilize the knowledge of what can be done and what can be avoided in future projects.

Waterfall Advantages

The nature of waterfall methodology may seem inflexible due to it being sequential. But these are the characteristics that provide charm to the project flow.

a) Speeds training time

New team members can utilize the documented listicles to speed up the learning process and hop on the project at the earliest. The documents can become an asset as they can answer any questions the newcomers may have to ask.

b) Retain knowledge within the organization

Documentation comes in handy with employee turnover. When experienced employees exit the organization, their knowledge is well documented so that the new batch can learn from it.

c) Easy project management

Waterfall methodology is straightforward, linear. The process is such that at any point during the project, you know exactly who is working on it and how much of it is completed.

d) Reduces time to complete projects

Every project you finish using the agile methodology further refines your project management process. This allows you to find a more convenient and easier way to finish similar tasks.

e) Makes project progress simple to measure

The methodology ensures all the elements of the project are well defined. You always know where you are in a project and how much you have covered up. This allows you to determine the path and go right back on the path.

f) Easy project vizualization

Clear measurements mean clear way pathing. And clear way pathing means quick manoeuvre of the project. Gnatt charts are frequently used to show the project status.

Summary

At times, waterfall methodology may sound restrictive for certain projects. It nonetheless can be a great way to keep a well-defined, predictable project from exceeding time and budget. Thus this methodology is widely used and beneficial to smaller and concise projects with specific budgets and timelines.

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Celebrating the Declaration of Independence

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:16:04 +0000

“Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia ~ June 7, 1776

These words of determined rebellion were the impetus for the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Between June 7th and July 1st, a debate in our Continental Congress ensued and a committee was appointed to present our case for independence to the world. Members of the Committee included John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Ultimately, the task of drafting the actual document rested with Thomas Jefferson.

The Continental Congress reconvened on July 1st to consider the Lee resolution. The next day, a vote for independence was affirmed by 12 of the 13 colonies and adopted. Revisions were required and the document was amended with minor changes, leaving the original spirit of the document intact. Late in the afternoon on July 4th, the declaration was adopted by a majority in the Congress. History tells us that John Hancock signed his name to the document with great flourish to ensure that King George could read it without his spectacles. The following day, copies of the Declaration of Independence were distributed, and on July 6th, The Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to print the extraordinary document. The Declaration of Independence has since become our nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty.

For 15 or 20 years after the Declaration was written, people didn’t celebrate it much. By the 1790s, a time of bitter partisan conflicts, the Declaration had become controversial. After the War of 1812, the Federalist party began to come apart and the new parties of the 1820s and 1830s all considered themselves inheritors of Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans. Printed copies of the Declaration began to circulate again, all with the date July 4, 1776, listed at the top.

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The Best of Shmula

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:14:24 +0000

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

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[VIDEO] A Glimpse Into the Future of Manufacturing

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:14:23 +0000

Elon Musk is the co-founder, CEO and Product Architect at Tesla, overseeing all product development, engineering, and design of the company’s electric vehicles, battery products, and solar roofs. His unique expertise lends to some very interesting views on the future of manufacturing and innovation.

Sit back and enjoy a glimpse into the future!

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[VIDEO] Take Kaizen Home and Be More Successful

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:14:17 +0000

Kaizen is the Japanese word for “improvement.” In business, Kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees, from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain. It has been applied in healthcare, psychotherapy, life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries. By improving standardized processes, Kaizen aims to eliminate waste. It was first practiced in Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers, and most notably as part of the Toyota Way. It has since spread throughout the world and has been applied to environments outside business and productivity.

Now, take those simple processes from the factory floor to the home front and you might just find some success. With our world becoming more and more hectic in the digital age, we are losing the battle of a work-life balance.

Check out this amazing video on Kaizen in your personal life.

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Kaizen Methodology For Boosting Personal Performance

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:14:16 +0000

Are you feeling overwhelmed and out of control? Not really a surprise for many, considering the demands on our lives in this digital age. We are spending more time at work than any other generation in American history. As a workforce, Americans lose more paid leave from work each year than any other country. Our workdays get longer and they don’t end when we leave the workplace. Our smartphones keep us tethered to the office, and we can never really disconnect until late into the evening. Then, we have to try and balance our professional demands with our personal lives. Spouses, children and extended family demand our time as well, but seem to be getting the short end of the stick for most American workers.

So the question becomes, how do I find balance when the demands on our time continue to escalate? There are a wide range of options available for the busy professional who needs to find balance in his or her life. Browse the internet for five minutes and you will find a long list of self-help experts and gurus who claim that they can make things all better and find the balance you are seeking. But, how do you find the right help, and can you fit the cost into your budget? Things just get more and more complicated, don’t they? Well, a simple answer may be just simple techniques that are practiced in many organizations around the globe and they get results. Just take a look at the Kaizen philosophy and really understand how that applies to your personal life, just like the processes on the factory floor. Kaizen may be just the solution you are looking for!

Kaizen took hold in the years after WWII with the Japanese and the Toyota Production System (TPS). It is based on the belief that continuous, incremental improvement adds up to substantial change over time. When teams or groups implement Kaizen, they circumvent the upheaval, unrest, and mistakes that often go hand-in-hand with major innovation. It’s fitting that the Japanese word kaizen translates to good change. You can take those techniques and apply them directly to your personal life and affect real change. The core principle of Kaizen is waste reduction, so take stock in what you are doing and make some changes. Look at what you need to stop doing that is not productive or unnecessary and make some changes. Look at the time-wasters that sneak into our daily activities and carve them out. Prioritize your tasks and find simpler, easier ways of getting things done. An audit of your daily calendar will truly be an eye-opener for most people.

Daily consistent improvement is the key to success. Think small in the beginning. Those little changes will, at first, free up 15-20 minutes a day. As you make improvements, those changes get a little bigger. Now, you are not having to work through lunch, or you have actually made the time to catch a kid’s soccer game or make it home on time for date night, without missing any key objectives. They real key to success is to constantly look at ways to improve, become more efficient at tasks or build better habits. Just be patient and you will find success in the process and a much need balance between your personal and professional life.

Read more here about Kaizen. It just isn’t for the factory floor anymore!

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6 Ways to Improve Engagement Levels for Online Learners

Stefan Ionescu — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:14:12 +0000

Getting students to enroll in your online training course is only half the battle. Now that you have their attention, you have to ask yourself how you are going to keep it. The answer is: by making sure your learners are engaged. That way, they will get value for their money. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to increasing student engagement, there are things you can try.

Here are six of them.

1. Create content with a purpose

It is not unheard of for instructors to include a bunch of videos, slideshows or PDFs in to the course content thinking that is all it takes to engaged learners. Unfortunately, students can tell when content has been added for the sake of adding it, which can significantly harm engagement levels. So make sure all content in your course is geared towards student engagement and positive learning outcomes.

2. Make the content easily digestible

No one likes to read hundreds of pages or watch hour-long videos just to understand a topic. Not only does this make it harder to keep their attention, they will also find it hard to retain or recall information when it is rolled out in such large chunks. Rather, break the content down into smaller and more easily digestible pieces.

3. Deliver content in multiple formats

Learners respond differently to the material depending on how it is presented. While others are engaged by text alone, others find visual content to be more their speed. If you make your course all text, you risk alienating visual learners. So be sure the content is presented in multiple formats, from text and audio to video and interactive media.

4. Make it social

Have a discussion forum where students can interact with each other and their instructors. That way, you create a community that can help students grasp concepts through social learning. One way to make your course social is by creating a Facebook group or page and putting a badge on your website that will direct learners to the discussion.

5. Gamify the learning experience

Gamification makes your online courses fun, which can boost engagement. At the same time, the students can dive deep into the subject matter while they complete the games. And by adding in a reward system of badges and certificates as well, your learners can feel a great sense of accomplishment.

6. Provide feedback regularly

A sense of progression can keep students engaged since they know how well they are performing. This is why giving them constant feedback can help in that respect. It also makes them feel less isolated from their activities and assignments since instructors can keep them interested and on track should their performance start to decrease. All it takes is a detailed email providing positive or constructive feedback.

By trying these six things, you can go a long way towards keeping your online learners engaged. Student engagement is one of the indicators of a quality course. It encourages and motivates learners to achieve their learning outcomes, meaning it should be treated with the highest level of importance.

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Thoughts for Success in 2018

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:14:11 +0000

Savvy business leaders understand that during the month of December, there just isn’t the same focus on success. There are too many distractions. Now that the holidays are over, the clock is ticking on 2018 and it is time to get refocused and back to work! For some, that is going to be much easier said than done. Let’s take the thoughts and ideas on successful leadership and bring them down to the basics. Here are a few tips for getting 2018 off to a strong start.

Get Up and Get Going – Get an early start on your day! The most successful are up before 5 am and focusing on success. It is their time to sharpen their minds and be super productive on what matters, without the distractions of the office environment. Journal, read and send out those crucial first emails of the day.
Journal Your Thoughts – Write in a journal twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. The act of journaling clears the mind and sets in stone your thoughts, goals and inspirations. The action of writing your goals sets a solid foundation.
Read A Book – The most successful business leaders are voracious readers. Dig into books that inspire and motivate. You can get into the minds of successful people and understand their thoughts and practices.
Self-Development – Training and self-development are crucial to your success in 2018. Get out of the office and take a class, attend a seminar or enroll in live webinars. Successful leaders invest, on the average, of $10k a year on self-development and training. Stay sharp for success!
Get Control of Your Email – Time is the most valuable commodity you have. Own and control it! Stop being reactive and get proactive. Schedule time during the day to deal with email and close it out otherwise. The first emails of the day should be from you, not to you. Get your expectations out first. Control your time.

Success is about habits. Developing strong habits are key to becoming an effective leader. Learn to practice these habits until they become an engrained response that is never compromised. Look forward to a productive and successful 2018.

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Kanban – Boards and Cards Go Digital as a Viral App

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:07:36 +0000

Kanban is an approach to process change for organizations, which uses visualization with a Kanban board. It allows a better understanding of work and workflow. Kanban practice limits work in progress, which reduces waste from multitasking and context switching, exposes operational problems and encourages collaboration to improve the system. It is rooted in two sets of principles, for change management and service delivery, which emphasize evolutionary change and customer focus. Kanban practice does not prescribe a specific set of steps, but starts from existing context and encourages continuous and incremental changes to the system. It minimizes resistance to change to facilitate it. The Kanban process focuses on the customer and work, which meets their needs, rather than an individual’s activities.

Kanban boards are perceived as a variation on traditional Kanban cards. Instead of the signal cards that represent demand or capacity, the board utilizes magnets, plastic chips, colored washers or sticky notes to represent work items. Each of these objects represents an item in a production process as it moves around the board. Its movement corresponds with a knowledge work or manufacturing process. The most basic board can be divided into three sections: “waiting,” “work in progress,” and “completed work.” Complex Kanban boards can be created that visualize the flow of work across a value stream map.

For individuals and organizations using Kanban boards, a new app is making waves across the business community. Trello is an app that has exceeded 25 million users and is considered a viral runaway success. It uses the Kanban principles for managing projects, originally popularized by Toyota in the 1980s for supply chain management. Projects are represented by boards, which contain lists (corresponding to task lists). Lists contain cards (corresponding to tasks). Cards are supposed to progress from one list to the next (via drag-and-drop), for instance mirroring the flow of a feature from idea to implementation. Users can be assigned to cards. Users and boards can be grouped into organizations.

It supports iPhone, Android and Windows 8 mobile platforms, along with Mac and PC desktop platforms. It is also supported on various tablet and iPad platforms. Another key feature is integration. These API integrations allow users to access features such as Google Drive, Slack and Salesforce directly from Trello.

(This is not an endorsement of a product or its developer)

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VIDEO – Kanban Boards Come To Life With Trello

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:07:36 +0000

Trello is an web-based application, designed for group collaboration and project management. It organizes multiple projects into boards and at the same time you can see what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in process. Trello was initially introduced by Fog Creek Software.
In Trello, boards represent projects and they contain lists — in other words, task lists. Each list contains cards, which correspond to tasks. The tasks or cards progress from one list to the next, using drag-and-drop. One example might be drafting the initial plan and going through the whole process until the implementation phase. Not only can users can be assigned to cards, but users, along with boards, can also be grouped into organizations.

(this is not an endorsement of the product or the developers)

Learn more from this descriptive video

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Lean Reading & Learning: Fill Your Bookshelf with Lean Knowledge

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:07:35 +0000

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

~ Colin Powell

Learning is all about acquiring new knowledge or reinforcing existing knowledge. Behavior, skills, values, or preferences lead to a change in processing information, depth of the knowledge, attitude or behavior relative to the type and range of experience. Learning does not happen all at once, but it builds upon and is shaped by previous knowledge. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces change and the change produced is relatively permanent. Highly successful business professionals understand that learning never stops. It is an ongoing, necessary process which creates innovation and success. When you stop learning, your forward progress slowly grinds to a halt. You will find yourself left behind in a profession that you no longer understand.

One of the most effective modes of learning is reading. Most successful professional devour books. Their minds crave new thoughts and provocative ideas that are presented in books. They push away the temptation of media that doesn’t make them smarter, richer or more successful in their profession. You should set aside at least two hours every day to read and learn. We have identified five books that you should add to your bookshelf of professional development in Six Sigma.

The Toyota Way – The 14 key principles that define the Toyota style of management.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement – Learn how bottlenecks in the manufacturing process hinder the company from meeting its goals.

This is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox – The book has brought greater clarification to the essence of lean and revolutionized top executives and employees understanding of what lean actually is.

Managing to Learn: Using the A3 Management Process – This Lean management book provides an introduction to the A3 process as well as methodologies to discover the root cause of a problem.

The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development – By focusing on eight major areas that help product organizations achieve flow, the author uses data and practical methods to guide product organizations to this new approach to delivery processes.

Note This list is not an endorsement of the author or is it a ranking of importance or relevance.

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TED Talks: Here Are Ten That Will Make an Impact

OpEx Learning Team — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 06:07:34 +0000

TED is a global community. It welcomes people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. TED believes passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately the world. Through the website, they are building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers and innovators.

Most professionals have found TED to be a wealth of spirit, knowledge and thought. Here is a collection of TED Talks videos that will inspire and provoke!

Ten Thought Provoking TED Talks You Must See

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