Available Workshops

The following example workshops are available at your location where you want them and when you want them. Any workshop can be fully customized to meet the needs of your employees.

POWER PDCA - a series over 4-6 months

Learn about a revolutionary new way to approach continuous improvement projects using the Plan, Do, Check, Act philosophy. Experience the use of positive speak, positive visioning to provide innovation rather than compliance. See how project management, quality management and change management come together to create a powerful alternative to Six Sigma’s regimented overkill. This series of workshops and coaching is designed especially for the client, and leaves a process behind that can change the way they do improvement projects.

• Continuous Improvement Planning Process
• Plan, Do, Check, Act
• Project Management
• Quality Management
• Change Management
• Appreciative Inquiry

SPC Made Easy - 2 days

This workshop is designed to provide participants with a basic understanding of Statistical Process Control and its different components. Learning materials will be used in conjunction with practical activities and examples. Prerequisites are basic mathematical skills and a willingness to learn. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs.

• introduction to statistical process control
• causes of variation
• organizing data
• attribute and variable data
• frequency distributions
• histograms
• center, spread and shape
• predicting variation
• normal distribution
• bell curve
• standard deviation
• process capability
• process performance
• capability ratios
• z value
• calculating proportion out of specification
• process capability studies
• variable control charts
• calculation of Xbar & R charts
• control charts vs process capability studies
• control chart analysis
• attribute control charts
• calculation of p chart
• pareto analysis
• identifying out of control conditions
• random patterns
• out of control examples
• trends and cycles

DOE Made Easy - 2 days

This workshop deals with the Taguchi method of Design of Experiments and is intended to familiarize the participants with one of the most popular and successful uses of practical statistical techniques in the workplace. At the end of this workshop, employees will be able to optimize processes quickly through simple experiments without the need of statistical software.  Train your employees and prepare for a DOE on your process at the same time - that's effective utilization of training time. Learning materials will be used in conjunction with practical activities and examples. Prerequisites are a basic understanding of the product or service. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs.

• introduction to Taguchi design of experiments
• philosophy of loss
• calculation of manufacturing limits
• loss functions summary
• loss as process capability
• types of experiments
• cause & effect analysis
• factors and interactions
• the experiment table
• orthogonal arrays
• linear graphs
• modifying a linear graph
• triangular tables
• full factorial vs fractional factorial
• graphical analysis
• ANOVA (analysis of variance)
• three level experiments

FMEA Made Easy - 2 days

This workshop is designed to provide the participants with an understanding of the Failure Mode and Effects (FMEA) tool using both design and process models. FMEA is normally used up front to brainstorm and organize potential issues in the design or process stages of a new product or service launch, but may also be used as a continuous improvement tool when the product or service is already being provided.  Not only can you learn about FMEA's but your employees can use your product or service data during the workshop. Train your employees and complete the work at the same time - what could be better. Learning materials will be used in conjunction with practical activities and examples. Prerequisites are basic mathematical skills and a willingness to learn. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs.

• what is failure mode and effects analysis
• history of FMEA
• Why use FMEA's
• When to use FMEA's
• FMEA's and ISO 9001
• FMEA core teams
• design FMEA's
• block diagrams
• process FMEA's
• process flow diagrams
• potential failure modes, effects, and causes
• severity, occurrence, and detection
• risk priority numbers (RPN)
• prioritizing actions

Problem Solving - 2 days

This workshop is designed to provide the participants with an understanding of the Problem Solving process using as a guide the continuous improvement philosophy of Plan, Do, Check and Act.  Problem solving provides the formal steps required for every successful corrective action program, and allows employees to correct the critical root cause instead of insignificant surface causes. Learning materials will be used in conjunction with practical activities and examples. Prerequisites are a willingness to learn and contribute. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs.

• introduction to problem solving
• problem solving as a continuous improvement process
• collecting data
• prioritizing data
• defining problems
• containing problems
• identifying root causes
• permanently correcting problems
• verifying effectiveness of corrective actions

8D Problem Solving - 1 day

This workshop is designed for employees on the run. Utilizing Ford Motor Company's 8 Discipline (8D) approach to problem solving, participants use a problem solving form and their own problem examples while practicing in a team environment. Great for when you want to jump-start your sleepy corrective action program and provide a problem solving boot camp for your company's employees. Use the short one day sessions to mass train your staff. Use the problem solving form as a start to your formal problem solving program. Learning materials will be used in conjunction with practical activities and examples. Prerequisites are a willingness to learn and contribute. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs.

• introduction to problem solving
• problem solving as a continuous improvement process
• collecting data
• prioritizing data
• defining problems
• containing problems
• identifying root causes
• permanently correcting problems
• verifying effectiveness of corrective actions

Internal Quality Audit - 3-5 days

This workshop is designed to provide the participants with an understanding of quality management system audits using as a guide the requirements of the international standards ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems) and ISO 19011 (Quality and Environmental Management System Auditing). Both the 3 day and the 5 day workshops use instruction along with participation in an actual internal audit providing participants with hands on experience and the organization with a completed audit. The 3 day session is for smaller organizations that have only several participants while the 5 day session is for medium to large organizations and a larger number of participants.  Learning materials will be used in conjunction with practical activities and examples. Prerequisites are a willingness to learn and contribute. This workshop can be customized to meet your needs.

• introduction to ISO 9001
• audit program preparation
• roles of the lead auditor; auditor
• audit schedule
• question checklist
• documentation review
• internal audit structure
• the opening meeting
• responsibilities of the auditor; auditee
• audit guides
• the physical audit
• sample selection
• minor and major nonconformances
• objective evidence
• observations
• audit summary
• the closing meeting
• corrective actions
• verification
• continuous improvement

Introduction to ISO 9001 - 1/2 day

This workshop is designed as an orientation for all employees from operations to management and can be used for a variety of reasons with different customizations. It can be used to help the senior management team reach consensus concerning implementation and therefore would add discussion abut potential costs, implementation strategies and time-frames. Or it could be used as an kickoff event for your employees showing the organization's intent to implement an ISO 9001 based quality management system and may include information about your organizations guiding policies, commitment and implementation plan. This orientation/workshop can be customized to meet your needs. The example below relates to the basic orientation subjects.

• what is ISO
• what is ISO 9001
• where ISO 9001 came from
• how does ISO 9001 work
• the process approach
• section 4. Quality Management System
• section 5. Management Responsibility
• section 6. Resource Management
• section 7. Product/Service Realization
• section 8. Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement
• introduction to quality management system audits