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People often ask: “Jay, should I choose Lean or Six Sigma?” My answer is, “It depends.” Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, people ask me all the time, “Jay, what should I start with: Lean or Six Sigma?” I always say: Well, are your processes sluggish? Slow? Are you delivering on time or are you missing it all the time? Then you need Lean. If it’s taking too long, if your patients are waiting too long in the waiting room: Lean.
“However, if you have too many defects, mistakes and errors, you need Six Sigma.
Continue Reading "Lean or Six Sigma? Which one is right for you?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Almost 40 years ago, Deming said 94% of quality problems are system related. Still true. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“Again, I was re-reading Deming’s book, and in here (wherever that is), Deming talks about “Where does most of the problem come from? 94 percent belong to the system…” The system. “Six percent are special causes.”
“Now, I found this mentioned in a book on direct mail marketing of all places, but this is actually in “Out Of The Crisis,” so I found the original statement of that.
Continue Reading "Deming Says: 94% of Quality Depends on the System"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Some people use PDCA, some use PDSA, some use DMAIC. It doesn’t matter what alphabet system you use. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“When I started out (this was back in the 90s), it was Total Quality Management; the process was PDCA. Then later it was PDSA, and then it became DMAIC, and I’m sure there’s some new iteration of that that’s going to come out at some time.
“Don’t let these words freak you out: it’s just that it’s pretty much all the same process, pretty much all the same tools in the same order, right?
Continue Reading "PDCA PDSA DMAIC Whatever!"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Deming described the conditions where a worker can benefit from training and when not. It has to do with the stability of their performance. I recently did a blog about his approach to using control charts to determine stability of worker performance.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Again, I was re-reading Deming’s “Out Of The Crisis” and he made a very interesting statement in here about personal performance. He actually used an example of amateur golfers versus pro golfers.
“He said if your performance is out of control like an amateur golfer, training will help.
Continue Reading "Deming on When Training Will Help and When It Won’t"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
After high school and college, people seem hesitant to learn anything. That probably isn’t the best choice. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“Have you noticed after high school and college, nobody is really in a big hurry to run out and try and learn something new, right? You’re exhausted from learning something new, right? But if you want to succeed in the world, you have to start to learn stuff. I’m learning stuff all the time from customers: things that I have to research, all of those kinds of things.
Continue Reading "Are High School and College Learning Experiences Hindering You?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Almost 40 years ago, Deming knew that Quality Improvement in service industries was key. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, I’ve belonged to the American Society for Quality for over 30 years, and predominantly the membership is people in manufacturing who work on factory floors. However, again, I was picking up my Deming book “Out of the Crisis.” This was published in 1986… 1986. That’s about four years before I got started in Quality Improvement. Here’s what he has to say
“Based on the census, 75 people out of 100 are employed in service organizations.
Continue Reading "Deming on Quality Improvement in Services"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
I have noticed that many Quality Improvement teams focus on special causes, not common causes. That’s not Quality Improvement. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I was out working with one brewery, and they brought me into where the team was, and the team talked about all their little projects and everything else, but guess what? They were all doing special cause analysis.
“Workarounds are anti-improvement, focusing on nothing but special causes. That’s not improvement, that’s just dealing with day-to-day chaos. Improvement is when you start to reduce defects and errors, or increase patient satisfaction, or do something else.
Continue Reading "Fixing Special Causes is NOT Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Deming contrasted US and Japanese focus: spec limits vs variation. Here’s the essence:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I go back and read through books that I’ve gotten in Quality over the years. I went back into Deming’s “Out of the Crisis.” It was very interesting. There’s a thought he put in here and I’ll read it to you: “We in America have worried about specifications: meet the specification. In contrast, the Japanese are worried about uniformity, working for less and less variation around the nominal value…”
“What does he mean?
Continue Reading "Deming on Spec Limits vs. Variation"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
At the IHI conference, many people told me stories of their crazy, cool improvement projects done with QI Macros. I asked them a simple question for which they had no answer. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“I was at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference out in Orlando at the beginning of December. I was there and people were coming by and they were talking about QI Macros at the exhibit booth. You know, a number of them came up and told me a story.
Continue Reading "Crazy Cool Improvement Projects"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
I was rereading Deming’s book “Out of the Crisis,” and discovered a way to use control charts that is new. Deming uses control charts to compare individual worker performance. Deming often asked leaders to drive out fear, but comparing individuals seems like a way to create fear unless you use the results to help train individuals to higher standards of performance. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I go back and re-read books about Quality.
Continue Reading "Deming’s Insights on Control Charts for Workers"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, QI Macros, Statistics.
