Lean Six Sigma - What next?

Hi
I asked a similar question [url=http://www.manager-tools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1541&highlight=]here... and got some good recommendations.

There is a ton of info on the web, if you like going that route.

Best wishes

you might also join the Association for Operations management or at least attend their local meetins as a guest. They offer classes taught by working professionals in addition to networking opportunities to chat with people in the field.

www.apics.org

Here are two books I recommend for Six Sigma in a transaction (non-manufacturing) environment.

If you want to get a basic understand of Six Sigma and how it works, pick up What Is Six Sigma? by Pete Pande and Larry Holpp.

If you want to learn a little more and get a better understanding of Lean and Six Sigma, pick up Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George.

ISixSigma.com also has a lot of helpful articles and is a good resource for learning Lean Six Sigma and it's variations and implementations.

Hi Ken,

I do agree in the recommendations you have been given in this and the other thread.

This area is booming (like BSC did some years ago) and new books are published all the time... Once you have read the first introductions, it would be good to narrow your search.

Your org's objective, focus, industry, maturity, etc. does matter when you consider your approach and which toolbox to apply to.

Here's an example:

I am a manager of a "Process Excellence" team at a service company (telco) where processes haven't been a focus area before. Our objective is to improve customer satisfaction, lower costs and faster time2market.

I hold back with the all theory that lies behind what we do. Instead we have applied a "common sense" approach. Our biggest objective this first year is to create a shared vision that processes are important. We have initiated a series of projects where we focus on quick wins.

Most importantly, we have mapped all the core "valuestreams" and formulated KPI's for each valuestream. Typically 3 KPI's per valuestream: 1 covering cost, 1 covering quality and 1 covering time. All this has been done TOGETHER with the business. We are just about to "publish" our first version of this "Process dashboard" and I am sure it will make a big difference... because as we all know... "what get measured, gets done.." and our processes haven't been measured so far ;-)

Doing this have been in alignment with the "Lean toolbox" but we haven't used any of the jargon. It's all about the people and the processes they are part of... not me and my teams fancy toolbox :wink:

Among the most important learning points I will mention 1) the importance of what we call "catch ball" meaning the involvement and interaction of both top management but also the employees. 2) Data rules. If you cannot show the impact after 6 months you have failed... so make sure you gather data before and after you have applied a new process. 3) Processes works horizontally, organizations vertically... Be prepared to do lots of stakeholder management, communication and to fight the "silo-oriented" managers in your organization.

Hope this was helpful,

Brgds, Anders Birch