Improvement Insights – Lean Six Sigma Moneybelt

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Many People Fear Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Most people fear math and statistics. That fear prevents them from using SPC, even though it’s now easy. If you can type, you can do SPC.

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“I recently found a reprint of one of Shewhart’s books which had a preface by W. Edwards Deming. Now, this was reprinted back in about 1970 and in it, Deming suggests that it may take the world 50 years to really grasp Shewhart’s brilliance and implement it.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

The Flip Side of Arthur’s 4-50 Rule

You may be familiar with the 80-20 Rule. Arthur’s 4-50 Rule takes it farther. Here’s the flip side of the 4-50 rule.

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“If you know anything about me, I always preach Arthur’s 4-50 rule: That 4% of what you’re doing is producing over 50% of the mistakes, errors, waste, rework, and whatever. But let’s look at the flip side of the 4-50 rule, which is 50% of what you’re doing is only producing 4% of the benefit.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

SPC Gives You Peace of Mind

Every process has a heart beat. SPC monitors that heart beat and let’s you know if everything is okay or something is going wrong. Both give you peace of mind because you know what’s going on and can take corrective action only when needed.

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“One of the things that I just sort of realized is that SPC, or Statistical Process Control, can give you peace of mind… peace of mind.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

90% of People Work In Service Industries

90% of People Work In Service Industries. and 90% of people in manufacturing work in the service side of the business. So why are we teaching everyone every tool they might need on a factory floor?

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“It used to be that I’d get lots of requests over time for more exotic tools that are in the ‘long tail’ of tools that you might use in Six Sigma.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Harder is Easier

People seem to think Six Sigma and SPC are hard. They aren’t anymore. That’s why harder is easier.

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I was reading Eric Ries’ new book “Incorruptible,” and in there he has this concept: He says ‘Harder is easier.’ What? How can harder be easier?

“Well, I think you’ve all had that experience where it may have taken you a little bit longer to learn how to do things the right way, and then that made it easier forever, right?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

If You Can Type, You Can Do SPC

You don’t have to be a statistician or Six Sigma Belt to do SPC. If you can type numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, you can do SPC.

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“If you can type, you can do SPC. That’s right, Statistical Process Control. I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I find so many people are afraid; like they have to know formulas, they have to be a statistician, they have to do something mystical, lots of training and in-depth whatever, threatening with how they feel about their own thing about math and statistics and everything else.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Control Chart Rules

Statistical textbooks disagree on what constitutes Control Chart Rule 2 – Zone A: 2 of 3 points above/below 2 sigma. Which one is right?

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“Got a call from a customer this week. He was all upset because of control chart rule two, which is about having points above two sigma or below two sigma (two out of three).

“Well, guess what? Some people in their books say those two points have to be on the same side of the center line.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Old Habits Die Hard

Old habits die hard. Especially in Six Sigma. Which ones are you hanging on to?

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“The other day I was in with my employee Phil and he had to send a text to a customer or something, or read a text from a customer. I noticed as he was typing, he was just skating on the keyboard and then doing things. And I thought, “Wow, that’s different.”

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Why Start With Run Charts?

In the last century, we trained people on run charts to prepare them for control charts. Why are we still doing it? What does it cost us?

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“In the last century, calculating the center lines and control limits and everything for control charts was difficult. And so to make it simple, we started off with simply doing a center line, an average or median to get people used to the idea of calculating something.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Kleenex Box Hack Using TRIZ

When your Kleenex box tissues don’t pop up, what do you do? Use TRIZ.

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I don’t know about you, but some things sort of bother me, like sometimes the Kleenex gets stuck down in there, you know. You could try and run your hand down in there to pull something out, but that screws up all the plastic in here.

“But I was thinking about TRIZ, and there’s 40-some-odd different rules for coming up with better ways to do something.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.