Lean Manufacturing Guidelines

Kildeer uses radio frequency devices to streamline its manufacturing process. ...

... "Killdeer is in the process of overhauling its manufacturing processes, using Six Sigma and lean manufacturing practices as guidelines. " ...

Via RFID Journal: Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing

Six Sigma DMAIC Framework ...

Six Sigma DMAIC Framework: D-1: Statistical Sciences

... "Six Sigma may be considered a modern version of Total Quality Management. There are no new analytical tools with Six Sigma that were not applied in the 1980's with TQM. Six Sigma does have some standard methodology and organizational guidelines that are unique.
Six Sigma's standard framework methodology is called DMAIC (de-may-ic): Define, Measure, Analysis, Improve, and Control. " ...

Quality Improvement: Software Life Cycle Management ...

Software Life Cycle Management Guidelines

... "Instituting organizational change requires aggressive executive leadership and commitment. Employees should understand that what they are about to go through is a sincere effort to make meaningful improvements that benefit their agency. Over the past 30 years, businesses and governmental agencies have made numerous attempts to improve organizational capabilities through quality improvement programs, such as Zero Defects, Quality Circles, and most recently Total Quality Management. The path toward meaningful quality improvement has been long and very expensive. In many cases, well-intentioned attempts have failed to improve quality and in the process have succeeded in making employees feel cynical about subsequent attempts. It is important to recognize that poorly planned attempts, without full executive support, are more damaging than not doing anything at all. Before embarking on this effort, senior managers must lay the groundwork for achieving success... " ...

Lean Manufacturing Drives Change to Improve Efficiency ...

Lean Manufacturing Drives Change to Improve Efficiency: HEI Earns Supplier Excellence Award

HEI began a manufacturing transformation which leverages the lean manufacturing methodology, which focuses on eliminating waste and drives significant efficiencies ...

From PR Newswire (press release) ... HEI began implementing changes to its manufacturing processes through lean manufacturing, a methodology that focuses on improving efficiency and eliminating ...

... HEI, Inc. (Nasdaq: HEII) has received the first Supplier Excellence Award from ETHICON Inc., in recognition of its work as a manufacturer and supplier for the ETHICON GYNECARE THERMACHOICE Uterine Balloon Therapy System and Motor Drive Unit. HEI exceeded the ETHICON award criteria, which require meeting the ETHICON standards three out of four quarters in a calendar year. In 2004, HEI met the ETHICON guidelines in all four quarters. ...

HEI, Inc. designs, develops and manufactures microelectronics, subsystems, systems, connectivity and software solutions for OEMs engaged in the medical equipment and medical device, hearing, communications and RFID industries. HEI provides its customers with a single point of contact that can take an idea from inception to a fully functional, cost effective and manufacturability product utilizing innovative design solutions and by the application of state-of-the-art materials, processes and manufacturing capabilities.

Six Sigma Historical Perspective ...

D-1: Statistical Sciences

... "Six Sigma originated at Motorola Corporation in the early 1980's. In 1988, Motorola became one of the first companies to win the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award http://www.quality.nist.gov/. The innovation and the implementation of Motorola's 'Six Sigma' initiative began to get national attention. Then, in 1994, Allied Signal adopted Motorola's Six Sigma initiative and by 1998, claimed to have saved $1.2 billion due to the implementation of Six Sigma. Consultants who were experts in Total Quality Management, soon became experts in Six Sigma. Six Sigma may be considered a modern version of Total Quality Management. There are no new analytical tools with Six Sigma that were not applied in the 1980's with TQM. Six Sigma does have some standard methodology and organizational guidelines that are unique. Six Sigma's standard framework methodology is called DMAIC (de-may-ic): Define, Measure, Analysis, Improve, and Control." ...

Fujio Cho Kaizen Principles ...

Fujio Cho Kaizen Principles: Toyota CEO Fujio Cho is Named FORTUNE's Asia Businessman of the ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... The dilemma, says Chandler, is how to maintain the pace without diluting what Toyota executives call their corporate DNA--a principle called kaizen, the notion ...

... FORTUNE announced today that Fujio Cho, CEO of Toyota, is the Asia Businessman of the Year. Cho leads a company whose model lineup features some of the U.S. market's most popular vehicles. Smart products and a sterling reputation for quality have lifted Toyota's share of the U.S. market to 12%, and many industry analysts predict it will soon pass DaimlerChrysler to join the ranks of the U.S. Big Three. Cho earns FORTUNE's nomination for his near flawless execution of Toyota's plan for global expansion. The story, "Full Speed Ahead," appears in the February 7 issue of FORTUNE, on newsstands January 24 and at www.fortune.com. ...

Additional resources on Fujio Cho's kaizen principles ...

Psychology of Change: File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat ... You only learn it by taking the principles into your ... Assuming you can do a week-long kaizen each month ... change comes from an analogy by Fujio Cho, former head of ...

The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way: An Executive Summary: File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat ... Fujio Cho, President Toyota (from the Toyota Way document ... use a continuous improvement process (kaizen) to eliminate ... select few of the Toyota Way principles. ...

Human Resources Development: the following five key principles sum up ... employee conduct guidelines: Challenge, Kaizen (improvement), Genchi ... TMC President Fujio Cho is the Toyota Institute's ...

Six Sigma Clinical Trials Supports EU Regulations While Enabling Innovation ...

Six Sigma Clinical Trials Supports EU Regulations: Atrium Medical Center Selects Sopheon's Accolade Solution to ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... closely with the Atrium team to configure Accolade to fit a new, jointly-developed process incorporating elements of the Six Sigma manufacturing methodology ...

... Sopheon, the international software and services company, announced today that Atrium Medical Center, one of the largest general hospitals in the Netherlands, is deploying Sopheon's Accolade solution to support implementation of a structured process for comprehensive management of clinical trials. Use of the software is expected to help Atrium enhance management of trials activity and ensure compliance with the latest European Union (EU) clinical research regulations. Accolade will also be used by the hospital to manage innovation projects, including major capital investment initiatives. In May 2004, new regulations went into effect across the EU aimed at establishing common guidelines for clinical-trial procedures. Atrium is using these compliance directives as an opportunity to strengthen the organization and management of its clinical-trials operations. ...

Sopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of software and services. The Sopheon Accolade product development system automates gate- or phase-based product development processes and provides strategic decision support that allows companies to improve innovation, cut product development spending waste and shorten time-to-market. Sopheon's Monitor software operates as a "reading robot" that automatically reviews, filters, analyzes and pushes relevant content to healthcare and engineering professionals to enable effective compliance with protocols, standards and regulations. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands.

With 3600 employees and 1230 beds, Atrium Medical Center (Atrium) is one of the largest employers in the south of the Netherlands. In 2004 Atrium celebrated its 100-year anniversary. It has a national reputation for hospital innovation, and has recently participated in experimental studies on reducing patient wait-lists, increasing care-delivery production, implementing new budgetary systems and improving patient safety. In 2003, supported by a EUR 187 million budget, Atrium registered 28,000 clinical admissions, 24,000 day admissions and 432,000 patient visits to its policlinics. Atrium's focus on patients, professionalism, and continuity and effectiveness of treatment ensures that the quality of care it provides remains on the highest levels.

Additional resources on Six Sigma clinical trials that support European Union EU regulations ...

Cognizant's Differentiators - Life Sciences Practice: electronic data capture product in over 160 clinical trials. ... Experience in execution of Six Sigma projects. ... and data investments to support sales, marketing ...

Conferences, Workshops, Meetings: goal of addressing reasons for clinical trial failure earlier ... discuss how the deployment of Six Sigma could help ... to application in a clinical setting, allowing ...

Concurrent engineering in a pharmaceutical firm: a case study: File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat ... new molecules developed by DRL undergoing clinical trials. ... technical and regulatory support to customers ... product development using six sigma methodology with a ...

SAS70 Success: Pegasus TransTech Successfully Completes SAS 70 Audit

... "Pegasus TransTech, a leading provider of products and services that facilitate global commerce, announced today that it has successfully completed a voluntary service audit of its TRANSFLO Express and TRANSFLO ASP operations. The SAS 70 audit followed American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) guidelines for the professional standards used by a service auditor to assess the internal controls of a service organization. The resulting audit report addresses all five components of internal control outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation: the control environment, risk assessment activities, control activities, information and communication systems, and monitoring activities. Pegasus management chose to undergo the audit as a measure of accountability to the company's customers, including those who have Sarbanes-Oxley compliance programs. " ...

Ultrasonic Testing for Leak Detection: CHAPTER X

From Office of Pipeline Safety, GAS LEAKAGE CONTROL GUIDELINES FOR PETROLEUM GAS SYSTEMS ...

... "Ultrasonic leakage test - Definition. The testing of exposed piping facilities with an instrument capable of detecting the ultrasonic energy generated by escaping gas. The instrument used should be suitable for the pressure involved." ...

FMEA Failure Mode and Effects Analysis: Nonmandatory guidelines for certification/validation of safety systems for presence sensing device initiation of mechanical power presses ...

From US Dept of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Standards - 1910.217 App B ...

... "The certification/validation process should confirm that hazards identified by hazard analysis, (HA), failure mode effect analysis (FMEA), and other system analyses have been eliminated by design or reduced to an acceptable level through the use of appropriate design features, safety devices, warning devices, or special procedures. The certification/validation process should also confirm that residual hazards identified by operational analysis are addressed by warning, labeling safety instructions or other appropriate means." ...

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis: FMEA Procedures

From US Coast Guard, Risk-based Decision-making (RBDM) Guidelines ...

... "The procedure for performing an FMEA consists of the following nine steps. Define the system of interest. Specify and clearly define the boundaries of the system for which risk-related information is needed. Define the accidents of interest for the analysis. Specify the problems of interest that the analysis will address. These may include safety issues, failures in systems such as steering or propulsion, etc. " ...

FMEA is a qualitative reasoning approach best suited for reviews of mechanical and electrical hardware systems. The FMEA technique (1) considers how the failure modes of each system component can result in system performance problems and (2) ensures that appropriate safeguards against such problems are in place. A quantitative version of FMEA is known as failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA).

Healthcare Quality Improvement Program: 83 Tenet Hospitals Recognized for Implementing American Heart ...

Healthcare quality improvement programs focus on the heart ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) announced today that 83 ... This quality improvement program translates what we know about cardiovascular disease ...

... Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) announced today that 83 hospitals owned and operated by Tenet subsidiaries have been recognized for participating in the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines(SM) -- Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) program. The program is designed to ensure heart disease and stroke patients are consistently treated and discharged based on nationally accepted recommendations and guidelines to reduce a patient's risk of a second heart attack or stroke. ...

Tenet's Commitment to Quality is a companywide strategy designed to enhance the overall quality and productivity of the care delivery process at Tenet hospitals across the country. It includes a series of targeted initiatives to bring about significant improvements in evidence-based quality of care and patient safety, nursing practice, medical staff governance, and other important areas related to the delivery of quality care. The Commitment to Quality has already been implemented at 30 of the 69 core Tenet hospitals that will remain after the company's current divestiture program is concluded. Full implementation at the rest of Tenet's core hospitals is expected to be complete by June 30, 2005. Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care hospitals and related health care services. Tenet's hospitals aim to provide the best possible care to every patient who comes through their doors, with a clear focus on quality and service.

Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG) is the premier hospital-based quality improvement program for the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. It empowers healthcare provider teams to consistently treat patients with the most updated treatment guidelines. GWTG is designed to save up to 80,000 lives annually by closing the treatment gap in cardiovascular disease and stroke patients.

ANOVA Statistical Model: Study Identifies Mortality Risk Factors in Heart Failure Patients

From Yahoo News (press release) ... Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to compare statistical means and Chi-square tests were used to compare proportions between the high and low risk ...

... Data presented today from the world's largest heart failure registry, known as ADHERE® (Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry), identified clinical indicators that may be used to predict mortality risk in heart failure patients. These data were presented today in a poster session at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) 2004 Scientific Meeting in Toronto, Canada. The ADHERE® analysis evaluated hospital data from 65,180 acutely decompensated congestive heart failure patient cases to identify a combination of clinical measures that distinguished heart failure patients who were at high risk of in-hospital mortality from those at low risk. ...

ANOVA or analysis of variance is a statistical model used to analyze this heart failure data ... The ANOVA statistical method delivers values that can be evaluated to determine whether a statistically significant relationship exists between variables.

ADHERE® is a first-of-its-kind national registry that prospectively collects observational data from across the United States in order to track and study the medical management of patients hospitalized with acute heart failure. The ADHERE® National Registry is sponsored by Scios Inc. and overseen by an independent scientific advisory committee of nationally recognized heart failure experts. The ADHERE® Registry Core Module was launched in October 2001. It is a multicenter, observational, open-label registry of the management of patients treated in the hospital for acutely decompensated congestive heart failure (CHF). ADHERE® is designed to help the medical community better understand acute CHF, improve its management and enhance quality of care. Data regarding current management and treatment trends is collected from the registry and analyzed on a quarterly basis. These data and insights can be used by individual hospitals to develop guidelines and protocols and increase the use of evidence-based therapies to improve the standard of care among heart failure patients, and potentially reduce costs.

Supply Chain Initiative: IHS Acquires Intermat, Inc.

From Yahoo News (press release) ... content with maintenance, repair and operations parts optimization tools and ... industry, enabling organizations to solve their critical supply chain initiatives ...

... MRO Parts Optimization Software Tools and Services to Become a Core Piece of the IHS Parts Management Suite; Combined IHS Capabilities Will Provide Broadest Product, Content and Industry Solutions. Information Handling Services Inc. (IHS -- www.ihs.com), the leading international provider of content integration and decision support tools, technical standards, codes and product specifications, parts management and logistics solutions, today announced that it acquired the assets of Intermat, Inc. (www.intermat.com), the world's leading provider of parts optimization software tools and services. ...

With over $400 million in annual sales, U.S.-based IHS® (www.ihs.com) is the worldwide leader in developing and implementing engineering, technical and regulatory information solutions for customers in over 100 countries. IHS produces comprehensive collections of technical codes and standards, safety publications, design guidelines, vendor and logistics/parts information, and software tools. IHS solutions include Internet, DVD/CD-ROM subscriptions and customized solutions such as information portals and systems integration. Individual standards and publications are available via the company's retail arm, Global Engineering Documents®. The company employs more than 2,300 people worldwide and serves the vital information needs of customers across the world's engineering, technical, business and professional sectors. IHS is the recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in Exporting and is a proud sponsor of ColoradoFIRST(TM), a youth-focused Science & Technology program, which promotes teamwork and cultivates the technical aptitude of future engineers.

Intermat, Inc. is the leading provider of parts optimization software tools and services for the industrial maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) marketplace. Intermat's software tools are used daily by over 1,000 industrial plants and facilities in 27 countries. Intermat's parts optimization services have enabled its customers to realize tangible and sustainable cost benefits by eliminating excess inventory and procurement costs, improving plant and equipment throughput, and realizing maximum benefits from their enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise asset management (EAM) systems.

DFSS Design For Six Sigma Capable Software: UGS Introduces NX DesignLogic

New Software Application Brings Intuitive Access to Industry Leading NX™ Knowledge Driven Architecture; Extends Knowledge Re-Use by Capturing Repeatable Processes ‘On The Fly’ During the Design Process... UGS, a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today launched NX DesignLogic. This new software technology provides users with capabilities for rapidly embedding design knowledge and engineering rules into NX™ product definitions, allowing engineers to build a higher level of design intent versus traditional parametric systems.

... “NX DesignLogic furthers the effective, consistent capture and reuse of knowledge,” said Chuck Grindstaff, executive vice president, PLM Products, UGS. “NX DesignLogic creates an advanced ‘learning environment’ for engineering and manufacturing knowledge usage. This results in new levels of efficiency in the product design process, providing enhanced support for lean design initiatives. And, with functionality that allows engineers to meet robust performance and manufacturability guidelines – or design to a higher level of intent –overall product quality is improved, eliminating potential defects. Engineers can design products that meet robust performance, manufacturability and quality guidelines – key criteria for Design for Six Sigma initiatives.” ...

UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with more than 3.1 million licensed seats and 42,000 clients worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, the company promotes openness and standardization and works collaboratively with its clients in creating enterprise solutions enabling them to transform their process of innovation and thus begin to capture the value of PLM.

Dell Lean Manufacturing: How Dell keeps going in Europe

From Financial Times, UK ... Dell will this year make savings of $200m in its European operations, through the application of its lean manufacturing guidelines, and what it calls business ...

Balanced Scorecard: Help Desk Institute Offers Support Center Director Certification

First SCD Course to be Held September 13-16, 2004 in Chicago, Ill.

ORLANDO, Fla., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Help Desk Institute (HDI), the world's largest membership association for service and support professionals and the premier certification body for the industry, announced today it is offering a new certification course: Support Center Director (SCD). The announcement was made at HDI 2004, the association's annual conference held April 17 - 21, 2004, in Orlando, Fla. This course is designed for experienced support center managers, directors and other management positions directly responsible for providing strategic leadership to the support organization.

"HDI is excited to announce the director's level certification to the support industry," said Judy Benda, HDI's executive director, training and certification. "The development of the director's course and certification has come as a response to the increasing demands placed on support center management, and the evolution of support centers as they become increasingly strategic. This course and accompanying certification is truly revolutionary in meeting the business needs of the support center by educating management on key practices such as finance, marketing to the executive level and strategic business development."

The SCD course is designed to provide managers and directors with the strategic skills necessary to build, maintain and promote the direction of the support center. These include:

* Tools for evaluating and reporting metrics; KPI (key performance indicators) for goals/measuring development

* Skills necessary for implementing a support center maturity model

* Strategies for delivering quality service and support

* Guidelines for maximizing vendor relationships

* Finance 101 -- cash flow, P&Ls, budget and revenue building strategies

* Negotiating skills for Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

* Strategies for staff mentoring, process analysis, sourcing

* Methodologies for successful Knowledge Management

* Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) alignment strategies

* Balanced Scorecard Development

* Data analysis strategies -- industry trends and organization performance

* Creating strategic vision

* Use of sales and marketing techniques to gain executive and end-user (customer) buy-in

* Leadership management development - policy, process and people

* Building successful business cases


About HDI SCD Certification Course: The HDI SCD course will present the necessary framework for providing exemplary executive-level direction for the support center. The course will be offered in two sections: SCD 101 and SCD 102, with two days for each section. HDI suggests interested people take SCD 101 and SCD 102 as a four four-day course; however, each section may be taken separately and in non-sequential order. The price for this course is $2,295 non-member/$2,195 HDI members if taken as an entire unit, or $1395 non-member/$1295 HDI members per section, if sections are taken separately.

After completing the course, students may take the SCD Certification exam, which is offered online; access to the test will be provided upon completion of the course. The cost for the test is included in the price of the training.

For more information about the SCD Course and Certification, visit http://www.thinkhdi.com/certification/individualCertification/. For media and analyst registration, contact Jennifer McClure of A.M.P. Communications at (510) 868-8152 x200, or email jenm@ampcomm.com.


About Help Desk Institute (HDI): Help Desk Institute (HDI) is the world's largest membership association for service and support professionals and the premier certification body for the industry. Founded in 1989, HDI's mission is to lead and promote the customer service and technical support industry by empowering its members through access to timely and valuable industry information, including reports and publications; encouraging member collaboration through events and online forums; and establishing internationally recognized, standards-based industry certification and training programs. In addition to membership, certification, and training, HDI produces the highest-rated industry event, the HDI Annual Conference and Expo, for customer service and technical support professionals. HDI is member-focused, and remains vendor-neutral in its efforts to facilitate open, independent networking and information sharing within the association network. HDI has more than 7,500 members worldwide, (including 90% of the Fortune 500), and more than 50 active U.S. chapters. For more information, visit http://www.thinkhdi.com.

Six Sigma: Vision, Mission, Values and Strategy; Developing Customer Share ...

From Energy Pulse, CO ... specific pricing by project that can be measured in real time, developing reporting and Quality Assurance practices that rival ISO or Six Sigma guidelines, and ...