Feeling the Weight of This Challenging Economy?

Check out an innovative article from Oriel Incorporated to learn how Lean Six Sigma can help your organization achieve sustainable savings while maintaining quality and customer satisfaction!

It seems like another round of layoffs is being announced every time you look at a newspaper or turn on the evening news. However, as shown in our informative article, broad-scale cuts may not be as effective in the long run as pinpointed, more precise cuts. At times, a paring knife can achieve better results than an ax.

According to author and Master Black Belt Ernani Pires, “With across-the-board cost cutting comes the risk of throwing out the good along with the bad. In the rush to cut back, there is always the danger that an ‘anything goes’ mentality may prevail, with little focus on determining what adds value to customers and what can be considered waste. Applying the methodology of Lean Six Sigma can help organizations understand how to make precise cuts that will produce long-lasting and sustainable savings without any adverse effects to your product or service.”

Click Here to learn how Lean Six Sigma can help your organization become stronger even in these uncertain times.

Webinar: Journey to Performance Excellence using Baldrige and Lean Six Sigma

You can access and review the slides for Journey to Performance Excellence (pdf format), an Oriel Webinar hosted on February 12, 2008. The audio is also available at this link: Performance Excellence WAV file

Oriel Incorporated announces publication of Guiding Successful Lean Six Sigma Projects

Madison, WI - Oriel Incorporated is pleased to announce the publication of Guiding Successful Lean Six Sigma Projects. This handy guidebook can help anyone who takes part in or oversees a Lean Six Sigma initiative.  It summarizes how Lean and Six Sigma can be integrated, key methodologies involved, roles, project steps, and key points you need to check throughout any type of Lean Six Sigma project. 

“We heard from many executives and champions asking for more help in taking Lean Six Sigma from a theoretical discussion to a more hands-on implementation.” said Dana Ginn, one of the authors of the book. “We wanted to create a product that would explain how Lean and Six Sigma could be integrated in a very powerful yet practical way, as well as outline the various methodologies included in a Lean Six Sigma deployment. This guide provides specific guidelines to help organizations deploy design, improvement, and process management efforts under the Lean Six Sigma umbrella. Through a collaborative effort of senior consultants and Lean Six Sigma experts including Lynda Finn, Kevin Kelleher, and Amita Sherwood, we were able to develop this practical guide that can be used by managers, sponsors, coaches, project, or process teams to help ensure a successful Lean Six Sigma initiative. ”

In addition to publishing guidebooks for instructors and students to use in Six Sigma, lean, and process excellence training, Oriel Incorporated offers consulting and training services to help organizations develop, implement, and sustain the methodologies needed to improve organizational performance. Expertise includes leadership development, change management, teambuilding, Six Sigma, process and product design, lean, process improvement, and problem solving. Oriel publishes several well-known off-the-shelf books including The Team Handbook 3rd Edition, which has sold more than one million copies.

For additional information or to follow the developments at Oriel Incorporated, please visit www.orielinc.com or call 1-800-669-8326.

Oriel and SigmaFlow Announce Integrated Training and Software Offering for Lean Six Sigma

Madison, WI—SigmaFlow, a leading provider of Enterprise Performance Improvement Software, and Oriel, a major business productivity consulting and training organization, today announced an innovative joint offering that integrates Oriel’s Lean training content with SigmaFlow’s Project Portfolio Management Solution for Lean Six Sigma. The offering will be available for purchase by end-customers and for leading training firms to integrate into their own engagements.

Companies face a major challenge in Lean and Six Sigma deployments due to the disconnection of training and reference materials from the software tools used in day-to-day work. The Oriel-SigmaFlow joint offering links training and software tools, from idea generation through project completion, for the best productivity in Lean deployments.

 “By combining Oriel’s leading training methodology with SigmaFlow’s proven software solutions, customers get synergistic productivity,” said Jay Holstine, CEO of SigmaFlow. “The integration of Oriel’s training content and SigmaFlow’s project execution tools provide an end-to-end environment for achieving better results, faster.”

Alan Marash, CEO of Oriel, explains: “We chose SigmaFlow because of their unique approach to web and desktop solutions, which gives executives timely project status updates by tracking actual work being done. Customers gain improved knowledge-sharing and standards for project replication. This solution essentially pays for itself in the first project.” 

ABOUT ORIEL:

Founded in 1982, Oriel is a leading consulting and training organization dedicated to business process improvement and performance excellence. Oriel offers consulting and training services to help organizations develop, implement, and sustain the methodologies needed to improve organizational performance. Expertise includes Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, process and product design, process improvement, leadership development, change management, teambuilding, Six Sigma, and problem solving. Oriel publishes several well-known off-the-shelf books including The Team Handbook Third Edition, which has sold more than one million copies. For additional information or to follow the developments at Oriel Incorporated, please visit www.orielinc.com or call 1-800-669-8326.

ABOUT SIGMAFLOW:

Delivering consistent and efficient process improvement and project execution, the SigmaFlow system navigates users (with tactical Roadmaps, linked on-demand analysis tools, and contextual training) in the same environment where actual project work is done. Executives get real-time knowledge of where each initiative is, and often describe SigmaFlow as the “Global Positioning System” for Process and Project Portfolio Management.

As a leading provider of Best Practice Execution System^® software, SigmaFlow delivers standards, consistency, and productivity for company-wide process management, project execution, and governance. Thousands of process and project management professionals at diverse major organizations such as Albertsons, ConocoPhillips, First Data Corporation, Merrill Lynch, Pratt & Whitney, The World Bank, and Tyco International are improving results by using SigmaFlow software every day. For more information, visit SigmaFlow’s website at www.sigmaflow.com or contact Hal Stebbins at 972-447-8340 or hstebbins@sigmaflow.com.

Integrating Lean and Six Sigma Methodologies for Business Excellence

By Rohit Ramaswamy

This white paper describes typical ways in which companies combine Lean and Six Sigma and presents an approach for integration that best captures the philosophy behind the two methods. Download the Integrating Lean and Six Sigma Methodologies for Business white paper.

Oriel Incorporated Announces Publication of Integrating Lean and Six Sigma Methodologies for Business Excellence

Madison, WI— Many organizations with mature Six Sigma programs are now training their Black Belts in Lean methods. Other organizations beginning process improvement initiatives are looking at integrated Lean Six Sigma deployments. There is no standard method for integrating Lean and Six Sigma—different organizations require different approaches. Integrating Lean and Six Sigma Methodologies for Business Excellence describes typical ways in which companies combine Lean and Six Sigma, and presents an approach for integration that best captures the philosophy behind the two methods.

“Our approach is based on experience working with Lean Six Sigma integrations in a variety of industries and situations. Many of the companies we work with have a Lean or Six Sigma program in place and are looking for ways to efficiently bring in other methodologies. The approach presented in this paper uses fundamentals essential to both Lean and Six Sigma such as process thinking, continual improvement, measurements, and monitoring, and presents a simple and effective way of connecting Lean and Six Sigma programs and getting them off the ground,” says Rohit Ramaswamy, Oriel Vice President of Client Relationships. “Our marketplace has been looking for a discussion of Lean Six Sigma implementations and we are excited to introduce this easy-to-follow model.”

The paper includes our “Ask an Expert” feature available through www.orielinc.com. Along with the white paper, we offer a full suite of Lean Six Sigma training materials and consulting support to ensure successful deployment.

In addition to publishing white papers and guidebooks for instructors and students to use in Lean, Six Sigma, and process excellence training, Oriel Incorporated offers consulting and training services to help organizations develop, implement, and sustain the methodologies needed to improve organizational performance. Expertise includes leadership development, change management, teambuilding, Six Sigma, process and product design, Lean, process improvement, and problem solving. Oriel publishes several well-known off-the-shelf books including The Team Handbook Third Edition, which has sold more than one million copies.

For additional information or to follow the developments at Oriel Incorporated, please visit www.orielinc.com or call 1-800-669-8326.