July 7, 2015December 15, 2018Definitions, Lean Sigma, Sigma, Supply Chain

Measuring Supply Chain Forecast Accuracy

Measuring Supply Chain Forecast Accuracy is usually done with Mean Absolute Percent Error or MAPE, the average of percentage errors. But there […]

August 1, 2009Lean Sigma, Sigma

Lean Six Sigma Certification Game

A friend and colleague, Bill Bentley, writes about the use of professional certifications in the recruiting industry. I had a long talk […]

August 1, 2009Sigma

Forget the 80/20 Rule

In the late 1800s, economist and avid gardener Vilfredo Pareto established that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% […]

March 11, 2009December 25, 2014Definitions, Lean, Logistics, Sigma

Fixed Repeating Schedule – Product Family Turnover Rate

Here’s another example for “sizing the wheel” for a mixed model fixed repeating schedule. Given: Changeover Time = 100 minutes Available Production […]

January 31, 2009February 11, 2024Economy, Lean, Lean Sigma, Sigma

Process Improvement in a Down Economy

Many business leaders fail to see the opportunities that an economic downturn provides.  To take advantage of opportunities you first need to […]

December 30, 2008February 15, 2020Definitions, Lean Sigma, Sigma

Gauss

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)  seen here on a German 10 Deutsche Mark banknote was a mathematician, astronomer, scientist noted for least […]

July 6, 2008June 28, 2019Definitions, Lean, Logistics, Sigma

5 Rules of On-error Training

1. Ownership Rule – the person who first detects the problem is responsible for finding the root cause of the problem. 2. […]

August 5, 2007Consulting, Lean, Lean Sigma, Sigma

PowerPoint and other miscommunications

Recently read Edward R. Tufte’s The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within and initially dismissed his thesis as troglodyte.  Now […]

January 29, 2007January 11, 2022Definitions, Lean Sigma, Logistics, Sigma, Supply Chain

Safety Stock Calculation

When I first learned inventory planning the safety stock calculation math was rather simple.  On top of the cycle stock (expected demand […]

May 21, 2006March 27, 2023Consulting, Sigma

Minitab training from Value-Train

Minitab is possibly the most widely used statistical software package in the Six Sigma world. Our friend Bill Bentley has just announced […]

February 5, 2006February 11, 2024Consulting, Lean, Lean Sigma, Sigma, Supply Chain

Change, I Ching, and Six Sigma

A critical component of any successful Six Sigma project is to overcome resistance to change. The reason: without acceptance, any process improvement […]

January 20, 2006Lean, Lean Sigma, Logistics, Sigma, Supply Chain

Understanding Lean Logistics

Supply chain management was designed to take waste out of supply chains-waste as to excess inventory, time and cost. Supply chains are […]