Six Sigma Blog by Jay Arthur

Improvement Insights Blog

Latest "Six Sigma" Posts

QI Macros Software Demo – 2021 Lean Six Sigma World Conference

Thanks for attending the 2021 Lean Six Sigma World Conference. Click below to see a quick demo of how QI Macros can help you prevent waste, rework and lost profit.



Posted by Jay Arthur in Lean, Manufacturing, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

QI Macros Software Demo – 2021 ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference

Thanks for attending the 2021 ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference. Click below to see a quick demo of how QI Macros can help you prevent waste, rework and lost profit.



Posted by Jay Arthur in Lean, Manufacturing, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Are You Sewing Your Own Six Sigma Toolkit?

Mom used to sew all of her own clothes, just like many people in Six Sigma are creating their own chart templates or code. Mom figured out a better way. You can too.



“Growing up in the 50s, my mom made all of her own clothes. She would go to the fabric store and pick out fabrics and pick out patterns. She’d come home and on this big cardboard thing she’d lay out the pattern on the thing and cut out all the pieces. Then she’d have bought thread, and then she’d sit there at the sewing machine and she would sew blouses and skirts and dresses.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.

Arthur’s 4-50 Rule – The Secret to Breakthrough Improvement

We’re all familiar with Pareto’s rule: 20% of causes produce 80% of the results. But are you familiar with Arthur’s 4-50 rule? Typically, 4% of any process – one step out of 35 – is the cause of more than 50% of waste, rework and lost profit.



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

“Now I’ve probably talked to you about this before, but we’re all familiar with Pareto’s rule that 20% of what you do produces 80% of the mistakes, errors, waste, rework, lost profit. 20% of your customers produce 80% of your revenue.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Statistics.

2021 New Year’s Resolutions for Quality

Here’s three New Year’s Resolutions to accelerate your quality improvements: 1) Raw Data Diet, 2) Quality Tools and 3) Worst First. Here’s why these will change your future and your company’s:



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur. It is the New Year and so it’s time for some New Year’s resolutions. Here’s some resolutions I’d like you to consider.

“First, go on a raw data diet. That means you need to know everything about each individual defect, mistake and error, and then you can summarize that. If you start from summarized data you don’t know where the raw data is, and so most of the time you can’t actually figure out what to fix without the raw data.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.

Six Sigma Dogma

When I started in quality improvement, everyone preached Total Quality Management (TQM). Before that it was quality circles. I’d like you to consider that the gospel of Six Sigma is holding back progress. Here’s why:



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

“The other day I was [presenting] a webinar for one of the ASQ sections; I’ve been doing Agile Lean Six Sigma webinars for the Agile sections that want something to do during this pandemic. One of the guys said, “Well, you’re sort of telling me that that we don’t need Green Belts and Black Belts to do a project.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.

Deming’s 14 Points Were Created for 20th Century Quality

Most quality consultants still quote Deming’s 14 points, but the U.S. economy has shifted. Corporate CEOs are traded like running backs in the NFL. Time for a 21st Century approach to quality that factors in the new reality.



https://www.qimacros.com/pdf/Agile-LSS-Mini-Manifesto.pdf

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

“You know, in the Quality world, we still bring up Deming’s 14 points quite a bit. That’s kind of 20th Century Quality. Now, not that those ideas are extinct or anything, but a lot of it was about that time period.

“When I was working at the phone company we didn’t change CEOs but once every 10, 20, 30 years, right?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Put the C back in DMAIC

Many improvement projects fail after a few months because teams forget to put the C in DMAIC. Here’s what’s missing and what to do about it:



 

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

“I normally talk to you about improvement stuff, but today I want to talk to you about something I keep seeing, which is: People make improvements and then six months later they’re gone. Make an improvement, six months later they they’re gone.

“We need to put the C back in DMAIC: the Control phase. Now, why don’t people do this piece?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Using Theory of Constraints to Accelerate Lean Six Sigma

Theory of Constraints (TOC) can give us insights into how to accelerate Lean Six Sigma and get results in a day. Here’s how:



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

“You know, I’ve been around Quality for almost 30 years now; 30 years exactly, almost. If I think about it, it’s super cool… but why is it so slow and so unsticky? Why is it taking so long for it to get everywhere? I’ve come up with some theories about that.

“If you’re familiar with a technique called “Theory of Constraints,” there’s a whole process to figure out why things aren’t running as quickly as they should.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.

Accelerating Software Quality Using the 4-50 Rule

Leaders, managers and programmers sometimes get frustrated with software systems and try to rewrite them. This usually fails. It is possible to use Six Sigma and the 4-50 rule to find and fix the few code modules that have the most bugs and require the most enhancements. This delivers software quality without the high cost and risk. Here’s how:



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

“Today I want to talk to you about software. Now, some of you may work in software, some of you may use software… (If you have a phone, you’re using software) There’s lots of software around, and sometimes there’s bugs and stuff like that, and sometimes we’re enhancing things.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.