Last week I had the privilege of working with a fantastic new client organisation situated just around the corner from 221b Baker Street, the address of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Each time I walked past there were dozens of people gathered around the famous doorway taking pictures and queuing up for the Sherlock Holmes museum.…
Earlier this summer it was announced that sales of ice cream and frozen treats were up by over 100% on 2017’s figures. Boozy ice lollies were among the fastest growing product areas, with an increase in sales of 188% reported by Waitrose. Mmmm, G&T for me please! But while a proliferation of flavours and combinations…
In his (awesome) book ‘Learning to See’, Mike Rother writes, “whenever there is a product for a customer, there is a value stream. The challenge lies in seeing it”. We couldn’t agree more, and are enthusiastic advocates of the Value Stream Mapping (VSM) approach. But maybe something in the language of it, or in the…
The Kano Model was developed by Noriaki Kano in 1984 to outline different types of customer requirement. The model shows how the fulfilment of each type impacts on customer satisfaction, and demonstrates that more is not always better. That’s not to say a Scrooge-like approach should be adopted – just that there is a smarter…
The Project Champion (or Sponsor) plays a vital role in a Lean Six Sigma project. The individual – we always recommend that this role is undertaken by one person – is responsible for giving strategic direction to the project team, providing resources, helping overcome issues, reviewing progress and ensuring the team remains focussed. While the…
We are delighted to introduce you to our series of short ‘Friday’ courses to deepen your continuous improvement skills. These short courses have been designed to refresh and top-up your Continous Improvement Skills. The short courses we are offering include: Practical 5S – learn how to make 5S really work Value Stream Mapping – unlock…
We’re increasingly hearing about ‘Agile’ it seems to be becoming a buzzword perhaps starting to go viral. But what really is it? And why should we all take an interest? Look it up in the dictionary and you’ll likely find two meanings: Firstly its common everyday use – ‘able to move quickly and easily’ with…
With more demand for our online lean six sigma training, we are seeing a lot more use of our new global learning management system. This system allows us to deliver our programmes on a global scale, either as fully online or blended or classroom based and we can mix and match online training modules, class…
You are on a train/in a meeting/drinking coffee and you hear the Breaking News alert on your phone. “What now?” you wonder. And you would be forgiven for including an expletive or two in your musing. Uncertain economic growth, unpredictable exchange rates, the future of the Eurozone … we live in ‘interesting’ times. In the…
It has been revealed this week that fake election news stories on Facebook were looked at more than true stories from major news outlets in the final three months of the US presidential campaign. Barack Obama has expressed his concern. “If we can’t discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems”, he…
