Six Sigma Tagged Improvement Insights

Improvement Insights Blog

Posts tagged "Six Sigma"

3/8/22 QI Macros webinar

Over 50 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.

Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties that resulted in this particular webinar not being properly recorded.

Since we aren’t able to post the recording of March’s webinar, we instead offer a webinar below that was recorded in February:



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 or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

2/8/22 QI Macros Webinar

Over 70 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 or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

Surprising My First Employee

Some people think working long hours and putting in a lot of overtime is the red badge of courage. They are wrong. Here’s why:



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

“When I first hired my first employee Adrienne she’d been working for Arthur Andersen, which was a big accounting firm, and she was used to working long hours like that was the “red badge of courage.” She said, “If you need me to work nights or weekends, I can do whatever that is. I can do whatever it takes.”

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean.

1/11/22 QI Macros Webinar

Over 70 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 or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

The Jack Welch Effect

Jack Welch made Six Sigma big. Now it’s fading. How can we bring the sparkle back to Six Sigma?



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

“When I got started in my business back in the late 90s, Jack Welch was the CEO to copy. When he got dipped in Six Sigma, guess what? Every other CEO wanted to get dipped in Six Sigma too. This is what I call the Jack Welch Effect.

“Since then, Jack retired and [CEO] went over to [Jeff] Immelt and some other people, and now GE has fallen into some disarray, (not necessarily because of Six Sigma, I think because they let go of some of that), but other forces in the world were pushing them.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.

Unemployment Rate Lessons for Six Sigma

The nightly news reports unemployment statistics, not employment statistics. There’s a lesson here for Six Sigma.



“Have you ever noticed that when the nightly news comes on they always report unemployment rates, not employment rates? “The unemployment rate is five or six percent,” they don’t say “94 or 95 percent of America is employed.” No, they focus on the problem: the problem is the unemployment rate.

“Well, this holds true also in all things Quality related. Once when I was first being trained they said, “Once you get above 80 percent compliance, what you want to do is focus on the 20 percent non-compliance,” so you want to focus on the defects, the mistakes, the errors, the waste, the rework.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.

My Apple Tree Reminded Me About Low-Hanging Fruit

My apple tree had hundreds of apples this year. I invited people to pick some and leave some. Soon, all of the low-hanging fruit was picked, but there were still hundreds of apples in the tree. Maybe you need a fruit picker to get to the rest of the fruit in your company.



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

“We have an apple tree in our front yard (I think it’s Jonathan apples), and this year in an unusual fit of luck, we got a giant crop. I bet we had a thousand apples on that tree.

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

12/7/21 QI Macros Webinar

Over 100 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 or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

Applying the 4-50 Rule to Software

Programmers often think they need to rewrite software systems to fix the problems in an existing system. This is the wrong approach. You can tune up an existing system with a lot less effort using the 4-50 Rule.



“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified,” “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software]. I spent most of my life working in IT, from mainframe systems to minicomputer systems to microcomputer systems, which led me into the QI Macros. I’ve worked with software my entire life, and there’s something I’d like you to get an idea about.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.

Use Technology to Lock In Quality Improvements

People are error prone. If you want to lock in improvements, use your existing technology to mistake-proof the change. Here’s how:



“I was working with one group of folks in a hospital, and they were complaining about the fact that the doctors were doing these electronic medical records, but they couldn’t get them to complete all the forms and all the fields that were needed to be able to bill the insurance company for the services provided. I was listening to them talk, and they were talking about how they were going to try and train the doctors to do all these things and do all this stuff, and I said, “Wait.

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