Anyone here a "Blackbelt" - - Lean Six Sigma ??

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 26 Jun 2007 7:52 pm

I am a Black Belt working on Master Black Belt certification.

I am a full time Black Belt for the US Army, who like many other large corporations is always undergoing Business Transformation and process improvement.

No this is not karate or jujitsu..

However if you are aware of Lean Six Sigma you understand the question.

Just curious.

Anyone here involved in this?

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 26 Jun 2007 8:09 pm

Beats the hell out of me,I'm sure you could to.

Joe Butcher · Post by **Joe Butcher** » 26 Jun 2007 8:56 pm

Can you apply the principles of Lean or Six Sigma to playing an instrument?

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 26 Jun 2007 8:57 pm

I've got a Van Allen Belt.. does that count?

Jim Taylor · Post by **Jim Taylor** » 26 Jun 2007 9:47 pm

The company I work for is heavily into it, but being a remote employee I don't get involved personally.

Ben Elder · Post by **Ben Elder** » 26 Jun 2007 10:31 pm

Martin's import brand, right?

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 26 Jun 2007 11:35 pm

I have a black belt in Ludo

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 27 Jun 2007 1:22 am

I was involved in it, and it was quite a big thing (at one time) at my place of employment...not something I'd brag about though.

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 27 Jun 2007 4:52 am

Sorry but I'm skeptical of these things.

It seems every decade there is some new business guru with a plan they market to Fortune 500 companies.

I've been thru a few in the past.
Management seemed to adopt them like a cult.

Then the companies forget about them when the next plan comes along.

There is usually a charismatic public speaker preaching the virtues of the system. These guys become very rich, so I guess it works.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 27 Jun 2007 5:01 am

I'm not, but have studied it and have had the non-pleasure of dealing in business with a few who were really into it.

Like posted earlier - not something I'd brag about either. It's just the latest business/efficiency/motivational hype.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 27 Jun 2007 5:52 am

Phases and Stages...

I'm OK, You're Not...
What you are is where you were when... (when what?)
InSensitivity Training...
Financial Management for NonFinance People... (why?)
Total Quackery Management (Sorry Dr. Deming...)
Poke your yolks...
Kanbans and cantbans
The Toyota Lost Production System
ISO 9000,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,.....
The House of Quality (not the same as the House of Pies...)
Failure Mode Effects Analysis (fishbones without fish...)
Design of Experiments (not baking soda and vinegar either...)
Design for Manufacturing (whooda thought....)

It is my humble opinion that regardless of whatever any motion picture academy may say, the best movie ever made is "Office Space"!

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 27 Jun 2007 6:07 am

Well, not bragging here.

Was curious if anyone is involved thats all.

Thanks for the feedback..

Tim

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 27 Jun 2007 7:45 am

Sorry Tim, I didn't mean to start a deluge of negativity here, I guess I should elaborate a little (before the topic is closed due to not being "music related"). Yes, Ive been through many of these initiatives; total quality management, quality circles, statistical process control, kanban, just-in-time, kaizen, and also six-sigma. The goal in all of these seems to be to produce more and more with less and less people. For some, it's good. And for others, it's bad. You see, when you take a company with 500 employees and double it's output, you're then able to "downsize" (a euphemism for "can") 250 people who must then start over. While it's fantastic for execs, great for the stockholders, and good for some employees, I feel it hurts many people (and the country), as a whole.

My own business philosophy is more centered around the four "C's" - communication, cooperation, common-sense, and caring. If you like, we can continue the discussion offline. I beg Bob's forgiveness for my meanderings.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 27 Jun 2007 7:52 am

Not one Bruce Lee flick had any steel guitar solos in them.

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 27 Jun 2007 9:07 am

I see it related to Steel Players ...Steel Players that are involved with LSS.

My involvement does not involve reducing the force (employees).

It does involve cost savings and efficient process improvement.

This translates to saving Tax Payers money and resources...and maybe saving lives in the process.

Jim Taylor · Post by **Jim Taylor** » 27 Jun 2007 1:58 pm

I see it as just another way to package process management. It seems to be more acceptable to management, and it gets more funding if it has a catchier title. To me process management and the theory of constraints is a pretty complete package. On the upside, a common approach allows general utilization of common resources. A lot of books are getting written on “lean Six Sigma”, “Thinking Lean”, etc. Of course that is also making money for authors and contract “experts”. This input is from a wannabe steel player.

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 27 Jun 2007 3:29 pm

Howdy Tim!

I am pretty heavy into CMMI, but we do have some Six Sigma stuff at the company I work at. It always seems that the "defect management" or smaller project go the Six Sigma route and the big multi-year projects go CMMI. Congratulations on the black belt, that is a big accomplishment!

Cheers!
Mark A.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 27 Jun 2007 4:52 pm

I used to do contract work for one of the world's largest corporations until they merged with another corporation even larger to become the world's largest and richest. They were very heavy into this process management thing with job ownership and get more output with less people.

When the big crunch came six years ago, all the henchmen who were appointed to the management process teams kept their jobs while the more than 26,000 other employees it North America wondered what happened to their jobs. So much for job ownership and corporation dedication.

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 27 Jun 2007 7:14 pm

Six Sigma in automated machinery? I've seen it triple the price of the equipment that generally does what it wants anyway.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 27 Jun 2007 7:31 pm

My involvement does not involve reducing the force (employees).

It does involve cost savings and efficient process improvement.

That's swell. Most of my direct involvement and that of others I know who have been through portions off the program has been with methods of downsizing or outsourcing, masked in a bunch of Karate-Kid phraseology. I know a couple of self-help book collectors who think it's the greatest. Most think it's just another business fad, like TQM, JIT and all the rest of the time and money wasting stuff that makes great-payng jobs - for consultants.

What Les and Ken said as well. I just personally watched "it" ( because the decisions were directly attributable to a couple of black-belts dingnothing more than proving "the process") cause a company to totally foul a multimillion dollar machine installation - the "layman's" reason is that they decided the process needed to save 7%. So they did on a flooring system, because it was next in the JIT sequence. And after patting themselves on the back and bowing like the weekend ninjas they are, they watched a machine go through the flooring into the slab.

It'll take months to unscrew. But their "process" was served well. The repairs and down time are dedicated to another group. But the direct installation costs were reduced per projections - domo arigato, boys.

It's a perfect "it's not my job" business model.

What this has to do with steel players...well, IMO it has nothing to do with steel players.

It's more appropriate for a political/business forum. Preferably unmoderated.

I think Donny and I went to the same business school. The one where Course 101 consists of learning the phrase "use common sense", and 102 "Treat your people well and they will make you money".

Man, are those days long gone.

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 27 Jun 2007 8:05 pm

Wait until the real BLack Belt associations... you know the martial artists, sue them for using the name.. Like Ralph Laruen did a couple of years ago.. he claimed he owned "Polo" not just the trademark name, but it's use in magazines related to the actual sport..they had to put a disclaimer in every copy of Polo Players that they were not affiliated with RL or Polo ..

Gary Preston · Post by **Gary Preston** » 30 Jun 2007 12:24 pm

Tim . I suppose i was confused by the question at first ! Why ? Because at one time i taught Full Contact Kickboxing and 7-Star Praying Mantis Kung-Fu . So i had to read the post about your question . Then i saw that it had nothing to do with Martial Arts at all ! I have never heard of the management process that you are talking about ! Is this something new or have i been living in a cave ? At one time i worked in the office of Multi Million dollar company and never heard of this term . Please overlook my ignorance about this subject ! G.P.

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 30 Jun 2007 2:25 pm

The Lean Six Sigma process is mostly applied to and associated with quality, speed and cost as in manufacturing.

My involvement is restricted to improvement of customer service and how our Army lives, trains and fights.

Like I said... the improvement processes that I am involved with are directly appied to conserving tax money and developing safer ways to train and take care of our Soldiers.

It saves lives and facilitates a safer training environment.

I have nothing to do with Fortune 500 companies laying off workers and forcing families to suffer, etc, etc....

Sometimes "mumbo jumbo" can be used for good as well. It is how you use it. Right?

Support the troops..

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 1 Jul 2007 7:01 am

Tim - thank for expanding on your involvement. If it's being applied in a positive way I'm happy to hear it. As I said, my experiences have been all negative (directly relating to some of the "empowerment" inherent at higher levels) so it's good to hear a nice story. Didn't mean to rain on your parade - just seen a lot of people hurt. What you're doing sure offsets a lot of that.

Jim

Gary - it's been around a while - do a Google search and you'll get thousands of hits. IIn the private sector it's the latest (even though not that new) "efficiency" (for lack of a better term) fad.

A. J. Schobert · Post by **A. J. Schobert** » 1 Jul 2007 9:54 am

So how do you apply this to steel players?

Alot of local bands don't want a steel player since they have to divide the pay by another band member.

What does Black Belt have to do with it?