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Latest "Improvement Insights" Posts
Is Lean Six Sigma stuck in last century thinking? Maybe we just can’t see it. Here’s what I discovered recently.
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Recently, I discovered something and it got me thinking. Now, if you know anything about calculating formulas for an XbarR chart, you know that what you do is if you have some numbers like a subgroup, maybe they got 3.3 and 3.4 or something like that, what you do is calculate for this subgroup what’s the average of the X’s. Well, in this case it’d be 3.3.
Continue Reading "Is Lean Six Sigma Mired in Old Think?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma, Statistics.
One of my Quality Cohorts challenged my assertion that Lean is about Speed. He threw Toyota at me as a counterexample. Here’s my thoughts.
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I made a comment on one of the articles about quality, and I said “Lean is about speed.” One of my friends that I know in the Quality universe came back and [responded] “Lean’s not about speed, that’s just wrong.” Then he threw Toyota at me, “But it’s not about speed at Toyota.”
“Toyota is a unicorn, they’ve been at this for 50 or 60 years creating a Quality Improvement culture where things like this happen all the time.
Continue Reading "Speed and Toyota"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ever noticed that when you describe something as a percentage people seem to draw a blank? They may nod, but not understand. Here’s why:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I want to alert you to something that I discovered when I saw my friend, Dr. Jack ReVelle, speak. Now, if you know anything about control charts, you know that if you have an upper and lower control limit, well, 99.7% of all points should fit between those two things. And I saw Jack talk about this and I realized that nobody can make a picture of a percentage.
Continue Reading "Use Numbers Not Percentages"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Statistics.
How do we create a hassle-free America? Hassle-free Healthcare? We need more improvers. Here’s what you can do to help:
Have people take my free Lean Six Sigma Training at www.lssyb.com.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“My friend LeAnn Thieman wrote “Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul,” and as you can tell with all this pandemic stuff, she was talking to a CNO who said her nurses are running away from healthcare. We have a half a million nurse shortage in the United States of America, and LeAnn has a system she calls “each one reach one.”
Continue Reading "Each One Teach One"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
