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Improvement Insights Blog
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Hand Tools or Power Tools? What will you use to maximize productivity and profitability with Six Sigma?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Now, out there in the world there are things called force multipliers. If you think about it, if you’ve ever done a little improvement project, would you rather use a handsaw or a power saw, right? Would you rather use a screwdriver or would you rather use a little power drill, right? These are the kinds of things that make life easy and you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get them, right?
Continue Reading "Force Multipliers for Maximum Productivity"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Over 80 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating some of the software’s most frequently used tools and answering questions asked by attendees.
Some attendees were familiar with the software and already use it, some had only begun to use it; all were interested in learning new ways that QI Macros can help them with their Agile Lean Six Sigma and Quality Improvement efforts. (You can hear him answering questions and comments typed in by webinar attendees.)
If you saw a feature demonstrated in the webinar that might have been added to QI Macros after the version you’re using (for instance, the Improvement Project Wizard, the Fixed Limit indicator or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.
Continue Reading "6/8/21 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
Does voicemail ever annoy you? It does me. If we used Lean on voicemail to achieve what the customer wants, it would be quite different. And this has lessons for every business.
“I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of calls from people who want to sell me something or want me to take a survey so that they can sell me something or want me to donate money to something. I screen all those calls but some of those calls go to voicemail.
“I don’t know about you but when I call my voicemail, what does it do?
Continue Reading "Lean Voice Mail"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean.
The other day, I found myself with a few hours to kill between appointments. I happened to be near the hip, fashionable area of town so I thought I’d wander around and peruse some of the shops. While the past year has been hard on retail businesses and has resulted in the closure of several places I remember, it’s good to see that others have started to spring up in their place.
As I was wandering the aisles at a small, newly-opened clothing store, a voice from behind me called out my name. I turned to see a tall, handsomely dressed man.
Continue Reading "An open and clothed case…"
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros Monthly Newsletters.
Most people are terrified of statistical formulas. How many do you need to know? I think my answer will surprise you.
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Next to my desk at the office I have dozens of books about Statistical Process Control and Quality Improvement and all the other stuff. How many of those formulas do I think you all need to know?
“My answer is zero. The software will do all of that for you. You do not need to know a single formula. I go to these conferences and I talk to people and I talk about control charts and people all start to get anxious about, “Oh my god, do I have to learn any formulas?”
Continue Reading "How Many SPC Books and Formulas Do You Need?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Statistics.
If you believe that Quality Improvement is all about finding and fixing special causes, you’re just part of the Fix-It Factory. Become part of the Prevention Factory.
“Hi, this is Jay Arthur. I’m here on Ka’anapali Beach in Maui taking a little vacation, but I was thinking about this: “I’ve talked to a lot of people and they seem to think that that they have all these meetings where they fix special causes and they think they’re doing Quality Improvement. They’re not. If you’re just fixing special causes, that’s part of the Fix-It Factory. You want to become part of the Prevention Factory.
Continue Reading "Become Part of the Prevention Factory"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Watching golf, I’ve had a feeling that there is a pattern to misses by both men’s and women’s professionals. It seemed like most putts missed were below the hole. So this weekend, I recorded the final round of the 2021 LPGA Pure Silk Championship and studied the putts missed.
All greens are curved to challenge golfers. Few putts are straight. I can usually tell by the arc of the putt how it missed the hole. Short ones are easy. With high putts, they arc over the hole, then fall down past the hole. With low putts, they arc before the hole and fall off.
Continue Reading "Pro Golf Missed Putts"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.
If you think your role in Quality Improvement is merely to prevent special cause variation, maybe it’s time to go “Upstream” with your thinking.
“Hi, this is Jay Arthur. I’m here in Ka’anapali in Maui and having a little vacation time.
“I just finished reading Dan Heath’s new book “Upstream,” and for those of you in Quality Improvement you would see the pattern in here instantly as just continuous improvement: get some data, figure out how to fix things and then fix them. He’s tackling bigger things like… “How do we reduce murders of abused women?” or “How do we reduce dropout rates in schools?”
Continue Reading "Go Upstream for Quality Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
If you had a countermeasure that was 95 percent effective at preventing catastrophic failure of your company or business, how long would you wait to implement it?
(The best resource I’ve found for locating vaccine appointments is https://www.vaccinespotter.org/).
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Let me ask you: if you had a countermeasure that was 95% effective at preventing the catastrophic failure of your business and your company, how long would you wait to implement that?
“Back in 2014 right before Thanksgiving (the day before Thanksgiving) I came down with the flu and I was sick as a dog for 10 days.
Continue Reading "95 Percent Effective Against Catastrophic Failure"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
It’s been an unusual time to be a Freelance Quality Improvement Specialist. In 2019, my business was almost all within 20 miles of my home. As a result of the pandemic I began offering consultations online via video meetings and computer screen sharing. Because of that, I was able to serve clients worldwide in 2020. Now many of those clients refer me to friends and colleagues in their geographic areas, and I’m able to continue to do so for these new clients as well.
Such was the case last week when I received an email from Tom. He began by telling me that he was referred by Mike and Rudy, the co-owners of Schenker Metal.
Continue Reading "Milling in the name of…"
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros Monthly Newsletters.
