Stability vs. Disruption

Disruption is a very trendy word. Articles about disruptive products, technologies, and services are increasingly common in business magazines. This is especially true in some industries such as consumer electronics and entertainment. Recently I even saw a Linkedin profile of an individual who described himself as a ‘disruptive change agent’. Makes you wonder how he … Read more

Process Capability: A Critical Management Tool (Part 3)

In the previous blogs we covered the basics of process capability and its use as a Management tool. Part 1 addressed process capability for continuous, normally distributed data. Part 2 covered Short Term vs. Long Term capability, plus capability analysis when the target is not centered between the spec limits. You can read those blogs … Read more

Smart Manufacturing and Lean Six Sigma

What is Smart Manufacturing? And how is it related to Lean Six Sigma? Also called Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Cyber-Physical Systems, Smart Manufacturing has been the topic of conversation for several years among manufacturing experts, strategists and thought leaders. What does this mean to Lean Six Sigma Practitioners? Can we leverage … Read more

Adding Rigor to VOC & VOB: Quality Function Deployment

All LSS practitioners understand the importance of the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Voice of the Business (VOB). Determining the VOC and VOB during the Define Phase is critical to project success in the DMAIC Process. Most GBs and BBs spend little time on this activity and use basic approaches for gathering and understanding … Read more

Better Facility Design Using DMAIC

Author: Rodney Reddic The greatest opportunity to eliminate and/or reduce waste in a production facility is the upfront design and planning of the facility. From a construction cost standpoint, it is about as inexpensive to construct a well-planned facility as to implement a poorly planned one. Decisions made during the factory planning and design stage … Read more

Six Questions, Six Green Belts

TMAC is always seeking a better understanding of our Voice of the Customer (VOC). More specifically, we want to learn more about the viewpoint of our students. After some debate we settled on just three questions about two major areas – classroom training and project work. That is, a total of Six Questions. In addition … Read more