Last year, we celebrated Bill Smith, widely known as the Father of Six Sigma, as the first inductee into iSixSigma’s Six Sigma Hall of Fame. We’re now identifying who should be the next person to join the Hall of Fame – someone who has made significant and lasting contributions in the Lean Six Sigma industry, who has consistently fueled corporate growth and shareholder value through the use of Lean Six Sigma during their career, who has commanded the respect and admiration of their peers for their extraordinary service to the industry.

Help us decide who will be inducted in the Six Sigma Hall of Fame in 2010. Submit your nomination via email to sshof(at)isixsigma.com by Nov. 30.

Inductees will be announced at the upcoming iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards, Miami Feb. 1 – 4, 2010, along with the winners of the Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects, and Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program.

There’s a definite honor in being “award-winning.” I experienced this firsthand last year when iSixSigma Magazine received editorial excellence honors. The awards provided an opportunity for us to pause and recognize the work that goes into our editorial efforts and to celebrate the accomplishments. But, as I said in my Editor’s Notes following the announcement, entering a competition is more than just a pat on the back. It also reinforces what you want to do tomorrow and the next day and the day after.

Recognition and reinforcement are just a couple of the reasons to enter the iSixSigma Live! Awards. Here are a few more reasons:

1. Just being nominated is a boost for an individual or team
2. Finalist and winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in South Beach, Fla., Feb. 3, in iSixSigma Magazine, and on iSixSigma.com.
3. This year, the awards ceremony will be accompanied by music. Think YouTube sensation, wedding entrance dance. (OK, maybe not exactly like that, but there will be fun music.)
4. The ceremony is held in conjunction with the iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards, Feb. 1-4. You won’t want to miss the great program lineup, networking opportunities, and sunshine of South Beach.

Award categories include:

* iSixSigma's Six Sigma Hall of Fame
* Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects (Categories: Transactional, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Customer Service)
* Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program

Get more details on the awards categories and learn how to submit. The deadline for your chance to be “award-winning” is Nov. 30.

But don’t wait until then. The first step of the submission process is a simple form, followed by submission of a storyboard or other support materials, depending on award category. So complete the first step now, and work on your materials over the coming weeks. Good luck!

The scoring is complete and the 2009 Top 10 Best Places to Work for Six Sigma professionals is out.

Here is the Top 10 List in alphabetical order: I repeat, alphabetical order.

Cardinal Health Inc.

Computacenter AG & Co. oHG

Ecolab Inc.

McKesson Corp.

Merck & Co., Inc.

Pfizer Inc.

Piramal Healthcare Ltd.

Starwood Hotels, North America Operation

Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.

Xerox Corp.

The numbered order of this list will be revealed at an Awards ceremony and breakfast, February 3, 2010 during the iSixSigma Live! Summit and Awards in Miami. Congratulations to these companies as well as all those that participated.

There is still plenty of time to submit projects for consideration in other iSixSigma Live! Award categories:

* Best Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized program

* Largest Breakthrough Improvement Projects

* Six Sigma Hall of Fame

iSixSigma is pleased to announce the opening of award nominations for the iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards in Miami in February 2010. Here’s what we are looking for:

* iSixSigma’s Six Sigma Hall of Fame: iSixSigma will recognize individuals who have significantly impacted corporate growth and shareholder value through the use of Lean Six Sigma by inducting them into the Six Sigma Hall of Fame. Last year Bill Smith was the first inductee into the Six Sigma Hall of Fame.

* Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects: In keeping with the conference theme of "Practices That Make Profits," iSixSigma will recognize Lean Six Sigma projects with the largest "breakthrough" results in four categories – supply chain, transactional, manufacturing and customer service.

* Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program: This award recognizes the most successful start-up or the most invigorating re-energized deployment.

* iSixSigma MVP Awards: iSixSigma’s MVP awards recognize individuals that have made outstanding voluntary contributions to the Six Sigma community through the iSixSigma Discussion Forum, Blogosphere and Twitter. (Finalists and winners for the MVP awards will be determined by iSixSigma’s editorial team.)

The deadline for submitting projects and nominations is Nov. 30. For more information on award categories and entry requirements, visit: http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/default.html

Nominations are open for iSixSigma’s second annual Best Places to Work List. If you are working for a top notch company using Lean Six Sigma, go ahead and nominate it to be included in our list of Best Places to Work.

Last year 10 companies made the list. McKesson took home the #1 spot, followed by Vought Aircraft Industries and Textron.

Read all about what makes McKesson the Best Place to Work in the latest article on iSixSigma.com. (This article was previously published only in iSixSigma Magazine).

If your company treats its Six Sigma employees right, let us know by nominating it for this year’s list.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=o3tIVeS1bYHbYiosX5BGNg_3d_3d

The deadline to submit a speaking proposal for the second annual iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards has been extended one week. If you were on the fence about submitting an idea, now’s the time to take action.

More than 200 of the world’s top business leaders and operational experts will gather, Feb. 1-4, 2010, in Miami, Fla., USA at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach. The theme is "Practices That Make Profits.” Don’t miss this chance to share your related inspirational stories, concrete examples and actionable strategies.

Extended deadline for proposals: Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. Visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=IUanv83qkQ3wpNlWCZF_2faQ_3d_3d to learn more.

Again and again, culture change comes up as one of the most important aspects of a successful Six Sigma deployment and reaching maturity. Yet effecting culture change is one of the most difficult parts to master. Almost 50 percent of respondents to a recent iSixSigma survey said their company was far from achieving its desired culture change.

Bringing the topic to the stage at the Energy Forum for Process Excellence is Stephen P. Tomlinson, vice president, operations support, for Cameron. The company provides flow equipment products, systems and services to worldwide oil, gas and process industries through its 11 operating divisions.

With more than 300 Black Belts and 750 Green Belts, Cameron is moving from a culture of anecdotally based problem solving and improvement to one of a “classic Six Sigma.” The company’s goal is to take Six Sigma to every employee, instilling process improvement at all levels. Takeaways of the presentation:

• Settling on overarching themes
• Considering the new role of Black Belts and Master Black Belts
• The importance of metrics
• Deciding on a rollout strategy

Tomlinson’s insight into how 16,000-employee Cameron is energizing improvement in its more than 250 locations through Lean Six Sigma promises to be an informative, engaging presentation.

There’s no time like the present to study up and learn a few new strategies. I’m a big fan of continuing education and benchmarking best-in-class practices. That’s why I’m excited about the upcoming workshops at the Energy Forum for Process Excellence. Just one problem: I’m having hard time figuring out how to be in more than one place at one time!

Workshop A: Lean Labor Strategies – Uncovering Hidden Costs and Applying Best Practices From Operations to HR
Presented by John W. Frehse, chief strategist and partner, Core Practice LLC, this workshop will start with a foundational education on operations and HR strategies, and end with new insights in low cost labor strategies, flexible scheduling for seasonal environments and specific energy sector solutions.

Workshop B: Lean Six Sigma Practices: How to Maintain Operational Excellence in an Unstable Economic Environment
Sally Ulman, president, Variance Reduction International Inc., will present on the company’s 7 principles to achieving Operational Excellence. Attendees will review how to apply quality tools and simple statistics to core processes of the oil and gas industry to achieve cost reductions across the entire value stream.

Executive Workshop: Lean Six Sigma for Executives – Driving Revolutionary Change in the Energy Industry
Bob Silvers, managing director, SSA & Company, will talk about the company’s next-stage model for continuous business improvement, Strategic Process Management, and how some of the world's leading companies are leveraging this new methodology to enhance their already strong process cultures to drive their business performance.

Let me know what’s keeping you up at night and what you’d like to attend a workshop on, even if you can’t make it to Houston.

That’s the question that will be answered at one of the anticipated presentations at the Energy Forum for Process Excellence in May (live.isixsigma.com/energy). Presenting will be Steve Wells, Internal Continuous Improvement Consultant at Luminant. The power generation company received the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence last year.

The Martin Lake Complex, a lignite-fueled plant and mine complex, received the Silver Medallion and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant (pictured) the Bronze Medallion, in their first attempts at the Shingo Prize. They prove that this award, often associated with manufacturing operations, is not out of reach for energy companies.

Wells, who has been an examiner since 1999, was instrumental in setting up the program at Luminant and prepared the organizations to be assessed. He will share how the Shingo Prize can be used as a model for guiding and assessing continuous improvement efforts.

What Is the Shingo Prize?
The honor is named for Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo who helped create and write about many aspects of the manufacturing practices that comprise the Toyota Production System. Established in 1988, the prize promotes awareness of Lean manufacturing concepts and recognizes companies that achieve world-class manufacturing status and business performance.

Photos stream of the iSixSigma Live! Summit and Awards in Miami.

To browse all photos and download your favorites visit:

http://photos.isixsigma.com/gallery/7136980_gHfnR