Kyle Toppazzini

Consultant

Kyle Toppazzini is the president of Toppazzini and Lee Consulting, and an international leader and consultant in lean Six Sigma. He is a certified balanced scorecard trainer and a lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He works with C-level executives to assist in developing and implementing process improvement strategies and transformations that result in faster, better, and more cost-effective delivery of services and products. Toppazzini’s Lean Six Sigma Challenge has appeared in more than 200 outlets, including Yahoo News, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Miami Herald. Contact him at Kyle.Toppazzini@TLeeCorp.com or tel. (613) 680–4333, ext. 2.

Tue, 10/08/2013 - 09:23
A Technique for Finding What’s Critical to Your Enterprise Structured thinking to strengthen relationships companywide
Tue, 10/08/2013 - 09:23
In the lean Six Sigma framework, we normally define what is called the critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics. A CTQ characteristic is any feature or product that is important to the customer. However, in the FUSE framework, which stands for…
A Paradigm Shift for Lean Six Sigma To establish trust, first formulate, understand, synthesize, and execute
Fri, 09/13/2013 - 15:55
Before my first book, Maximizing Lean Six Sigma (West Bow Press, 2013), was published, I’d begun work on a second book, which details a new approach to lean Six Sigma called FUSE—for formulate, understand, synthesize, and execute. It’s an approach…
War and Peace in Lean Six Sigma and Business Transformation Three strategies for ensuring success of large-scale projects
Thu, 08/15/2013 - 17:05
How many of you have been through a lean Six Sigma (LSS) project or business transformation and there was no internal conflict between employees or among managers? My guess is very few. In any LSS project, company transformation, or change…
Process Simulation Can Expedite a LSS Implementation Reality-check your expectations and consensus will follow
Thu, 05/23/2013 - 11:36

One of the recurring sentiments I hear from business executives is that lean Six Sigma (LSS) simply takes too long to implement. Without senior management buy-in, implementing it is not only difficult, it’s also nearly impossible. What if…
The Psychology of Organizational Change It doesn’t have to be so hard
Wed, 04/10/2013 - 17:05
Many of us are familiar with change management models used in organizational change. What I find most interesting are the differences between the standard organizational change-management model and the psychological process an Most change models…
Rebuilding Trust With Lean Six Sigma Tools DMAIC can help in understanding why and how distrust exists
Mon, 01/28/2013 - 10:48
Have you heard the expression “flavor of the month” or the saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same?” I often hear employees use these expressions when faced with a large change initiative. Most executives are aware of these…
15 Ways to Maximize Lean Six Sigma Sustainability When management support moves on, how do your efforts stay put?
Tue, 01/08/2013 - 09:45
One of the most challenging issues I hear from people within the lean Six Sigma community is how to ensure that a lean Six Sigma project is sustainable. If your lean Six Sigma project is highly dependent on top leadership support to keep it going,…
A Continuous Learning and Improvement Model for Lean Six Sigma Introducing FUSE: formulate, understand, synthesize, and execute
Wed, 12/19/2012 - 10:37
Allow me to introduce you to FUSE, a value-based lean Six Sigma model that enables organizations to maximize enterprise performance with the least friction. FUSE embodies three core Chinese concepts of trust (shin), relationships (gunaxi), and…
The Voice of the Enterprise Making lean Six Sigma better
Tue, 12/11/2012 - 10:00
In lean Six Sigma, the concept of voice of the customer (VOC) is paramount. VOC takes into account the customer’s wants and needs. But I believe this concept falls short in taking into account the wants, needs, and concerns of all aspects of an…
Incorporating Critical Thinking into Lean Six Sigma Reflection is an often-overlooked element of problem solving
Tue, 12/04/2012 - 11:21
The three value concepts of my new lean Six Sigma model are based on the Chinese terms shin, gunaxi, and zhi. The third term, zhi, means to know or understand. Confucius believed that for most people, learning was ongoing. One of the philosophies…