Martin Brenig-Jones

Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-22-2021

Are you ready to adopt the proven methods of Lean Six Sigma to improve business performance and make your teams more productive? Remind yourself of the key principles of this powerful strategy so that your business runs smoothly and efficiently.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) helps identify and prioritise potential risks for preventive action. In April 2015, Doug Hughes, a mailman from Florida boarded a small personal aircraft called a gyrocopter and flew an hour from Maryland into restricted airspace over Washington, DC, and landed on the West Lawn of the Capitol building. It was a bizarre incident that riveted the city and shut down the U.S. Capitol for part of the day. According to the U.S. Capitol Police, the aircraft was observed landing at about 1:30 p.m. and the operator was immediately taken into custody. A bomb squad investigated the gyrocopter, but nothing hazardous was found. Law enforcement then took the gyrocopter to a secure location, according to the Capitol Police. The 'most secure area' in the United States clearly wasn't. It's unclear which agency takes responsibility, but if the postman got through with such ease, what might a suicidal terrorist have achieved or a swarm of drones? The incident highlights the importance of prevention and risk analysis. Using FMEA would surely have helped identify the 'under the radar' risks to the White House, enabling suitable action to have been taken long before the copter was able to land on the White House lawn. So, hadn't the relevant agency heard of FMEA, or if it had, perhaps it wasn't too creative in identifying what might go wrong with their security process? An FMEA assessment is relevant to all industries and organisations, be they manufacturing or service, public or private. It leads to plans for reducing or eliminating the risks identified. Whether you are looking at a product, service or process, you need to calculate a risk priority number (RPN) for the various potential failure modes — the things that might go wrong. The RPN takes account of severity, likelihood of occurrence, and detectability, as you can see from this table. Of course, it's not just the White House that needs to get serious about the threat of drones. They can be a menace to aircraft generally. In the UK, aviation investigators have warned of the growing danger from drones flying dangerously close to aircraft. In one instance a paraglider pilot had been placed in great peril by the operator of a quadcopter drone — a miniature helicopter powered by four rotor blades — who may have been committing a criminal offence, investigators concluded. The UK Airprox Board (UKAB), which examines all "near misses", warned that the easy availability of drones, along with the lack of adherence to regulations, "was highly likely to result in future situations where airspace users would be put in danger. FMEA and prevention techniques, generally, need to be high on the agenda.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Too many Lean Six Sigma projects in too many organisations are less successful than they should be because people don't talk soft. No matter what type of change you're looking to make or how experienced you may be in the topic, if you don't recognise the importance of the soft stuff (like the schedule timeline or your budget), your chances of success will be reduced. One of the keys to success is about how well you work with the people affected by or involved in the programme or project. You need to get them on board with what you're aiming to do. They may well be at very different levels within the organisation, but their level of acceptance of the initiative, approach, or proposed solution will ultimately determine its success. George Eckes' formula expresses this well: E = Q x A E is the effectiveness of the implementation that depends on the quality of the solution and the level of acceptance. Q is the quality of the solution, but its effectiveness will depend on how well it is accepted. A is the level of acceptance of the solution and it has a multiplication effect on the overall success of the implementation. But, too often, change isn't managed well. The ineffective management of people during change is a major contributing factor in causing projects to either fail completely or to not realise their full potential. There are some real risks when change is not managed effectively, or, indeed, at all. These include the following: Projects going over budget or taking too long to complete. Projects failing to achieve their stated goals. Resistance to the change emerges and increases. Employees fail to commit, either by finding workarounds, or simply slipping back to the old way. In some cases, this will be the result of poor communication or training. Organisations building a history of failed change initiatives, which in turn builds cynicism when new programmes or projects are announced. Employee satisfaction and morale deteriorates with a series of knock-on effects that impact on the customer and ultimately on market share. When change management is done well, people feel engaged in the change process and work collectively toward a common objective, realising benefits and delivering results. The 'A Factor' in Eckes' formula increases and is in line with the 'Q'. The effect can be significant.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Sometimes referred to as Kaizen Blitz workshops, rapid improvement events provide the vehicle to tackle and resolve narrowly focused process problems. Some process improvements can be tackled very quickly, but for this to happen, an organisation needs to empower people and provide them with the time and space needed. Another common term is Kai Sigma, which provides both a systematic and pragmatic way for people and organisations to improve performance. Its key concepts and principles are supported by a carefully selected set of practical and relevant tools and techniques enabling people to solve the problems that they're tackling. At its heart is the need to ensure that people at all levels of an organisation both feel able, and are able, to challenge and improve their processes and the way they work. Naturally, this has significant implications for the organisation's culture and for the manager's role. Managers and their teams must have a clear understanding of their processes and their roles: Managers need to be working on their processes with the people in the processes to find ways of continuously improving those processes. People need to feel able and are able to challenge and improve their process and the way they work. Kai Sigma brings together the powerful concepts of Kaizen to involve people in continuously seeking to improve performance within the framework of DMAIC, the commonly used and systematic improvement framework in Lean Six Sigma. One of the potential dangers in rapid improvement events can be the lack of a systematic improvement framework. Not using DMAIC, for example, can result in the absence of the all-important Control phase and Control plan that ensures gains are secured and held, and that new opportunities are prompted. Kai Sigma is a facilitated workshop approach to improvement, typically run as a series of half or one day workshops over a period of five or six weeks, though it can be run as a straight five-day event. The foundation for the improvement comes from focusing on how the work gets done and how well it gets done. The workshops follow the framework of DMAIC with particular importance in the Define and Control phases. Kai Sigma workshops need to be expertly facilitated by people who are able to identify how best to tackle the problem, using the right method and the right tools. They need to know how to scope the problems being addressed, and they need to know when more advanced tools and techniques are needed. It's also essential that they know a comprehensive range of tools and techniques that can be applied to tackle the problems identified for the projects. In terms of the commonly used tools needed, they are likely to include the following Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques: Critical to Quality customer requirements (CTQs) — or something similar SIPOC (the high level process map identifying suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers) Process stapling A process or value stream map The Theory of Constraints The Seven Wastes (Tim Wood — transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing, defects) Five Ss Visual management Data collection Data displays — control charts and Pareto charts Fishbone and interrelationship diagram Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) and error proofing Control plan If appropriate, the facilitator doesn't need to use the language of Lean or Six Sigma. The aim is to involve the people in the process to make improvements to their process through the series of workshops following the DMAIC phases.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Throughout a Lean Six Sigma DMAIC improvement project, developing a storyboard summary of the key decisions and outputs helps you review progress and share what you've learnt. A storyboard builds up as you work your way through your project by capturing the key outputs and findings from the DMAIC phases. And it also helps your communication activities. The ability to storyboard is a core skill for Green and Black Belts. The format can be standardised only so far, but here are some key points to help you: DMAIC storyboards are usually created in Power Point, which enables easy update, learning, and sharing. It's also a good format for tollgate reviews or if you are applying for certification and need to present your project to an Assessor. You don't need a lot of detail — concentrate on the high level story. Good practice is around 15 to 25 slides, beginning with a title slide providing a little background or context. You can keep more detailed information about the project in a separate folder to review if required or simply append additional slides with this backup detail to the end of your storyboard. Storyboards don't need to be neatly typed and tidy. If you run a workshop or team session charting things on a flipchart, take a photo and insert it into the slide, as appropriate. The DMAIC phases provide the framework for the storyboard, but remember to highlight the people issues of managing change, the stakeholder analysis and management, for example, and how you've addressed the 'A' factor of the E = Q x A equation. The effectiveness of an improvement project or, indeed, the deployment of Lean Six Sigma thinking hinges on two broad factors that have been put into context by George Eckes the Chief Executive Officer of a Colorado-based consulting group and a former psychologist. He came up with the E = Q x A formula to help express the importance of the soft stuff: E = Effectiveness: This represents the effectiveness of the implementation, which depends on the quality of the solution and the level of acceptance. Q = The quality of the solution: An ideal solution may have been identified, but its effectiveness depends on how well that it's accepted. A = The level of acceptance of the solution: The level of acceptance is key, because it has a multiple effect on the overall success of the implementation. Define the problem as specifically as possible and include the improvement charter with a quantified problem statement and goal statement, even if these are estimates — say so if this is the case. The charter will need updating as you move through the DMAIC phases and find out more about the process and the problem your tackling. Measure is all about how the work gets done and how well, so your storyboard is likely to include Process or Value Stream Maps and data displays such as Control Charts, for example. The maps might well be photos of a brown paper and sticky notes exercise. Remember to update the improvement charter and show the changes. In the Analyse phase, you're a detective looking to find the root cause. You may well be using techniques such as the Fishbone and Interrelationship Diagrams, or using Pareto analysis or statistical tests in some way. Your storyboard needs to show how you determined the root cause. For the Improve phase, the storyboard needs to show how you went about generating potential solutions, the method you used to select the most suitable, including the selection criteria involved, and the discoveries you made in testing the solution in a pilot. You may well need a slide for each of these three stages to show the outputs from team workshops or brainstorming sessions, for example, the assumptions made in selection, and the results from the pilot, which might also have given you the opportunity to carry out Failure Modes Effect Analysis (FMEA) to highlight prevention opportunities. The key storyboard items for the Control phase is be the Control Plan and the results following the implementation of your solution, though remember these may take a little while to come through. The tollgates provide an opportunity to update your improvement charter and storyboard. They also enable you to take stock of the benefits accruing and the financial details; for example, reductions in errors, improvements in processing time, and customer satisfaction. In determining the benefits and financial details, ensure that you record the assumptions behind your estimates or calculations, as you may need to explain these to others in the organisation. Maintaining an up-to-date storyboard as you work your way through the DMAIC phases helps you prepare for the reviews and share discoveries. Some organisations implementing Lean Six Sigma don't bother with storyboarding. As a result, people miss the importance of this technique as they strive to meet project objectives and schedules. Ignoring the use of storyboarding is short-sighted: if you don't capture the discoveries, challenges and a-ha moments of a project, the rest of the organisation is none the wiser and potentially makes the same discoveries and overcomes the same challenges over and over again.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You can improve process flow in a number of ways using Lean Six Sigma, including by reducing waste. The seven categories of waste are sometimes identified by the acronym Tim Wood: Transportation: Moving materials and output unnecessarily. Inventory: Overproduction resulting in too much work in progress or stock. Motion: Inappropriate siting of teams or equipment. Waiting: Equipment failure, for example, which causes delays. Overprocessing: Performing unnecessary processing steps. Overproduction: Producing more stock or producing it earlier than needed. Defects: Dealing with rework.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

To undertake improvement activity in your existing business processes in a systematic way using Lean Six Sigma, you need to employ the useful framework of DMAIC: Define: Projects start with a problem that needs solving. Make sure everyone involved knows their role, why you're doing the project and what you're trying to achieve with the project. Measure: The work you've done in the Define stage is based on what you think the problem is. During the Measure stage you need to clarify things by seeing how the work gets done and how well. Analyse: Now you know what's happening, it's time to find out why, but don't jump to conclusions. Manage by fact to check out the possible causes and get to the root cause. Improve: Okay, you know about the process and the problem. Now, in the Improve stage, you need to find a way to address the root cause, so come up with some ideas, select the best one and test it out. Control: You need to implement the solution, and ensure you achieve and hold the gain you're looking for. Putting a control plan in place is vital to ensure that the process is carried out consistently.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Lean Six Sigma is a powerful, proven method of improving business efficiency and effectiveness. In a nutshell, here are the key principles of Lean Six Sigma to bear in mind: Focus on the customer Identify and understand how the work gets done (the value stream) Manage, improve and smooth the process flow Remove non-value-adding steps and waste Manage by fact and reduce variation Involve and equip the people in the process Undertake improvement activity in a systematic way

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

When you're trying to improve value for your customers with Lean Six Sigma, remember that, in your customers' eyes, value is what they're willing to pay for: The right products and services At the right time At the right price At the right quality For a step to be value-adding, it must meet the following three criteria: The customer has to care about the step The step must either physically change the product or service in some way, or be an essential prerequisite for another step The step must be actioned 'right first time' Try to remove those steps that don't meet these criteria, but recognise that you may want to retain some non-value-adding steps, perhaps for regulatory or financial reasons, for example. You need to identify and understand the value stream and eliminate waste and non-value-adding steps. As little as 10 to 15 per cent of process steps add value, often representing only 1 per cent of the total process time.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

This article demonstrates the not-so-tenuous connection between the topics of turning big data into smart data and reducing caloric intake, and, of course, the importance of measurement and data in Lean Six Sigma. There seems to be a lot of talk about big data and the importance of turning it into smart data. And, there's a lot of available data. Google claims that every two days people create as much information as they did from the beginning of time until 2003. Given the number of emails most people receive, Google is probably right. As always, there's also a lot of talk about slimming and reducing calories. Big data starts with little data, whether it's smart or not. Focusing on process data, for a moment, many organisations seem to have data coming out of their ears — lots of small data from different processes that builds into big data within the organisation. Unfortunately, that data isn't always the right data. Sometimes organisations measure things because they can measure them – but those things aren't necessarily the right things to be measured and the resulting data doesn't help you manage your organisation and its processes. You probably know that choosing what to measure and how to present your data are important activities. But so too is deciding what not to measure. Lean Six Sigma requires you to manage by fact and have good data – but that doesn't mean you need more data than you currently produce. It means you have the right data. You need to review the data you currently have and decide whether it really is helping you manage your processes. Does the data add value or is it a waste? Is it really being used? You need to be measuring the right things, but you also need to make sure that you're collecting the data through an effective and efficient data collection process. Sometimes data isn't accurate — intentionally or not — and even if the data is accurate, it may be presented in a way that makes interpretation difficult. Managers often present data as a page full of numbers to encourage comparisons with last week's results or even the results for this week last year. This situation is compounded further if the results show only averages or percentages and you can't understand the range of performance or the variation in your process performance. The net result is a lot of jumping to conclusions through assumptions that, at best, are misguided. So, you need the right data, collected in the right way, presented appropriately and interpreted correctly. That way the data becomes smart and you can manage by fact. Interpreting data correctly is vital; it's an area where control charts can help enormously, though they won't always be the right data display tool. Misinterpreting data isn't new, of course, and returning to the calorie reference, did you know how calorie counts were determined? Conventional wisdom dictates that wine seems to have a pretty high calorie count. But should it? Is the interpretation of the data that resulted in this assessment correct? Back in the 1880s, an American chemist, Wilbur Atwater, looked to measure the energy in different foods and drink. Essentially, he burnt them in a furnace and measured the heat that they produced. These units of energy became known as calories. Now, when he burned alcohol, it flared up very quickly, of course, producing a lot of heat and earning wine a high calorie count. But given that alcohol is certain to burn quickly, did he interpret the data correctly? Well, a small but growing number of nutritionists aren't so sure. They feel the calorie theory is flawed and should perhaps be replaced by something known as the Glycemic Index. No doubt the conclusions to this will come in due course! Closer to the workplace, it's likely that some of the interpretations that some managers make about the process data they see is definitely flawed. All managers need to better understand how to collect, present, and interpret data more effectively. When they do, they'll find that from little data, big data grows, but they need to make sure it's smart. Hopefully, you can drink to that!