Advance Your Quality Expertise

Monday, MARCH 1
Looking Back, Looking Ahead: LSSC 2021

2:30 PM CST - 4:00 PM CST

Virtual Lounge Open

Connecting with your fellow ASQ LSSC attendees is important.  Take time to network through the LSSC Lounge starting 30 minutes prior to the first speaker each day and open throughout the day.  Consider it similar to an attendee café—bring your own coffee and use the virtual meeting room to connect with your fellow registrants.  At various times throughout the day, we will have on-demand speakers and special guests in the LSSC Lounge to answer your questions.  These are referenced in the event schedule and through LSSC event app notifications. Pop in at any time to get to know each other and enrich your conference participation!

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3:00 PM CST - 3:10 PM CST

Conference Welcome and 20th Anniversary Retrospective

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3:10 PM CST - 4:10 PM CST

Opening Keynote Speaker: The Future of Work: The 4 Shifts Your Organization Must Make…Now!

Keynote Speaker: Natalie Nixon
Description:“The best algorithms will still depend on humans asking a better question.” — Natalie Nixon
The future of work will require more than a familiarity with virtual reality, big data, artificial intelligence, and robotics.  It will require people with a heightened creative capacity.
In the 4th industrial revolution where cloud technology, automation and cryptocurrency are realities, boundaries between technology and humans have completely blurred. Now more than ever, the human quotient and the creativity are critical business assets.  In this session, Natalie Nixon offers provocative ways to embrace the future of work and outlines 4 shifts every organization must make to be nimble and adaptive.

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4:30 PM CST  - 5:30 PM CST

Celebrating 20 Years: Virtual Cocktails and Entertainment with Richard Preston

Virtual Emcee: Richard Preston
Description: Richard Preston "Vintage Magician" will be your host tonight featuring magic from his legendary 1960 Emmy Award winning TV special.

Tuesday, March 2
Data Mining and Visualization/Lean and Six Sigma Continuous Culture 

7:00 AM CST

Access open to Data Mining and Visualization/Continuous Culture On-Demand Sessions

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8:30 AM CST - 4:00 PM CST

Virtual Lounge Open

Connecting with your fellow ASQ LSSC attendees is important.  Take time to network through the LSSC Lounge starting 30 minutes prior to the first speaker each day and open throughout the day.   Consider it similar to an attendee café—bring your own coffee and use the virtual meeting room to connect with your fellow registrants.  At various times throughout the day, we will have on-demand speakers and special guests in the LSSC Lounge to answer your questions.  These are referenced in the event schedule and through LSSC event app notifications. Pop in at any time to get to know each other and enrich your conference participation!

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9:00 AM CST - 10:00 AM CST

Good to Go: Using Process Modeling for Rapid Innovation

Focus Area: Making the Most of Data Mining and Visualization
Speaker: Lars Maaseidvaag, PhD 
Description: How do you “pivot” with confidence? Risk has skyrocketed. Time is more critical than ever. There is little or no opportunity to run multiple iterations of pilots when you need to implement a new process. Process modeling using discrete event simulation can help you move forward with confidence. The future will continue to be unclear, but modeling can prepare you for all kinds of scenarios. By building virtual prototypes, project team members can explore innovative options which can be evaluated quickly and inexpensively.  Waste, bottlenecks, and other inefficiencies can be identified in the design phase, rather than finding problems after implementation.  Process parameters can be stress-tested and fine tuned before committing further resources and before ever reaching a customer.
See how it works. Join us to learn how a leading children's hospital and a major airline used process modeling to design safe processes to meet the operational challenges of COVID-19 and beyond.

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10:00 AM CST - 11:00 AM CST

I'm not Emotional...I'm a Quality Professional: Lean Emotional Intelligence for Leaders and Practitioners

Focus Area: Lean and Six Sigma in a Continuous Improvement Culture
Speaker: Richard F. Uphoff 
Description: While the Global Pandemic of 2019-2020 created unprecedented upheaval in economies, health systems, employment, workplace arrangements, technology and social relations, it reminded us that we all operate under the same human range of emotions. From fear to hope, relief to stress, joy to sadness, the opportunities for us to experience this range of emotions has merged even more as "work" and "life" have become closer than ever before. Quality professionals in general and leaders in particular must understand this shifting emotional landscape and how it can affect their teams, projects and organizations. The first step down this path of understanding is to examine one's own emotional landscape. Even though the concepts of Emotional Intelligence have been around for 25 years, the current global crisis has shed new light on the need to understand these ideas in new ways and how they impact the work of Quality in Lean organizations.

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11:00 AM CST - 12:00 PM CST

Meet the Speakers in the LSSC 2021 Virtual Lounge 

Throughout the conference, we will host dedicated times to meet the On-Demand speakers in the LSSC Lounge. Come in and connect!

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12:00 PM CST - 1:00 PM CST

Food for Thought: A Brown-Bag Learning Session with ASQE

Speakers: Erin Bauer and Brian Scarpace
Description: Join us now for Food for Thought: A Brown Bag Learning Session with ASQExcellence.  Bring your own lunch and learn more from Brian Scarpace and Erin Bauer--with live Q&A opportunities after the presentation.

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1:00 PM CST - 2:00 PM CST

New Look, Same Data

Focus Area: Making the Most of Data Mining and Visualization
Speakers:  Shrey J. Tarpara and Kashni Sharma, PMP
Description: In an era of 280-character Twitter posts from hundreds of news outlets to 15-second viral TikTok videos from celebrities, it is difficult not to drown in an information overload. It is essential to find a way to read past the initial headline and delve deeper into the data to ensure what you are reading is accurate so you can make an informed decision and opinion. Let us show you how to build upon current tools and techniques and apply innovative methods that will produce meaningful and sustainable results at any level of your organization and you, as an individual. We apply Lean Six Sigma and Agile practices to analytical methods to ensure rigorous data analysis and decision making.

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2:00 PM CST - 3:00 PM CST

Lean is not Magic, or is it?

Focus Area: Lean and Six Sigma in a Continuous Improvement Culture
Speakers:  Wendy Gomez  and Kam Gupta
Description: This presentation seeks to approach Lean from a different perspective. While the methodologies of Lean have been around for quite sometime within the realm of manufacturing, they have also evolved into healthcare, retail, logistics and distribution, services, government, and construction. Some detractors have even said that Lean is flawed and will fall by the wayside. The current pandemic, while unique, has for some strengthened this opinion. This presentation will examine the path of Lean in parallel with the artform of performance magic. While at first thought the subjects may appear disconnected, there are striking similarities, such as continuous improvement and error reduction. There are lessons to be learned for leaders to engage and re-energize Lean practices within their organization. As well as a call to action for what shape the future of Lean should take. 

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3:00 PM CST - 4:00 PM CST

Meet the Speakers in the LSSC 2021 Virtual Lounge

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4:30 PM CST - 5:30 PM CST

Tuesday Night Cocktail Capers and Entertainment 

Virtual Emcee: Richard Preston
Description: Richard Preston "Vintage Magician" demonstrating his mastery of mental magic and chicanery that will leave you bedazzled.

Tuesday, March 2: On-Demand Presentations

Focus Areas:

Making the Most of Data Mining and Visualization 
Sponsored by ABBYY 

Lean and Six Sigma in a Continuous Improvement Culture

  Sponsored by: San Diego San Diego State University - Global Compass 

** These On-Demand Presentations will be released on Tuesday, March 2

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Focus Area:  Making the Most of Data Mining and Visualization

A New Perspective on Model Visualization

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker:  Cheryl Pammer, MS
Description:  As the velocity, volume, and variety of data increase, many organizations find themselves drowning in data, yet starving for information. Six Sigma professionals have both the skills and the opportunity to bridge this information gap. As we add new analytical tools to our toolkit, we also need proven strategies to communicate results. In this session. I will use case studies based on my own experiences to demonstrate practical ways to pair advanced modeling techniques with modern visualizations so that we can communicate analytical results in more intuitive ways. Specifically, we will review how to apply machine learning techniques such as regression, logistic regression, decision trees, and clustering algorithms to mine observational process data. Then, we will use the model results to create unique visualizations that facilitate actionable insights. These visualization techniques, primarily based on model fitted values and predictions, will include binned scatterplots, parallel coordinates plots, dendrograms, bubble plots, 3D scatterplots, heat maps, and contour plots. We will discuss best practices related to visual art and design and then put these concepts into action by turning the results from statistical models into compelling visualizations that convey clear insights from the data and corresponding analytics. Finally, we will learn how to use visualizations to engage with executives, speak their language, and translate our data-driven insights into decisions and actions.
After this session, participants will have obtained:
• A review of machine learning techniques with specific applications of their value in mining observational process data.
• Proven techniques for pairing advanced analytics with modern easy-to-understand visualizations.
• Strategies for using model visualization to engage with executives and turn data-driven insights into decisions and actions.

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Data-Driven Insights with Monte Carlo Simulation

Presentation Level: Basic
Speaker: Charles Cox, MBA, Certified MBB 
Description: All Lean Six Sigma practitioners are familiar with the basics of process analysis and data collection. This presentation will show you an easy way to take your analysis to the next level of sophistication and be able to provide more clarity of results under varying conditions. Without a doubt, demand for using more simulation and accessing deeper insight with data is growing, but the question remains: how easy is it to do? My goal is to show that it is quite easy to do and very realistic. What I propose is a straightforward way to identify a process and calculate the process’ overall cycle time, and further, easily:
• Draw up the steps in the process showing their dependencies
• Use a technique to collect data/information
• Approximate the cycle times in each of the steps in the process
• Create a Monte Carlo simulation and run the simulation to get the total cycle time
• Learn to play with the variables to gain insight (“what if?”) • Use sensitivity analysis to determine where the greatest leverage is for improvement efforts.

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Keys to Success in Quickly Building a COVID Dashboard at Stamford Health

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speakers: Ritu Jain, Chad McLaughlin and Ami Dalal, MHA
Description: At the beginning of March, as the global pandemic was spreading like wildfire in one of the largest COVID hotspots in the US, it became apparent that we needed to quickly provide valuable data and insights to Stamford Health leaders and colleagues to manage and treat COVID patients. Our incredible Analytics & Innovation team worked with senior leaders, IS, and peers from across the organization to develop workflows and a comprehensive dashboard in record time. The dashboard not only included metrics about patients testing positive for COVID, but also metrics to track bed capacity, daily census, PPE, local growth rates, discharge metrics, demographic rates, oxygen usage, and employee health and screening. In addition, the dashboard included metrics for our National Guard task force that was deployed to help in the treatment and recovery of COVID patients. We were honored to receive a Military Commanders coin by the National Guard for this effort, making the dashboard award-winning (literally). Attendees will value learning from our experience as being a community hospital in the middle of a hot spot during the pandemic. Using Lean tools we were able to achieve greater speed in service to our patients/community (our customer). One of our customers were also the Joint Military Task Force as well as the State of CT Governor's Office, CT Hospital Association, and NHSN (National Healthcare Safety Network).

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Maximizing Insight from Data Mining and Analysis through Traceability

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker: Nathan R. Soderborg, PhD, CRE, CSSBB
Description:  Most organizations today strive to run their operations on data-based decisions. As trends in data growth continue and publicity regarding “big data” expands, software tools for data mining and AI get a lot of attention. However, these tools are only useful if data contain the characteristic, location, and timing information needed to effectively solve an organization’s most pressing problems. This kind of traceability is an essential ingredient of data quality. By proactively working to improve traceability in their organization’s data systems and experimental plans, Lean and Six Sigma professionals can greatly increase their ability to efficiently identify and solve quality problems. This presentation explains the importance of traceability in the age of big data and covers practical approaches to improving traceability in manufacturing and transactional organizations. Examples across multiple industries illustrate how better traceability leads to more meaningful insights over a range of applications, e.g., manufacturing process control, sampling and test plans, reliability and warranty analysis, and machine learning cases for root cause analysis.

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Implementing Changes that Stick – Sustain the Gain AND Continually Improve

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speakers: Pam Vecellio and Chris Bujak
Description:  Not enough continuous quality improvement efforts achieve targeted goals; even fewer continually exceed goals year after year. In this session participates will understand why some improvements do not stick long, what they can adopt to improve their skills, and practice some of the critical steps needed for effective, long-term, and sticky implementation of improvements. The 5-steps go beyond sustaining gains and into effective implementation and on-going team engagement, process ownership, measurement, and coaching. The 5 steps:
1. Create a reliable and standardized process.
2. Effectively teach the new process.
3. Define and operationalize measures and targets to track performance.
4. Create a feedback process to continually resolve problems and incrementally improve.
5. Coach performance. 

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Pairing Visualization Strategy and Australian Wine

Presentation Level: Basic
Speaker: Lisa Custer
Description: Big Data is everywhere. In an IBM study , 74% of respondents acknowledged their executives were developing an increasing appetite for data-driven insights. As quality practitioners, we’re naturally drawn to the analytical tools used to dig into Big Data sets. But what about the other side - what insights can be captured using visualization?
Visualization has the power to take vast quantities of information and communicate them as timely insights. It can help us both ask and answer better questions. While most of us are familiar with the very basics of rendering data visually, they are often not applied well. Frequently, when relying on built-in templates for convenience, we miss opportunities to discover and illustrate surprising results. With a greater command of the interplay between those elements, and of their effects on human perception, users can become much more persuasive in presenting their ideas.
Armed with a data set of reviews of Australian wines, attendees will be introduced to the fundamentals of visualization and learn how to structure insightful, communicative representations that drive relevant conversations. We will cover six of Jacques Bertin’s visual variables and touch on the principles of Gestalt while seeing them applied to real information. The session will explore the core areas of designing and telling efficient, factual stories while mentally roaming the Australian countryside.

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Problem Solving - Integrating Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) with Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)

Presentation Level: Advanced
Speaker: David Auda, ASQ CRE, CMQ/OE
Description: This presentation will introduce the concepts of Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) and Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) and show by demonstration the robustness and comprehensiveness of the integration of these approaches. Examples of the application to complex systems will be reviewed to allow the attendee to apply the methodology within their particular domain.

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Root Cause Analysis in a Data Desert

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Jennifer Munson
Description:  Often we are challenged with Kaizens that have little to no quantifiable data. So what do we do? We don't throw in the towel, we figure out how to "capture" the best information we can in which to make the best decisions we can. Bigger challenge is figuring out how to capture the data and then knowing what to do with the data. Depending on what type of data you are looking for will determine the "Macgyvering" you will have to do to get your data, but the path you take next is pretty straightforward. Understanding a few basic steps on how to use the "non-quantifiable" data will save you some headaches and sleepless nights. Determining the improvements is also pretty important to Kaizen success, but most importantly how you sell the analysis, results and controls to your stakeholder will be what makes or breaks your Kaizen.

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Supplier's Quality Management 4.0 - An Aerospace Industry Case

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speakers: Valerio L Araujo, Enner S. Duarte, Daniela Junqueira Benedini and Breno de Almeida Sa
Description:  The analytical part of Data Science (Operations Research / Management Science) has been around since WWII. These techniques were used for specialized problems, often needing specialized software tools, and were prohibitively expensive. Today, the computing power available to a quality professional makes these analytical tools more widely available. An example of this is Minitab incorporating neural networks and machine learning into their product. To the average Black Belt these analytical tools are unknown but can provide some valuable assistance as they interact with SME's, process workers, and performance improvement team members. This presentation will give a brief history of some of the Operations Research / Management Science techniques available. Secondly, the presentation will match these different tools to the various phases of DMAIC and provide some potential examples of their application. Finally, some of these techniques will be displayed as examples in MS Excel. In addition to the presentation slides, there will be a spreadsheet with some of these examples available to the attendees. A portion of this presentation was recently given as a webinar to a local ASQ section.

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Taking Decision Trees to the Next Level: Adding Uncertainty

Presentation Level: Advanced 
Speaker: Steve Kramer, Ph.D., MBB 
Description: We start with a brief review of decision trees: the formulation of the logic tree based on the problem. We then explain (review) the L to R analysis in computing EMV. We then show through an example how this approach is applied: the case study is based on a paper the author published previously on decision-making under conditions of complex demand and market risks in the context of a healthcare resource capacity decision for a large urban hospital. The case considered is time-sensitive in that a cardiac unit was considering expansion based on expected demand if deregulation occurred in cardiac services within that state. Decisions had to be made in the near term for capacity to be in place if deregulation happened at an unknown point in time. There are many factors at stake: demand for open-heart surgery, hospital market share, etc. Investing too soon will result in over-capacity, while delaying too long could mean that the hospital could not meet market demand. We show the model with and without the Monte Carlo-applied distributions to convey the difference in insights from the approaches.

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Voice of the Customer: Replacing the Weakest Link in LSS with your Pride and Joy

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Tony Belilovskiy
Description: Leaders want to design, deliver and measure excellent customer experience, products and service.  But ask any ten employees (a) what “service” means, (b) who “the customer” is, (c) what their top priorities are and (d) what repeatable method is used to get those answers.  When consensus is illusive, so is success. Guidelines on how to get that Voice of the Customer (VOC) data and use it to improve and augment LSS change initiatives are elusive. Surveys, quality function deployment (QFD), the Kano model, ISO 9000, Six Sigma and others have been increasingly relied upon to capture the voice of the customer (VOC). NONE answer key questions with the simplicity every practitioner needs. The firm well-versed in both ISO and LSS that lost a $400 billion contract, referenced in this presentation, is what can go wrong.  We contrast that with examples of how to do it right. This interactive session provides the method with humor and simplicity. It goes beyond hearing the “voice of the customer” to reading their minds, touching their hearts and implementing change in your continuous improvement efforts. Results illustrate best-in-class performance and satisfaction you can achieve, too.

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Voice of the Customer and Lean Six Sigma Powerhouse

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speakers: Tony Belilovskiy, Brad Hollingsworth and Rob Lawton
Description: Combining Voice of the Customer and Lean Six Sigma into one webinar is the most powerful accelerator for enhancing your organization forward, clearly defining and integrating VOC, Lean, DMAIC and Design for Six Sigma, and achieving a high-performance culture.  Most executives and change leaders emphasize that customer experience and excellent service are top priorities and keys to success. This session is all about how to achieve those goals with speed and simplicity. The answers combine unconventional thinking with Lean Six Sigma to achieve outstanding results well beyond the norm.  The magnitude of the challenge becomes clear when you ask any ten employees (a) what “service” means, (b) who “the customer” is, or (c) what customers’ top priorities are.  How can we have evidence-based enterprise direction when we aren’t clear who to get the evidence from, what to ask, and what to do with what they tell us?  We can fix this by using a new paradigm and pragmatic method for achieving unambiguous agreement on the answers to these essential questions. Your goals for understanding, measuring, and satisfying customers are suddenly simplified and magic happens. If you are impatient for transformative results and are an executive, change agent, product development manager, project leader, innovation leader, process improvement leader, or aspiring Lean Six Sigma practitioner, this jargon-free session is for you.  

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Focus Area:  Lean and Six Sigma in a Continuous Improvement Culture

Can't We All Just Get Along Here? - Team Dynamics

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: Dave Harry, MSc, PMP®, CSSBB, LBC, CSM® – Black Belt Trainer
Description: Have you ever found yourself as a leader asking "Can’t We All Just Get Along Here?" Why do so many Lean and Six Sigma projects eventually stall or fail all together? Is it the tools or the soft skills"? It is because of the Team Dynamics. Lean is a known “Team Sport” and all team members need to get along. But what if your teams just don’t get along? What is the secret that team leaders and team members can use to recognize a dysfunctional team? If they recognize the team is dysfunctional, what can they do about it? Yelling “Can’t we all just get along here” is not enough. Recognizing dysfunctional is the first step. What is Tuckman’s model for group performance? The speaker will share how to recognize when groups or teams are not performing and share a case study with the participants and ask what they would do. What happens in the "Forming" Stage? What happens in the "Storming" Stage? What happens in the "Norming" Stage? What happens in the "Performing" Stage? Lastly, why is it so important to have an "Adjourning" Stage? Leaders need to recognize the natural stages of team development and when the team is not progressing rapidly to a high performing team, what actions can the leader take to prevent team failure and chaos. It is so very important to grasp the underlying causes of team non-performance and apply the correct countermeasures to achieve team performance. 

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Changing the Blame Game: Getting to the Root of Human Error

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker: Peg Pennington 
Description: Is Continuous Improvement a production system or management system in your organization? Many organizations offer training to define the vision for a Continuous Improvement culture, but don’t build the necessary infrastructure to feed and grow that vision. PMOs and Operational Excellence teams are not sufficient. Leaders have to create the expectation that each employee is responsible for uncovering problems and contributing to solving them. It has to be “safe” to look for operational vulnerabilities and talk about problems. Join this session for a discussion about how to analyze and categorize the types of human error in order to identify the deeper root causes.  Attendees will leave with a call to action to elevate Root Cause Analysis from a tool to a management system that nurtures a Lean culture of problem solving.

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Continuous Improvement Culture the Arizona Way through the Arizona Management System

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speakers: Travis Done and Sarah Pirzada
Description: We’ve all heard it before: Government should run like a business. We’ve all read the books and heard the lectures, but the question remains: how do you actually implement a business enterprise strategy in government? Answer: The Arizona Way. The Arizona Management System is a proven method of taking strategy and turning it into results. Through the consistent deployment of Lean management principles, practices, and cultural artifacts, AMS ensures that the important work Arizona citizens and customers depend on is carried out at the speed of business. This session will report out on the history of AMS, how it evolved into an enterprise system, and how it is used today. Attendants will understand the system from end-to-end: beginning with annual strategic planning, continuing into operational execution, and coming back to performance tracking that ensures critical targets are met. Most importantly, you will understand how to take all of these elements and turn them into an enterprise culture. If you have wondered how to build a culture of excellence, this session is for you. 

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Continuous Improvement: Change in Complex Healthcare Systems

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: James Doyle
Description: How can organizations bring the Process-work (Six Sigma) and People-work (Psychology of Change) together? Structured Dialog is a way to integrate multiple perspectives found in complex systems. The end result of this organizational wide dialog relates to alignment; getting everyone on the same page creates the framework for continuous strategic improvement. The basic design of strategic structured dialog begins with a common lexicon around change methodologies. Next, structure the dialog around the change methodologies related to Process-Work and People-Work. Then, simply ask questions, listen to the answers from different perspectives, and search for alignment. This session presentation brings together Six Sigma and Psychology of Change theories into a real world example of dramatic change in an organization’s culture.

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Continuous Lean: A 360 Degree Approach to Integrate Design, Manufacturing and Supply Chain

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: Russ Snyder, PE and Krista Duke 
Description: Continuous Lean is a concept that brings together Product Development teams with the High Volume Manufacturing and Supply Chain teams under Lean Principles. Systematically set up a team to evaluate each new thing coming to specifically look for optimizations that could be learned from messiness of previous generations. Continuous Lean deploys our knowledge to seek opportunities outside the traditional "factory box", and looks upstream at product concept and design as well as downstream to supply chain and customer. Applying Continuous Lean forces a look at the overall system and invites product design changes, supply chain changes and packaging changes for the benefit of the whole.

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Developing Continuous Improvement Culture in a Federal Government Environment

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker: Marti Roper and Torsten Timm, MBA, CSSBB, CGFM, PMP, CMC  
Description: This presentation will feature a unique, federal-government-specific examination of keys to developing enduring continuous improvement (CI) culture. Specifically, we will share some recent projects that implemented Lean principles within federal Veterans' organizations.. Opportunities to improve in the federal space are plentiful as CI culture is often not heavily prioritized, and it is up to talented leaders with the right vision to take advantage of CI opportunities and drive change. We will explore some of the Continuous Improvement-related challenges that occur frequently in federal organizations, including: lack of data and metrics, and measurable goals, a reactionary approach to management, CI getting overwhelmed by "just keeping our heads above water", an inflexible workforce, and lack of capability-building/training. This presentation will also communicate lessons learned and best practices that have made the biggest differences in overcoming these obstacles and achieving lasting impact..maceutical GMP Professional.

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Digital Disruption! an Enabler for Virtual Gemba Walk of a Microbiology Laboratory

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: Katja Lehmann, PhD, SSBB, LMBB
Description: In the clinical laboratory, consolidation, shrinking budgets, a dwindling workforce and increased workload threaten long-term stability and ability to provide high quality, accessible services. Healthcare consulting can help achieve laboratories goals by reviewing current processes and recommending Lean workflow solutions to meet the individual laboratories unique needs and challenges. Due to the COVID-19 pandemics travel and access restriction, new and innovative technologies were explored to collect laboratory insights, standardized data analysis and interaction with customers. A 3D camera was used to generate a virtual Gemba walk, supporting data and workflow videos were collected. A virtual workflow analysis was performed, a discrete simulation software used to simulate the laboratory’s workflow and the statistical analysis of the data. The results of the data analysis resides in a data lake, enabling the team to segment and benchmark customers KPI performances against each other. The virtual Gemba leads to a stronger collaboration with the customer fostering team work to uncover wastes, brainstorm root cause and countermeasures and develop improvement recommendations.

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Digital Transformation for Lean Six Sigma Training

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speakers: Maria Barbosa and Marcelo Fernandes
Description: The focus of this presentation is to share a road map for a "Digital Transformation for Lean Six Sigma Training". A clear sequence of steps to help organizations to break the paradigm that a Lean Six Sigma training must be an in-person experience. Any digital model has advantages like scalability and reduced cost, but the main reason to consider going digital on Lean Six Sigma is the quality of the learning experience itself. Belts can have a significantly better internalization process in a digital environment, specially if this experience contains elements of Problem Based Learning (PBL), Gamification and Blended Learning. This real case study presents a true digital transformation on a Lean Six Sigma Program that happened from Mar/20 to Jun/20, with initial resistance from stakeholders but now with full enthusiastic support from leadership and satisfaction rate above 9.5 (1 to 10 scale).

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Go to the Virtual Gemba!  Leading and Facilitating Process Improvement Events in a Virtual World

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speakers: Travis Lozier, MBA, MBB, PMP, CSM, CBPP and Jan Johnson
Description: In 2020 COVID-19 disrupted everything. This disruption caused organizations and professionals to learn new skills as we quickly worked to adapt and adopt to working in a virtual world. Learning new ways to facilitate and lead process improvement teams in a virtual world was initially a challenge but we have learned some best practices for how to effectively and in some ways more efficiently help teams drive process improvements in a virtual world. This session will focus on learning more about these best practices and will better equip the audience for leading virtual process improvement projects.

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Improvement KATA in Software Development

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speakers: Michael A. Crossen, CQE, CQA, CMQ/OE and Ravindra Mahangare
Description: Improvement KATA in Software Development People who work in engineering and technical disciplines tend to be problem solvers. However, without a proper discipline around solving problems we will get stuck in a never-ending loop of trial and error with little progress and little learning. At Rockwell Automation we have found that the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach makes available such a discipline and using the Toyota Kata method for improvement and coaching provides the right framework, structure and environment for developing these skills. This session will provide attendees an example of Software Development program using KATA approach on a daily basis to achieve results for the customers. It started with a book discussion on KATA approach for Agile Product Development and how the team initiated KATA boards, scheduled daily meetings for improvement, weekly coaching and established regular cadence for target conditions and challenges that fit the Lean-Agile environment. This session will be targeted for those working in product development who are considering alternate methods for improvement, but also anyone else interested in alternate applications of KATA approach.

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Improving Patient Flow in Acute Care Hospitals

Presentation Level: Advanced 
Speaker: Anurag Pandey
Description: One of the major criticisms of Lean Six Sigma efforts is that despite localized improvement "projects" in healthcare settings, the system metrics don't really move. This presentation will provide a practical way to connect Lean Six Sigma efforts to system transformation. The presentation will outline learning from past failures that led to the approach outlined in the presentation which finally led to success. The audience might be interested in this approach especially in the days of COVID-19, with increased focus on capacity in healthcare systems.

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Kaizen Success and Cultural Change 

Presentation Level: Advanced 
Speaker: Paola Torres, MPA 
Description: Visual controls are required for the effective management and distribution of work. Transactional processes that are automated and lack effective visual controls, create operational inefficiencies and backlogs that are often not visible to management. This presentation provides an overview of the application of key Six Sigma and Lean concepts to the optimization of digital or automated processes. Strategies to reengineer workflows using existing technology will be outlined.

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Lean Tools Equip Operations Leaders for Crisis Management

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: Brooke Holmes, MBA
Description: Simple lean tools can make the difference between a business area successfully weathering a crisis or drowning in unexpected work volumes and risk. This presentation discusses how to use lean tools to effectively prepare for a crisis and to enable data driven decision making while in the middle of a crisis. See how this works in practice through a case study from a financial services firm as it navigated record work volumes triggered by stock market volatility amidst the global pandemic.

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Learning to See the Hidden Problems in your Gemba

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Sam Yankelevitch 
Description: Although many practitioners continue to refer to the gemba as the shop floor, today's gemba has outgrown the four walls and is much bigger often extending into supply chains. In today's gemba, communication, culture and distance can become contributing factors that directly impact our processes. This presentation will highlight how to "see" these hidden sources of waste, how to include them in your continuous improvement strategy and how to adapt countermeasures that can help prevent these "invisible" sources from impacting your results. Case studies will help illustrate the application in both local and global situations.

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Process Improvement in a Hospital Setting Utilizing Lean and Six Sigma within a DMAIC Format

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: Sharon Croteau, LSSMBB-c
Description: Follow the journey of one hospital as it rejuvenates and sustains its System Redesign Program. From failing performance measures and a low Return on Investment to excelling in performance and improving the financial bottom line. The Lean and Six Sigma curricula are not sought after by many staff and have become a performance requirement for Department chairs at the facility. From Leadership's role to learning the voice of the customer, this healthcare facility has grown through all the challenges thrown at it for the past year, including the Corona Virus.

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wednesday, MARCH 3
Lean and six sigma in project management / The Quality Trinity

7:00 AM CST

Access open to Lean and Six Sigma in Project Management/The Quality Trinity On-Demand Sessions

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8:30 AM CST - 4:00 PM CST 

Virtual Lounge Open

Connecting with your fellow ASQ LSSC attendees is important.  Take time to network through the LSSC Lounge starting 30 minutes prior to the first speaker each day and open throughout the day.   Consider it similar to an attendee café—bring your own coffee and use the virtual meeting room to connect with your fellow registrants.  At various times throughout the day, we will have on-demand speakers and special guests in the LSSC Lounge to answer your questions.  These are referenced in the event schedule and through LSSC event app notifications. Pop in at any time to get to know each other and enrich your conference participation!

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9:00 AM CST - 10:00 AM CST 

Optimizing Overall Equipment Effectiveness of Capital Medical Assets

Focus Area:  Lean and Six Sigma in a Continuous Improvement Culture 
Speaker: Javed Cheema, Fellow ASQ, CMQ/OE, CQE, CSSBB, CQA 
Description: This presentation will feature a unique, federal-government-specific examination of keys to developing enduring continuous improvement culture. Specifically, we will share some recent projects that implemented Lean principles within federal Veterans' organizations. These organizations are composed of a highly mission-oriented workforce with a clear desire to deliver the best in health care and benefits to the Veteran population, and are subject to federal government-wide policies which tend to drive similar, and in many ways, suboptimal processes and practices. Opportunities to improve are plentiful as CI culture is not often prioritized, and it is up to talented leaders with the right vision to take advantage of CI opportunities and drive change.

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10:00 AM CST - 11:00 AM CST 

Successfully Navigate the Winding Road of Weibull Analysis

Focus Area:  Using Lean and Six Sigma to Manage Quality as a Project
Speaker: Scott C. Sterbenz
Description:  The Weibull distribution has many applications in problem solving, especially when the practitioner wishes to examine life data or reliability. Performing the analysis correctly and comprehensively is paramount to properly assess failure mode characteristics, evaluate design or process improvements, and develop efficient test plans. This presentation covers life data analysis from start to finish—including how to make sure the Weibull distribution is proper for the analysis, how to determine what type of failure mode is present, how to evaluate potential design or process improvements, and how to develop an efficient evaluation plan for new designs and processes. No longer will the winding road of Weibull analysis be difficult to navigate.

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11:00 AM CST - 12:00 PM CST 

Meet the Sponsors in the LSSC 2021 Virtual Lounge

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12:00 PM CST - 1:00 PM CST

Meet the Speakers in the LSSC 2021 Virtual Lounge

Throughout the conference, we will host dedicated times to meet the speakers in the LSSC Lounge. Come in and connect!

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1:00 PM CST - 2:00 PM CST 

Infusing Data Science into DMAIC

Focus Area:  The Quality Trinity: Lean, Six Sigma, and Quality 4.0
Speaker: Scott Rutherford
Description:  Operations Research / Management Science techniques, now included as part of the Data Science field, has been a field of study since WWII. Some AI techniques, neural networks, expert systems (heuristic programming) began life here. When first introduced as tools, they required a lot of time, computing power, and digging into data that even 30 years ago it was not practical to use these techniques widely. Given that 1980's computing power has been eclipsed by current hardware platforms, these techniques are now more available and are applicable with the tougher problems that we face currently. This presentation will give a brief history of some of the Operations Research / Management Science techniques available. Secondly, the presentation will match these different tools to the various phases of DMAIC and provide some potential examples of their application. Finally, some of these techniques will be displayed as examples in MS Excel. In addition to the presentation slides, there will be a spreadsheet with some of these examples available to the attendees.

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2:00 PM CST - 3:00 PM CST 

Driving Quality Culture Change with DMAIC - Defect isn't a Dirty Word

Focus Area:  Using Lean and Six Sigma to Manage Quality as a Project
Speaker: Paula Evans
Description:  In this presentation we’ll discuss how my organization used a DMAIC project to drive a culture of quality and an openness to acknowledge and collect data around defects so that the organization can easily identify where opportunities for improvement exist. The presentation will go over how the project was made possible by creating a sophisticated data-collection tool. It will cover key steps to gain buy-in, discuss how powerful Voice Of the Customer sessions can be, and will present project results. We will explore how we automated data analysis for management and common pitfalls that can be made when trying to use lean six sigma to make significant culture change and how we avoided them to get real buy-in from staff.
Learning Objectives:

How to prepare for a Lean Six Sigma project focused on a quality process

How to address culture change when it's tied to project success

How to navigate a project through immense change

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3:00 PM CST - 4:00 PM CST

Closing Keynote: The Algorithmic Leader  

Speaker: Mike Walsh
Description: We live in an age of wonder – cars that drive themselves, platforms that anticipate our needs, and robots capable of everything from advanced manufacturing to complex surgery. Automation, algorithms and AI are transforming not only business, but every facet of daily life. While many fear that robots will take their jobs, the rise of machine intelligence begs a more important question: what is the true potential of human intelligence in the 21st century? 
In this inspiring keynote, Mike Walsh, futurist and author of ‘The Dictionary Of Dangerous Ideas’ will present a vivid portrait of a brave new world orchestrated by machines that think, and how tomorrow’s leaders can upgrade their capabilities to survive and thrive in an age of accelerating technology. 
Audiences will walk away with an insight into the companies, technologies and global forces shaping the age of machine intelligence, as well as a set of tailored next actions on how to redesign their organizations, reimagine their roles and reinvent the way they make decisions. 

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4:30 PM CST - 5:30 PM CST 

Closing Night Cocktail Capers and Entertainment

Virtual Emcee: Richard Preston
Description: Richard Preston "Vintage Magician" will close out the convention with his greatest illusions including the Death Saw of Doom. This illusion was originally in "Ocean's 11" but had to be cut. However Richard was nominated for an Oscar for the best performance "cut from a movie" with this illusion. A MUST SEE.

wednesday, March 3: On-Demand Presentations

Focus Areas:

The Quality Trinity: Lean, Six Sigma, and Quality 4.0

Using Lean and Six Sigma to Manage Quality as a Project

** These On-Demand Presentations will be released on Wednesday, March 3.

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Focus Area:  The Quality Trinity: Lean, Six Sigma, and Quality 4.0

A New Problem Solving Strategy for Quality 4.0

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speakers: Carlos Escobar, PhD and Daniela Macias, MSc
Description: Manufacturing companies can competitively position themselves amongst the most advanced and influential companies by successfully implementing Quality 4.0 practices. The hype surrounding big data and artificial intelligence have influenced many quality leaders to act on implementing a Quality 4.0 initiative. However, according to recent surveys, most of them do not have a clear vision about how to create value out of these disruptive technologies. This situation is reflected on the success rate, since 80-87% of the data science projects never develop a sustainable solution. In this presentation, Process Monitoring for Quality–a Quality 4.0 initiative–is reviewed. To cope with its implementation challenges, a novel 7-step problem solving strategy that evolved from six sigma DMAIC is introduced. The proposed problem-solving strategy increases the likelihood of success of the Quality 4.0 initiative.

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Customer Experience, Data & Digital Transformation

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker: Sheila Shaffie
Description: TAI, Machine Learning, Data analytics has gained full momentum and technology is changing faster than ever. It is not always clear to organizations how to leverage their Lean Six Sigma or even Agile teams to initiate and support these large scale transformation initiatives. The objectives of this presentation are two fold: discuss some key industry trends as it relates to AI/Machine Learning/Data Analytics and take attendees through a company's journey as they embraced these emerging technologies to improve Client Experience. The objective of this presentation is to outline the critical interdependency of a Digital Transformation strategy and the Customer Experience (CX). CX is a key differentiator for most brands. And with shifting customer expectations, Digital Transformation and its enablers like Robotic Process Automation, AI, and Workflow allow for the re-imagination of a new experience. To develop a transformation strategy without the lens of CX will prove to be a costly and suboptimal endeavor. 

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How to Compete with Low Quality and Counterfeit Products in the Post Pandemic Online Shopping Era

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker: Russ Snyder, Mike Knapp and Hemal Shah
Description: The timeliness of a Mega-trend shift to on-line shopping, forces us to address the substandard Quality segment that hasn't been managed by on-line retailers and threatens to tarnish Brand Names and financially damage US corporations. In this presentation Russ Snyder will focus on Lean and Quality strategies to stay cost effective to compete with the substandard Quality segment in Low Cost Geo markets and manufacturers who provide those products. 

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Lean and Six Sigma in New Business Models

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Willy W. Vandenbrande, MEng, CSSBB
Description:  There is an important focus on incorporating new digital methods into problem solving approaches. In the case of Six Sigma, a methodology that is by definition heavily data driven, there is a huge interest in the new possibilities of data analysis that become available. This is valuable work but we should never forget that quality tools are means to an end. That end is to create a sustainable business by having customers engage with you on the basis of a mutually beneficial value proposition. We see, apart from technological developments, also fundamental shifts in what customers find valuable and in the business models through which this value is offered to them. In this presentation we focus on these changes in the outside environment and their influence on quality and quality tools, specifically on Lean and Six Sigma. We will show how important this is to quality and to the quality professional. The way we respond to these changes goes beyond technology and will, to a large extend, determine how relevant our contribution will be to the success of our organizations.

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Managing the  Cost of Quality for Quality 4.0 Using Software, Systems, and Data Quality Models

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Daniel J. Zrymiak, ASQ Fellow, CSSBB, PMP
Description: A Cost of Quality (CoQ) approach, already customized for software and information technology, can be applied toward the deployment and implementation of Quality 4.0 in an organization. Existing models and quality characteristics used for software, systems, and data quality can be leveraged to identify cost categories and support the creation of a Cost of Quality System for Quality 4.0. The CoQ approach has already been applied and proven for software: the presentation will impart examples for external failure, internal failure, appraisal, and preventive costs pertinent to automated services, software, and information technology. Quality 4.0 incorporates innovations including additive manufacturing, mobile computing, digital manufacturing, cloud computing, and blockchain. Deploying Quality 4.0 follows methodologies for CoQ tracking through the phases of analysis, qualification, development, deployment, and maintenance. Quality characteristics were used to estimate potential costs and associated safeguards and countermeasures. By tracking and mitigating failures associated with software and data quality models, returns were optimized.
Practical Takeaways:

Attendees will have actual examples of cost-tracking mechanisms used in successful Quality 4.0 deployments for digitizing quality processes and methods.

Attendees will understand the basis for optimizing Quality Costs in both Predictive and Agile projects by integrating Preventive and Appraisal activities throughout all stages of project planning and delivery.

Attendees will become familiar with the specific quality characteristics pertinent to software, systems, and data QA as outlined in ISO 25010 (Systems and Software QA) and ISO 25012 (Data Quality).

Attendees will be refreshed on the application of core Cost of Quality methods and practices, applied to software and technology solutions to track external and internal failure costs; along with applicable Preventive and Appraisal costs.

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Planning the Abandonment of Six Sigma - Shifting the Legacy

Presentation Level: Advanced
Speaker: Gregory H. Watson, PhD EUR Ing
Description: The findings of the three-year study by the IAQ Continual Improvement Think Tank has not been publicly reported and the Quality 4.0 movement has been accelerating since the study was completed in 2017. Exposing the Lean and Six Sigma community to this study is an essential step forward in the dissemination of these research findings and the proposed rejuvenation of the concept of Continual Improvement based on the study of weaknesses and vulnerabilities contained in the historical approach to Lean and Six Sigma that was based on an "analog mindset" which is no longer valid. This presentation will challenge the thinking of the community as an out-of-the-box innovation has resulted in a total reconstruction of the Continual Improvement Process so it can be adapted to the digital world and facilitated by expert technical facilitators. This study represents a major advancement in the development of an integrated infrastructure for improvement thinking and acting. Our community needs to be aware of the weaknesses in its tradition as well as the opportunities to transition to an improved future state.

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Preparing for AI with Lessons from Your Gage R&R Past

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Christopher Colaw
Description:  AI maturity depends on detection and classification capabilities, as well as an adequate source of training data, in addition to minimized hardware variation (visual cameras and lighting hardware). This presentation will begin by defining the AI for Inspection approach, introduction to key topics in the data science engineering body of knowledge, and a focus on variation reduction techniques for both the AI algorithm and the hardware systems that will be used to deploy them.

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Focus Area: 

Using Lean and Six Sigma to Manage Quality as a Project

Achieving a Successful Six Sigma Implementation in Higher Education

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Martha Ramírez-Valdivia, PhD
Description : The growing demand for accountability and continuous improvement in Higher Education has lead to the implementation of Six Sigma. Traditional focus on accreditation and quality assurance is being enhanced with the DMAIC approach to address continuous improvement projects. While it might appear simple to implement, the difficult part is how to make it a key component of a skeptical-by-nature culture, constituted mainly by faculty and students rooted to long-standing established quality practices. In this presentation, we will outline the stages followed to achieve an effective cultural change, including guidance, communication approaches, training, obstacles overcome, assessment, and problem-solving skills used to assist the implementation effort. After attending this session, you should be able to understand the steps of the DMAIC methodology, identify the major hurdles during implementation, and describe the main benefits of applying Six Sigma to Higher Education. 

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AI: Vendor Contract Matrices Enabling Global Procurement

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speakers: Daniel J. Zrymiak, ASQ Fellow, CSSBB, PMP
Description: This presentation offers a good example of a Six Sigma project that applies multiple principles of Lean, in conjunction with artificial intelligence, to address how procurement transactions can be enhanced with contract details in order to achieve cost savings, predictability, and improved quality. This is an additional demonstration of the effective Six Sigma framework for problem diagnosis, identification, improvement, and resolution. The application of artificial intelligence is pertinent for the Quality 4.0 content, and offers relevant content that will interest attendees. It represents a progression from "analog" solutions, as it incorporates current applications and technical capabilities.

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Combining Lean and Six Sigma with Project Management in the Healthcare Laboratory

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speakers:  Katie L. Castree, MHA, ASQ CSSBB
Description: As stated in one of the conference focus areas, supplementing Lean and Six Sigma with best practices in Project Management can multiply the benefits and results achieved by these principles and tools alone. In addition to utilizing good Project Management skills within an individual initiative, Project Management methodologies can also be applied to structure the overall continuous improvement efforts of an organization or department. Project Management concepts should be a key component of planning and conducting an assessment of opportunities, prioritizing initiatives, implementing changes, and monitoring sustainment of improvement. The session will begin with a brief overview of Project Management. Then through the unique lens of the healthcare laboratory as an example perspective, this session will review application in these areas and translate it to increasing value across a diverse and global audience of all industries. Three key tools that participants will be able to identify and apply are the Effort Vs. Impact Matrix for prioritizing initiatives; the Improvement Plan to establish tasks, sub-tasks, owners, and timelines; and the Control Plan to sustain project gains.

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Development and Lessons Learned: LSS/DFSS Enabled Organizational Metrics in US Army Laboratory

Presentation Level: Basic 
Speaker: Colin Wasiloff, D. Engr., MBB, DFSSBB
Description: Most executives, change leaders, and LSS practitioners emphasize that customer satisfaction and excellent service are top priorities and keys to success. Yet guidelines on how to get that Voice of the Customer (VOC) data and use it to improve and augment LSS change initiatives are elusive. This session is all about how to achieve those goals with speed and simplicity. The answers use unconventional thinking to achieve outstanding results. The magnitude of the challenge becomes clear when you ask any ten employees (a) what “service” means, (b) who “the customer” is, or (c) what customers’ top priorities are. Leaders are often surprised that consensus is elusive, meaning success will be, too. How can we have evidence-based enterprise direction when we aren’t clear who to get the evidence from or what to ask? We can fix this by using a new paradigm and pragmatic method for achieving unambiguous agreement on the answers to these essential questions. Your goals for understanding, measuring, and satisfying customers are suddenly simplified. Tools such as surveys, quality function deployment (QFD), the Kano model, ISO 9000, LSS, and others have attempted to capture the voice of the customer (VOC). While they have all made contributions, NONE answers key questions every practitioner must answer. This session provides those answers. You will be equipped to go beyond traditional approaches that rely on surveys, reactive problem-solving, and Industrial Age methods. Once we understand what customers want, it is often assumed delivery will be straightforward, customer experience advances, and competitiveness will improve. Rarely is that the case. Success is dependent on seamlessly aligning the customer priorities across the relevant functional silos within the enterprise. The methodology you will learn shows how to do this with speed and simplicity while building employee engagement. One example that illustrates what is possible: One organization learned and applied what its customers wanted most. It deployed the new knowledge across several functional groups, creating a common mission and method of execution. Results included jumping from a rank of 25th to 3rd of fifty competitors in performance and satisfaction in 18 months, simultaneously winning top Baldrige Award honors and saving $20 million. The tidal wave of customer kudos felt good, too. Many practitioners like you have gotten similar results. The advanced, easy-to-apply concepts you will use are particularly well suited to knowledge work. That’s because these principals were specifically developed for knowledge-intensive organizations, not manufacturing. But many industries now use it, confirming many users’ conclusion that any organization can become a model of customer-centered excellence. The methodology presented combines both rigor and simplicity for a repeatable method accessible to all practitioners, no matter what their role in the enterprise. Humor is used throughout, making an otherwise dry and technical topic fun, personally relevant, and memorable.

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Getting all things Perfect the First Time – Methods to Improve "Things gone Wrong"

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speakers: Chris Bujak and Pam Vecellio
Description: High performing improvement organizations are fundamentally focused on affirmatively adding value to customers and eliminating waste in everything they do. One of the significant wastes in many organizations, either looking at it from a rolled yield or complete cost perspective is that of defects (not perfect 1st time complete and correct or simply “things gone wrong”). The Quality/Lean/Six Sigma practitioners often find themselves addressing this type of opportunity. Fortunately there are a number of powerful methods that can give better insight into the problem, generate better solutions (and even provide knowledge based potential solutions when faced with a particular problem) so that this waste and it's cost are significantly reduced. It is important for the practitioner to realize what the methods are, when to target their application, the method’s basic approach and the size of benefit that can be achieved. This presentation will explain and position several of the methods that help add value and reduce defects.  

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Integrating DMADV Methodology to develop a dashboard activities tracker for a QC Laboratory

Presentation Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Eira M. Baez-Ortiz, MMC
Description: This project focused on integrating structured strategic quality management techniques to improve operational results.  DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify) is the selected methodology for the project development.  Designing a tracking tool to increase visibility of testing processing at a QC Laboratory undergoing a growing & transfer process phase is the goal. A Dashboard display was selected as the future tracking tool format for the QC Lab activities.  The benefits of the dashboard implementation showed the activities and workload from the QC Lab Operations, improved resources utilization in the terms of personnel, equipment and expanded communication between functional areas.

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License to Improve: Introducing Lean and Problem Solving Via a Process Simulation Exercise

Presentation Level: Basic
Speaker: Emilie Steinhoff, PhD
Description: “We don’t manufacture anything so Lean/Six Sigma/etc. won’t work here” is a common response to introducing continuous improvement systems in a knowledge work or transactional environment. Simulations to introduce continuous improvement principles don't always resonate with the audience or provide a clear link to other concepts  and can be difficult to adapt to a virtual environment. This session walks through a simulation for an application approval process to introduce continuous improvement and problem solving concepts in a knowledge work environment and overcome those objections to achieve seemingly impossible goals. The simulation links metrics, visual management, process mapping, PDCA, the 8 wastes, and value vs. non-value added, to improving a realistic process. How to adapt the simulation to other fields and run in a remote/virtual or physical environment will also be covered.

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Modifying an Electronic Medical Records System to Increase Patient Referrals to Cardiac Rehabilitation

Presentation Level: Basic
Speaker: Scott Warren, MA, CSSBB, CPHQ, PMP and Javier Lopez
Description: Our teams have learned some valuable lessons in our application of DMAIC to optimize process performance and quality within our regulatory environment. This session will share these insights and best practices for pursuing continuous process improvement in complex and cross-functional regulatory and oversight organizations.

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On the Road to Achieving Simplicity

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker:  Nancy Collazo-Braier, PhD
Description: This presentation will demonstrate how to achieve cycle time reduction by utilizing Lean/Six Sigma principles combined with Smart Factory Technologies. Combing these tools, enables us to quickly understand the total impact of the improvements. Making all improvements quantifiable and providing visibility to the influence of those changes to the P&L; we are now making changes with a purpose – to strengthen the company’s position in the marketplace.

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Project Management and Process Improvement - Key Skills for Managing Quality

Presentation Level: Basic
Speakers: Andrew Kirsch, MS MA
Description: This is a talk intended primarily for business managers, quality leaders, and Lean Six Sigma leaders; that is to say, those who manage the resources applied to projects for process improvement to drive Quality. These managers and leaders need to ensure that their projects and process improvement resources are used most effectively, which is harder than it sounds. Worse yet, many organizations just assign teams and individuals to “get it done” with limited training and little-to-no coaching. Unsurprisingly, the results are very uneven. The talk will also be of value to individual quality engineers, belts, and project managers, even if they are inhibited to some degree by the management system that they work within.

This presentation will endeavor to:
* Distinguish project management and process improvement
* Illustrate how each skill set fits into an organization’s quality efforts and intertwine on another
* Expose some common project-level gaps in those skills
*Explain how sound project coaching helps ensure project excellence

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Quality 4.0 Makeover - Applying Lean Tools for Competitive Advantage

Presentation Level: Intermediate 
Speaker: Javed Cheema, Fellow ASQ, CMQ/OE, CQE, CSSBB, CQA
Description: Industry 4.0 and Quality 4.0 are the hottest topics, especially in manufacturing industry. Presenters have been asked by several peers and professionals how to develop strategy maps for s flawless transition to Quality 4.0. This is inherently a complex question but fortunately many best practices are available for risk mitigation during execution. This presentation will address all those questions. Quality and business professionals will be explained how the value streams of all elements of Quality 4.0 system be planned and managed. Several examples and proven tools will be shared with supplemental resources and references. Javed Cheema will share strategy map development exercise as follows: 1. Forming a Quality 4.0 thinkers’ forum in organization representing all stakeholders 2. Analyzing current state performance and identifying major problem areas 3. Developing a compelling business case Quality 4.0 for your organization including ROI period 4. Creating a realistic implementation timeline and assign roles and responsibilities 5. Frequently reviewing progress and adjusting for unanticipated events or issues 6. Holding a comprehensive reflection event on envisioned versus actual future state.

Thursday, MARCH 4
NextGen Quality Professional Day

This highly interactive program connects attendees with subject matter experts, Lean Enterprise Division and Six Sigma Forum members, the LSSC Technical Program Committee TPC and each other. Accessible to all LSSC 2021 registrants, the NextGen agenda offers value to young/emerging professionals as well as experienced senior members of the quality community who manage, mentor and lead them. 

9:00 AM CST - 10:30 AM CST

Panel & Polling discussion: Your Best Decade: Skills, Traits and Strategies for your Quality Career 

A panel of 3-4 lean/six sigma practitioners at various stages of career maturity discuss the softer side of professional development with a moderated conversation on tackling common early-career challenges and opportunities including culture, diversity, mentorship and more. This session will be highly interactive with Q&A and audience polling for a fully immersive experience.
Moderator: Matt Mueleners, FOCUS Training
Panelists: 

Jami Kovach, PMI Houston Endowed Professor in Project Management & Director, Lean Six Sigma Professional Training Program, University of Houston

John Howard, President, Business Development for Industrials & Manufacturing, Black Rose Group

Crystal Davis, The Lean Coach

Dennis Delisle, Executive Director, University Hospital, Ohio State University

Mary Beth Soloy, President, Nexus Quality and Productivity Specialists, Inc 

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10:45AM CST - 11:45 AM CST

Networking Salons

Attendees can choose from the following virtual meeting rooms to engage and interact with colleagues and moderators to discuss the following issues:

Diversity / Equity / Inclusion

Mentorship

Career Nurturing & Development 

Leadership

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12:00 PM CST - 1:00 PM CST

Lunch and Learn: Developing Leadership Skills 

The moderator from the morning panel dives deeper into the results and insights from the polling and Q&A responses and shares additional information for young professionals on skill/leadership development. 

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1:00 PM CST - 2:00 PM CST

ASQ Support and Innovation in Training

Review and discuss career pathing options for emerging quality professionals.  

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2:00 PM CST - 3:00 PM CST

Escape Room: Hosted by Six Sigma Forum

Use Six Sigma concepts to teams to solve riddles and escape a virtual room before time runs out. Play on your own or build a team to work together.  

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3:00 PM CST - 4:00 PM CST

Cambridge Air Video Tour: Adopting the 2-Second Lean brought to you by the Lean Enterprise Division (LED)

Tour (via video!) Cambridge Air and learn about their implementation journey to adopting a “2-second Lean.” Live Q&A with the Cambridge Air staff will follow the tour.