Setting the Stage Getting the best results from a group can be tricky. Preconceived notions and beliefs coupled with departmental silos create a stalemate for creativity. The purpose of an affinity diagram is to organize a large number of ideas into their natural relationships. This method taps a team’s creativity and intuition. Created in the 1960s […]
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Customer Experience and Lean
The Lean Startup
Entrepreneurship: Balancing Bold vs. Strategic
Highlighting the Struggle Finding the balance between the bold strokes of entrepreneurship and the structured constraints of strategy can create a whirlwind in a business. The vision of an entrepreneur brings to mind a bold, unbridled risk-taker willing to bet everything for success, no matter what the odds. That spirit is what created the Industrial […]
Lean Production: Boeing Goes Full Throttle
The Boeing Challenge Lean Production ‘Toyota’ style is going full throttle at Boeing. As competition heats up between two aerospace giants, Boeing and Airbus, Boeing is looking at every opportunity to produce their new 777X as the most cost effective and highest quality aircraft in production. As with any other highly technical and competitive industry, […]
Customer Experience
Balanced Scorecard: What Are Your Grades?
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a report card for your business. It is a strategic management tool that allows you to view the organization from different perspectives. The Balanced Scorecard allows … [More]
Food Service: Serving Up Six Sigma Quality Daily
The food service industry is tough. The challenges of the industry range from food costs and quality, to customer service and effectively using labor. To create the perfect experience, owners must … [More]
Quality Awards Recognize Medical Center
Healthcare is an ever-evolving industry that is achieving significant results with quality initiatives. Leaders are learning from other industries the value of Lean Six Sigma programs in their … [More]
Lean Manufacturing
Airing the Dirty Laundry in Healthcare: A Factory Tour
Healthcare runs on clean laundry! No matter what the scenario … whether treating a patient in the ER, on a Med-Surg unit or in an outpatient clinic, … [More]
Chasing Quality: EHR Exposed Opportunities with FMEA
Can Electronic Health Records (EHR) expose quality opportunities in our current Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) mapping process? A … [More]
Leading With Tesla: A Factory Tour in Fremont
If you are car fanatics like we are, you cannot help but drool when the name Tesla is mentioned. When you think of the brand, you think of a powerful … [More]
Lean Optimization: The 5s Cure for the EHR
Can we find a cure for the EHR (electronic health record) through lean optimization and the 5S? The EHR is a digital version of a patient’s paper … [More]
Spaghetti Diagram: Eliminating the Redundancies of Flow
Untangling the twists and turns of workflow in a process can be frustrating. Have you ever tried to visualize the flow of a process, from start to … [More]
Andon System: What Does It Tell You?
What does your Andon System tell you? Typically, it is a manufacturing process that says there is something wrong and your attention is wrong. The … [More]
Olympic Gold and Six Sigma
Can you win Olympic Gold with Six Sigma? Are there similarities between an Olympic athlete and Six Sigma? A little half way through the Olympic Games … [More]
Lean Standard Work: Importance of Calendar White Space
Lean Standard Work has become a major component of most Lean systems. This is fundamentally a lean-principled way for managers at all levels to … [More]
Hi, I’m Pete Abilla
First, let’s talk about why this website is useful for you. Like you, I’m battling to become better and trying to put a small dent in my corner of the universe. I write about the struggle that we all face to become better leaders, better workers, and better people. I write about Lean and Six Sigma principles, and how we can put them into practice at our companies, in our businesses, and how to improve the customer experience. Continue >
Premium Articles
Business Needs Assessment
In this 6:46 minute Premium HD Video entitle "Business Needs Assessment", we introduce several ways to identify the needs of a business and demonstrate how to create a business case from that … [More]
Six Sigma Black Belt Certification: Eye of the Beholder
What's a Certification? In general terms, certification refers to the demonstration or mastery of a specific body of knowledge. So, to be "certified" in something means that you've done the … [More]
Control Charts in Six Sigma – A Video Introduction
Control Charts in Six Sigma is an important topic. In this 7:05 video, we introduce you to the control chart. Specifically, we'll discuss the following: What is a Control Chart? What is it used … [More]
Pull Systems, Push Systems: The Paper Airplane Game
As I teach the principles of Lean Manufacturing to others, I include games that are both fun and also illustrate the concepts in a way that are memorable and solidifies the concepts more clearly in … [More]
Red Bead Experiment: Part 6
This is Part 6 of 6 of the Deming Red Bead Video Tutorial. To watch the entire 6 part series, you must be a paying member of Shmula Pro and be logged in. View the last video in the series … [More]
Shmula Pro Membership
Want access to our HD Six Sigma Videos, Toyota Management for Daily Improvement slides, eBooks, PPT and Excel Templates, Discount codes on other sites, and much more? All this for only $199!Toyota Floor Management System
Want Lean Training like the one Taught at Toyota? [1. Disclaimer: This course material is not endorsed by Toyota. This material is inspired by my time at Toyota.] Learn the Toyota Floor Management Development System Learn and Implement Real Lean Training Content … Learn More
Queueing Theory
DMV Queueing Properties: Waiting in Line at the Local Department of Motor Vehicles
No matter who you are – rich, old, poor, young, famous, infamous, or not known to anybody – there are a few things that unite us all and we all have in common: We all bleed We all breath oxygen We all put on our pants one leg at a time Taxes AND – we […]
Hate to Wait Bagel Bucket: Queueing as Marketing
That’s right – Queueing as Marketing. The Hate to Wait Bagel Bucket is ingenious. In other words, create a service or product around the fact that people don’t like to wait – AND – charge a premium for the service or product. I’m calling that Queueing as Marketing. Almost all of us hate to wait. […]
Green and Sustainability
Green Manufacturing: Is It Gaining Momentum?
The Impact on a Global Scale Green manufacturing and clean energy are getting attention on a global scale. The United States, Brazil and China have made new commitments to fight climate change. The United States unveiled a Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon pollution. The United Nations is taking great strides to take on climate […]
Nike Lean Manufacturing: An Example of Good Policy Deployment
I was invited to the Nike Headquarters several months ago, where I met with most of the leadership team of the Nike.com business unit, which is the business unit tasked with growing their direct-to-consumer business. I was very, very impressed to see their commitment to Lean and was pleasantly surprised at how far up and […]
Lean Leadership
Olympic Gold and Six Sigma
Can you win Olympic Gold with Six Sigma? Are there similarities between an Olympic athlete and Six Sigma? A little half way through the Olympic Games in Rio, we are witnessing some of the best athletic performances in history. Just as amazing are their background stories, getting to see exactly just what it takes to […]
Food Service: Serving Up Six Sigma Quality Daily
The food service industry is tough. The challenges of the industry range from food costs and quality, to customer service and effectively using labor. To create the perfect experience, owners must find a delicate balance with these challenges. But to add to those challenges, in today’s digital environment, customers are engaging with social media, which […]