A bit about what I do (or did)

I've had a number of people ask me, either in comments or via PM, what I did for GE and what led to my layoff.  I think both of these topics are deserving of their own blogs, and while this one won't include a drawing, the next one will.

I am a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.  I used to just tell people that I'm a farmer, because it was a lot easier to explain.  The fundamentals of Six Sigma revolve around figuring out a way to consistantly deliver the best product or process to your customers -- done right the first time, and delivered when they want it.  Lean is all about removing waste from how you make your product or perform your process -- things like waiting, rework, work-in-progress inventory.

Ultimately, the goal is to make more net income.  Sadly, some people have bastardized Six Sigma and Lean.  They've used it as an excuse to cut headcount.  I find this to be absolutely counter-intuitive and it offends me.  You can only grow net income so much by cutting costs.  The best way to grow income is to boost volume -- and you do that by providing a service or product to your customers that they value.  You need the infrastructure to support volume, and that means that cutting people is not the solution.

In my 5 years in Quality at GE, I never created a process improvement that resulted in someone losing his/her job.  In fact, I had earned a tremendous amount of credibility and respect across our various functions and was seen as someone who "understood what we're going through" by the various departments.  People saw me as the guy who could cut through the bullshit and beaurocracy and make their jobs better.

For those of you who have had bad experiences with Six Sigma and Lean, I'm sorry.