Coming soon ! ISO Certification in Lean Six Sigma

Potentially a huge boost to the the spread and use of Lean Six Sigma !  The December 1st 2015 release of a new ISO Standard :  ISO 18404 ; 2015

ISO 18404 : Competencies for key personnel and their organizations in relation to Six Sigma and Lean implementation

The principle improvements made in this standard over the previous standards    ( ISO 13053 part 1 and part 2 ) are  :

1)   It recognizes both Lean and Six  Sigma  and how they compliment each other

2 ) It is designed to an AUDITABLE standard in which an organization ( and potentially individuals) can be CERTIFIED by ISO Registered Certification Bodies ( RCBs ).

The standard refers to 'Lean and Six Sigma'  instead of simply 'Lean Six Sigma'. The details of the mechanisms for becoming a 'Certified ISO 18404' organization will be similar to ISO 9000 / 9001 certifications.  A Registered Certification Body  (RCB ) will be required to audit the company processes to ensure compliance with the standard.    There may also be a certification process introduced for Black Belts and Green Belts to the standard described in the document,  however the details of this procedure have not yet been released.

Lean Six Sigma Training Ltd will be active and at the forefront of any new Lean Six Sigma certifications that are offered by ISO.   Stay tuned here for latest news !

Everyday, Everybody, Everywhere ...definition of Kaizen

I recently came across the work of  Masaaki Imai the highly respected Japanese operations management consultant and theorist.
He first reminded me that the Japanese translation of KAIZEN is actually ' Change For the Better'   and not Continuous Improvement as people usually translate it today.   He also made the incredibly insightful suggestion that the a new English definition for KAIZEN should be the following:
EVERYDAY, EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE.   I think this is an excellent additional twist on the concept of KAIZEN.   Change for the better...Everyday, Everybody, Everywhere !

                                                                      Masaaki Imai

Little’s Law can help you reduce Customer waiting time

Lean Six Sigma Black Belts use Little’s Law to help reduce Customer waiting time ( Lead time). Little's Law tells us that we must reduce our WORK-IN-PROCESS ( WIP) and also increase our rate of THROUGHPUT.

Average Lead time = Average WIP / Average Throughput

Improving the FLOW of the process and PULL ( Just-in-time) helps reduce WIP , increase throughput and hence reduce lead time.

For example
WIP = Average 20 customer inquires that a call centre has started but not finished
Throughput rate = Average 40 customers we complete per hour we finish processing
Average Lead time (time per customer) = 30 minutes

NOTE: John D.C. Little’s original law was concerned with number of customers entering and leaving a market ( shop ) L = λ W
Where L = average number of customers in the store λ = average arrival rate W = average time that a customer spends in the store