SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., May 31, 2005 – CenterBeam today announced it has completed the next phase of its corporate-wide quality initiative, training its staff in the fundamentals of Lean Six Sigma Quality methodology. Completing this phase of training is the next step in a continuous quality improvement program led by CenterBeam’s president and chief executive officer, Kevin Francis.
About 15% of CenterBeam’s staff has graduated as Lean Six Sigma Black Belts, Green Belts or Champions and 100% of the staff has been provided with training on Lean Six Sigma basics. “Today, everyone at CenterBeam is focused on constant process improvement. Everyone understands at least the core concepts of Lean Six Sigma and is integrating this discipline into everything they do,” said Mr. Francis.
International Authorities on Lean Six Sigma Lead the Way
Mr. Francis has a broad and deep background in quality programs and, as a member of the senior executive team of Xerox Canada, won the Canada Award for Excellence presented by the National Quality Institute, Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. Baldridge award. Mr. Francis later led Xerox Canada as it’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. At Xerox he regularly participated in benchmarking and best practices programs in Japan and led the adoption of many of these powerful methodologies in use today.
To help with the tactical implementation of his program, Jenny Collins has been appointed CenterBeam’s Lean Six Sigma manager. Before joining CenterBeam, Collins was a leader of Sun Microsystem’s Six Sigma initiative and in 2003, won recognition for her paper on process modeling presented to the Eighth International Symposium on Logistics in Seville, Spain.
The Value of Exceleration™
“Today, CenterBeam is already delivering tomorrow’s generation of IT services,” Mr. Francis continued. “CenterBeam is among the first IT service companies incorporating the generations of lessons learned from manufacturing. For example, CenterBeam is taking long-accepted quality manufacturing methodologies -- A∆T, Kaizen, and Lean Six Sigma – what we call The Value of Exceleration -- and is applying them to everything we do.”
According to Collins, “Commitment from executives and top management is vital to the success of a Lean Six Sigma program. The concept of training the entire workforce and the dedication of CenterBeam's senior leaders sets us apart from every implementation I’ve led and studied.”
Continuous Learning, Continuous Progress
“CenterBeam is making an extraordinary investment in Lean Six Sigma and is expecting extraordinary results in return,” said Mr. Francis. “But critical to CenterBeam’s success is that process improvement must be continuous. For example, in June, CenterBeam’s director of software and information systems, Carlos Soto, is scheduled to complete Six Sigma design training and then he’ll teach the lessons he’s learned to his staff. Training may reach a goal but learning must be continuous.”
Mr. Francis said, “CenterBeam’s continuous quest for quality creates tremendous leverage equally benefiting CenterBeam and its clients. Our clients receive ever improving service that CenterBeam delivers ever more efficiently, creating an irresistible economic proposition.”
About CenterBeam, Inc.
CenterBeam is an award-winning North American-based IT outsourced services company that delivers more than 44,000 services daily for mid-sized clients in sixteen countries across four continents. Founded in 1999, CenterBeam pioneered the application of quality management techniques to IT and currently earns a 97% client satisfaction rating as measured by Quality Resource Associates. CenterBeam's Total Satisfaction Guarantee and month-to-month contracts make the company unique among IT outsourced services companies. CenterBeam is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and can be reached at 408.750.0500 or www.centerbeam.com.
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