Manufacturing Exports Grow in June

Lean Manufacturing Enables Xerium Growth Program

Global manufacturing company, Xerium Tech, supports the paper production industry with products and reports its financial results. It is executing a turnaround plan that includes lean manufacturing to lay the operational efficiency foundation for its strategic growth plan. ...

... "These growth program costs for the year ended December 31, 2007 include expenses incurred for our lean manufacturing initiatives, expansion into Vietnam and other growth programs. " ...

Via Xerium Technologies: Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2007 Results

Chief Innovation Officer Training

Upcoming event in February 2008 focuses on leading growth through innovation. ...

... "The course, entitled Chief Innovation Officer – Leading your Company's Growth and Performance Initiatives, is a two day Executive Education Program for business leaders who are leading the charge for growth and innovation inside their organizations or who are poised to take on that role. The event is being held in Denver February 25 – 26, 2008. " ...

Via Breakthrough Management Group: Chief Innovation Officer Executive Seminar

Six Sigma Achievement in Process Efficiency is Awarded

ATMI is recognized for its use of Six Sigma to drive growth at the company in its product lifecycle. A number of Six Sigma projects have been deliver with operational efficiency benefits realized. The company was recognized at the Global Six Sigma Awards 2007. ...

... "We are very happy to have our innovative approach to Six Sigma deployment independently validated, as it is a key contributor to continued growth, said Doug Neugold, Chief Executive Officer. This award is based upon our documenting how the tools and methodologies were used to design, develop, and commercialize our RegenSi(tm), AutoClean(tm), and Newmix(r) process efficiency solutions, each of which has the potential to save our customers many millions of dollars by bringing yield, cost, and throughput improvements to their processes, said Tim Carlson, Chief Financial Officer. Since inception, we've completed over 80 internal projects generating more than $20 million of savings for ATMI. " ...

Via ATMI: Best Achievement in Six Sigma

Six Sigma Quality Improvement Spurs Growth

Workforce involvement in quality initiatives drives company growth. The free flow of communications keeps the improvement ideas fresh, exciting, and meaningful to the current business dynamics. ...

... "Taylor, now president and CEO, mandates that each of his 160 employees participates in quality systems, sounding-board meetings and the continuous improvement of the company. This team-based initiative has led to revenue growth of 10 percent in each of the past five years. " ...

Via Smart Business: Wright Tool Co.

Innovative Thinking Integrated With Culture

Innovation is needed to differentiate corporate and product performance in the global economy. Lean principles can be extended to the growth agenda to support building an innovative culture and workforce. ...

... "What is really needed today is what I call systematic and lean innovation. That is, you have to make innovative thinking part of the entire corporate culture. " ...

Via Oakland Business Review on MLive: Lean Innovation Summit

Six Sigma Growth Checklist

Checklist for growing your business includes Six Sigma checklist. ...

... "Entrepreneur suggests that you rate yourself with this checklist based on questions developed by General Electric's Six Sigma black belts. " ...

Via Gazette: Business growth

Leverage Information Technology in the Lean Manufacturing Environment

Information technology has role in the lean manufacturing enterprise of the future. ...

... "New competitive threats have emerged in Asia, and ahead-of-the curve manufacturers are leveraging IT not only to help establish partnerships in places like China, but to extract more out of their lean-manufacturing strategies, optimize business processes, enable growth, and learn more about their customers. " ...

Via Wisconsin Technology: Manufacturing IT

Business Process Improvement through Six Sigma

CEO charts strategy to improve profitability and drive growth, targeting the use of Six Sigma to create disciplined business processes. ...

... "Improve the logistics of the Company's tissue supply operations in Detroit, USA. Our US operation has seen significant revenue growth from 2005 to 2006. In order to position the Company for future growth, action will be taken to standardise and systemise our key processes and biobank operations, via a six sigma review. " ...

Via Asterand: Strategy Announcement

3M Six Sigma Culture: Risk Averse ?

3M adds manufacturing capacity to drive growth. Six Sigma focus may have clouded its judgement with regards to investing for growth. ...

... "In the past, a 3M culture that viewed new investment with circumspection and an over-reliance on the Six Sigma management technique made it shy of building some needed capacity, Buckley said. " ....

Via MarketWatch: 3M

Six Sigma Expertise Improves Acquisition Synergy

Chemtura completes acquisition of Kaufman Holdings Corporation. CEO expects synergies from products, processes, and systems. Chemtura uses Six Sigma to improve manufacturing processes and also to improve finance, accounting, marketing, procurement and other business processes. More than 1000 Chemtura employees are trained in Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing techniques. ...

... "Chemtura Chairman and CEO Robert L. Wood: Our existing Petroleum Additives / Lubricants business is core to our growth, and Hatco and Anderol fit in well with this business. There are related product offerings in key customer areas, as well as the opportunity to strengthen alliances with major suppliers. There may be distribution synergies as well, benefiting our global customers, he said. Chemtura will add industry expertise, Six Sigma-based products and processes, and new information technology systems that will benefit Kaufman customers. " ...

Via Chemtura: Chemtura Completes Acquisition of Kaufman Holdings Corporation

SixSigma Manufacturing Supports Company Growth Plan

Boston-Power completes funding to fuel its growth through next-generation, lithium-ion notebook computer batteries. The company has demonstrated Six Sigma performance at its China manufacturing site. ...

... "Boston-Power is led by Founder and CEO Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, a recognized strategist, technology advisor and authority in the global battery industry. Lampe-Onnerud has assembled a world-class team with more than 100 years of combined experience in lithium-ion technology and manufacturing, consumer electronics sales and intellectual property patent law. Headquartered in Westborough, Mass., the company has Six Sigma-level manufacturing operations in Shenzhen, China. " ...

Via Boston-Power: Boston-Power fuels expansion with $15.6 million in series B financing

Six Sigma: Ram Charan on Balance with Growth

Ram Charan shares his views on management and leadership. He views Six Sigma as too internally focused and recommends a balanced approach with growth initiatives. ...

... "It's probably also true to say that Six Sigma has most often been applied to improve internal processes, by reducing costs and improving productivity. This is important work, of course, but you need to balance that by not forgetting initiatives that increase revenue. " ...

Via CEO Forum Group: Read

DCS Distributed Control System Implementation: Six Sigma Context

ARC sees good growth in the distributed control systems (DCS) market and expects some shifts in the marketplace causing migration of control systems. Any migration of technology should be achieved in the context of a disciplined improvement process, such as Six Sigma. ...

... "ARC advocates that end users must take the same approach to control system migration that they would to overall control system selection, all in the context of a six-sigma style continuous improvement process. " ...

Via Processing Talk: DCS Market Growth

Six Sigma Marketing ROI

Marketing is key to a successful business strategy that is focused on growth. A disciplined process is necessary for implementing marketing strategies that transform the business' commercial success. ...

... "In fact, the ROI process at Dow Corning actually emerged from its Voice of the Customer (Six Sigma) efforts." ...

Via MarketingProfs: Marketing ROI in 2007 ...

Lilly Six Sigma: Biotechnology Research and Development Prodcutivity

Lilly invests in research and development productivity in biotechnology to replenish its product pipeline and position the company for accelerated growth and profitability. Six Sigma techniques such as QFD, Voice of the Customer support the front-end of pharmaceutical innovation. Design for Six Sigma, Design of Experiments, DOE, enables research and development. Biotech products already comprise a third of Lilly's product pipeline and target a number of diseases, such as Alzheimers, diabetes, inflammation, and kidney disease. Lilly is striving to commericalize one major biotechnology molecule per year. ...

... "Paul summarized Lilly's R&D productivity efforts by stating, We are pursuing three broad strategic approaches to improving R&D productivity, with the goals of increasing the number of compounds in our pipeline while driving down the costs per new molecular entity by about one-third, from $1.2 billion to $800 million. These productivity strategies include fully leveraging our biotech capabilities, accessing more flexible and cost effective R&D capacity globally and aggressively pursuing Six Sigma throughout Lilly Research Labs. " ...

Via Lilly: Lilly Delivers Promising Update to Wall Street on Strategic Priorities, Pipeline Progress and Earnings Guidance

Balanced Scorecard Decision Support

Financial company deploys BI software to enable decision support through a balanced scorecard. ...

... "Pentaho Corp., creator of the world's most popular open source business intelligence (BI) suite, announced that Italian commercial finance firm Unionfidi S.C. has deployed Pentaho’s Open BI Suite to deliver a balanced scorecard, reporting, and analysis application that provides vital information and decision support to multiple departments. This application, built with the Pentaho Open BI Suite and called UFIntelligence, is deployed to Unionfidi S.C. employees in risk management, accounting, human resources, marketing, and other departments: said Davide De Ruvo, CIO at Unionfidi S.C.. The centerpiece of this application is a balanced scorecard that provides key metrics from multiple business perspectives including financial, customer, business process, and learning and growth. Our users also have access to supporting reports and analytical views linked to the scorecard, and receive standard reports relevant to their roles via e-mail. Users in the Loans Department, for example, receive frequent, timely reports on customer loan deadlines. " ...

Via Pentaho: Italian Financial Firm Unionfidi S.C. Deploys Pentaho for Enterprise Business Intelligence ...

Kahiki Lean Operations Drives Fundamentals

Company focuses on the fundamentals of operational improvement to drive profitability and growth. ...

... "Alan Hoover, President and CEO commented: These results clearly demonstrate that we are starting to realize the operational improvements that we have undertaken over the past year, including moving to a new manufacturing facility and implementing lean manufacturing. We have a very clear focus on growing our business profitably through the right mix of customers and products. We remain committed to building positive earnings by executing on the fundamentals: operational improvements, cost savings, and profitable sales. " ...

Via Kahiki Foods: Kahiki Announces Second Quarter FY07 Results

Cost Control Strategy: Six Sigma ...

Cummins sees record quarter, including sales growth. It expects a solid 2007 performance as it builds on a cost control strategy, based on Six Sigma principles. ...

... "The Company has a cost-control strategy in place across all businesses that is focused on using Six Sigma to become more efficient. Cummins has increased the flexibility in its manufacturing plants to deal with the expected fluctuations in demand next year resulting from new emissions regulations. " ...

Via Cummins: Cummins Reports Most Profitable Third Quarter in Company History: Power Generation and Distribution Businesses See Significant Growth ...

Productivity Improvement: Lean Six Sigma at Caterpillar ...

Caterpillar expects slower growth in the future and will have to rely of gains through productivity driven by lean six sigma. ...

... "These investments will be funded over time by productivity improvement efforts, such as global strategic sourcing and lean six sigma, to relentlessly drive out cost, simplify our supply chains and improve customer service. " ...

Via Forbes: Caterpillar Slows To A Crawl ...

Microsoft CIO: GE SixSigma Disciple ...

CIO Stuart Scott, who has a background in Six Sigma from GE, speaks about the evolution of his role from an applications and business-process-focus to full CIO responsibility for driving IT innovation at Microsoft. ...

... "PressPass: It's said that you're a Six Sigma black belt. Could you explain what that means and why it's an asset, and tell us how you parlay that sort of expertise into success in your role as CIO? Scott: Six Sigma is a data-driven process for making business decisions and choosing investments that help ensure a return for your business. It's a discipline in which you use analytical tools to draw out statistically significant information. So if you're talking to customers, for example, you want to do that in such a way that you come away with a genuine understanding of what they want, and you grasp the difference between what you could do to make those customers feel better vs. what's critical to enabling those customers to be successful, and what's critical to Microsoft's growth. Using good data and analytical tools, you can invest in programs like improving the business or putting in a new information system with the confidence that you'll achieve the desired result in terms of incremental business value. For me, that's always measured in a ledger. Any benefit we talk about has to be quantified in a way that demonstrates increased shareholder value. " ...

Via Microsoft: Microsoft CIO Stuart Scott Outlines the Company's Commitment to People-Ready Business

Stuart Scott practices project portfolio management as CIO at GE. ...

Via CIO Magazine: Deciding Factors: "STUART SCOTT MAY BE the vice president and CIO of GE Industrial Systems, but he sees himself as a venture capitalist. "

Continuous Improvement Projects: Lean Manufacturing Program ...

Lean continuous improvement projects at Bocenor improve its operational efficiency and overall outlook for future growth and profitability. ...

... "Bocenor's operating profitability improved despite lower sales, thanks to the operational and financial optimization strategy carried out in prior quarters, particularly the implementation of the Lean Manufacturing Program which considerably lowered the window and door manufacturing breakeven point, the Company’s focus on higher value-added products and less-costly-to-serve markets, the initial benefits of the recovery plan undertaken at the Ste-Marie plant in March 2006, and tight cost controls.



Management's Outlook: In recent quarters, the Company has made considerable progress in regard to the three primary objectives it has been focusing on for the past two years: improving the quality of its service, its profitability and its balance sheet. Its breakeven point has been lowered significantly thanks to the Lean Manufacturing Program, the numerous aspects of which are now being managed on a continuous improvement basis. In addition, the elimination of its long-term debt and improvement in its working capital following the sale of Multiver translated into a substantial reduction in financial expenses. In upcoming quarters, the Company's profitability should continue to be fostered by other factors, notably the recovery plan in progress at the Ste-Marie de Beauce plant, including the recent consolidation of wood preparation operations, and a further improvement in organization and operating efficiency." ...

Via Groupe Bocenor: The Company Lowers Its Breakeven Point and Intensifies Its Market Development Efforts ...

Project Management Office PMO: Six Sigma Gate Process

Chiquita strengthens its leadership team. New CIO has background in project management offices PMO with Six Sigma process methods. ...

... "Singh came to Chiquita from Gillette in Singapore where he served as director, Asia Pacific business systems and regional chief information officer for four years. He combined three independent IT organizations into a single unit responsible for all Asia Pacific IT operations. In addition, he developed a regional project management office and drove the creation of a project development and approval process tailored to Asia Pacific needs and which incorporated Six Sigma concepts while also leading the regional SAP, JDE, and Fourth Shift enterprise resource planning teams. " ...

Via Chiquita Brands International: Chiquita Announces Organizational Changes To Facilitate Market Growth Opportunities ...

CIO Management Framework: Six Sigma Balanced Scorecard ...

Successful CIOs balance internal efficiency while enabling enterprise growth ...

... "Dawson not only brought his expertise in comprehensive management frameworks - Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma - to his new post; he also had intimate views into both the demand and supply sides of IT at ADB. " ...

Via CIO Asia: The MONEY Mantra ...

Six Sigma Quality Manager Supports Reorganization ...

Company reorganizes for growth and efficiency. ...

... "Erie Plastics also hired Dana Barre as Corporate Quality Manager. Dana has over 25 years' experience in quality management (primarily in the plastics industry) and has held positions with 3M, Loranger Plastics, Oneida Molded Products, Carlisle Engineered Products and General Electric. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from LeTourneu University. With Green Belt Six Sigma Certification, Dana is also a qualified SPC, QS9000 and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Instructor. " ...

Erie Plastics Announces Reorganization-Based Appointments: Positions Company for Growth and Greater Focus on Internal Efficiencies

Dupont Six Sigma Productivity ...

Diane H. Gulyas, Dupont vice president, discusses growth and productivity strategies in the DuPont Performance Materials business at the Credit Suisse Chemical Industry Conference. Lean Six Sigma is accelerating the improvement of productivity. The overall marketplace requires the business to continually improve productivity and lower fixed costs. The Performance Materials division, at nearly $7 billion in revenue, is a growing and profitable segment of DuPont's overall business portfolio. ...

... "Productivity improvements have accelerated with the application of Six Sigma and lean manufacturing tools. Continual productivity improvement is integral to achieving the platform's strategy for consistent, profitable growth and in the first half of 2006 we reduced fixed cost as a percentage of sales by over 200 basis points. " ...

Via Dupont: DuPont Performance Materials Group Vice President Diane Gulyas Briefs Analysts

Six Sigma Key to Boardroom ...

Six Sigma professional joins company board of directors. ...

... "Dave is a business improvement consultant that specializes in the meeting and event industry. His company assists organizations in realizing top and bottom line growth by delivering customer focused solutions in business development, best practice and process improvement, strategic planning and training. Dave is certified in Lean Processes & DFSS for Six Sigma. " ...

Six Sigma Key to Boardroom: Via Passkey: Dave Lutz Named to Passkey Board of Directors ...

Passkey is the worldwide leader in online group hotel reservations. The Boston-based technology company offers event attendees, planners and providers with a powerful web-based on-Demand solutions that lets them make, monitor and manage their group hotel reservations Online.

Lean Kaizen: Team Drives Improvements ...

Kiesler Enterprises, a high-end custom cabinetry manufacturer, uses lean techniques to optimize performance for high growth and efficiency. ...

... "We also conducted Kaizens, short bursts of activity that result in significant improvements with the team. The Kaizen process helped redefine the relationship and interaction between sales and drafting. Both departments now combine resources and steps, said Joseph Murcko, project manager for the Arizona MEP. " ...

Via Yahoo: Custom Cabinetry Company Builds with Lean ...

The Arizona MEP is an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. The national MEP is a network of manufacturing extension centers that provide business and technical assistance to smaller manufacturers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Through MEP, manufacturers have access to more than 2000 manufacturing and business coaches whose job is to help firms make changes that lead to greater productivity, increased profits, and enhanced global competitiveness.

SixSigma Program: Cost Impact C&D Tech ...

C&D Technologies is seeing the benefits from its Six Sigma Program ...

... "In commenting on Standby Power Division results, Dr. Graves said: The Standby Power Division executed well in the quarter, with solid revenue growth reported on both a year-over-year and sequential basis, principally driven by the benefit of pricing actions taken over the last six months. Improved sales performance combined with the favorable cost impact from our Six Sigma program and the benefit from lower lead prices, led to a strong turnaround in operating profitability in the quarter. We're seeing continued momentum in our key end markets - particularly telecommunications and UPS - and we are having increasing success bringing our industry-leading products to new international markets. " ...

Via C&D Technologies, Inc.: C&D Technologies Announces Improved Second Quarter Sequential Results ...

Operating Income Increases Through Lean Manufacturing ...

Standex International's Air Distribution Products Group sees financial benefits of lean manufacturing program. ...

... "In addition, the Group's focus on operational improvements and lean manufacturing contributed to the significant increase in operating income. " ...

Via Standex: Standex Posts Double-Digit Growth in Operating Income in Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2006; Company Reports on Progress in Executing Focused Diversity Growth Strategy ...

Six Sigma Continuous Improvement Rising ...

Continuous improvement programs, such as Six Sigma, continue their growth, according to study by ARC. ...

... "The continuous improvement programs used most often by manufacturers are Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Theory of Constraints (TOC). " ...

Via Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Continuous Improvement Systems Forecast to Grow 12.7 percent Annually ...

Six Sigma Continuous Improvement Rising ...

Continuous improvement programs, such as Six Sigma, continue their growth, according to study by ARC. ...

... "The continuous improvement programs used most often by manufacturers are Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Theory of Constraints (TOC). " ...

Via Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Continuous Improvement Systems Forecast to Grow 12.7 percent Annually ...

Six Sigma Continuous Improvement Rising ...

Continuous improvement programs, such as Six Sigma, continue their growth, according to study by ARC. ...

... "The continuous improvement programs used most often by manufacturers are Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Theory of Constraints (TOC). " ...

Via Supply & Demand Chain Executive:

Quality Systems Leader: Lean Manufacturing Experience ...

ABB appoints quality systems leader ...

... "Quality Systems will continue its focus on developing data-driven and customer-focused capabilities that result in measurable improvements in product, process & supplier quality, customer support & responsiveness, and reliability science & technology, said Hepperla, in announcing the appointment. This is critical to our continued growth and business success. Beaudet most recently was director of Manufacturing & Continuous Improvement at Waukesha Engine/Dresser in Waukesha, WI. In this role, he was responsible for leading the implementation of Lean manufacturing and quality systems, and had direct responsibility for manufacturing engineering, product engineering and technical support functions. " ...

Via ABB Group: Beaudet named vice president, Quality Systems, ABB Automation Products, Low-Voltage Drives ...

Quality Management Position Available: Six Sigma Experience ...

... "QUALITY MANAGER: Growth oriented manufacturer of premiere sporting equipment is seeking a Quality Manager with the drive for improving the quality of our products and systems. The ideal candidate would have experience in managing quality programs in an ISO-9001 compliant company. ... Experience in continuous improvement initiatives essential. Six Sigma and SPC experience a plus. " ...

Via Lacrosse Tribune: Top Jobs: QUALITY MANAGER

Lean Sucess: Cessna Growth ...

Cessna performance is up, in part due to lean manufactuing implementation ...

... "For example, Cessna is continually working to boost productivity and efficiencies through lean manufacturing techniques. The company won praise for its efforts from its parent company ... " ...

Via Wichita Eagle: Cessna growth means jobs for Wichita ...