Uncommon Sense - Tools to Improve your Work Forever

Are you a Lean advocate, do you sit in the Six Sigma camp, or are you wondering what Lean Six Sigma is all about?

Join us for a whistlestop tour back to the origins of Lean and Six Sigma, as PMI Senior Consultant Damion Albinson shares how these two complementary techniques have been brought together to create a powerful customer-centric approach which can deliver maximum impact through improving both efficiency and quality. 

Has this episode piqued your interest?  Here are some more Lean Six Sigma essentials to explore:

• On Demand Webinar:  Lean vs Six Sigma: Two Sides of the Same Coin? 
• Training:  Certified Lean Six Sigma Awareness course 
• Video:  Two Ways to Improve Your Business 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

Are you in engineering or manufacturing?  Do you want to minimise downtime between changeovers?  Then this Lean tool is for you!

In this episode, Director Consultant Barry Byrne draws on his practical experience to discuss the SMED strategy for reducing changeover delays.  He talks about gathering operator feedback, channelling it to create innovative solutions, opening the door to increased production opportunities and empowering operators.

Interested in this topic?  Here are some related resources that you may find helpful:

• Podcast: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) to Measure Performance 
• Toolbox: Roles in Process Management 
• On-Demand Webinar:  Taking Out Waste May Not Make You Lean 
• Podcast: System Transformation using TPM 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

Do you want to know how effectively your system delivers value to its customers?  What are your measures for availability, productivity, and quality telling you?

Join us as PMI Director Consultant Barry Byrne talks about OEE, and highlights the significance of having a robust data collection process, which allows for a better understanding of the “six big losses” when output isn’t as expected or on schedule.

Want to know more about this topic?  Check out these related resources:

• Podcast: System Transformation Using TPM  
• On-Demand Webinar: Black Belt Tools with a Kick  
• Video: Using the Kano Model to Listen to Your Customer 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

In this special episode of Uncommon Sense, we’re joined by former PMI Deputy Chairman Jan Gillett as we commemorate 30 years since the passing of the father of quality management, Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

Jan vividly recalls the profound impact Dr. Deming had on him from their very first meeting at a conference in 1987.  He shares how this encounter was a turning point, challenging his conventional thinking and inspiring him to make a difference in his own company.

Join us as we dive into Deming’s lasting legacy in the business world and how his philosophies continue to inspire and guide us today.

More resources that you may find interesting:

• Blog: Process Automation and The Quality Professional  
• On-Demand Webinar: PDSA Your Work, Your Project, Your Programme 
• Blog:  Managing for Continuous Improvement 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

The 5Rs will help you work more efficiently and effectively, offering a structured way to analyse and improve processes. 

So, as you carry out your work today, think about this one simple question: is this process step delivering value to our end customer?  If the answer is no - however important or necessary it might be - it is still some form of waste which we should seek to eliminate or minimise, PMI Director Consultant Sean Buckland reminds us. 

Join us for top tips and practical examples as we explore how you can make the most of this straightforward yet powerful tool for successful process redesign.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in?  Here are some more resources on the 5Rs to help you get started:

• Improvement Toolbox: 5Rs - a step-by-step guide 
• Video: 5Rs from our Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training
• Infographic: Assessing the Value Added by the Work We Do

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

Kanban is all around us, although sometimes we don’t notice it.  Its purpose is to provide a signal, in a Pull system, underpinning a just-in-time approach to work and avoiding overproduction and waste.  It helps to ensure you have only what you want, only when you need it.

Join PMI Director Consultant Barry Byrne as he talks about Kanban as a crucial communication method, helping to synchronise our entire system, from supply chain to the customer.

Here are some more resources that you may find interesting:

• Blog: Creating Flow at the Car Wash
• Toolbox: 8 Wastes – a quick and easy step-by-step guide that helps you use this tool
• Podcast: Visualising with Value Stream Mapping

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of Total Productive Maintenance (not to be confused with Total Preventative Maintenance), and its game-changing impact on business operations.

Whether you’re in the manufacturing or service industry, every cog in the machine plays a vital role in optimising value stream flow and achieving TPM excellence.  

PMI Director Consultant Barry Byrne explores the need for a mindset shift among employees to create the culture of collaboration that’s crucial for success, the power of harnessing data to make informed decisions in TPM implementation, and what you need to think about when striving for perfect operations.

Here are some more resources that you may find interesting:

• Video: Value Stream Mapping – from our Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training 
• Webinar: Transform Your Operations, Incrementally  
• Blog: What is a Black Belt project? 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

A gauge of work completed compared to available capacity, the Utilisation Measure is a commonly used Key Performance Indicator.  But in this thought-provoking Uncommon Sense episode, PMI Senior Consultant Damion Albinson sheds light on how this measure, while popular, can sometimes hinder the achievement of flow in Lean businesses.

Sharing a compelling case study to illustrate, Damion explains how the Utilisation Measure's focus on constant busyness can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities.  So listen now to hear more on why your organisation should prioritise flow over utilisation to achieve results.

Interested to learn more?  Here are some related resources:

• Blog: Creating flow at the car wash 
• Toolbox:  8 Wastes – a quick and easy step-by-step guide that helps you use this tool
• Case Study:  Outstanding Performance Improvement Through 3 Focus Areas 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

It’s one of the top 3 calculations that supervisors and managers should have at their fingertips, according to PMI Director Consultant, Barry Byrne.  Throughput yield - the percentage of work completed successfully at any given process step – is a crucial metric when striving for perfection.

Join Barry as he discusses the hidden costs of defects and rework, including implications for improving customer experience, and shares an enlightening example of how yield analysis can uncover upstream causes of productivity issues.

Here are some related resources to support your improvement work:

• On Demand Webinar:  Rework – The Hidden Factory 
• Blog: Measures – The Window to The Process World
• Infographic:  The Impact of Rework
• Blog:  What is Lean Six Sigma?

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>

More than just a tagline or a sales pitch, the Value Proposition Statement is a tool for alignment and clarity, serving as a compass, guiding us towards delivering what our customer truly values.  And if your process isn’t delivering value to the customer?  It should be turned off or redesigned to meet the customer’s needs, PMI Director Consultant Dennis Crommentuijn-Marsh tells us.

Tune in for more top tips and practical examples as we discuss Value Proposition Statements and how they impact business success.

Here are more free resources to help you construct your Value Proposition Statement:

• Toolbox: Value Proposition Statement – a quick and easy step-by-step guide that helps you use this tool 
• Video: Using the Kano Model to Listen to Your Customer 
• Infographic:  Assessing the “Value Added” By The Work We Do

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Take your improvement career to the next level with PMI's Lean Six Sigma Certifications - now available in two new and accessible formats, built around you. 

• Explore On Demand >>
• Explore Distance Learning >>