Why Is Six Sigma Important To Lean ?

The kanbans are calculated and replenished, the cells are formed, change overs reduced from 8 hours to 50 minutes, inventories are down 95 % : overall system transformed from Push to Pull; are we done yet ?! Absolutely not!!
It is imperative that there is a team ( or teams) working on Voice Of Customer (VOC). The last thing an company wants is to make a lean system out of camera rolls when the customer os asking for digital prints (we all know how that ends ).
That is where Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) does a fantastic job. More to come...

Lean Bronze Certification

A few months back I received my Lean Bronze Certification. I was pretty relentless with my projects, this was a good certification to pursue ! The best part was I had more than 5 to choose from :).

McDonald's Lean ?

It's all about product velocity when it comes to fa(s)t food :) There's another oxymoron, eh?!

Phew!

I am now an ASQ CSSBB and can't wait to hear back from SME regarding the Lean Bronze portfolio. Hopefully there is no "rework" involved, that would really be an irony given that it is a lean portfolio :). I recently picked up a good value stream mapping tool, the shrink wrap roll ! How often has one ran out of white boards, brown paper, scratched out data, etc. I found the shrink wrap easy to find on the shipping dock, adheres well on shop walls.....good find without a doubt!
A couple of big projects and our value stream will look a lot better....2008 will not end without a fight :) !

Ubuntu Lean.

Jon Miller's blog is one of the best 'Lean' blogs. His recent post about "going fast vs going far" reminds me of ubuntu which in Zulu loosely translates to the following :

“

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

”

The underlying principles of lean is respect as Jon points out another posting. I recall another statement from one of Gary Convis' interview about leading as if one had no authority. Principles of lean are all around us, if only we chose to see.

Please note : I refered to wikipedia for Ubuntu's definition

Busy Year For Lean

It's been a very eventful year for me from a lean six sigma perspective. I am (very) fortunate to be involved in many projects in all parts of the value stream (upstream-downstream).
For example , an upstream process conversion project will help cut down lead time by an estimated 13 hours and help compete on the basis of time. I identified this project during a VSA a couple of years back. A midstream project will help level the load coming downstream and finally downstream in the machine shop, cells and adding capacity ensures single piece flow and uniformity.
All this and more : I am almost done with my lean bronze portfolio, my ASQ SSBB project and a paper based on Lean Six Sigma.

Deming: Far Ahead Of His Times.