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Chris Alcock ( Master Black Belt ) asks this question : Would you rather me go the extra mile for a patient or follow a good process?   https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/09/nurse-spared-jail-after-fatal-blood-transfusion-mix-up I know which sounds better, but which would you actually rather have? Good healthcare by dint of extraordinary effort? Or a process that leads the nurse …

Personalised attention and Chaos or Standardization and Stability ? Read More »

Chris Alcock and I have recently been researching the penetration of Lean or  Six Sigma or Lean 6 Sigma in hospitals in the USA. http://health.usnews.com/health-care/best-hospitals/articles/best-hospitals-honor-roll-and-overview The above URL names the top 20 best hospitals in the USA, 2016,  according to a detailed study undertaken by the US News magazine. (See also text attachment) So I …

Top 20 Hospitals in USA all have Lean programs…and some have Six Sigma too ! Read More »

Hello, I was just asked by Rene C. from Nice, France, while he was preparing for his Black Belt, if he needed to know the details of how to use Critical Path Method ( CPM )  or Program Evaluation and Review Tequnique ( PERT ) in order to be a Black Belt ? This is …

Does a Black Belt need to know and use CPM and PERT methods for project management ? Read More »

During my years teaching in Lean Six Sigma I have found myself using the word ‘Optimization’ at least once a week during my classes…usually during the part about ‘Designed Experiments’ and ‘Response Surface Methods’ ,  however I have recently been thinking that the word ‘Optimization’ should be introduced to Students much earlier during the “Fundamentals …

Optimization : Making the most of what your customers want Read More »

This is a common question that is asked about the use of Kanbans.   Remember that a Kanban is just the fancy ( Japanese ) name for any visual signal or reminder that it is time to re-stock the supply of materials, parts, goods that are needed for the next downstream activity in your process. …

How to calculate the correct Kanban levels for restocking ? Read More »

How Kanban systems are used in new cutting edge industries …HP, Pixar,  Zara and Spotify Written by James Gordon  Kanban is a Lean Manufacturing Tool for producing items in a highly efficient manner. It’s a scheduling system which tell you what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce. Kanban is also the …

Kanban tools are now used by Pixar, Spotify and Zara Read More »