SSDSI's Onsite Deployment Model ...

SSDSI's On Site Lean and Six Sigma Deployment Strategy (taken from “The First 90 Days”, by Stephen A. Zinkgraf.)

SSDSI offers a cost effective solution for deployment of Lean and Six Sigma in an organization. The following strategy can be deployed in any industry irrespective of size. The Lean and Six Sigma concepts are designed in accordance with the basic characteristics of a business and not the size of a business.

We have drawn the Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma approach to deployment from the work of Harvard Professor, John P. Kotter and his book, “Leading Change”. Larry Bossidy of Allied Signal (one of the original deployments of Six Sigma) used this approach when first implementing Six Sigma with outstanding results.

Kotter’s Philosophical Deployment Architecture:

• Establish a Sense of Urgency
• Create a Guiding Coalition
• Create Vision and Strategy
• Communicate the Change Vision
• Empower Broad Based Change
• Generate Short Term Wins
• Consolidate Gains and Produce More Change
• Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

In order for an initial Lean and Six Sigma implementation to be successful, 11 milestones must be addressed during initial stages of the Deployment:

• Establish a leadership team
• Identify Corporate Critical Y’s (metrics) and set goals
• Identify timeline for deployment
• Train Belts (Black, Green, Yellow, White)
• Implement a Project Tracking System
• Identify projects (those that are linked directly to Critical Y’s)
• Identify and Train Business Unit and Departmental Champions
• Prioritize Projects and assign to appropriate Belts
• Define and implement project review methods and frequency
• Resolve resource and leadership problems that impede project success
• Develop and Implement Reward and Recognition guidelines

Within the first 90 Days we must build the Foundation for the Implementation. Without a Foundation (from our experience), the deployment has little chance of long term sustainment.

What are the Steps to building the Lean and Six Sigma “Foundation”:

• Five Day Business Assessment
• Assess and Update core process Critical Y’s (Key Performance Indicators)
• Lean and Six Sigma Assessment (Do we have …?)
• Clear purpose for the team initiatives
• Clear program expectations
• Clear project charters
• Infrastructure to track CPI (Continues Process Improvement) Team Progress
• Centralized repository for Project Results (both Financial and for Project Communication)
• CPI Team reporting mechanism
• Reward and Recognition Plan
• Ongoing Training and Development Plan
• CPI Team Performance Measures
• Executive Strategy Workshop
• Finance and HR Workshop
• Champion Workshop (Mid and High Level Program Directors and Mentors)

Once the Foundation has been built then it is time to start training and deploying the Belts to tackle the projects.

• Black Belt Training
• Green Belt Training
• Yellow Belt Training
• White Belt Training
• Master Black Belt Training

Design and Delivery Schedule for Deployment

Week #1 – 5 Day Business Assessment
Week #3 – 3 Day Executive Strategy Workshop
Week #5 – 2 Day Finance and HR Workshop
Week #7 – 2 Day Champion Workshop
Week #8-#12 - White Belt Training
Week #13 – Black Belt Training (4 weeks, 1 week per month for 4 weeks)
Green Belt Training (First two weeks of Black Belt Training)

• Recommended Percentage of Black Belts in the organization = 3% to 6% of the population
• Recommended Percentage of Green Belts in the organization = 10% to 15% of the population

Week #32 – Master Black Belt Training either onsite or at one of SSDSI’s many open enrollment courses

Contact Us for more Information on Lean and Six Sigma Deployment and how we can help your organization to build long term Lean and Six Sigma Implementation sustainment.

"Words of Wisdom" from the Team At SSDSI..:"

2011-04-15T15:24:00.000-07:00 Lean Implementation at Mission Linen in Sacramento ... This week I spent time with Mission Linen in Sacramento, California in the first week of a Lean (and partly Six Sigma) Implementation. They have a vendor presently implementing what they are calling "Lean Six Sigma" in a few of their other facilities. I had a few of their employees in my Lean and Six Sigma course and they saw a different side of Lean and Six Sigma. They asked me to lead the implementation at their Sacramento facility. Through the concepts of Pull, Kanban, and Flow, they see production of their core items in a whole new way. This will have a significant effect on their throughput. It's great to see a plan come together ;)

2011-04-01T09:41:00.000-07:00 Training is sometimes “a job” (but most of the time it’s just fun :) ... I was in the home of the Astro's Baseball team teaching a Six Sigma Week #2 course. For those of you who watch my Facebook page, you will think to yourself "but Kevin has not taught a week #1 in Houston in more than six months". You are correct … I was subbing for another instructor. We had a small class (of three) but they were very engaged in class (even though we had a series of sunny Spring days and a clear view to the outside through a large window;). This was a tough class, because i ended up catching Strep Throat on Tuesday morning and taught all day with an ever increasing fever (102 by days end). I went to the Clinic in Walgreens (a great business model, by the way to have a clinic right next to the pharmacy!), received some antibiotics. I felt fair the next morning but taught the whole day and was worn out by 5pm. Wednesday was the kicker, because not only did i teach all day with strep throat, but i ended up with Laryngitis. By the end of the day I had to use all but use sign language to be understood. Not to fear though... I made it through the day, and the class was still engaged. I gained some of my voice back for Thursday's session but had to actually use pictures to be understood sometimes. We made it a game of Pictionary at one point in the class. All in all, it was a great class. A picture is on my Facebook page. I have a lot of fun teaching and consulting, but the man upstairs likes to humble me every now and again. He sure did a good job this week :) Next week, i will be headed to Toronto Canada to help a company that's implementing Six Sigma at Kraft Foods worldwide.