7th Annual Conference

Elizabeth M Keim

This presentation will cover the evolution of the Lean Six Sigma methodology in organizations, highlighting use in non-manufacturing processes.

Based on this evolution and the current state of many implementations, suggestions for further maturation of the methodology will be discussed.

Professor George Cairns

Managing Quality, Ambiguity and Uncertainty: Scenario thinking on alternative futures

The future is uncertain, but is not wholly unknown. Whilst we can plan for what we hope will happen and what we can try to make happen, we should also be prepared for what might happen. Scenario thinking offers a way for individuals and groups to face up to uncertainties that present both opportunities and threats in the future and to assess their potential impact upon the organization or community. As a decision maker, you may not fully understand the complexities and ambiguities that the future may hold, or you may not even think about the future and simply continue with your present course of action.

The history of business shows that, whilst many companies have achieved success over long periods from adopting a business-as-usual approach, this success has frequently been challenged in the longer term. The average life span of a Fortune 500 multinational company in the last century was between 40 and 50 years, but the rate of disappearance from the list has accelerated in the last few decades as new technologies and innovations bring new players to the scene.

Why is it that world-class companies, staffed by world-class managers do not survive in a changing world? Why is it that some organisations survive, but only after facing up to unanticipated threat to their dominance and seeming invincibility? Consider IBM, which was for decades the world’s leading computer manufacturer and was the home to invention of the personal computer (PC). IBM failed to exploit this innovation and its slowness to adapt enabled first Compaq then Dell to take the lead in the new PC industry. These companies recognised the need for new business models to engage with a new, non-traditional set of computer users. As they created their spell of market dominance, IBM seemed lost. However, ‘Big Blue’ reinvented itself as a global business consultancy organization and rebuilt its brand image and new global success.

Similar failings by global companies can be seen in the examples of Xerox in the copier market of the 1970s and, more recently, of Motorola in the US mobile phone market. More locally, we might recognise similar symptoms in Holden’s and Ford Australia’s failure to make an early move away from a focus on big cars and utes to address a new market for smaller cars. Will we see a national failure to address a future of resource depletion?

Why do organisations and individuals fail to see impending changes in markets and society? The reason is that they are frequently prisoners of their own success. They show how, when things are running smoothly, ways of operating can become ingrained over the years.

Many organizations follow managerial or policy ‘recipes’ in the way of IBM and Xerox, allowing these to become routines that guide all thinking and acting. As writers on strategic management have argued, any organization’s survival depends upon strategic decision-making that aligns with the external world – a world that is in constant flux. So, recipes should not be followed on a routine basis, and they should be changed altogether when appropriate and necessary. But, strategic inertia, in the form of unquestioned commitment to current strategy tends to emerge over time as current ways of operating become increasingly ingrained. Commitment to the status quo tends to escalate in a smooth, undisturbed fashion, with incremental adjustments or improvements to current strategy over time.

In order to challenge business-as-usual thinking, the following of managerial recipes, and the development of organisational myopia, this session offers scenario thinking as a way for organisations and individuals to explore potential, possible and plausible futures. This presentation introduces a number of approaches to scenario thinking – how individuals and organizations can and should be prepared for the full range of possible and plausible futures that they might face.  The approaches range from projecting forward from what we currently know, to ‘back-casting’ from an extreme possible future to the present, and to how to address the issues and interests of all stakeholders in assessing possible and plausible futures.

Christine Hawkins

Customer Experience Improvement – case study from HP on gathering customer requirements.

Join us for this HP case study on customer experience improvement. Christine will share with us how her four years in customer experience improvement at HP, has her looking at customer requirements from a different angle. Discover Good, Better and Best methods for gathering customer requirements and the limitations of the traditional six sigma customer requirements gathering processes.

Professor John P T Mo

Lean six sigma driven enterprise transformation model

Enterprise architecture methods provide a structured system to understand enterprise activities.  However, existing enterprise modelling methodologies take static views of the enterprise and do not naturally lead to a path of improvement during enterprise model transformation.

This paper discusses the need for a methodology to facilitate changes for improvement in an enterprise.  The lean six sigma methodology is proposed as the tool to facilitate progressive and continual Enterprise Model Transformation to allow businesses to adapt to meet increased customer expectation and global competition.

The synergies of combining the two methodologies are presented in an effort to provide a more culturally embedded framework for Enterprise Model Transformation that builds on the success of six sigma.  An alignment of lean six sigma with phases of enterprise life cycle phases is described and an integrated enterprise with transformation processes based on lean six sigma is proposed.  The integrated model is validated by cases studies in several industry sectors.

Lynn Grantham

Lean Six Sigma Deployment to Survive and Thrive

It is well documented that Lean Six Sigma deployment needs to align to the organisation’s strategy in order to generate buy-in, sustain momentum and maximise the return on investment.

Lessons learned at ANZ Bank demonstrate that the deployment approach needs to adapt and grow as the business’s strategy and culture evolve, to ensure that Lean Six Sigma not only survives but thrives as a value-creating program.

In this presentation you will learn about:

• Matching the deployment model to the needs of the business
• Understanding what is happening in your business
• Applying relevant tools and techniques to fit the organisation’s readiness
• Providing training and support to the people who are engaged in the program
• Leading successful projects
• Influencing the business to embrace change
• Acting as a catalyst to drive customer-centric strategy and culture
• Tracking performance and highlighting success
• Integrating the program with other improvement drivers
• Thriving, not just surviving

Stephen Grech

Engaging staff to be part of the process improvement solution

A key to a successful project deployment is engaging staff to be part of the solution. Small and medium sized organisations must crawl before they walk. Lean offers quick results and is a highly engaging method to deliver a faster and more reliable process.

Once organisations have experienced the benefits of Lean, they have a better opportunity to mature in their approach to productivity and process improvement through the deployment of Lean Six Sigma.

In this presentation you will learn about:

• how  Lean and Value Stream Mapping is a highly engaging and effective techniques to introduce organisations to Lean Six Sigma
• how winning the hearts and minds of staff is a critical component of Lean Six Sigma deployment
• current trends in Lean and Lean Six Sigma deployment across government
• understanding the soft skills in deploying Lean Six Sigma 

This presentation will also explore the benefit of Lean leading to Lean Six Sigma through a case study on a Federal government agency

Dr Douglas Long

PPM / PPL + Lean Six Sigma : an oxymoron-a look at management, leadership, change, and the quality process

Statistics tell us that approximately 85% of all change processes are unsuccessful in that they fail to result in fully realising the benefits sought. This includes quality initiatives. In this session, Douglas Long explores:

• Why change processes fail
• How to increase the probability of success
• The role of leadership and management in implementing successful Lean Six Sigma processes

Robert Re

Leadership vs Management-The Debate Continues

!It has been seventeen years since the Karpin Committee released its much-heralded Karpin Report - The report of the Industry Task Force on Management Reform in Australia. The Committee spent its $3million budget, published 27 reports and made 28 recommendations. The Report, you may recall, emphasised the urgent need to upgrade the skills of Australian Leadership and Management.

Whilst there has been an increase in the discussion and the rhetoric concerning leadership and management competencies the jury is still out as far as evidence pointing to any major improvement in leadership and management is concerned. At the same time the debate continues as to the difference between leadership and management. This presentation focuses on why that debate is so important.

Ian Ritchie

Activity Based Working and its links with Lean Six Sigma

Activity Base Working (ABW) is one of the prominent recent developments in corporate property design and operating models.  Organisations in Australia such as Macquarie Bank, the local offices of Microsoft, and Commonwealth Bank are implementing ABW environments with success.  In the case of Commonwealth Bank, its new office buildings at Darling Walk in Sydney house over 6,300 people – the largest ABW implementation to date in the world.

 Key components of an ABW office include:

•  Open-plan office areas with multiple work-place designs available to all team members
• Reduced reliance on “bookable” meeting rooms, and increased reliance on a range of non-bookable collaboration spaces
• Technology implementations allowing for team collaboration and paper independence
• Improved mobility of team members through the use of screen-based applications, work from home applications, and collaboration tools such as screen video conference, shared notebook applications, and working from image rather than paper
• Increased use of virtual team management tools such as real-time performance dashboards and on-screen team location / conversation tools such as Microsoft Link.

ABW implementations result in reduced property lease costs through the reduction in floor area required per staff member (about a 35% reduction).  However, it is the other benefits including improved collaboration across and within teams, improved management of image workflow vs paper workflow, and the greater clarity of end-to-end processes through the implementation of up-front image applications that are emerging as the real prize.

In this paper we provide analysis of the application of LSS process methods in an ABW work environment, and discuss the parallels and links between these two disciplines.  An example case study outlines the implementation of an up-front scanning solution into an existing paper-based process that formerly received over 17,000 pages of in-bound paper per day and required over 8 million pages of paper per year just to maintain its customer files

Kevn Ryan

Lean Six Sigma management and project selection framework

A practical session on the implementation of the advanced Lean Six Sigma based management system, Integrated Enterprise Excellence® (IEE) System in a service based government organisation. IEE was developed by Professional Engineer, ASQ Fellow, Phillip B. Crosby Medal winner, Ex IBM quality expert and Quality Magazine’s 2011 Quality Professional of the Year, Forrest Breyfogle.

In this presentation, Kevin Ryan demonstrates and discusses Breyfogle's system and method taken from the book series The Integrated Enterprise Excellence System: An Enhanced, Unified Approach to Balanced Scorecards, Strategic Planning, and Business Improvement.
Mr. Ryan discusses the fundamental concepts of IEE, the advantages and challenges compared to conventional frameworks such as Balanced Scorecard, the value in day-to-day operational management, improvement project selection, and integrating risk and quality auditing.

David Smith

Linking Lean Six Sigma with ISO and business excellence; is there value?

Organisations have many approaches to managing and improving their processes and organisational systems including ISO management systems and business excellence frameworks.

Add lean six sigma to this mix and we ask the question “has it been integrated or has it been thrown in?”  Does lean six sigma add value in this mix or does it add to the complexity and confusion?

David Kelly

Organisational Program and Process Readiness

Lean Six Sigma Program and Process Readiness.

Setting up Lean Six Sigma Programs for Success.

For Lean Six Sigma programs to achieve success they need to be set up and defined in terms of the inputs the organisation brings to the program. This would include all stakeholders in the program from champions, sponsors, participants, team members, human resources, management, finance and belt resource where available.

Prior to launch of a lean six sigma program in any organisation we need to investigate the readiness of the organisation to embrace, participate in and deliver the projects, improvements and changes that will be the outputs of the program in the short, medium and long term.

Program set up should include:

• Organisational strategic maturity assessment
• Organisational process maturity assessment
• Organisational project delivery assessment
• Change Management maturity assessment
• Management Commitment
• Financial Requirements
• Current belt levels
• Human Resource certification, qualification and reporting requirements
• Champion and Sponsor Identification and gap analysis
• Project Identification and gap analysis
• Participant Identification, commitment and gap analysis
• Team Member availability and gap analysis
• Time Factors

The process of discovery of program inputs in the program set up needs to be as lean as possible to reflect the lean six sigma philosophy and to ensure program critical factors are identified early and can be included in the overall program to begin the drive in cultural change.

Michael McLean

The new ISO Standard for Six Sigma™ – ISO 13053-1:2011(E) ‘DMAIC’ Methodology and ISO 13053-2:2011(E) Tools and Techniques

The new ISO Standard for Six Sigma™ – ISO 13053-1:2011(E) ‘DMAIC’ Methodology and ISO 13053-2:2011(E) Tools and Techniques – Basis for Standardization, Continual Improvement and Learning Systems for Deployment and Project Delivery

The new standard provides guidance to key infrastructure support, roles, methodologies, definitions, competencies, formulas (explaining the +/-1.5 Standard Deviation Process Shift allowance - Pyzdek), common methods, tools and techniques (Wheeler, Burns) for Six Sigma™ (Trade Mark of Motorola, Inc. USA).  The standard limits “the document to only cover the improvement of existing processes and not BPR or DFSS nor Certification”.  These two Standards are foundations for later coverage of both existing and new processes.

The paper will explain how the new Standard’s support Six Sigma™ programs and how they can then link with and support other business improvement programs as Lean (Womack, Jones and Roos; Liker); Theory of Constraints (Goldratt); Business and Operational Excellence Models such as the Enterprise Connect supported ‘SC21” EFQM based quality program.  Questions will be raised for participants to consider as they enhance their interventions with this ‘new’ knowledge so that they can ‘Adapt and Adopt’ (Ishikawa, Amasaka) to make sense (Weick) and relevance for the Standard for their organisation and team-based cultures (Senge and Kanter).

The paper will update Best Practices to Deploying Six Sigma™ and the Project Delivery by the Standard’s alignment to the revised AQF ‘Competitive Manufacturing’ and now for 2012, ‘Competitive Systems and Practices’ Certificate and Diploma work-based team learning and training programs.  Embedding such ISO 13053-1 and 2 guidance Six Sigma™ activities and other learnings within Continual Improvement Standards such as ISO 9001:2008, ISO TS16949 and ISO 14001 EMS ‘Process-approach’ (Laosirihongthong et al) within organizations’ ‘Knowledge Management / Book of Knowledge’ systems (Delahaye).

Finally, some suggestions are made as to where the Standard and organisations can strengthen their Deployment and Project Delivery through Business Improvement strategies, stakeholders, systems, practices, tools and techniques.

Matt Curnow

Leadership and Cultural, the shadow leaders cast.

There can be no cultural transformation, without individual transformation”

 Corporate culture is the hidden force that shapes behavior. It’s like gravity, you can’t see it, but you can feel its pull. Every company has a culture that drives behavior even to the point that new employees even adapt to the prevailing culture.

 Only one-third of managers and leaders understand the impact of their behavior on others. Two thirds of managers and leaders don't have a good perception of how others see them and that plays out enormously.

 If a company is only there to make money, then that may work in the short term, but in the long term it may start to damage your business as staff are extremely sensitive to an integrity gap between what leaders say and what they do.

 We will see how shaping individuals helps shape culture which in the end shapes your business successfully or not.

Bobby Aitken

CI Capability Development

Capability development is all too often seen just as training. However it is much more than this. Through this presentation Bobby will explain the developments made at Western Power to build beyond just training.