Podcast of six sigma segment from Corning on last weekend's America's Business with Mike Hambrick show. Again highlights the use of Visio as a tool in implementing process improvements. Podcast is here .

This weekend another radio segment airs on America's Business with Mike Hambrick on how Corning used Six Sigma (DMAIC), supported by Microsoft technology tools such as Visio and our partner Itron, to achieve the following objectives: § Assure uninterrupted supply of energy to BSD facilities. §...

...from Defense Acquisition Review at www.dau.mil/pubs/arq/2004arq/Joyce.pdf A couple of years old but still a good read.

New case study published on Gates Corporation - details how they are using various Microsoft technologies such as Sharepoint to standardize work, improve information access, and push KPIs and transparency throughout the organization. Excerpt: "To enforce consistent business processes, executive management...

As an industry marketing manager at Microsoft, I face a challenge that I’m sure many teams share – how do I make it easy for a solution specialist team to follow-up with customers who have registered interest? This is important for 3 reasons: 1. This is a common breakdown point in the value stream...

I just started reading a great book on how blogging is changing both “the online conversation” and the way corporations relate to their customers via marketing, PR, and media channels. There's a lot in here on how Microsoft's decision to allow employee blogs early has helped to improve the company's...

Tune in to the National Association of Manufacturers weekly radio show America's Business with Mike Hambrick this weekend on Feb 10-11 for a segment on Lean Manufacturing. Interviews include Ingo Heel, Lean Solutions Director for Microsoft, and a profile of Just Born Foods' success story presented by...

...shows that the application of lean thinking and tools to the supply chain is a hot area in the industry. Ultriva, quoted in the article, is a provider of electronic kanban and other solutions built on the Microsoft platform using tools such as SharePoint and SQL Server. Check out the article at...

Over the recent holidays, I embarked on a backup, cleanup, and Office 2007 upgrade for my PC. As part of the process, I realized that it would be a good idea to take a look at the 5s concept from an information worker perpsective, since e-mail and spreadsheets are the "tools" and "dies" used by many...

Join me in attending this conference...several of the companies speaking are using software and tools built on the Microsoft platform to enable their lean initiatives. As a former black belt for a service business at GE, I am particularly interested in hearing a current perspective on the success of...

There is nothing like walking into the “war room” after a kaizen event. I usually see the same thing - butcher paper and sticky notes lining the walls from floor to ceiling. It is the result of people coming together to improve their value streams – the scene is impressive. What I’m less impressed with...