DISQUS

Excellent post. I agree JMP is also good. Depending on your needs, Six Sigma XL is good for a lot less.

This is a good post, but this is not THE definitive six sigma structure. In some companies, this full textbook type structure would be a bottleneck in itself, not to mention a huge expense. The six sigma structure should be developed based on the needs and readiness of the organization.

So true. It is a shame that some companies use the word "lean" when they are really doing a transformation, re-organization, or just plain headcount reduction.
It gives lean manufacturing a real bad name, and it is a real shame.
If you cannot stand up in front of all employees and tell them that no jobs will be lost as a result of lean, then you will not get buy-in. Job combinations are going to happen, but put the displaced workers on kaizen, 5s, and standard ops teams and lean will snowball.

Great post and so true. I have seen a group of engineer turned black belts. They were all smart and excellent guys, but their quality of being extremely methodical provided in imbalance to the team. While this was a good quality, it often became "analysis paralysis".

They were all hired by the same individual that obviously searched for this "good" skill in everyone, which taken to an extreme can become a weakness.

I have personally implemented 5S in over 25 factories in over 200 areas. It has been my experience that "standardize" is the most difficult to embed into the culture. The first 3 are very easy and simple, unless management does not even want 5S. If the standardization is built into the system, sustaining it is easy. The biggest problem I have seen is not following through with the developed actions to standardize. Any system can complete certain tasks for a while, but standardizing them to become a way of life takes a lot of commitment. At www.1stcourses.com we preach standardization, as the rest is simple.