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One of the benefits to being a Freelance Quality Improvement Expert is that I set my own hours. Because of this, I often take time between appointments in the middle of the day to run errands if I happen to be in the area. Earlier this week, I was doing exactly that and picking up a few things at a grocery store. I had just put a few cans of evaporated milk in my basket when I heard someone call my name. Looking up, I saw a man with a facemask and a pricing gun walking down the aisle towards me.
Continue Reading "The right ingredients (and the right charts)…"
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros Monthly Newsletters.
Just because you don’t know how to fix something, doesn’t mean that it can’t be fixed. It’s possible to mistake-proof anything. Fix that leaky faucet.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“If you have a leaky faucet, you don’t say, “Well, I can’t fix that” just because you don’t know how to fix a leaky faucet. You might hire somebody to do it, you might watch a YouTube video and you might go out and then figure out how to fix it and replace whatever the gizmo inside that’s causing it to leak.
Continue Reading "Fix that Leaky Faucet"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Is your customer bothering you? Do they make you angry sometimes because they won’t do what you want them to do? Here’s how to think about it:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“My friend Shelle Rose Charvet wrote a book called “The Customer Is Bothering Me” and I thought that that was kind of a good thought to think about for a little bit. Do you ever get kind of angry with your customer for not doing what your customer needs to do to make life easier for you?
Continue Reading "Is Your Customer Bothering You?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Service.
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?
Continue Reading "Put the C back in DMAIC"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, 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.
Continue Reading "Using Theory of Constraints to Accelerate Lean Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.
One of the great things about my job is that I get to help people and businesses. When I get to help a friend and his business, that’s even better.
Last month I got a call from Jamie, who I had known for many years. He’d asked me to meet him at his shop and talk about some Quality Improvement projects they needed help with. When the time arrived, I found myself at Progtastics Screen Printing, being given a tour by Jamie.
“As you can see, we do screen printing. Mostly T-shirts, but we do quite a lot of other items as well.
Continue Reading "Prints? Charming."
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros Monthly Newsletters.
The Improvement Project Wizard (formerly Data Mining Wizard) is one of the most powerful tools in QI Macros.
Watch this short video to as Jay demonstrates how easy it is to let the software analyze your data and automatically jumpstart your Quality Improvement projects:
Download a FREE 30 day trial at the link below and see for yourself how easy it is to use this powerful, affordable Quality Improvement tool: https://www.qimacros.com/trial/30-day/
Continue Reading "QI Macros Improvement Project Wizard Demo"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, QI Macros.
The pandemic has created a lot of anxiety and panic. There’s a simple way to relieve the stress. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Some years ago I actually saw a presentation about people having panic attacks, and they had actually MRIed or something the brain to see what’s going on. It turns out that the left hemisphere was all lit up: everything was going on. The left side was going crazy and the right side was dark: there wasn’t much going on at all.
“Well, that’s a panic attack.
Continue Reading "Brain Gym for Pandemic Anxiety"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Learning any new skill requires the tenacity to break through the frustration barrier. What is it and how do you overcome it? Watch now:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software].
“One of the things I’ve noticed is sometimes people will download the QI Macros software and then they’d get stuck. Well, we have a tutorial that you can use right in the software and we have an online workshop you can use to practice, but most people have a frustration barrier.
“You have to get through the frustration barrier to get comfortable with things no matter how easy they are to use.
Continue Reading "Overcoming the Frustration Barrier"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros.
Vaccine development companies aren’t taking shortcuts; they are using Lean to accelerate delivery of a safe effective vaccine. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“There’s been a lot of anxiety about vaccine development, like, “Oh, they’re short-cutting.” Uh, no. No, okay.
“If you know anything about Lean, you know that the original process was they did phase one trials. Then they evaluated the phase one trial and then they set up a phase two trial. So the phase two trial [is going] and and then they would evaluate all of that and then they would say, “Well, was that okay?”
Continue Reading "Lean Vaccine Development"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, Improvement Insights, Lean.
