Released on: June 6, 2008, 4:28 pm

Press Release Author: Thomas R. Cutler

Industry: Software

Press Release Summary: Manufacturing Journalist TR Cutler Discusses Six Sigma Data
in Industry 2.0

Press Release Body: "The Six Sigma community puts up with an amazing amount of busy
work in order to become data driven," opines Evan J Miller, President & CEO of
Hertzler Systems (and manufacturer of GainSeeker). Miller asserts that frequently
manufacturing executives define this data collection process as "the every day junk
work that we do that we call our jobs. The roots of this situation are deep within
Six Sigma itself: Black belts are brought into training, assigned to a project, and
told to go start measuring something. They are rarely IT people, but they are smart,
resourceful and, very driven. They go and get some data."

In the current issue of Industry 2.0, manufacturing journalist
Thomas R. Cutler, contributed an important feature article titled, "Accurate Data
Collection."


Manufacturing firms intent on capturing and distilling rich streams of data will
find it. Often companies will look at a Capability Maturity Model (CMM); a typical
format will show a data source, viewed in Excel. Viewing by rows and columns is
common across many industries and many applications. Most data dumped from a
database ends up looking like a data-rich grid, whether it is manufacturing or
transactional data. Each row represents a part that is inspected; each column a
dimension or reading. Most engineers see these data tasks as an example of every
"junk work" that takes hours to prepare and upkeep. One manufacturing executive
reported that it took 24 Power Point slides to document this activity, which
included 43 discrete steps, including two loops, one of seven steps and one of 19
steps.

According to Miller, "The time this takes is substantial. Even if only twenty
variables are being tracked, it often takes 20-25 minutes to capture data for each
part number. Since most companies, particularly those in metal working production,
produce multiple products simultaneously, it is easy to see how an otherwise
productive manufacturing professional spends his entire time preparing reports."


Hertzler Systems (www.hertzler.com) provides seamless, accurate data acquisition
solutions that drive business transformation. The company provides the leading
real-time data acquisition and analytics software, the GainSeeker Suite. This
powerful and flexible system is best used by lean and progressive companies.
Gainseeker Suite allows companies to connect with devices and other information
systems, collecting data and alarming key personnel when problems arise; this
technology allows organizations to analyze data for root cause problems, converting
data into knowledge.


Hertzler Systems Inc.
www.hertzler.com
Adrienne DePew
Communications Manager
info@hertzler.com
800.958.2709



Web Site: http://www.hertzler.com

Contact Details: Hertzler Systems
2312 Eisenhower Dr. N.
Goshen, IN 46526
800-958-2709