“I am here to audit you.”  That phrase can strike fear in most of us, thanks in part to our good friends at the IRS.  In the business world as well, those five words can send a chill down the spine of everyone from the Finance VP to the shipping department clerk.  But it shouldn’t.  (more…)

Last week we covered the positive results of using lean tools to reorganize a production area.   The Bizmanualz manual and CD production area achieved a 75% reduction in finished product inventory, a 50% reduction in production time, as well as improved machine capabilities and reduced errors. (more…)

Improvement Journey at Bizmanualz

At Bizmanualz, our mission is to help businesses and organizations improve through helping them implement innovative techniques and proven best practices. That philosophy carries through our manuals, our training classes, and our consulting efforts. (more…)

In the previous series of articles, we discussed applying Statistical Process Control (SPC) to business processes. Although SPC has been around for a long time and is applicable to the current world of Lean, Six Sigma, and ISO, it is often overlooked.

SPC is a great tool to not only monitor the current and recent behavior of a process, but is also a great tool to support Continuous Improvement activities. (more…)

Part 4 of a 4-Part Series

We come now to what started this “Road to Six Sigma” series in the first place, Dr. Shewhart’s simple control tool, the control chart. The control chart is really two time-based charts plotted on the same form. For simplicity’s sake, we will focus on control charts for variable individual readings because (more…)

Part 3 of a 4 part series

In the previous article we discussed how to use cause-effect diagrams and scatter diagrams to identify the causes of problems and to quantify the impact of solving those problems. I said then that we would be discussing (more…)

Part 2 of a 3 part series

Last week we talked about using Pareto analysis for organizing, simplifying, and prioritizing problem solving. This week, we’re going to introduce two simple tools which can be used together to improve the performance of business systems. In improving any process, (more…)

Part 1 of a 3 part series

In the manufacturing world, statistical process control (SPC) has been effectively used for decades. Walter A. Shewhart at Western Electric in the 1920’s introduced the concepts of “Assignable Cause” and “Chance Cause” each of which could be responsible for (more…)

In the previous article, we discussed the two types of goals we can create: something we strive for ( Projection ) or something we start from ( Position ) goals. Another idea Cyndi Crother, author of Catch , presented was how the greatest (more…)

Inventive Problem Solving

Last week we discussed the how design flow differs and the principle of iteration versus replication. This week we are going to look at innovation. Where do all the good ideas come from? (more…)