Archive for lean six sigma
PDCA Cycle of Zingerman’s Deli
Posted by: | CommentsAt the 2011 ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference, one of the featured speakers was Ari Weinzweig, CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (ZCoB) has annual sales approaching $40 million. ZingTrain, a consulting and training company that shares Zingerman’s approach to business with like-minded organizations from around the world, and offers a variety of management training seminars in Ann Arbor, as well as customized workshops and presentations at client sites.
Fellow Lean Blogger, Mark Graban wrote a recap Management Lessons from Zingerman’s CEO Ari Weinzweig of Ari’s talk. I encourage you to read it. What I wanted to share was my personal experience of Zingerman’s Deli. Besides the great food and great service and catalog littered with special gifts and even more unique food, Zingerman left a special mark on a venture into the retail business that my wife and I did for six years. It was Ari’s book,Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service, that provided our outline for the service that we would provide and train our staff. Below is a mind map of the initial outline that I constructed from the book.
The second mind-map is what I would call an ad-hoc representation of the Zingerman’s PDCA cycle: Define, Teach, Live, Measure, Reward. 
I find the Zingerman model an excellent guideline for our and other retail operations. In fact, very few things are difficult to do, it is just a matter of doing it.
P.S. I was unable to attend this conference as I was on the other side of the county in Orlando at the ISO9000 Lean and Six Sigma Conference.
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Lean and Six Sigma training to deployed Soldiers
Posted by: | CommentsJust received a copy of an article, Resolute’ brigade provides Lean Six Sigma training to deployed Soldiers from Tim Fowler, a CPS Professional Services contractor assigned to Task Force Resolute at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Tim is teaching a group of U.S. Forces about Lean and Six Sigma. They are applying this training immediately through improving the logistics capabilities of the command. More information can be found in the article. 
Quote from the article:
“Through Lean Six Sigma, soldiers and leaders will learn how to properly manage time and resources while delivering a top quality product the first time,” said Chief Warrant Officer Jackie Vuorinen, the TF-Resolute safety officer. “This is a program all soldiers can use to save Army resources while providing higher quality products.”
Tim appeared on the Business901 podcast, Are right brain thinkers better leaders? Tim is a University of Kentucky Certified Lean Master, a Goldratt Institute Theory of Constraint Supply Chain Expert, an ASQ-Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, and a Licensed Social Worker with a SECRET clearance and his website, BusinessLeadership.com is a popular venue for leading edge thinking.
Thanks Tim for passing this on and wish you and everyone else at Kandahar Airfield a safe and Happy Holiday!
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Using Right Brain Thinking in Business
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Integrated approach of Lean, Six Sigma, and TOC to deliver results in Healthcare
Posted by: | CommentsBahadir Inozu, Ph.D., the Chief Executive Officer and Dan Chauncey, the Director of Deployment Services for NOVACES joined me in this podcast to discuss an integrated approach for using three industrially based methods, Lean, Six Sigma, and Constraints Management to transform hospital operations. They have just published a book, Performance Improvement for Healthcare that explains how using the right tool for the right problem at the right time from a systems perspective, the authors show how to deliver faster results and greater return on investment. 
- Scales to any size organization and aligns easily to varying needs
- Shortens traditional execution time from adoption to results
- Optimizes the utilization of resources required to accomplish the desired goals
- Breaks organizational constraints and maximizes organizational efficiency
- Sustains the gains and defines a path to self-sufficiency
- Achieves a global impact through strategy alignment and focused project selection
- Shows how to integrate Constraints Management with Lean and Six Sigma to create a “best of breed” approach
- Explains how hospitals can deploy or re-energize their performance improvement program specifically for what’s most important for their particular organization
Download Podcast: Click and choose options: TOCHealthcare or go to the Business901 iTunes Store.
About Novaces: A management consulting firm that provides performance management, continuous process improvement (CPI), and project management services to both public and private sector organizations. NOVACES helps its clients build capabilities in today’s most effective methodologies to achieve breakthrough operational and financial results.
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