Healthcare is important to all of us. We like to believe that not only are we being cured of our ailment, but that our healthcare provider really does care about us. If it is our loved one that is being affected, we’d like to believe that the healthcare provider did everything within their power to save or improve their quality of life.

On the other hand, the healthcare provider has to deal with operating costs, government control of health insurance reimbursements, rising malpractice lawsuits, among other financial issues. It is safe to assume that rising healthcare costs isn’t all the fault of the economy; some of those costs could be attributed to the providers not being as efficient and effective as they could be.

Six Sigma to the Rescue

Six Sigma is a data driven process, which means the decision maker is…data. So gut instinct, intuition, even past history doesn’t play any part in changes that need to be made in the present.

This data includes Six Sigma’s own tactics that will prioritize and isolate the issue at hand; then given a time frame (usually 4-6 months) to improve the issue by 50%. Please understand that Six Sigma’s ultimate goal is to get the problem corrected to as near perfection as possible.

The healthcare industry is the ultimate service industry. So as an example, you’d have to define the patient’s needs, requirements and the process that is being targeted for improvement. Each improvement has its own targeted requirement. Patient satisfaction is top priority in the healthcare industry, and it looks like Six Sigma is making its mark.

6Sigma.com has many clients across the healthcare field, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, California Department of Mental Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Aetna, among others.

If you would like more information or are interested in one of our courses please visit the 6Sigma.com training class schedule.

Learn more information about 6Sigma.com’s Lean Six Sigma training coursework, available as classroom, onsite, or online options.

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The Conversion

Although the processes are the same, they have to be converted on a personal scale with a personal meaning to your specific issues. The Six Sigma tools are brilliant in their simplicity, and can be used to ultimately fix the root causes.

DMAIC: The Phases

See how applying DMAIC makes sense with your own budgeting needs:

D-Define: In this phase, you will need to establish your issue (problem) in a clear concise statement. Then, outline what you expect to achieve (goal) along with a specific time frame. This also includes why it is important that this change takes place.

M-Measure: In this phase, collecting data is done on a continuous bases, so we should know the minute we have hit one of our prime causes for the current situation. So, we want to identify all those causes. Sample causes are — not having a budget or not staying to current budget, eating out too much, being undisciplined in spending, or not making enough money for current lifestyle.

A-Analyze: This phase is a little tricky, because there is the surface issue of what is causing the problem, and then there is the root cause of the problem. So looking at the Measure phase, figure out which issue is causing your lack of money. Then figure out why you are doing that. So, if you find that you are impulse buying after you have a bad day at work, now you need to figure out what is causing those “bad” days at work.

I-Improve: So, after you have figured out the deep rooted causes for your excess spending, it’s now time to get creative and start thinking of possible solutions. You need to test drive these solutions to see if they are sustainable.

C-Control: Be gentle with yourself in the control phase. After all, the improvements might have worked short term in the test drive stage of the Improve phase, but aren’t really sustainable in the long term. So armed with strong intention, if the new recommendations you have established aren’t working, then redo them to more controlled, sustainable ones.

Learn more about Six Sigma tools through one of our training courses! For more information on our courses or services please visit 6sigma.com.

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Prepare for Take Off

Control plans. They are crucial to the success of any operation or business venture. The more technical or complex the situation, the more crucial a control plan is to achieve the desired results. The perfect example of control plans exist in the aviation industry. From the gate to flight operations and back to the gate, pilots and aircraft operate in a state of absolute control. The control excised ensure a successful and desire outcome for the airline and the passenger. Pilots take charge of the aircraft prior to the flight and accept a flight plan or script for the flight, which covers every aspect of the operation. Departure time, taxi plan, take off runway, speeds, altitudes, routes to the destination, arrival runway and arrival gate are all outlined. This level of control assures a methodical and controlled operation from beginning to end. The pilots responsibility to execute the plan with precision to achieve the desired outcomes. Along the way, there will be variables and unpredictable variations. The pilot is then responsible to meet those variances safely and then bring the operation back into harmony with the plan to achieve the desired outcome.

Flying High With a Control Plan

A Six Sigma control plan is no different than a flight plan for the airlines. It is a written summary of the process that lays out in detail the steps to be taken to maintain a process or a device operating at the current level of performance. During the flight, a Six Sigma professional is just like a pilot, they engage tools that ensure performance that is in harmony with a control plan. Just like the pilot, a Six Sigma professionals performance can be monitored, checked and verified at any point in the plan to ensure the plan is in effect. A few sample elements of a control plan could include chart type, champion, location, and measurement methods.

When variances and unexpected deviations occur, the Six Sigma professional can manipulate and execute the use of tools to bring the operation back into harmony with the plan. The entire process is clearly defined, transparent and logical from beginning to end.

Cleared to Land

When properly prepared and executed, a control plan brings clarity and understanding to any operation. It demands attention and requires professionals to execute their practice in a precious manner, while properly handling unexpected deviation. The operation will truly achieve the desired results when it is given proper attention and control. When the flight arrives at the gate and the engines shut down, a Six Sigma professional will have achieved the best recognition possible … Mission Accomplished!

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Leadership was required to support the initiative 100 percent. At the time, leaders were required to take a 13-day, 100 hour training program, with completion of a project by the end of 1998.

The primary focus at the time was improvement on the manufacturing side. It was at GE that MAIC (Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) actually started; but since GE Capital, the financial services side of the company, accounted for nearly 40 percent of the profits of the company, it didn’t make sense to just focus on improving the manufacturing aspect. So consequently, GE Capital got on board with Six Sigma, and through their processes eventually added the Define stage, creating the acronym DMAIC as we know it today.

When Six Sigma was officially implemented at GE in 1996, there wasn’t any money saved: the company invested $200 million, and only saw a cost savings of $170 million. This would change in 1997, when CEO Jack Welch made the choice to tie in leadership bonuses to Six Sigma results. It proved to work: that year, $400 million was invested in Six Sigma, with an overall savings incurred of $700 million.

That year also saw some significant changes in the methodology at GE. Three different initiatives started to become a stronger focus at the company:

• CQ (Commercial Quality) Applications: focusing on areas outside of manufacturing, such as inventory management processes and pricing
• Creation of Green Belts: This role was created primarily to support the Black Belts and Master Black Belts, helping to support and analyze problems involved in quality improvement projects. It also ensured that Six Sigma would be fully implemented and everyone would get into the methodology.
• Creation of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS): the objective was to determine the needs of customers and the business, in order to design a product or service, as opposed to improving an existing product or service.

The focus the first few years of implementation at GE was on internal cost savings; this began to change in 1998, where the attention changed to focus on the customer and issues impacting them, such as delivery and customer service.

So why was the Six Sigma program so immensely successful? Many attribute it to the focused, hands-on implementation by Welch and upper management. From surprise work floor visits from management, to consistent monthly reviews and reports, the Six Sigma team was all in in order to ensure a successful implementation. It certainly worked: over the course of five years, GE realized an overall cost savings of $12 billion.

The post GE and Six Sigma: The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship appeared first on 6sigma.

Define: Define the problem by understand the details and complexities. The description should include the challenges to the customer/business. The customer(s) project goals and timeframe for completion should be included.
Measure: Map out the current process and gather all related data. Identify the data that is available and a plan to gather it. Gather the data and summarize it, telling the story using graphic tools.
Analyze: Thoroughly investigate and identify all elements of what causes the problem. The analysis must be both statistical and qualitative, which will lead to the formulation and hypothesis testing about the root cause of the problem.
Improve: Implement a solution that will provide verifiable solutions to the problem. Directly address the root cause with an improvement. Brainstorm potential solutions and test if the solutions resolve the problem.
Control: Maintain the implemented changes and maintain the course. When the solution selected has resolved the problem, the improvements must be hardwired into the operations and culture of the organization. The project team must continue to monitor and measure the implementation and achievements to verify there results reported.

Some overall requirements define this approach. They come from the customer and/or the business, depending the problem scenario. These requirements are translated into what is critical-to-quality (CTQ), which defines what criteria to evaluate what the good looks like. It is critical that the project team must meet the requirements of each phase of DMAIC before declaring completion and closing it out.

The DMAIC method was structured to answer the following questions:

What does the customer define as the problem? Is the problem chronic or a one-time occurrence?
What characterizes the problem and how has it changed with time?
What are the root causes and what improvements correct them?
What controls should be implemented to sustain the improvement?

The process is this simple, as long as the DMAIC is followed. By following the process with focus and intent, you will be able to identify the cause(s) of the problem, implement a resolution based on fact and finally see resolution to the problem being addressed. Contrary to some of the information about Lean Six Sigma, the practice is simple and easily understood. Since the practice is based upon clear principles, it can be implemented in any organization, across any industry and in businesses from small to large. Like with any other process or practice, leadership in the organization must be committed to a climate of perpetual innovation. The entire must understand the level of commitment and the focus on creating an indelible cultural change.

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Working smarter means Lean Six Sigma! This is the perfect time to get your Lean on by learning and incorporating this method into your business. Lean Six Sigma provides you with the tools and methodology to increase productivity, decrease waste, increase profits, improve staff morale, and improve the quality of the products and customer service. 

Your business will come back much stronger and very much improved from this pandemic, and most importantly Lean Six Sigma can prepare you for any other setbacks that could happen in the future.

Start now by checking out our White Belt Certification Courses!

Are you new to the world of Six Sigma?

You’ve come to the right place! Our Six Sigma White Belt program provides an overview of the Lean and Six Sigma methodologies and prepares you for advancement into Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt programs. This is your opportunity to learn the foundation of the premier business methodology used at Fortune 500 companies across the country.

If you would like to get a taste of what Six Sigma is all about, then the White Belt program is for you. Six Sigma White Belts can not only assist with change management within an organization, but they can also participate on local problem solving teams that support projects. It is the entry level belt program that provides the foundation for the Six Sigma doctrine and principles.

Overview of the White Belt Certification Program

• History and Fundamentals of Lean and Six Sigma
• Structure of Six Sigma
• Understanding the Voice of the Customer
• DMAIC Processes (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control)
• Process of Waste Minimization and Connection to Customer Satisfaction

Attention! This is the perfect time to get started. Check out our online training courses and virtual classroom training with live instructors.

For more information please visit 6sigma.com. 

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Peter Peterka’s innovation had already created these choices:

•  The Virtual Classroom Live and Interactive
•  The Self-paced Online Courses
•  On location (You choose your state and location and date most convenient from a list)
•  The hybrid (A combination of both online and on location)
•  The custom class (If you would like to hold a private class at your business for staff)

Who Is Peter Peterka?

Peter Peterka has over 15 years of experience as a Certified Master Black Belt.

He has spent 20 years as an improvement specialist and engineer, working at major corporations such as Dell, 3M, GE, Hewlett-Packard, DOW, Motorola, Intel, Xerox, Seagate.

Peter was also granted the opportunity to work with the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team! Peter received his MS degree from Iowa State University and his BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University.

His career includes many accolades in developing and implementing Six Sigma practices across many organizations. He has also provided instruction in Process and Produce Development, Manufacturing Process Improvement, and Business Process Improvement.

Peter has always maintained the integrity of Six Sigma, which includes who teaches, which is the reason our training organization is authorized by IACET to offer CEUs. We are also authorized as an approved provider by PMI to offer PDUs. 

Interested in learning how to earn credits through our programs? For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com. 

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The offensive driver takes control of the road without regard to those surrounding them and forces those vehicles to adhere to their demands. Usually it is the offensive driver who causes mistakes to be made, that lead to accidents.

On the other hand, the defensive driver keeps monitoring the situation, anticipating dangerous conditions and quickly responds to mistakes made by others avoiding accidents.

For the defensive driver, the Six Sigma 5 Whys could symbolically be called a way of life that’s programmed into their mindset, used as a precautionary tale before getting on the road. For the offensive driver, it is used to gain insight as to what caused the accident. Most people conduct their business offensively; that’s why the Six Sigma 5 whys is a great tool.

Let’s take a look at Six Sigma 5 Whys in the following infographic.

For more information on our on-demand online classes or our virtual classroom training, please visit 6sigma.com.

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Defects: When products don’t meet specifications or standards and you must get rid of them. In addition to wasting materials, you’re also wasting your money in production costs as well as time. This doesn’t include the fact that if the product got to the customer, and your customer has to return the item, this would create an unhappy customer. All of the preceding adds up to lost revenue.

Overproduction: Producing in big huge batches isn’t a good idea unless those items have already been sold. Since today’s economy changes so quickly (and so do trends), the products you produced might sit on the shelf for ages. This will take up space, materials you might need for something else, and money spent on products you haven’t sold yet. Excess inventory is always a big waste.

Waiting: Any time there is waiting involved between ending one process and the beginning of  another, that is a waste of time. Readjust how the process is conducted so everything runs with a nice flow and without wasting time.

Non-Utilized Talent: The frontline workers are the true heroes, because they recognize process waste since they see it on a daily basis. So instead of the supervisors or leads who don’t do the work making adjustments to the processes, ask those who do. The frontline workers actually know more than most people at the top and are underutilized, and that is a huge waste of money and talent.

Transportation: To eliminate this unnecessary movement of a product or service from one department to another, combine tasks or roles.

Motion: This happens when there is a poorly-designed process, poorly-designed workspace or station, or a situation where tools and equipment must be shared.

Extra Processing: This happens when there are redundancies throughout the production process, procedures, or protocols. 

For more information on workplace waste as well as our virtual training courses, please visit 6sigma.com. 

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With knowing how this current state of affairs affected your business, you can now strengthen parts of your company that require it. As many of us have done in the past with earthquake preparedness, let us learn from this and not procrastinate.

If your business doesn’t have any remote positions, ask yourself could any of the current administrative positions be remote? Of course they can, but you need to have a system in place and the time is now. 

Productivity Improvement

There are two great apps that help connect the entire team whether your team is small, medium or large. These apps literally make the entire company portable. You can communicate in real time and immediately. They even have chat and call options. 

• Slack App
• Microsoft Teams

You might be surprised on how much your company will benefit as well as our environment!

Please take this time to visit our virtual classroom training and self-paced online options on our site. Remember when this is over, our economy will recover, and while we are recovering from this you will want to work efficiently and effectively! You’ll want the Six Sigma knowledge for your business.

For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com. 

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We can apply this principle to work situations as well. This infographic shows just how to do a root cause analysis step-by-step. It is an easy way to get rid of a stubborn problem once and for all!

The post INFOGRAPHIC: What is Root Cause Analysis? appeared first on 6sigma.

If a space is not being used correctly and is unkept and cluttered, this can lead to mistakes and mishaps such as accidents and slowdown in the overall production. This can lead to loss of revenue, and would impact the company in a negative way. 

In Japanese, 5S stands for Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke. The English equivalents are Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.

Let’s look at this infographic and see how this works.

For information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com. 

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Organizations that do not subscribe to Six Sigma methodologies or the Six Sigma culture take a huge chance when implementing a “good” idea. This is because they don’t go through proper analysis and measurement for the data they need to take this “good” idea through to fruition. 

The management or those with clout decide that this “idea” will be successful, without any data to back up the decision. So they go ahead and implement the idea, perhaps in beta mode, to keep costs down and minimize risk. 

After the idea is implemented is when the success is weighed, and problems are addressed after they have affected the business in some unwanted way. An idea might sound good in theory, but until you have the data to back it up, you’re taking a risk with your established business.

Timing Is Everything

Problems must be identified, data must be collected, solutions must be brainstormed, and a carefully thought out plan must be obtained before implementation — and not after! This is why Six Sigma has tools such as statistical analysis and process mapping. These tools will aid in visualizing the issues and make it easier to come up with a solution.

By working to obtain the necessary data before you implement that idea, you will save yourself a great deal of time, money, and unnecessary stress.

Six Sigma tools are simple to use and reap huge benefits, even if you implemented them without first doing your due diligence. Some of these incredible tools are the 5 Whys, 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Regression Analysis, Pareto Chart, FMEA, and Kaizen.

When we say timing is everything, we are saying that prevention is better than a cure. Practicing due diligence is a small price to pay to increase the success of your business ideas.

For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com. 

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Since we are using Kaizen for personal use, we will customize the process so it makes sense. The main wording used will stay the same.

The Kaizen Cycle For Continuous Improvement

• Get people involved. Since this is for eliminating a personal habit, get your family and friends or anyone that is in direct communication with you on a regular basis involved. They can become your support system, as they are a group of people whose opinions you respect.
• Find problems. Using the group above, gather a list of problems that the habit you are trying to eliminate is causing. This group will make you see how widespread the habit you have is impacting people.
• Create a solution. Ask your group of people that you have chosen to help you come up with creative solutions. Make a list of all solutions that your group has come up with. Pick a winner from this list.
• Test the solution. After picking the winning solution, take small steps to test it out.
• Analyze the results. This depends on the habit you are trying to break. Let’s say that you watch too much television. Measure and analyze at various times which times it is that you are in the most danger of relapsing, and at that point replace with the good habits.
• Standardize the results. Do what works and have a backup plan for a good habit to replace the bad one.
• Repeat. This list again if need be. This can be used  for a host of habits you want to eliminate.

For more information on our Lean Six Sigma training courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com.

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Six Sigma’s core belief is that every team member or staff member is uniquely responsible for the success of the company and that Gallup Poll provides the data to prove that point.

Recent findings suggest that unhappy, unengaged company employees result in:

• More absenteeism
• Higher employee turnover
• Decreased production
• More mistakes and variations
• Decreased company loyalty

If Six Sigma’s core beliefs were instilled in the company culture and the employees were treated as a valuable asset, that alone would increase production.

It seems that most leaders at companies only speak to the team when there is something that they are doing wrong, or they hand out compliments to the employee that they deem needs the encouragement. On a surprise note, the inferior employee starts to do better while the superior employee either quits or lowers his standard. This practice is more prevalent than you think.

A scholarly study by the Asian Journal on Quality concluded that the following were true:

• Successful Six Sigma implementation is started by a view of the whole picture or a top-down approach.
• Six Sigma training gives business strategy and development of tangible benefits.   
• Six Sigma training improved morale and job satisfaction.
• For successful Six Sigma implementation, Six Sigma training is a key factor.

A clear understanding of the concepts involved in a supportive positive environment is such a small price to pay for higher production and a happier workplace. It is a simple idea with great value.

For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com.

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