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How Problem Owner Can Sabotage Your Lean Six Sigma Project

February 20, 2012 | Posted by Peter Herku in Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma Coaching, Problem Owner | No Comments »

 

Some Lean Six Sigma practitioners sabotage their own project on day one.

They don’t define who the Problem Owner is and what his/her role is in the project.

 

Who is the Problem Owner?

The Problem Owner – also called the Process Owner – is the person who is functionally responsible for the process you and your team want to improve using Lean Six Sigma methodology.

Since every project is defined terms of “a problem that needs to be solved” that is why we talk about the owner of the problem.

This is important to tell – and I tell it often during my coaching: the Green- or Black Belt or their project team is NOT the Problem Owner. They are only responsible to apply the methodology in order to find solution to the problem.

After the solution is proved to be good – which is the main part of the Improve Phase of the DMAIC roadmap – the team has to hand it over to the Problem Owner.

I remember a project with a Healthcare company. Their goal was to improve communication with clients.

We had a good team but we spent lots of time defining the real, measurable problem. It took me over 24 wasted hours before I realized: all these discussions are caused by the fact that everybody sees the problem from its own perspective.

If we had one Problem Owner, he/she could tell clearly why is communication with the clients a problem that needs to be solved. Everybody is communicating one way or another with the clients so it is very difficult to point out a person to be the Problem Owner.

That brings us to the next question:

 

What is the role of the Problem Owner in a Lean Six Sigma Project?

During the project execution the Problem Owner should make resources – time, people, facility, machines, etc. – available so that the team can work on finding and testing the solution.

At the end of the project – the Control Phase – the Problem Owner needs to formally take over the findings of the project team and make it sure the new process is being followed.

Once I coached a Green Belt who had a project in a Swedish manufacturing company. Because of some language difficulties the Problem Owner was not part of the project team.

Everything went fine until we arrived at the Control Phase where I asked the Green Belt to get the approval of the Problem Owner for the new procedure.

The Green Belt was a bit stressed because he did not keep the Problem Owner up to date, therefore he had some hard thoughts about getting the approval.

This mistake can costs time delays and to be avoided by inviting the Problem Owner to join the project team or updating him at least once a month.

 

Conclusion

Make sure when you start a Lean Six Sigma project that the Problem Owner is well defined.

Invite him/her to join the project team.

Otherwise keep him/her up to date on a regular basis.

Do you want one-on-one coaching to avoid mistakes like these?

Go to http://www.LeanSixSigmaCoach.com as long as coaching spots are available.

 

Warm regards,

 

Peter

        +31 55 737 00 02

Consultation

 

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Program

January 16, 2012 | Posted by Peter Herku in Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma Certification | No Comments »
Today is your last chance to join and get your Black Belt Certificate.Why Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification?A recent research by Monsterboard.com (biggest online job search database) in the USA, has shown that Black Belts earn at least the same as some one with MBA (master of business administration) degree: around 100.000 USD per year gross.I have MBA degree from Webster University St. Louis, campus Leiden, Netherlands. I was lucky because my employer paid around 30.000 USD for my education. Had I knew at that time about Lean Six Sigma and its effectiveness I certainly would not have followed MBA but would have started with Black Belt LSS rigth away.

Why should you get your Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate? What is it worth?

  • You are able to identify, select, prioritize and solve almost ANY kind of business process challenges for your company or for your clients and customers. Without prior industry knowledge I am executing successful Lean Six Sigma projects in manufacturing, service industry, maintenance industry, healthcare, finance, etc.
  • Typical Black Belt projects deliver between $50,000 to $100,000 financial benefit depending on the size of the company. One of my Black Belt students is working on his first project with an expected financial savings of $1,000,000 on yearly base.
  • Next to your freedom to choose where you want to work and the measurable impact of your work, you are able to teach others in the organization on the Lean Six Sigma methodology. Teaching and coaching of others is essential if you want to become a Black Belt because that is the multiplication of your impact.
  • You as a Black Belt, will advise CEO’s and Directors of the Board. Once an organization experience the power and efficiency of Lean Six Sigma, they are going to be addicted to it. They want to apply it in everything they do. I train and advise Board of Directors in setting up their Strategic Plans because they want to make sure it it Lean Six Sigma proof.


If you are serious, and want to make a big step in your career, now you can.

We offer you 2 options:

Option 1: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Training

This option is for those who are not able to execute a real project but want to learn the methodology on Black Belt level for possible future application.

After receipt of one time payment of 1997 USD, you get excess to the online training material. Passing the online test with 80% results will grant you the certification of completing the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Training.

This is therefore a theoretical proof of your knowledge.

Option 2: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate

This option if for you if you can execute an improvement project at an organization.

This is where you are going to demonstrate your proficiency in Lean Six Sigma. Next to the online training material with video’s, presentations, downloadable templates, etc, you get one-on-one coaching from me to ensure good results in the shortest possible time.

To get your certification, you are going to complete one project and coach someone on another project. Average lead time is 6 months for both, so 12 month in total.

The time requirement is about 20 hour study in total and weekly 2 hours meeting with your project team.

The price of this program is 3997 USD. You can chose to pay in 12 periods of 340 USD each.
While you are still in process of paying monthly, you are already achieving significant improvements as you progress with project under my supervision.

One of my Black Belt students is about to finish his project with a financial savings of 1 milion USD per year. So that is a very good return on investment, right?

How does it work?

If you join, we are going to work closely together like this:

  • I help you choose your first project and set up your project team – this is a crucial point for your success
  • Next, you study the 1st module
  • Send all your questions to me by email
  • I answer you within 1 business day so you do not have any delays
  • You meet with your team to apply the material of the module 1
  • If you have questions, again, you send them to me
  • Once a month (= once per module) we have a Skype consultation to discuss you project
  • You continue with module 2
  • etc.


This is how I work with my private clients and big accounts and it is proven to be very effective in the past  years.

How about guarantees?

Furthermore, we always provide our customers with a performance guarantee. For this program I offer double guarantee:

1. After the first month, you can decide to stop and you get your money back.

2. I also guarantee you that your project savings will at least be twice the amount of your investment. Otherwise I give your money back. This requires that you follow up my advice and prove that by sending me your project documentation.

It is obvious that I take the risk off your shoulder, therefore I will work closely with you starting with careful project selection.

What do you need to do now?

Just send an email today to peter.herku@gmail.com saying you want to join our certification program.

I will contact you and discuss the next steps.

We are going to start TODAY (January 16th, 2012).

Warm regards,

Peter

        +31 55 737 00 02

Consultation

 

Lean Six Sigma Gives You Freedom To Choose

December 17, 2011 | Posted by Peter Herku in Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma Certification, Six Sigma | No Comments »

What is your plan for next year?

 

Are you still in your current job? Do you like it?

 

Or would you like to make a big step in your career. Maybe you are tired of the daily hassle and you would like to do something totally different.

 

You’ve spent maybe 5-10-20 years in your industry but you just cannot imagine yourself retiring from your current job.

 

It is not that you hate your work but you would like new challenges.  Maybe in a different industry.

 

Money may be important, but it’s not your primary motivation. Perhaps you’re satisfied with your current salary of $35,000 – $ 70,000 but you see the limitations. Earning $ 100 K is a little out of reach for now.

 

Getting out of your current job and do something really different with an reasonable $100 K or  more is actually what you want.

 

But how to get there?

 

You might be paralyzed by the idea of going for a business education program like MBA (Master of Business Administration).

 

You just don’t have $20,000 – $30,000 to spend and 3 or more years to study and HOPE you can monetize your efforts once…

 

Personally I would prefer something quicker, practical and cheaper…

 

I was in the same situation a few years ago.

 

While studied Chemical Engineering, working for 12 years in Finance, completing my MBA to broaden my chances…still I was not happy.

 

After getting my Black Belt Certification in Lean Six Sigma doors went open.

 

And you can get certified as a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma in 1/3 of the time for 87% less

 

Actually even during my Black Belt training I was exposed to ALL kinds of business problems that had absolutely nothing to do with my prior education nor with my working experience.

 

My very first Lean Six Sigma project was in production: reduce size variation of a semi-finished product made of yarn.

  • I have never learnt about how to produce that semi finished product
  • I have never worked together on a specific project with machine operators
  • I have never been exposed to solving a production problem

 

Applying Lean Six Sigma method, following the 5 phases (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) I was able to achieve significant improvements in 6 months:

 

  • Variation in spiral size reduced for both width and thickness with resp. 26% and 42%
  • Defect rate reduced from 21% to 4% (target was: 7%)
  • Process was simplified
  • Hard savings: $112,500 per year

 

Do you want to learn Lean Six Sigma and enjoy the freedom to solve almost ANY business problems without any prior knowledge or experience?

 

Join the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Program starting on 16th of January 2012

 

Would you like to know more about the certification program, send me your question to peter.herku@gmail.com

 

Warm regards,

Peter

        +31 55 737 00 02

Consultation

 

 

Free Lean Six Sigma Advice

November 30, 2011 | Posted by Peter Herku in Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma | No Comments »

 

If you want to …

  • learn more about Lean Six Sigma (LSS),
  • to evaluate whether it was something which would be beneficial to your job search, and
  • specifically to discuss a job interview for a position requiring someone with LSS background.

Here’s your chance for a Free 45 minutes consultation with me.

Apply here:

http://peterherku.com/free-consultation/

There is no catch and no future obligation to purchase anything now or in the future.

This 45 minute free consultation will give you information to see how and where you can improve your organization…along with what results to expect.

This is what a recent client said about it:

“You responded very quickly, were extremely helpful in sharing general information about Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and also specific examples related to the healthcare field; also with your time for an extended telephone conversation to find out exactly what my needs were and explain how knowledge of LSS could benefit my career search. 

You went above and beyond by reviewing the job description, anticipating what issues may be involved with the position which LSS could help with, and giving me feedback on questions to ask on the interview.

As far as I’m concerned, your assistance was perfect and you went above and beyond.  I cannot see any improvement needed.

You are so very personable and approachable – not just a website to review or not just a generic email response. You seem to be such a genuine person!”

Theresa A. Eury, Mars, PA

http://peterherku.com/free-consultation/

Warm regards,

Peter

        +31 55 737 00 02

Consultation

 

 

 

 

How to Become Customer Oriented with Lean Six Sigma

October 31, 2011 | Posted by Peter Herku in Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma Project, Six Sigma | No Comments »

In our previous post we discussed the 3 most important elements of customer satisfaction.

Today I will show you how to treat “over-orientation”.

Case Study: Improving Planning

Some weeks ago I started coaching a Lean Six Sigma project team on improving planning efficiency.

This company is a provider of special training and education programs for blind or visual disabled clients. There program consists of more than 35 modules, highly tailor-made, and planned by 11 individual departments.

The current situation:

  1. The planning of the programs is very time consuming work
  2. The customers have lots of waiting time (waste!) before and during the training program,
  3. The trainers have frequently unproductive hours
  4. The program takes almost always longer than expected (bad on-time-delivery performance)

This company was trying everything they could to improve the situation but it went out hand. It was too complex and became even more complex each time they came together to solve the problem.

Customer Oriented…Really?

In their effort to provide their clients a flexible, tailor-made program, they were lost and bound by all the constraints.

I told them that being customer oriented means providing the best possible service not only to the customer in front of you but to all others as well and even to those waiting to be served.

When trying to solve this planning issue the company was mainly focusing on their own point of view: how can we satisfy all the departments, what are the personal requirements of the trainers, what is the best timing for them to provide with training.

Looking inward combined with all the individual requests of the clients made the problem even more difficult to solve.

My advice: Focus

I advised the team to look at this problem from the customers’ point of view.

-          What do they experience?

-          What do they miss?

-          What is their CTS Tree (critical to satisfaction)?

-          Where is the imbalance between quality, time and cost/effort for the clients as they receive their training program?

Concentrating on the output first, trying to quantify its current level (baseline) keeps the team from getting lost right at the beginning.

The team initially had identified 8 metrics to measure the effectiveness of the planning activities. I advised to focus on a maximum of 2 (waiting times and on-time-delivery) to eliminate the overwhelm.

Focusing on only a few but vital issues during the rest of the project execution will ensure quick results within 3 to 5 months and significant reduction of waiting times – normally between 30% to 50% reduction.

Less waiting times, therefore shorter total lead times per customer increases the capacity of this company without investing in resources.

Do you want to achieve more with your current employees and machines?

Is your team looking at the issues from the customers’ point of view?

And are you focused on the on a limited number of vital metrics?

Let me know your stories.  Please share your stories, comments, and questions below.

Peter

        +31 55 737 00 02

Consultation

“Author of Profitable Empowerment”

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