Six Sigma training creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in statistical process control and improvement methods. The training consists of lectures, exercises, and team-learning competitions. There is no project for Green Belt. The course follows the five-phase DMAIC approach. Students learn how to first DEFINE opportunities. The next step is to MEASURE the performance of the process. The third phase is how to ANALYZE the opportunity, and seek out the…See More
What is an HAI? It is a hospital acquired infection.The AARP Magazine (April/May 2013 issue) reported the Leapfrog Group’s ratings on the safest hospitals American Hospitals. There were 67 hospitals rated “America’s Safest Hospitals”. None of the safest hospitals were in Alabama. Also there were no top rated hospitals in Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, or Oklahoma.None of us want to go to a hospital and get an infection that could harm or kill us. What does this say…See More
NFPA 70E - Fundamentals Training CourseWhat You will Learn:Employees will understand the purpose of the new 2012 standard and why it is important from OSHA’s perspective. Topics addressed include: basic electrical principles and safety, general electrical hazards, OSHA regulations, LOTO principles, electrically safe work conditions, energized electrical permits, and safety program requirements. Also included is a discussion of electrical arcs and their associated hazards, an overview of shock…See More
20% DISCOUNT TO FIRST 6 REGISTRATIONS!Healthcare systems need to eliminate anything that does not add value to the customer (the patient). Lean management focuses on standardization and improving processes and reducing or eliminating waste and unnecessary activities, motion, or waiting. Lean management's techniques are elegantly simple to understand. But putting them into practice takes perseverance. Our Lean Healthcare Certificate Series is an intense 4-day course that covers the Lean tools…See More
Carol Kinsey Goman, Professional Change Agent for 25 years – states “ … The turbulent economy increases pressure to “do more with less.”…Customers are demanding “better, faster, cheaper” everything. Competition is fierce. The pace of change is accelerating. “ Sound like your challenges as a Continuous Improvement Team Member?? She states “leadership success belongs to those who can keep a work force resilient and engaged while dealing with a tsunami of change, complexity and chaos.”Her 5…See More
September 23, 2013 at 8am to September 25, 2013 at 5pm
Purpose: The purpose of this training course is to introduce learners to evaluative methods and techniques that may be employed to inform decision makers about the effectiveness, implementation, and improvement of quality management systems and processes. Duration: 3 Days. Scheduled class time is 8:00AM. to 4:30 PM. Training Overview: This course is intended for learners who have previously completed a course in internal auditing and have some experience performing audits. While auditing is…See More
Purpose: The purpose of the training course is to prepare learners to plan and conduct internal audits of an environmental management system within their organization.Duration: 3 Days. Scheduled class time is Day 1 and 2: 8:00 to 5:00 P.M.; Day 3: 8:00 to 12:00 Noon (appx.)Training Overview: The training is designed to provide learners with the knowledge and skills to successfully plan and prepare for an audit, perform an audit, document an audit, report the results of an audit, and manage…See More
Purpose: The purpose of this training course is to prepare learners to plan and conduct internal audits within their organization with emphasis on aerospace requirements. Duration: 3 Days. Scheduled class time is 8:00AM. to 5:00 PM. Training Overview: The training is designed to provide learners with the knowledge and skills to successfully plan and prepare for an audit, perform an audit, document an audit, reporting on the results of an audit, and manage corrective actions.. Specific Key…See More
I have been thinking for some time that there is a better approach to make Lean and Sigma work in your process. When I hear that a company or hospital has abandoned it Lean or Six Sigma programs, I wonder what went wrong. Why did it fail? What was not done that caused the effort to fail? What was not done that caused the effort to fail? What can we change that will make these efforts more successful?I just read a blog from Blair Nickle, Sr Manager at HPP that wrote an article “Why Training…See More
20% DISCOUNT TO FIRST 6 REGISTRATIONS!Healthcare systems need to eliminate anything that does not add value to the customer (the patient). Lean management focuses on standardization and improving processes and reducing or eliminating waste and unnecessary activities, motion, or waiting. Lean management's techniques are elegantly simple to understand. But putting them into practice takes perseverance. Our Lean Healthcare Certificate Series is an intense 4-day course that covers the Lean tools…See More
I have just read a report written by Matt Hanrion, Senior Manager with Healthcare Performance Partners. The book, Lean-Led Hospital Design: Creating the Efficient Hospital of the Future cited research that found more than 50 percent of hospital organizations in America now have some form of a Lean Healthcare initiative in progress (was referenced in Matt’s report). Less than 10 percent were having measureable success with their initiative.Matt pointed out some problems and solutions that I am…See More
I was recently introduces to the KASH model by Tom Chandler - who will be conducting training on the Judgement Index in our April Industrial Leadership Series Training course - and thought it was an excellent tool to share.Each team member (TM) brings four distinct characteristics to an organization – Knowledge, Skills, Attitude and Habit – which affect performance and hence the success of the individual. While most of the organizations focus on selecting employees based on the knowledge and…See More
Lean Healthcare 101 is a course designed to teach Lean’s continuous improvement methodology and tools. This full-day energetic event will give participants a hands-on, learn-by-doing experience by applying Lean philosophies and tools in a simulated Emergency Room environment. Students will learn value stream mapping, workplace organization, batch reduction, standardization, pull systems, continuous flow, and more. This training will prepare participants to apply Lean concepts and tools back in…See More
NFPA 70E - Fundamentals Training CourseWhat You will Learn:Employees will understand the purpose of the new 2012 standard and why it is important from OSHA’s perspective. Topics addressed include: basic electrical principles and safety, general electrical hazards, OSHA regulations, LOTO principles, electrically safe work conditions, energized electrical permits, and safety program requirements. Also included is a discussion of electrical arcs and their associated hazards, an overview of shock…See More
November 4, 2013 at 8am to November 8, 2013 at 5pm
Hospitals need to eliminate anything that does not add value to the customer (the patient). They need to undertake a cultural transformation. The move to Lean management is just such a transformation. Lean management focuses on standardization and improving processes and reducing or eliminating waste and unnecessary activities, motion, or waiting. Lean management's techniques are simple to understand, but putting them into practice takes perseverance.Our Lean Healthcare Certificate Series is an…See More
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Auburn Technical Assistance Center at Auburn University and the Alabama Productivity Center at the University of Alabama are jointly facilitating a program called "Lean for Government" with the cities of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Foley and the Baldwin County, Ala. governments. The initiative is a result of the two universities providing community outreach assistance in the wake of last year's Deep Horizon oil spill. The objective is to train personnel in the philosophy of lean continuous improvement and to instill the ability to apply continuous improvement methods to minimize process waste and improve efficiency in the midst of reduced revenues.
GULF SHORES, Ala. – David Peleschak had seen this before. Or at least he thought he had.
The city had signed up for a nine-class program called the Lean Process through both Auburn University and the University of Alabama and would focus on the process of work orders sent to Public Works.
“It comes out of the Toyota production system, a continuous improvement system,” Mitch Emmons of Auburn said. “It focuses on removing or minimizing waste or non-value-added activity in a process.”
Emmons said the same process will be used in Orange Beach this spring and in the future at Foley and the Baldwin County government.
In the wake of the BP oil spill and the prospect of reduced revenues, the city was wondering how services would continue at the same level as before.
According to Councilwoman Carolyn Doughty, University of Alabama Systems Chancellor Malcolm Portera called asking what the system could do to help the city.
“Within a few days they sent a team down here,” Doughty said. “Each one of the universities sent somebody from their business schools, somebody kind of with social services and their grants program.”
The end result was the Lean Process program. The program cost is approximately $90,000, but the Auburn and Alabama provided the majority of the money. Gulf Shores paid $2,500.
Peleschak from Public Works participated, somewhat skeptically at first.
“I’ve been involved with the city a number of years and involved through all these processes and evolutions,” Peleschak said. “And when this first came about I thought ‘oh boy, here’s another one of these programs that we’re going to have to sit through with absolutely very little benefit.’
“I was frankly shocked.”
Doughty wanted one thing understood before the first step was taken: this was not about trimming staff.
“When it came to the number of personnel, we had already gone through that reduction in force back in the end of 2008 due to just the downfall of the economy,” she said. “And I knew we couldn’t operate with fewer people and I didn’t want our people thinking that’s what we were doing.”
With that one caveat, she was ready to go. She said Human Resources Director Sandy Carden was the city’s lead person in the program.
According to participant Bridgett Reynolds of the Parks and Recreation Department the whole process centered on a single question.
“Ask why,” Reynolds said. “Why are we doing this?” Why does the city process work orders sent to Public Works the way it does?
“I found out when somebody needed some work done in the city they had to physically fill out a piece of paper, they had to walk over to City Hall and put it in a box,” Doughty said. “Then Janice Childress had to walk downstairs from Public Works and pick it up out of the box, go back upstairs to her computer, scan it save it and she really didn’t know why, but she always did it.”
Next it was sent to Director of Public Works Mark Acreman, then processed back down the line.
“I don’t know how many hours to get it through the process,” Doughty said.
After examining the process, it was decided it could work much better electronically. And there was software already in place to accomplish that. But nobody knew that.
“We brought a software person to town and we had great software program in Public Works,” Doughty said. “And we said ‘we want it to do this’ and he said ‘it will.’
“Now they’ve got the process down to where somebody can sit at their desk, enter a work-order request and know, at least by tomorrow, that Mark has received it and got it done and they’ll know the second it gets completed.”
Emmons said that both universities that worked with Gulf Shores were impressed with the outcome. Lean was initially used in manufacturing, but has in the last several years spread to hospitals, businesses and now local government.
“That’s what Lean is all about,” Emmons said. “Trying to be able to maximize your efficiency with existing ability.”
Gulf Shores is continuing to look at ways to be more efficient in areas like purchasing and hopefully throughout the workings of government.
“I was thrilled because everybody really seemed to grasp the concept,” Doughty said. “It was amazing and fascinating to me to see the light bulb got off in everybody’s head.
“It was a great service and we’re really very appreciative of Auburn and Alabama both stepping up to the plate to help us like this. I think in the long run it will lead to money saving in the city as well as time saving and getting a little pressure off the employees and allowing them to excel in additional areas.”
