CURRENT NEWS

In January, we concluded our first Lean Sigma Green Belt training class; with a week focused on the Control Phase of the Lean Sigma methodology.  In March, the Green Belt candidates conducted a project report-out to City management on the progress of their projects.  This allowed the candidates to showcase their successes and allowed City management to view the progress of their projects, many of which are ready to close.  Mayor Barbara Bass said, “…we are getting employees who are ‘in the trenches’ engaged and taking ownership to solving problems.” 

March saw our first week of Lean Sigma Black Belts being trained.  The training that the Black Belts will receive will give them a more in-depth understanding of concepts and they will be taught new Lean Sigma tools.

We are making progress to toward the identification and elimination of waste and variation in our processes.  We look forward to a continued successful year.

LEAN SIGMA TOOL SPOTLIGHTS

The Balanced Scorecard is a tool that is used by organizations to align their business strategies to their business goals and metrics.  The Balanced Scorecard was developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, and focuses on four perspective areas: the customer, financial, internal business and learning and growth.

The customer perspective seeks to answer the questions, “To achieve our vision, how should we appear to our customers?  What will make our organization appealing to future and current customers, and make them want to purchase our services or products?”  In answering these questions, organizations will evaluate how well they are meeting customer’s expectations by looking at four broad categories:  quality, timeliness, performance and service and value.

The financial perspective seeks to answer the question, “To succeed financially, how should we appear to our shareholders?”  This is important because this is how an organization maintains financial health in addition to attracting and maintaining investors.  This not only applies to the external shareholder but to employees and citizens as well.

The internal business perspective asks the question, “To satisfy our shareholders and customer, what business processes must we excel at?  This question forces organizations to identify their strengths and how they measure them.  Processes need to be measured and managed to ensure a healthy, successful organization.

The learning and growth perspective asks the question, “To achieve our vision, how will we sustain our ability to change and improve?”  Without employees being skilled and educated in many complex processes, organizations will not be successful.  It is vital that organizations continue educating their employees to ensure continued growth.  

The Balanced Scorecard asks organizations to answer these questions and identify objectives, measures, targets and initiatives to achieve their business vision and strategy.  The Balanced Scorecard evolves with the organization as the organization grows and matures.

LEAN SIGMA ARTICLE SPOTLIGHTS

Linking Quality to Business Finances

If it didn't make sense financially, you wouldn't do it. Learn why linking Quality to financial results benefits everyone in the business.

The Quality profession has always been about improving processes, products and services. From TQM to PDCA to Six Sigma, all Quality methodologies are focused on eliminating defects and the root causes of those defects. It involves products that satisfy your customers, running processes at greater efficiencies, producing less waste and increasing business productivity. All of this, of course, is based on the fact that these processes are driving financial benefits.

If it didn't make sense financially, would you still do it? In some cases you might, but as a rule of thumb you can't sustain a business unless you bring in revenue and produce a profit. The Six Sigma methodology, in particular, emphasizes the financial results of a project. What does all of this do for your company?

• Before a project is initiated, a scoping analysis of financial benefits is performed. This allows management to prioritize, along with other business specific factors, potential projects
• After or during the completion of a project, a final financial analysis is performed based on the actual results of the project. This forces the business to quantify the return on investment for the Quality department. Is it paying off as you would expect any other investment in the business?
• It opens the eyes of management to what is actually happening on the floor, in the shop and in the cubicles, translating day-to-day activities into terms that they are concerned about - meeting the budget, increasing profits and driving shareholder value.
• It educates employees about the whole financial picture. Because Six Sigma uses employees to drive projects and improvements, it also modifies their work behaviors to cut costs and increase profits.

Many businesses have found the successful recipe for Quality. When employees are allowed to exit from the intellectual vacuum where they are deprived of business and financial information, they then can see the whole picture. They understand how their actions do make a difference and how they are needed to make business processes successful. You don't need 'Six Sigma' necessarily, but you do need to tie process improvements to financial results in order to be successful.

http://www.isixsigma.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1238:&Itemid=111