week 4 Discussion

Mark Bosco

Tuesday31 Mar at 20:30

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· What are the similarities and differences?

Lean and six sigma are both procedures that increase efficiency.  The difference is that lean focuses more on the processes and six sigma is more about the components of the product. 

· Can these processes be used together to form a single business philosophy?

Not only can these processes be used in single business philosophy, but it would also be highly recommended. These processes are good for controlling costs. Controlling costs leads to greater profitability. 

· What were W. Edwards Deming’s theoretical contributions to the development of Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing, and how could these principles be deployed in your place of employment?

Some of the contributions to development were as followed: leadership, systematic approach, and team and individual training. (Buckler, 1996) These contributions are imperative to the installment of lean and six sigma systems. Leadership gives the model impact, keeps the employees honest and participating. The systematic approach provides structure. Individual and team training allow the company to quickly and effectively train new employees and keep current employees up to date. 

· Analyze quality management practices in your organization and the impact on its organizational effectiveness.

In my company, we have trainers on staff to teach new employees. These trainers set up a training area that allows the new employees to teach the new employees without being put on the assembly line. Resources

Buckler, B. (1996). A learning process model to achieve continuous improvement and innovation. The Learning Organization, 3(3), 31-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09696479610119660

Jessica Fishback

Wednesday1 Apr at 13:43

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Six Sigma and Deming’s Theory:

“Six Sigma is a quality philosophy that helps to achieve a firm’s initiatives, while at the same time resolving trade-offs that can exist when simultaneously pursuing the goals of low price, high quality, and fast response” (Wisner, 2017, ch.13). Six Sigma is a decision-making framework that is statistic based to make quality improvements that adds value. Lean management is all about making processes easier, and faster to follow. Both Lean and Six Sigma can be used together to make a consistent, faster, and easier process known as Lean Six Sigma.

Edwards Deming’s theoretical contributions to the development of Six Sigma and lean manufacturing was he created Deming’s Theory of Management that had 14 points. These 14 points are all related to the Six Sigma principles and cover qualitative and quantitative aspects of quality management. These principles could be deployed in my place of employment by using the contributions to development in leadership because it keeps employees honest. A major issue with my place of employment is accountability whether it be due to training or just fear of the consequences that will happen if the employee is wrong or makes a mistake.

A quality management practice in my organization is institute training.  I am working in the training department within our claim’s department, so I see this firsthand. Currently we created a new auditing system for evaluating claims.  We take the results from these audits to establish adequate training to benefit adjusters in areas where results came back lower than where we would like them to be.  We are continuously trying to build our adjusters to better handle claims. The impact this has on the organization’s effectiveness is if the adjusters are properly trained, they are paying more accurately for claims which saves our company money in the long run.

 

Reference

Wisner, J.D. (2017). Operations management: A supply chain process approach. Retrieved from http://content.ashford.edu