Category: Delay

Using Lean to be Green & DLSU Green Archers

10/14/2013

Last week, I wrote about a review for 7 focus areas of eliminating wastes and their impacts to our environment. Now, let's take a look at this info graphic about using Lean methodology to not only save your company from wastes, but also care for our environment. We only have one planet so we have to take care of it. The following can be used to analyze not only manufacturing but also service processes like banking, BPOs, IT.

It is time that all companies review and integrate being green to its mission, vision and values.

Could you share at least 1 waste you see in your workplace and how to improve it? We need your inputs. We want to hear and learn from you.

(Image Credit: Bishop-Wisecarver Group)

Congratulations De La Salle University Green Archers for winning the ring- UAAP Season 76!

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Innovation VS Process Improvement

9/14/2013

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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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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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5S Your Virtual Life

8/4/2013

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We are all guilty of this--- remember the time when you were looking for a file? You then realized that you have spent more than 15 minutes clicking each folder, opening each file, using the search command trying different combination of words and file extensions but still failed to find that one important file.

A file that you couldn't find, because your desktop, your libraries, and your personal folders were cluttered with different types of icons. Some, you don't remember saving, and some you were surprised still exist.

Then suddenly, like a needle in a haystack, you got the file! You double-clicked it at an instant, and... BOOM! It was an older version of the file you were looking for. You were back to square one, and

I know you've experienced that both on your online e-mail account and offline computer files. It sucks. Maybe its time to use the 5S lean tool to put order to your virtual life.

"There's a place for everything, and everything in its place."

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PLEASE Like, share, and comment: Could you share some virtual 5S tips?

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Using Lean to be Green & DLSU Green Archers

Innovation VS Process Improvement

Can YOU Tear Down Walls Between Departments?

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

5S Your Virtual Life

Rex Jayson Tuozo "The Six Sigma Guy"

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