Management invests time and money in Six Sigma to get better results. Projects are the key to organization improvement in Six Sigma; they also are the most visible and quantifiable part of this effort. Too often, organizations do not do the basics of good project selection and project management well.

Brain Teasers: Cut Down the Middle

July 31, 2008

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

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Anyone who has faced a production problem with a need to solve it by using production data can relate to the notion of a brain teaser.

Brain Teasers: Holes Too Tight

June 27, 2008

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

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Anyone who has faced a production problem with a need to solve it by using production data can relate to the notion of a brain teaser. The brain teasers presented here are based on real-world situations encountered by workers in manufacturing environments.

Brain Teasers: Improve Productivity by 5%

February 22, 2008

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

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Brain Teasers: Managers Under Pressure

November 21, 2007

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

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Xavier has just been promoted to quality manager at a glass container manufacturing plant. In this capacity, he reports values for key characteristics of the glass containers during production meetings. Based on the reported values, those in attendance will determine what required actions need to be taken on the process.

Brain Teasers: Is the Customer Always Right?

October 29, 2007

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

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Darlene is the marketing director for a company that makes vision inspection equipment. One customer makes disks that are soft and subject to distortion with mechanical inspection of the disk diameter. This customer has complained that the visual inspection equipment is not performing as well as it did in the past.

Brain Teasers: Conveying the Right Messages

September 28, 2007

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

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Quality 101: Six Sigma: The Power of Understanding Process Behavior

August 27, 2007

By Sheila R. Poling and Dr. Sophronia Ward

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What is the purpose of using the Six Sigma Methodology? Have you ever heard Six Sigma referred to as a problem-solving methodology? This is a disservice to both problem solving and Six Sigma. There are numerous problem-solving methodologies around, but they are focused on finding the cause of some exceptional event that has occurred. Six Sigma, on the other hand, is a process improvement methodology and goes far beyond problem solving.

Brain Teasers: Are Current Measurements Good Enough for Tighter Specifications?

July 30, 2007

By Dr. Sophronia Ward

No Comments

Colin is the expert on measurement studies for a company that makes electrical components. For two critical product measurements-resistance and watts-product specifications are expressed as a percent of the target value for the particular component.

Quality management: Quality Evolves in a Six Sigma World

June 1, 2007

By Paul Clipp, Sheila R. Poling, and Dr. Sophronia Ward

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As an organization implements Six Sigma thinking, it needs to restructure how it approaches quality. These changes impact everyone and change the way business is managed.

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A Practical Field Guide for ISO 9001:2008

The purpose of this field guide is to assist organizations, step by step, in implementing a quality management system (QMS) in conformance with ISO 9001:2008, whether from scratch or by transitioning from ISO 9001:2000. It examines each sub-clause of Sections 4–8 of ISO 9001:2008, which contain the requirements, and gives a list of the documentation/documents required, internal audit questions, a summary of management’s responsibilities, and a flowchart of the steps that need to be undertaken to satisfy the requirements.

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