iSixSigma honors top Lean Six Sigma programs

iSixSigma, the leading provider of content for the Six Sigma community through its Web sites, iSixSigma Magazine and live events, honored the winners and finalists of outstanding Six Sigma programs and projects at the iSixSigma Live! Summit in Miami in late January.

iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine sponsored the competition, which received more than 50 nominations from around the world. A team of certified Six Sigma Belts used a systematic and structured process to evaluate the entries in three categories -- Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up Program, Most Successful Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program and Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects.

“All of the finalists exhibited ‘breakthrough’ improvements based on several specific criteria,” said Jeannine Hall, director of events for iSixSigma.

To qualify for the competition, programs must have had a minimum return on investment (ROI) of 5x; projects must have delivered a 90 percent reduction in defects, a minimum $250,000 and 5x or more ROI, and a minimum 2-sigma increase in process sigma level.

“Most entries achieved far greater results,” said Michael Cyger, founder of iSixSigma. “In keeping with the summit’s theme, ‘Back to Breakthrough,’ these awards highlight those programs and projects that go beyond the good. iSixSigma is recognizing truly the best.”

Here are iSixSigma’s program and project finalists and winners by category:

Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up Program

Winner: NewPage Corp.
Finalist: Betfair
Finalist: Unlimited Technology Inc.

Most Successful Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program

Winner: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
Finalist: US Army TACOM LCMC
Finalist: Washington Mutual/JPMorgan Chase

Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects

Customer Service
Winner: Sutherland Global Services – “Improving Customer Satisfaction”
Finalist: Providence St. Joseph Medical Center – “Outreach Lab Patient Service Center Patient Wait Time Reduction”
Finalist: Shuuro Technologies – “Improving Customer Satisfaction Score, UK Tech Support”

Environment
Winner: Bell Helicopter, Textron Inc. – “Compressed Air Savings Headstart (CASH)”

Innovation
Winner: Delphi Corp. – “Joint Design for Electronics Cooling Heat Exchangers”
Finalist: Fleet Readiness Center EAST – “Right Sizing Support Equipment”
Finalist: MAN Turbo – “Ergonomics”

Manufacturing
Winner: Xerox Corp. – “Photoreceptor Belt Tensioning System”
Finalist: Medtronic Spinal & Biologics – “Set-screw Breakoff Torque”
Finalist: Perlos Telecommunication & Electronic Component India Pvt. Ltd. – “Yield Improvement of In Mold Decoration (IMD) Molding Process”

Solving the Unsolvable
Winner: Shuuro Technologies – “Improving Revenue from Sales”
Finalist: Sutherland Global Services – “Customer Service Improvement”
Finalist: U.S. Army – “Standardize Cost Analysis Requirements Description and Reduce Cycle Time”
Finalist: Volt Information Sciences – “Elimination of Duplicate Candidate Records”

Supply Chain
Winner: General Dynamics – “Submarine Material Receipt Inspection”
Finalist: Johnson & Johnson – “Project Max Weber ‘From Push to Pull in Beerse’”
Finalist: Rockwell Collins Inc. – “Optimizing Material Availability with Lean Six Sigma”

Transactional
Winner: North Shore-LIJ Health System – “Increasing CT capacity in a Tertiary Hospital”
Finalist: Sutherland Global Services – “Reducing Loan Integrity Score Error Rate”
Finalist: VFS Global Services Private Limited – “To Reduce Biometric Override”

“iSixSigma congratulates all the finalists and winners, and is honored to recognize the hard work and effort these companies and individuals have invested to achieve breakthrough improvement,” Cyger said.