US Synthetic began their continuous improvement journey several years ago. My consultative role was to integrate Six Sigma problem solving methods into their Lean foundation. The result was a new ability to solve quality and efficiency and cost problems that had hindered their diamond tooling manufacturing for years; it gave them the improvement horsepower they needed beyond the standard level provided by Lean. They were finally enabled to conquer these persistent problems.

Rob Galloway, US Synthetic’s CEO, had this to say about CKGygi’s contribution: “Our company has sincerely appreciated the teaching and expertise of Craig Gygi on our road to winning the Shingo Prize. He made significant contributions in the advancement of our capabilities toward problem-solving and improvement. I would recommend Craig Gygi as a great source of knowledge to companies desiring to improve the capabilities of both their people and operations.”

US Synthetic’s Shingo Prize award is definitely well-deserved. I’m honored to have been an instrumental part of them winning this prestigious award.

Over the last few months, I have been helping an international holding company assess the operations of their portfolio of companies. They want to know things like, “How Lean are the operations at each company?” “How far along is each company in its Six Sigma improvement journey?” And, “What are the common opportunties and strengths we can build upon?” I’ve visited company sites, reviewed operation activities, collected data, and interviewed executives and staff. I have found that, in many ways, the foundation for excellence in operations can be boiled down to a single, simple question: “How do you define quality?” (more…)

Fox News ran a story today that shines further light on the problem of healthcare quality: Medicine Mix-Ups Harm Hospitalized Kids. This is just more data characterizing the magnitude of problems in today’s healthcare (see earlier post: Hospital Errors and Accountability - The Beginning of a Six Sigma Journey?)

It is amazing to me to see healthcare struggling with such basic issues. Here’s a telling excerpt from the Fox News story:

“Researchers found a rate of 11 drug-related harmful events for every 100 hospitalized children. That compares with an earlier estimate of two per 100 hospitalized children, based on traditional detection methods. The rate reflects the fact that some children experienced more than one drug treatment mistake.

“The new estimate translates to 7.3 percent of hospitalized children, or about 540,000 kids each year, a calculation based on government data.

“Simply relying on hospital staffers to report such problems had found less than 4 percent of the problems detected in the new study.”

Wow! Just from the numbers perspective, healthcare-caused mistakes are near the very top of the Pareto diagram of things negatively impacting society. There’s no question that healthcare needs drastic improvement. The question is how and where.

W. Edwards Deming asserted that in every system quality is the result of the collective procedures, policies, and systems of the organization. Deming’s assertion directly opposes the notion that quality originates from the built-up good/bad efforts of individuals. Decades of time and countless examples from the world over have cemented the truth of Deming’s principle, so much so that anyone in today’s world wishing to argue against Deming might as well kid themselves that they can compete in the global economy using rocks and sticks.

Since quality is the result of the collective procedures, policies, and systems of an organization, the lasting solution to quality can reside in only one place—with those that plan, implement and manage the system! In other words, better doctors, nurses, and patients will not solve these problems in healthcare. A solution can only be achieved by those managing today’s healthcare—hospital administrators, insurers, politicians, etc. (Ironically, it is those same decision-makers that are the root cause of the problems experienced today. Take, for example, the unintended problems caused by the choices of Massachusetts’s healthcare managers, as reported by the New York Times: In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care )

For nearly a decade, data has shown that almost 100,000 deaths occur each year due to preventable hospital errors. Accounts of botched medical services pepper news outlets. Even celebrities are reporting ill effects: Dennis Quaid, Glenn Beck.

Today, CBS News reported on what some hospitals and some state and federal government organizations are doing to begin to address the problem.

Providing care and medical services to a person in a hospital is a process—just as much as assembling a product or completing a financial transaction are processes. (The only difference being that a human being is the object that goes through the process.) For those reading who know a bit of Six Sigma, Lean, or BPM—imagine how much opportunity there is within the domain of healthcare to undertake process improvement work! And because healthcare directly affects the wellbeing of people, imagine the direct benefits to individuals and communities. This news story from CBS begs questions like: why haven’t hospitals started improvement efforts sooner? And: what factors in our society (doctor/nurse practices, economic pressures, government regulations, hospital procedures, insurance constraints, education, news media, etc., etc., etc.) allow poor quality to reach such deadly levels in the first place?

At least, in some quarters, healthcare providers are hopefully starting to approach the very basics.

Can the principles of Six Sigma be profitably applied to any business effort?

A recent article posted on SportsIllustrated.com and printed in January 2008’s Soccer America magazine explains how Lew Wolff and his partners from the management of the Oakland A’s baseball team are using data, science, and objective decision making—what I consider the essence of Six Sigma—to successfully launch the new San Jose Earthquakes Major League Soccer franchise.

One of those on the ‘Quakes management team is Billy Beane, the originator and force behind the objective management methods that have led to success with the A’s. Mr. Beane’s ideas are outlined in the popular book Moneyball, where it shows how he uses statistics and y = f(x) + ε thinking to consistently achieve better results with less.

If that isn’t the essence of Six Sigma, I don’t know what is.