Page 212 - Lean six sigma demystified

190 Lean Six Sigma DemystifieD

I also like Levitt’s confession: “You don’t need to know a lot of math. I’m
horrible at math.” That’s why I created the QI Macros SPC software for Excel.
The macros do all of the scary math; you just need to know how to interpret
the resulting graphs.
Become a Six Sigma detective or treasure hunter superhero. Learn how and
what to measure to simplify understanding your business. Let your measure-
ments lead you to find and plug the leaks in your cash flow. Distrust conven-
tional wisdom. Look for subtle causes that amplify themselves into disturbing
effects. Share what you learn. Most of all: Get on with it! There’s no end to the
mysteries to be revealed and problems to be solved.

? still struggling

Six Sigma only works if you have numbers (i.e., data) about the defects or devia-
tion. When in doubt, start with a problem for which there is already sufficient
data. Don’t bother trying to collect a new measurement right away. In most
companies there’s more than enough data about real problems that you can
solve now. Later, once you understand more about what makes a good mea-
surement, use a check sheet to gather some new data about a problem that’s
been hard to diagnose.

Mistakes, Defects, and Errors

At the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference in Orlando last
December, one of the presentations covered the application of the Toyota Pro-
duction System (TPS) to a hospital. The presenter opened by saying that health
care, in general, was a poor-quality product that cost too much for the value deliv-
ered. I was immediately struck by the guts it took to make that statement. The
presenter went on to repeat that thought many times throughout the presenta-
tion. I doubt that many people caught it.
The reason for his comments? A 1999 study found that as many as 100,000
people a year die due to preventable medical mistakes in U.S. hospitals. That
made health care the eighth leading cause of preventable deaths in the United
States. In 2010, 99,000 people a year die due to preventable hospital-acquired