Blog
How the Recession is Changing Priorities…
Yesterday the ASQ (American Society for Quality) issued their Quarterly Quality Report for December 2008. If you haven't read it already, I encourage you to take a look. Based on a survey of only 47 persons, you have to wonder about how far you can take the...
Key drivers of Best-in-Class manufacturing…
A recent study by the Aberdeen Group found that Best-in-Class manufacturers substantially out-perform laggards. Duh… Of course Best-in-Class have higher yields, throughput, and profits, and are more likely to deliver product on time. What we wanted to know was why…
Twittering…
Are you on Twitter yet? I signed up a couple weeks ago and I can't decide: Is this the biggest boondoggle on the face of the planet, or have we reached the promised land? The more I dive into it, the more overwhelmed I feel and the more opportunities I see. So much to...
What does it mean to be Data Driven?
I'm now a guest blogger at MyBusinessMusings.com. Late last week I wrote my first post about what it means to be data driven. Check it out.
Data Usability for Continuous Improvement…
I was showing a colleague the Data Cost / Value Matrix and describing the four aspects of data value. I was explaining the fourth aspect of data value: Data Visibility and Transparency when he made a comment that got me thinking: “For my customers, transparency isn’t the key issue. The biggest issue is that they are drowning in data they can’t use. If you can make the data they already have more usable then you’re providing value…. “
Real-time OEE Dashboards focus on cost & reduction
Corporate had mandated that they get this information out to the workforce, and they were manually updating white boards with markers at the end of each shift. It was a time consuming, error-ridden process. Here is a picture we took from inside the plant showing the shop floor data collection station, with the large flat panel display suspended from the ceiling. . . .
The ones that are left…
There is an old story about Dr. W. Edwards Deming from back in the mid 1980s when he was working with the big three auto There There is an old story about Dr. W. Edwards Deming from back in the mid 1980s when he was working with the big three auto companies. I don’t know if it is true, but the story goes that someone asked him: “Dr. Deming – fifty years from now, which companies will still be practicing your 14 points?” He was reported to have growled: …
If you are doing the “Data Shuffle”, do not show this to your boss
As I talk to people in many different businesses, I'm often amazed at how much time they spend extracting, massaging, and scrubbing data for analysis and reporting. I call this "The Data Shuffle". A friend of mine at Minitab calls it "The stuff we do that we call our...
Enabling Integrated Enterprise Excellence…
I've been following Forrest Breyfogle for some time. You may know that he came out with a couple of the definitive text books for the Six Sigma DMAIC process several years ago. I have a couple of them on my shelf. In the last few months, I've bumped into Breyfogle at...
Why use SPC Software when the economy is crashing all around you…
A couple weeks ago I published an audio interview with Jay Bronec about his 'Ah-Ha' Moment when he realized that he was spending valuable company time doing non-value-added work. In that interview he described how he is automating his company's (QualiFine) KPIs by...
