Minitab training from Value-Train May 21, 2006
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Consulting, Sigma , add a comment
Minitab is possibly the most widely used statistical software package in the Six Sigma world. Our friend Bill Bentley has just announced online training through Value-Train. This is a great chance to get a fairly in-depth look at the package and learn some skills at a fraction of similar typical commercial courses. The three day on-line class is $500.
A brief course description is here http://www.value-train.com/minitab.htm
and you can enroll here http://www.value-train.com/CourseCalendar.htm.
100 Bullshit Jobs … May 20, 2006
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Consulting, Reviews , add a comment
Stanley Bing has done it again with his latest treatise on corporate life with 100 Bullshit Jobs…And How to Get Them. The scholarly discipline of Bullshit Studies has blossomed in the last several years, fertilized by a number of critical works on the subject and the growing importance of the issue across a wide range of professions. Now, best-selling author and lifelong practitioner Stanley Bing enters the field with a comprehensive look at the many attractive jobs now available to those who are serious about their bullshit and prepared to dedicate their working life to it. What, Bing inquires, do a feng shui consultant, new media executive, wine steward, department store greeter, and Vice President of the United States have in common? What, too, are the actual duties performed by a McKinsey consultant? Other than sitting around making people nervous? Could that possibly be his core function? Likewise, what does an aromatherapist actually do, per se? Sniff things and rub them on people, for big fragrant bucks? Is that all? The answer in all cases is "Yes." They all have bullshit jobs. And you want one too! My favorite of the hundred, of course, is Consultant. Bing writes, "Duties: Chopper in. Get your orders. Receive validation from senior officer, one that allows you to push staff people around a little. Schedule meetings in which people are forced to talk about things they probably would rather not. "Capture" the "findings" in big pieces of paper you post on the walls during the meeting. "Drill Deep" into "process" with employees. Identify "challenges and opportunities" and "reach for new solutions." Go off. Have several glasses of malbec. Write "findings," telling your client a mixture of the things he needs to hear, the things he wants to hear, and the stuff you tell everybody. Go home. Feel good, having left the problems you solved and the problems you created behind you."
Tinker Air Force Base May 19, 2006
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Consulting, Lean , add a comment
Continuous process improvement is alive and well at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base. For proof, look no further than the 76th Maintenance Wing’s new F100 Business Unit being stood up in Bldg. 3001 as part of the landmark $500 million, 10-year process of transforming maintenance, repair and overhaul operations currently under way across the center. The center is showing steady progress with redesign efforts of building a lean work environment designed to produce world-class products on time and cost. As the F100 Business Unit continues to prepare for additional cell moves, one of the biggest reasons for the team’s marked success to this point has been taking lessons learned from previous lean initiatives and incorporating those into the new designs. Facilitating this transformation is a consortium lead by Battelle.
Certified Supply Chain Professional May 19, 2006
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Consulting, Logistics, Supply Chain , add a comment
The Certified Supply Chain Professional is the new industry certification program sponsored by the American Production and Inventory Control Society to meet the rapidly changing needs of the supply chain management field. The CSCP designation recognizes professionals who have demonstrated their knowledge and experience of supply chain management. Does your supply chain need a tune up? Not sure if your team is working on the right stuff? Do you want to catch up with your competitors, or take a left turn and cut them off?
Larry Loucka, CSCP