Category: Defects

Innovation VS Process Improvement

9/14/2013

You may argue that innovation, breakthrough ideas and invention have more impact on improvement than process does. But a higher level view makes it clear that moving a big idea from the brain that created it into your operations requires not just one well-designed process, but many well-designed interconnected cross-functional processes, to deliver a profitable outcome for your company.

Marketing has a process. Operations has a process. Research and Development has a process. Logistics has a process. Finance has a process. And inside of these processes are many sub-processes. It's often down in the layers of the sub-processes where you discover defects, delays and variations.

In theory, improve the processes, improve the results.

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Can YOU Tear Down Walls Between Departments?

9/4/2013

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One BIG source of process delays, defects and variations that I always see are walls between departments. This is no surprise since companies usually set-up their structures according to functional activities: Sales, Marketing, Operations, Logistics, Accounting, HR, etc. This tried and tested way of organizing people are not really wrong. It makes planning, organizing, leading, and controlling employees more efficient because each employee that performs the same function works as a team and reports to the same manager.

The problem lies when we start talking in terms of process. Processes produce the products and services that the company sells to its customers, and processes, are almost always, cross-functional. Meaning, for every process, it involves at least 2 departments, and the outputs of one department are inputs of another. Since departments work in silos, they usually have conflicting agendas.

Every department has its own set of targets, metrics, goals, and sad to say, personal interests. I have seen it with my own eyes:

Sales prioritizing volume while downplaying unnecessary quality;
Marketing prioritizing speed while downplaying expenses;
Logistics prioritizing efficiency while downplaying the need to have allowances in stocks;
Operations prioritizing speed to satisfy orders in time while downplaying defects and rework resulting to hidden costs;
Audit insisting all thousand transactions of a process conform to a control designed to avoid a repeat of an error happened only once, due to a special cause, resulting to delays.

And the list goes on and on.

One school of thought is to cure this conflicting agendas is to structure an organization according to "process" and not "functions". Advocates of this idea say that this strategy shall make all departments that form a process look to a common goal and tear down silo mentality.

Your thoughts please? Everyone is listening.

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Cost of Poor Quality is VERY Expensive

8/27/2013

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Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) printed defective 30 million pieces of new $100 bills to be shredded because of ink errors. I hope our Bangko Sentral would not find itself on the same situation.

The point is, Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) of processes is VERY EXPENSIVE
Process delays, defects and variations are cash leaks that flushes-out your business' profits. These are your hidden expenses. Invest in a quality program like Six Sigma, to reduce your COPQ.

82% of Fortune 100 Companies & 53% of Fortune 500 companies have a Six Sigma Program
Over the past 20 years, use of Six Sigma, the popular business improvement methodology, has saved Fortune 500 companies an estimated $427 billion, according to research published in the January/February 2007 issue of iSixSigma Magazine.

Not only will you get ROI on your Six Sigma program, but will also reap non-financial benefits which are priceless: increase in employee motivation, decrease employee burn-out due to unending fire fighting, decrease employee turn-over, increase customer satisfaction, etc.

It's your call. Ignore your hidden costs or start a Lean Six Sigma initiative.
ask@6sigmaph.com

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/video/new-100-bills-destroyed-printing-mistake-19963718

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Major Hospitals in the Philippines Start Their Own Six Sigma Programs- 3.4 deaths per million patients?

8/18/2013

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MANILA, Philippines- The Six Sigma revolution in the Philippines has started. Two of the biggest hospitals in the Philippines are now using Lean Six Sigma as their quality improvement initiative. Makati Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital are now reaping the benefits of the Six Sigma culture by embedding the Six Sigma discipline, tools and methodologies to their laboratory, hospital, and even its medical operations.

"In the 4th Six Sigma and Process Improvement Conference, Dr. Alejandro Dizon, VP and Chief Quality Officer of St. Luke's Medical Center joined us and presented their success stories on their journey towards the Six Sigma culture. He talked about their deployment strategy where Senior Medical Support officers were trained in Six Sigma to reduce process delays, defects and variations." said Rex Tuozo, Six Sigma Master Black Belt of Six Sigma Philippines, and host-moderator of the 4th Six Sigma and Process Improvement Conference.

"If in business, delays and defects are a big no-no, how much more in medical operations where people's lives are at stake?" Tuozo added.

For these doctors and medical professionals who are dedicated and truly care to each patient, getting a Six Sigma score, or 3.4 deaths (defects) per million patients (opportunities), are still not enough.

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Blame the process NOT the person.

7/29/2013

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What really is the goal of Six Sigma?

7/5/2013

1 Comment

Quality Control vs Quality Assurance

7/3/2013

4 Comments

Quality Control (QC) prevents defective products to be out from your plant so your customers could not get their hands on it.

But would it be better if there are no defects in the first place?

No rework, no defective expenses. That's Quality Assurance (QA).

4 Comments