I have recently worked with the engineers in QA (Quality and Assurance) team. They have been investigating the products returned from our customers because of a problem, and tried to find the root-causes of the problem. But the returned products have never shown the problem complained by the customers even with thorough tests. We call such returned products as NPF (No-problem found).
Continue reading “Essay: Lean Six Sigma (DMAIC) Approach”Essay: V-Model and QFD
The V-Model framework is very common in product development to associate the documents between the product requirement document, the function requirement document, design specification, the test specification, etc. It is called the V-Model because these documents are connected in V shape. The V-Model has a good compatibility with QFD (Quality Function Deployment) so the V-Model and the QFD are used together in a DFSS project.
Continue reading “Essay: V-Model and QFD”Essay: Simulation and DOE for Business Process
It is very common to use a flowchart or a VSM (Value Stream Map) for visualizing a business process, an operation process, or a manufacturing process. Not only both flowchart and VSM are very good visualization tool, but the flowchart can easily explain a loop, a branch and a merge in the process, and the VSM can easily explain the cycle-time and the waiting-time in the process. Both flowchart and VSM can be used for the process improvement.
Continue reading “Essay: Simulation and DOE for Business Process”Essay: Failure Mode in FMEA (2)
I had been thinking other failure modes in FMEA after posting the previous article. Then I found a good information in ASQ (American Society for Quality) regarding the FMEA. Based on the information and my experiences, I added some other failure modes and created a list of them..
Continue reading “Essay: Failure Mode in FMEA (2)”Case Study: Office Kaizen
The Kaizen is very popular in manufacturing, it is, however, still not so much in office. Unlike the manufacturing environment, seeing waste is pretty hard in the office environment because many wastes in the office are intangible. Although an education for Kaizen is necessary to see the wastes, the Kaizen training is uncommon in the office environment and many office employees cannot see their wastes effectively.
Continue reading “Case Study: Office Kaizen”Essay: Failure Mode in FMEA (1)
The FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) could be the most abused tool in Lean Six Sigma.
Continue reading “Essay: Failure Mode in FMEA (1)”Essay: Blending of two principles
Lean Six Sigma combined the two words of Lean and Six Sigma to one word. The Lean and the Six Sigma were originally different principles. The Lean principle came from TPS (Toyota Production System), the Six Sigma on the other hand came from the Quality Management System in Motorola. It’s no exaggeration to say that these two principles are completely different.
Continue reading “Essay: Blending of two principles”Essay: Is Lean Six Sigma just for a large company?
“Is Lean Six Sigma just for a large company?” sometimes people ask me such question. My answer is always “No” because the Lean Six Sigma bestows great benefits not only to a large company but to a small company also. Actually many small companies have applied the Lean Six Sigma and shown great performance in their success.
Continue reading “Essay: Is Lean Six Sigma just for a large company?”Essay: Why Lean Six Sigma?
If you search in Wikipedia about “Process Improvement methodology”, you could find over 1000 of different methodologies and techniques (a.k.a, tools). There could be a lot of tools as many as the number of scholars and researchers.
Continue reading “Essay: Why Lean Six Sigma?”Essay: Lean Six Sigma and Japan
When I visited Japan, I had an opportunity to talk with people who worked for a small manufacturing company. According to them, the small companies’ business in Japan were still in slump even though the macro economy showed prosperity.
Continue reading “Essay: Lean Six Sigma and Japan”