6 – Process Improvement

6 – Process Improvement
σ The goal of Six Sigma is to accelerate improvements and achieve unprecedented performance levels by
σ
σ
focusing on characteristics that are critical to customers and identifying and eliminating causes of errors or
defects in processes.
Improve is the fourth step in DMAIC, and the one that is more difficult to accomplish because it is more of an art
than a science. While improvement is a highly creative effort, it must be accomplished within the Six Sigma
project management structure.
Thinking of the Y = F(X) relationship, the goal is to “fine-tune” the Xs that will deliver performance in the Ys
expected by customers.
Project Assurance stage






Regarding the Project
Life Cycle Accountability
Matrix – This step is the
foundation of the Project
Assurance stage.
Each key member has
tasks.
Core team members:
+ Screen potential
causes.
+ Find and verify root
causes.
+ Discover variable
relationships.
+ Establish operating
tolerances using
tools such as DOE
and simulation.
+ Talk to the project
manager about
changes being
considered.
+ External customer
(or process owner)
involved in obtaining
approvals for
changes in
processes.
Project manager ensures
that these project
improvement
requirements are
communicated to the BB,
champion, and
customer/process owner.
Project champion:
a. Must approve or reject process improvement and clear obstacles, as needed
Black Belt:
a. Must continue to mentor the project manager, and provide expertise in the design of process improvements.
b. Must continue to share good ideas and approach between project teams to enhance project and
organizational learning.
http://www.six-sigma-material.com/Analyze.html
The IMPROVE phase requires understanding the KPIV's that are causing the effect. This phase will help determine the
relationships and amounts of these key variables to the project "Y" and lead to optimal improvement ideas. All the hard
work done previously lacks merit unless there is implementation.
This is the phase of the project where all the team's work gets put into action, the rubber meets the road for hard driving.
The solutions have been identified and the implementations to reduce variation in improve target performance are
executed in IMPROVE.
It may be necessary to once again conduct a Stakeholder Analysis to ensure the team is ready to speak and promote the
change, drive the change, and walk the talk. The portion of implementations will shock the culture and the ability to
achieve cultural change will dominate the technical ability requirements in this phase.
As much waste should be removed as possible. Solid education and analysis has identified these areas of opportunity in
earlier phases.
A relentless drive to not only removes waste to increase the value-added time but to increase the value of the valueadded processes. As improvements are made, more will come to the surface. The team will need a timeline such as a
Gantt Chart to track assignments and timeliness of their completion.
Pilot runs will be taken at the end of the IMPROVE phase and data collecting to begin the BEFORE and AFTER
performance will start.
The outputs of the IMPROVE phase are needed to begin the CONTROL phase.
http://www.six-sigma-material.com/Analyze.html
Tools - http://www.six-sigma-material.com/Analyze.html
Stakeholder Analysis
Mistake Proofing (Poka Yoke)
5 WHY
7 Wastes
Design of Experiments (DOE)
Takt Time
Line Balancing
SPC Charts
Designing Workcells / Cellular Flow
SMED: Single Minute Exchange of Dies
Principles of Process Improvement
History of Process Improvement
 National Cash Register (NCR)
 Lincoln Electric
 Many of these approaches focus exclusively on productivity and cost.





Procter and Gamble
 Focus on process improvement is relatively recent
Initiation of formal improvement programs
Toshiba
 1946
Matsushita Electric
 1950
Toyota
 1951
 Pioneered just-in-time (JIT), which showed that companies could make products
efficiently with virtually 0 defects.
 JIT established a philosophy of continuous improvement, which the Japanese call
kaizen and which has been adopted by many organizations around the world.
Kaizen – From Concepts Class
Kaizen
 LSS practitioners use kaizen projects to achieve incremental improvements in quality, costs and productivity.
 Kai- little, Zen-better.
 Kaizen events are short, highly focused and defined projects that improve the activities in a work area and are
usually completed in a few days.
 Kaizen is carried out with a team composed of workers in the process and management.
Kaizen is part of continuous improvement, however is not the same as innovation which focuses on big breakthroughs.
Kaizen
 Strive to improve work procedures and think through solutions to simplify them. – shows the importance of process
improvement and the removal of waste from a process.
 LSS practitioners use kaizen projects to achieve incremental improvements in quality, costs, and productivity.
 A combination of 2 Japanese words: kai means “little”, “ongoing”, and “good”. Zen means “for the better”. Kaizen
improvement efforts are little, ongoing, good improvements that make things better.
 Short highly focused projects that improve the activities in the work area.
 Usually completed over a 5 day period, these sessions begin with training followed by an analysis of a work area and
the implementation of improvement ideas.
 5S activities are often part of kaizen events.
 Kaizen and continuous improvement are similar if not the same. Both seek to improve processes with the goal of
improving quality, reducing costs, and increasing productivity.
Kaizen Event Steps (4)
 Identify that a problem exists. [defects, waste, or a process that is not working effectively.]
 Map the existing process and collect operational data.
 Find the waste or process deficiency.
 Generate improvement ideas.
 Review ideas with management.
 Select and implement the most effective solution(s) using some agreed on criteria.
List the steps for a Kaizen project.
Chapter
Question 4
1. During Kaizen events, lean and Six Sigma tools and techniques blend together, enabling participants to optimize
process, product, or service performance.
2. Six Sigma tools and techniques emphasize root cause analysis through the use of a standardized problemsolving technique (PDSA or DMAIC) in combination with statistical analysis and performance measures.
3. Kaizen improvements must plan a corrective action (Plan), implement it (Do), confirm its success or failure
(Study), and determine if more actions are needed (Act).
Describe the philosophy behind Kaizen.
Chapter
Question 1
 The guiding words are: combine, simplify, and eliminate.
 Kaizen seeks to standardize processes while eliminating waste.
 Kaizen activities focus on studying the flow of the process and improving the value stream or they may focus on the
elimination of waste.
Describe the Kaizen concept.
Chapter
Question 2
 Pronounced ‘k-eye-zen’, the word Kaizen is the combination of two words. In Japanese ‘kai’ means ‘little’, ‘ongoing’,
and ‘good’. ‘Zen’ means ‘for the better’ and ‘good’.


Kaizen improvement efforts are little ongoing good improvements that make things better.
Kaizen events are short, highly focused projects that improve the activities in a work area.
Continuous improvement and Dr. Deming.
 (pt #1) Create a constancy of purpose toward the improvement of product and service, with the aim to become
competitive and to stay in business and to provide jobs.
 (pt #5) (kaizen and process improvement. Constantly and forever improve the system of production and service. – An
organization cannot remain truly competitive unless it strives to continually enhance its business processes that
provide the products and services its customers want.
 (pt #12) Remove barriers that rob people of their pride in workmanship.
 LSS organizations – employees work patiently to continually improve the processes they work with.
 (pt #6) Institute training on the job. – Supports continuous improvement.
How do Dr. Deming’s teachings support Kaizen?
Chapter
Question 3
Dr. Deming’s summarizes his philosophies on management involvement and continuous improvement in his fourteen
points. Several of those points directly relate to kaizen and continuous improvement.
1. The first of his fourteen points for management states: Create a constancy of purpose toward improvement of
product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business and to provide jobs. This first
point encourages leadership to constantly improve their products or services through innovation, research,
education, and continual improvement in all facets of their company.
2. Dr. Deming’s fifth point clearly states the kaizen and continuous improvement concepts: Constantly and forever
improve the system of production and service. An organization cannot remain truly competitive unless it strives to
continually enhance its business processes that provide the products and services their customers want.
3. In the chapter’s opening quote, to ‘have pride of workmanship no matter how small the task’ is reminiscent of Dr.
Deming’s twelfth point ‘Remove barriers that rob people of their right to pride in workmanship.’ Barriers are any
aspect of a job that prevents employees from doing their jobs well. By removing them, leadership creates an
environment supportive of their employees and the continuous improvement of their day-to-day activities.
In lean Six Sigma organizations, employees work patiently to continually improve the processes they work with.
4. Dr. Deming’s sixth point, Institute training on the job, also supports continuous improvement. Continual education
and training creates an atmosphere that encourages the discovery of new ideas and methods. This translates to
continuous improvement and innovative solutions to problems.
Change is expected
Kaizen vs.
 Kaizen is a separate concept from innovation. Innovation focuses on significant breakthroughs in
Innovation
technologies, inventions, or theories. - Massaaki Imai
 Kaizen is small incremental improvements and is often less high tech than innovation.
 People oriented.
Benefits
Improvements in quality, throughput, safety, productivity, costs, and customer service.
Process Improvement Projects – 2 categories: long-term projects and kaizen.
Long-term
 Large, complex improvement projects that require significant time and cross-functional team effort.
 Team members integrate project work with day to day activities.
 Duration of the project depends on scope.
Kaizen
 Well defined from the beginning. The scope, objectives, and boundaries of the project are clearly
defined and understood.
 Focus on obvious sources of waste, easier to take action and achieve results.
 Completed rapidly – one week or less
 Team consists of people pulled from regular work to focus intensely on solving a particular problem.
 Team consists of people closest to the problem, with maintenance, engineering, and IT on alert.
 Trained in basic problem-solving tools and techniques.
Questions to guide a team’s analysis of the existing process – 5 Ws and 2 Hs (5)
Kaizen Practices
 Seeks to improve procedures, often by simplifying the activity taking place.
 Combine, simplify, eliminate.
 Seeks to standardize processes while eliminating waste. Waste: any activity that consumes resources that do not
add value to a product or service. (Value is defined from the perspective of the customer.)
 Kaizen – 2 Forms: Flow kaizen, Process kaizen.
Flow Kaizen
 Study the value stream associated with providing a product or service.
 Team follows the process start to finish.
 Determine the answers to key questions (above), to differentiate between value-added and nonvalue-added activities. (Tools used are in Chapters 9 and 10)
Process Kaizen
 Focuses on the elimination of waste.
 Henry Ford –– Seek out sources of waste in a process. –Aviation industry – One B-24 per day
normal – improved to one B-24 PER HOUR.
Henry Ford
 Lowering costs while maintaining quality.
 Seek out sources of waste in a process.
 Introduced the moving assembly line concept.
 Recognized importance of creating and maintaining an excellent workforce – high quality and
productivity can be achieved only through an effective and efficient workforce.
 Productivity improvement is a key to economic prosperity. Similar to Dr. Deming’s economic
chain reaction.
Fujio Cho of
 Studies Ford and Deming.
Toyota
 Waste – anything other than the minimum amount of equipment, materials, parts, space and
worker’s time, which are absolutely essential to add value to the product.
Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement
σ It is important to note that although Six Sigma can result in significant benefits, it is not a substitute for continuous
improvement.
σ Six Sigma relies on specialists (Black Belts) who lead the high-profile projects. It becomes easy to ignore simple
improvements that can be achieved at the process owner level.
σ Six Sigma can alienate process owners who, instead of seeking continuous improvements, leave them to the
specialists.
The objects are somewhat different, yet both approaches can support one another.
Process owners should be trained in Six Sigma methods and be involved in formal Six Sigma projects, but still have
responsibility for continuous improvement on a daily basis.
σ Six Sigma project selection focus on improvement opportunities that have a verifiable financial return.
+
Such opportunities include the obvious reductions in manufacturing defects.
 CEO Michael became obsessed with finding ways to reduce machine failure rates.
 Failures where related to the number of times a hard drive was handled during assembly, and insisted
Example:
that the number of “touches” be reduced from an existing level of more than 30 per drive.
Dell Inc.
 Production lines were revamped and the number was reduced to fewer than 15.
 The reject rate of hard drives fell by 40 percent and the overall failure rate dropped by 20%.
 Opportunities for Six Sigma projects involve improving the design of products with features that better
meet customer’s critical-to-quality needs and that can achieve:
a. Higher performance
b. Higher reliability
c. and other market driven dimensions of quality (Part III of this book)

Other
opportunities:
Opportunities
 Improving the efficiency of manufacturing systems by reducing unnecessary processing steps
and workers’ idle time.
 Improving the operations infrastructure by reducing unnecessary inventory, transportation,
material handling, scrap, and rework.
 Improving support services such as financial transaction processing, and employee recruiting
and training.
1
Explain the Japanese concept of kaizen. How does it differ from traditional Western approaches to improvement?
Flexibility and Cycle Time Reduction
 The ability to adapt quickly and effectively to changing requirements.
 Success in global competitive markets requires a capacity for rapid change and flexibility.
σ Many Six Sigma projects focus on improving organizational flexibility.
 Rapid changeover from one product to another.
 Rapid response to changing demands.
Examples
 The ability to produce a wide range of customized services.
Flexibility
 Electronic commerce requires more rapid, flexible and customized responses than
traditional market outlets.
 May demand special strategies such as modular designs, sharing components, sharing
Possible
manufacturing lines, and specialized training foe employees.
requirements  Outsourcing decisions, agreements with key suppliers, and innovative partnering
arrangements.
 An important business metric that compliments flexibility.
 Refers to the time it takes to accomplish one cycle of a process.
 Example – The time from when a customer orders a product to the time that it is delivered, or the time it
takes to introduce a new product.
 Two purposes for reducing cycle time:
1. Speed up work processes so that customer response is improved.
2. Can only be accomplished by streamlining and simplifying processes to eliminate non-valueadded steps such as rework.
Cycle Time
 This approach forces improvement in quality by reducing potential mistakes and errors.
 By reducing non-value-added steps, costs are reduced as well.
 Cycle time reductions often drive simultaneous improvements in organization, quality, cost, and
productivity.
 Significant reductions in cycle time cannot be achieved by focusing on individual sub-processes; crossfunctional processes must be examined across the organization.
Through these activities, the company comes to understand work at the organizational level
and to engage in cooperative behaviors.
 Term used to characterize flexibility and short cycle times.
 Crucial to such customer-focused strategies as mass customization, which requires rapid response and
flexibility to changing consumer demand.
Agility
 Enablers of agility include:
1. Close relationships with customers to understand their emerging needs and requirements
2. Empowering employees as decision makers
3. Effective manufacturing and information technology
4. Close supplier and partner relationships
5. Breakthrough improvement
2
3
What is flexibility and why is it important to a modern organization?
What are the key impacts of cycle time reduction?
Breakthrough Improvement
σ Discontinuous change, as opposed to a gradual, continuous improvement philosophy that is more reflective of
traditional quality management approaches.
σ Six Sigma projects are usually oriented toward achieving breakthrough improvements.
σ Result from innovative and creative thinking; often these are motivated by stretch goals or breakthrough
objectives.
My comment
When pursuing change, it is important to establish that all efforts (to date), have been fantastic, much
appreciated, and a key factor in the level of success that has been achieved. When considering the business
environment, and where we need to be, we need to move forward and add additional best-in-class methodologies
that give us an advantage in a competitive environment.
Too much change creates an atmosphere of doubt and uncertainty, which will have a negative impact on
productivity.


Stretch goals
Breakthrough objectives
Stretch goals force an organization to think in a radically different way, and to encourage major
improvements as well as incremental ones.
 With a goal of 1,000% improvement versus a goal of 10% improvement, employees will have to
be more creative and “think outside the box”. The seemingly impossible is often achieved,
yielding dramatic improvements and boosting moral.
 For stretch goals to be successful, they must derive unambiguously from
corporate strategy.
Guidelines
 Don’t set goals that result in unreasonable stress to employees or punish failure.
 Appropriate help and tools must be provided to accomplish the task.
 Goal: Improve product and service quality 10 times within 2 years, and at least
Example:
100-fold in 4 years.
Motorola



Reengineering
An approach for breakthrough improvement that help companies to achieve stretch goals.
The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service
and speed.
 Asks: Why do we do it, and why is it done this way? [See comment above]
 Often uncovers obsolete, erroneous, or inappropriate assumptions.
 Radical redesign involves removing existing procedures and reinventing the process. (Not just
incrementally improving it). The goal is to achieve quantum leaps in performance.
 Cut the process of financing IBM computers, software, services from 7 days to
4 hours by rethinking the process.
 Original process was designed to handle difficult applications and required 4
highly trained specialists and a series of hand-offs.
Example: IBM
 The actual work took only about 1.5 hours; the rest of the time was spent in
Credit Corp.
transit or delay.
 Original assumption – Every application was unique and difficult to process.
 New process – Replace the specialists by a single individual supported by a
user-friendly computer system that provided access to all the data and tools
that the specialist would use.
 Fundamental understanding of the processes.
Requirements
 Creative thinking to break away from old traditions and assumptions.
 Effective use of information technology.


Example:
PepsiCo
4
5


Program to reengineer all of its key business processes, such as selling and
delivery, equipment service and repair, procurement, and financial reporting.
Selling and delivery – Customer reps typically experience stock-outs of as
much 25% of product by end of day, resulting in late-day stops not getting full
deliveries, and the need to return to those accounts.
Other routes return with overstock of other products, increasing handling costs
Solution – Redesign the system to include handheld computers so customer
reps can confirm and deliver the days order and also take a futures order for
the next delivery to that customer.
What is a stretch goal? How can stretch goals help an organization?
What is reengineering? How does it relate to Six Sigma practices?
Tools for Process Improvement
σ Effective implementation of Six Sigma improvement strategies requires a disciplined application of statistical
principles and various tools for implementing the DMAIC process.
σ The Six Sigma toolbox is a collection of proven methods that have been used successfully for many years in all
types of quality management and improvement initiatives.
Analyzing Process Maps
 Perhaps the first place to begin identifying improvements is with a process or value stream map.
Several fundamental questions.
Are the steps in the process arranged in logical sequence?
Do all steps add value?
Can some steps be eliminated and should others be added in order to improve quality or operational
performance?
Can some be combined?
Should some be re-sequenced?
Are capacities of each step in balance; that is, do bottlenecks exist for which customers will incur excessive wait
time?
What skills equipment and tools are required at each step of the process?
Should some steps be automated?
Where are the critical points of customer contact?
At which points in the system might errors occur that would result in customer dissatisfaction, and how might
these errors be corrected?
At which point or points should quality be measured?
Where interaction with the customer occurs, what procedures and guidelines should employees follow to present
a positive image?
 Analyzing the times for activities in value stream maps
1. Determine the amount of time that value-added work is actually being done.
2. Measure the cycle time.
 Often, the actual work time is a relatively small percentage of the cycle time, maybe as low as 15-20%; This
indicates that there may be delays and non-value-added steps that can be improved or eliminated.
 Process mapping approach examples:
Motorola
 Reduced manufacturing time for pagers from 40 days to less than one hour.
 Reduced internal callbacks in its Private Bank group by 80% and the credit process time by 50%.
Citibank
 Its Global Equipment Finance division which provides financing and leasing services to Citibank
customers, lowered the credit decision cycle from 3 days to 1 day.
 Copeland Companies, a subsidiary, reduced the cycle time of processing statements from 28 days to 15
Travelers
days.
 Over the counter (OTC) clinical division which conducts clinical studies.
 P&G had at least 4 different ways to perform a clinical study and needed to find he best way to meet its
R&D needs.
Proctor &

Chose to focus on cycle time reduction.
Gamble
 Final reports took months to prepare.
 Mapped the existing processes to fully understand he causes of long production times and the
amount of rework and recycling during review and signoff.


6
Restructured the activities from sequential to parallel work and identified critical measurements to
monitor the process.
Reduced the time to less than 4 weeks (Figure 6.1)
What are the fundamental questions that should be asked when analyzing a process using a process map?
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/cycle-time.html
The period required to complete one cycle of an operation; or to complete a function, job, or task from start to finish.
Cycle time is used in differentiating total duration of a process from its run time.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/cycle-time
In manufacturing, cycle-time is the total time it takes to produce an order.
http://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/cycle-time/
Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to the end of your process, as defined by you and your customer.
Cycle time includes process time, during which a unit is acted upon to bring it closer to an output, and delay
time, during which a unit of work is spent waiting to take the next action.
In a nutshell – Cycle Time is the total elapsed time to move a unit of work from the beginning to the end of a
physical process. (Note, Cycle Time is not the same as Lead Time).
http://www.isixsigma.com/methodology/lead-time-vs-cycle-time/
In summary, here is the difference and their relationship.
1. Lead Time and Cycle Time don’t have the same unit although their names are both “Time.” Lead Time is measured by
elapsed time (minutes, hours, etc.), whereas Cycle Time is measured by the amount of time per unit (minutes/customer,
hours/part, etc.). It does not make any sense to add one to, or subtract one from, another.
2. Cycle Time is actually a measure of Throughput (units per period of time), which is the reciprocal of Cycle Time.
This relationship is analogous to Takt Time (amount of time per unit), which is the reciprocal of customer demand rate
(units per period of time). Note that by definition, Cycle Time (or Takt Time) is an average value.
3. Lead Time and Cycle Time are related by Work-in-progress (WIP) in the entire process, in a relationship described by
the Little’s Law:
Lead Time = Cycle Time * WIP
Or,
Lead Time = WIP/Throughput
4. The Cycle Time above must be the process cycle time, which is determined by the bottleneck. Cycle Times of individual
steps cannot be used alone to calculate the process Lead Time without knowing the WIP.
http://qualityamerica.com/Knowledgecenter/leansixsigma/process_lead_time.asp
Process Lead Time
Littles Law (ref: Lean Six Sigma, by M. George, 2002, McGraw Hill) is used to calculate the Process
Lead Time by dividing the number of items in process by the completions per hour.
Littles Law: Lead Time=# Items In-Process / Completion Rate
For example, if it takes two hours on average to complete each Purchase Order, then there are 0.5
completions per hour. This is the denominator of the Littles Law equation. If there are ten Purchase Orders
waiting in queue (the numerator), then Littles Law says we need ten divided by one-half equals twenty
hours lead time for the process. In other words, we cannot process any new orders until the twenty hour
lead time has allowed the existing Work in Process to be completed.
Once Lead Time is known, Velocity can be calculated.
http://qualityamerica.com/Knowledgecenter/leansixsigma/process_velocity.asp
Process Velocity
The Velocity of the process represents the responsiveness or flexibility of the process to customer
demand. A long lead time results in slow velocity.
Velocity = # of Value-added Steps / Lead Time
For example, if there are five value-added process steps in a purchasing process with a lead time of
twenty hours, then the Velocity may be calculated as 5 divided by 20 equals 0.25 steps per hour.
Lead time is reduced, and velocity increased, when Work in Progress is reduced. The rationale is simple:
new orders from customers cannot be started until work (or items) in process is completed. Thus, the
activity on new items is stalled. An example from a service process is a physician waiting room. The
patients are Work in Progress. New patients are not serviced by the doctor until those that arrived earlier
are completed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_time_variation
Cycle time variation is a proven metric and philosophy for continuous improvement with the aim of driving down the
deviations in the time it takes to produce successive units on a production line. [1] It supports organizations' application of
lean manufacturing or lean production by eliminating wasteful expenditure of resources. It is distinguished from some of
the more common applications by its different focus of creating a structure for progressively reducing the sources of
internal variation that leads to workarounds and disruption causing these wastes to accumulate in the first place. Although
it is often used as an indicator of lean progress, its use promotes a structured approach to reducing disruption that
impacts efficiency, quality, and value.
Overview:
The application of cycle time variation as a core area of focus for lean transformation efforts was subsequently expanded
to describe the disruption caused by variation in flow from changing business conditions (such as an economic downturn),
demonstrating that the disruption this causes creates skyrocketing "loss" as described by the Taguchi Loss Function. It
led to a different approach to implementing lean manufacturing known as Lean Dynamics, focused on addressing the
disruption caused by dynamic business conditions that often causes "waste" to accumulate. A lean dynamics approach
restructures the way operations, organizations, information, and innovation are structured to overcome this. [3]
Cycle time variation is important for reinforcing the concept of dealing with variation to flow as a central focus in
implementing lean manufacturing. This emphasis has made it an important building block to the Six Sigma movement,
driving an improved understanding of the common focus of two areas that were previously viewed as having separate
objectives.
Kaizen Blitz
An intense and rapid improvement process in which a team or a department throws all its resources into an
improvement project over a short period of time, as opposed to traditional kaizen applications, which are
performed on a part time basis.
Generally include employees from all areas involved in the process who understand it and can implement
changes on the spot.
Improvement is immediate, exciting, and satisfying for those involved.
Molded lens department:
 Ran 2 shifts per day, using 13 employees, and after 40% rework, yielded 1,300 pieces per day.
 The production line was unbalanced and work piled up between stations.
 The unbalanced production line added to quality problems as the work-in-progress was often damaged.
 After 3-day blitz:
1. Reduced the production to 1 shift of 6 employees and a balanced line.
2. Rework was reduced to 10%.
Example:
3. Yield increased to 3,500 per day saving more than $179,000.
Magnivision
Retail Services:
 (Unspecified) Problems plagued employees.
 Many problems were related to the software system. Some of the same customer data had to entered
in multiple screens.
 Sometimes the system took a long time to process information.
 Sometimes it was difficult to find information quickly.

Neither the programmers nor the engineers were aware of these problems.
σ By getting everyone together, some solutions were easily determined. Estimated savings were
$125,000.
7
What is a kaizen blitz? How does it differ from traditional kaizen applications?
Poka-Yoke (Mistake-Proofing)
Errors due to human factors:
 Forgetfulness due to lack of concentration.
 Misunderstanding because of lack of familiarity with a process or procedures.
 Poor identification associated with lack of proper attention.
 Lack of experience.
 Absentmindedness.
 Delays in judgment when a process is automated.
1. Identify the
 Equipment malfunctions.
error
Typical mistakes in production:
 Omitted processing
 Processing errors
 Setup errors
 Missing parts
 Wrong parts
 Adjustment errors
Tools
 Cause-and-effect diagram
 (Or other analysis tools)
Reasons:
2. Identify
 Poor training
reasons for
occurrence
 Bad design of the part
 Complexity of work task
 Different parts that look alike
 etc…
An approach for mistake proofing processes using automatic devices or methods to
avoid simple human error.
Developed 1960s by Shigo Shingo, a Japanese manufacturing engineer who
developed the Toyota Production System. – Zero Quality Control (ZQC)
ZQC – Driven by simple and inexpensive inspection processes, such as:
 Successive checking - Operators inspect the work of the prior operation before
continuing.
 Self checking - Operators assess the quality of their own work.
 Designed to facilitate this process or remove the human element completely.
Focused on 2 aspects:
3. Prevention Poka-yoke
1. Prediction - Recognizing that a defect is about to occur and provide a warning.
2. Detection - Recognizing that a defect has occurred and stopping the process.
Three levels of mistake-proofing with increasing costs associated with them:
1. Designing potential errors out of the product or process – Most powerful form of
mistake proofing because it eliminates any possibility that the error or defect might
occur and has no direct cost in terms of time or rework and scrap.
2. Identifying potential defects and stopping a process before the defect is produced
– Eliminates cost associated with producing a defect, but does require the time
associated with stopping a process and taking corrective action.
3. Finding defects that enter or leave a process – Eliminates wasted resources that
would add value to nonconforming work, but results in scrap or rework.
8
9
Why do people make inadvertent mistakes? How does poka-yoke help prevent such mistakes?
List and explain the three levels of mistake proofing.
Poka-Yoke Examples
Figure 6.1 Final Report “Is” and “Should” Process Map Example
Figure 6.2 A Poka-Yoke Example of Screw Redesign
Mistake-proofing Service – Richard B. Chase and Douglas M. Stewart
Service mistake-proofing must account for the customers’ activities as well as the producer, and fail-safe methods
must be set up for interactions conducted directly or by phone, mail or other technologies such as ATM.
Requires identifying when and where failures generally occur.
a. Once a failure is identified, the source must be found.
b. Final step – prevent the mistake from occurring through source inspection, self-inspection, or sequential
checks.
Service poke-yokes classified by type of error they are designed to prevent:
1. Server errors – Result from task, treatment, or tangibles of the service.
2. Customer errors – Occur during preparation, the service encounter, or during resolution.
Error
Device
a. Doing work incorrectly
1. Computer prompts
Task errors
b. Work not requested
2. Color coding
Treatment errors – arise in
the contact between server
and customer
Tangible errors – physical
elements of the service
Customer errors in
preparation -
Customer errors during an
encounter
Customer errors at the
resolution stage
10
c.
d.
a.
b.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Work in the wrong order
Working too slowly
Lack of courteous behavior
Failure to acknowledge, listen or react
appropriately to a customer
Unclean facilities
Dirty uniforms
Inappropriate temperature
Document errors
Failure to bring necessary materials to
the encounter.
Failure to understand role in the
transaction.
Failure to engage the correct service.
Inattention
Misunderstanding
Memory lapse
Failure to remember steps in the
process.
Failure to follow instruction
Failure to signal service inadequacies.
Failure to learn from experience.
Failure to adjust expectations.
Failure to execute post encounter
actions
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
Measuring tools
Signaling devices
Record eye color with transaction
4 specific clues for when to smile
Customer smile back?
Hotels wrap paper strips around towels
Spell checkers in word processing
1. Provide flowchart
2. Yes/No questions
3. List info before calling
1. Height bars at theme park rides.
2. Beepers on ATM machines.
3. Locks on airplane lavatory doors that
must be closed to turn on lights.
4. Fold back restaurant receipt copies
versus customer copy.
1. Gift cards for feedback.
2. Tray-return stand placement on trash
can.
Describe the types of errors that service poka-yokes are designed to prevent.
Creative Thinking – (Tools for idea generation)
One of the difficulties in trying to identify ideas for improvement is the natural instinct to prejudge them before
thoroughly evaluating then.
Most people have a natural fear proposing a “silly” idea or looking foolish. However, such ideas may actually form
the basis for a creative and useful solution.
Effective problem solvers must learn to defer judgment and develop the ability to generate a large number of
ideas at this stage of the process.
• A group problem-solving procedure for generating ideas.
• Developed by Alex Osborn “for the sole purpose of producing checklists of ideas” that can be used
in developing a solution.
• No criticism is permitted, and people are encouraged to generate a large number of ideas through
combination and enhancement of existing ideas.
• Wild ideas are encouraged, and frequently trigger other good ideas.
Brainstorming
How it works
1. Working in a round-robin fashion, each individual in the group suggests an idea relating to the
problem at hand.
2. If no idea comes to mind, then pass.
3. A facilitator writes down all the ideas on a board for all to see.
4. New ideas can be based on other ideas, by combining or extending previous suggestions.
5. Repeat until no more ideas.
Changing one word can change the meaning
“in what ways might this company reduce quality
Dropping or relaxing “by 30%” broadens the
costs
by
30%”
problem and potential solutions.
Changing the
Changing the action verb or goal can the problem perspective
wording of
problem
Turning a negative statement into a positive statement leads to different ideas.
statement
“Reducing quality costs”
“increasing quality value”
Reversing the focus of the problem
“how to reduce costs due to scrap”
“how to use scrap to reduce costs” (Recycling)
Osborn proposed about 75 fundamental questions based on the following principles:
• Put to other uses?
• Adapt?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Modify?
Magnify
Minify?
Substitute?
Rearrange?
Reverse?
Combine?
Six Sigma and Lean Production

Six Sigma is a useful and complementary approach to lean production
=
=
=
=
Similarities
Differences
Driven by customer requirements
Focus on real dollar savings
Have the ability to make significant financial impacts on the organization
Can be used in non-manufacturing environments
Attack different types of problems
≠ Lean production addresses visible problems in processes, for example, inventory, material flow, and
safety.
≠ Six Sigma is more concerned with less visible problems, for example, variation in performance.
≠ Lean tools are more intuitive and easier to apply by anyone in the workplace.
≠ Six Sigma tools require advanced training and expertise of Black Belt or Master Black Belt specialists,
or consultant equivalents.
Example: The concept of 5S is easier to grasp than statistical methods. Organizations might be well
advised to start with basic lean principles and evolve toward more sophisticated Six Sigma approaches.
http://qualityamerica.com/Knowledgecenter/leansixsigma/value.asp
Value
 Value, from a lean perspective, may be defined a number of equivalent ways, depending on context.
 There are three categories of activities:
1) Value-Added: An activity is value-added if a customer is willing to pay for; it changes form, fit or function of a
product or service; it converts input to output; it is not waste.
2) Non-value Added (NVA): sometimes called Type II NVA. These activities are unnecessary: they provide no
value for internal or external customers, and can be immediately eliminated.
3) Business Value Added (BVA): sometimes called Type I NVA. These activities provide no value to customers
(as defined above), but are necessary given current process limitations. Common examples are inspections,
management approvals, most quality assurance activities; technical support activities.
Usage


Example
Lean
Production
A cycle time reduction project might involve aspects of both.
Lean tools might be applied to streamline and order entry process.
 This application could lead to the discovery that significant rework occurs because of incorrect
addresses, customer number, or shipping charges.
 This results in high variation of processing time.
  Six Sigma tools might then be used to drill down to the root cause of the problems and identify
a solution.
(Toyota Production System)
Approaches initially developed by Toyota that focus on the elimination of waste in all forms, including
defects requiring rework, unnecessary processing steps, unnecessary movement of materials or
people, waiting time, excess inventory, and overproduction.
Getting more done with less.
Identifying and eliminating non-value-added activities throughout the entire value chain to
achieve:
WHAT:
Involves:
faster customer response
reduced inventories
higher quality
better human resources
Measure and continuous improvement
Just-in-time delivery and scheduling
HOW:
Cross trained workers
Realistic work standards
Facilitated
Flexible and increasingly automated
Worker empowerment to perform
by a focus
equipment
inspections and take corrective action
on:
Efficient machine layout
Supplier partnerships
Rapid setup and changeover
Preventive maintenance
At least 60% reduction in cycle times
25% greater throughput
40% improvement in space utilization
50% reduction in work-in-progress and
WHY:
finished goods inventories
Benefits
50% improvement in quality
20% improvement in working capital and
worker productivity
It takes an incredible amount of detailed planning, discipline, hard work, and painstaking attention to
detail.
 Few small manufacturing shops have familiarity with these principles. Thus, considerable opportunities
exist for this important economic sector.
My thought: Experimentation and implementation needs to be done with minimal impact on production.
Especially with small to medium size businesses. A LSS worksheet with tools needs to be created to
facilitate the efficient implementation of the Lean/Six Sigma DMAIC process.
http://qualityamerica.com/Knowledgecenter/leansixsigma/waste.asp
Waste (aka muda)
 Taiichi Ohno of Toyota defined the following five types of waste (Womack and Jones added the sixth; (ref: Lean
Thinking, Jones & Womack, 1996, Simon & Schuster):
1) Errors requiring rework. Rework refers to any operation required to fix or repair the result of another process
step. In service processes, management intervention to resolve a customer complaint may be considered
rework.
2) Work with no immediate customer, either internal or external, resulting in work in progress or finished goods
inventory.
3) Unnecessary process steps
4) Unnecessary movement of personnel or materials
5) Waiting by employees as unfinished work in an upstream process is completed.
6) Design of product or processes that do not meet the needs of the customers.
Some key tools used in lean production:
Defines a system for workplace organization and standardization.
Derived from Japanese terms:
Ensuring that each item in a workplace is in its proper place or
1. Seiri (sort)
identified as unnecessary and removed.
Arrange materials and equipment so that they are easy to find
2. Seiton (set in stone)
and use.
5S
Clean work area. Important for safety. As the work area is
3. Seiso (shine)
cleaned, maintenance problems such as oil leaks can be
identified before they cause problems.
Formalize procedures and practices to create consistency and
4. Seiketsu (standardize)
ensure that all steps are performed correctly.
Keep the process going through training, communication, and
5. Shitsuke (sustain)
organizational structures.
To minimize inventory and reduce and reduce cycle times, small production batches (ideally
Small batch or
a single piece) should be used, making the process flow in a more continuous fashion.
single piece flow
Makes it easier to find defects and correct them early, thus reducing rework later in the
process.
Indicators for tools, parts, and production activities that are placed in plain sight of all
Visual controls
workers so that everyone can understand the status of the system at a glance.
If a machine goes down, or a part is defective or delayed, immediate action can be taken.
Layout of equipment and processes is designed according to the best operational sequence,
Efficient layout
by physically linking and arranging machines and process steps most efficiently, often in a
and standardized
cellular arrangement.
work
Standardizing the individual tasks by clearly specifying the proper method reduces wasted
human movement and energy.
(Also described as Kanban or just-in-time)
Pull production
In this system, upstream suppliers do not produce until the downstream customer signals a
need for parts.
Single minute
Rapid changeover of tooling and fixtures in machine shops, so that multiple products in
exchange of dies
smaller batches can be run on the same equipment.
(SMED)
Reducing setup time adds value to the operation and facilitates smoother production flow.
Total productive
Designed to ensure that equipment is operational and available when needed.
maintenance
Source inspection
Continuous
improvement
11
12
Inspection and control by process operators guarantees that product passed onto the next
production stage conforms to specification.
Provides the link to Six Sigma.
In order to make lean production work, the root causes of problems need to be permanently
removed.
Teamwork is an integral part of process improvement in lean environments. (Refer to
teamwork techniques)
List and explain some of the tools and approaches used in “lean” organizations.
How does the lean operating concept relate to Six Sigma?
What are some reasons why the lean approach appeals to small organizations?
Example of Lean Concepts: Sunset Manufacturing Inc., Tualatin, Oregon.
35-person, family-owned machine shop.
Experiencing competitive pressures and a business downturn.
Look for ways to simplify operations and cut costs.
Established a lean steering committee to coordinate and drive the process.
The steering committee chartered a kaizen team to reduce setup time on vertical milling machines by 50%.
 The team used SMED and 5S’s approach as their basic tools.
Actions:
1. Standardizing parts across milling machines.
2. Reorganizing the total room.
3. Incorporating the SMED approach in machine setups.
4. Implementing what was termed “dance cards” which gave operators the specific steps required for the
SMED of various machines and products.
Tool preparation time dropped from an average of 30 minutes to less than 10 minutes.
Isolation and identification of worn tools was improved.
Improved safety and appearance in the tool room die to 5S’s application was apparent.
Machine setup time was reduced from an average of 216 minutes to 36 minutes (86% improvement).
Estimated saving were $33,000 per year, with an implementation cost of less than half that amount.
The net impact was:
a. Allows smaller lots to be run
b. A 75% reduction in setup scrap
c. Emergence of a more competitive organization
d. A morale boost for team members
My thoughts – Pull production for 3m customized oil drilling bits – A “phone home” based strategy.
 From the viewpoint of 3M (the supplier) to the customer (Halliburton for example)
3M Oil drilling bits - Install a device that measures the rate of penetration (inches per minute) of a drill bit at the customer
site (Halliburton drill site); on the drilling rig. Need to identify factors such as size and hardness of obstacles, which impact
the rate of penetration. When the rate of penetration decreases to a key level, a device should automatically “phone
home” with an alert. This alert should trigger activity between the supplier (3M) and the customer (Halliburton). Activity
may include customer contact (supplier to customer or customer to supplier), scheduling, ordering, quality control (to
evaluate the rate of penetration), client side inventory control (if applicable. Ask: do we have a replacement part? If so,
where is it? How long does it take to obtain it and install it?), supplier side inventory control (3M. Does the customer plan
to replace the part? Do we have a replacement part to satisfy a potential order? What is the lead time required to replace
the part? What materials are required? Can a just-in-time strategy be applied to materials required to manufacture the
part?
Lean Six Sigma and Services
Lean production is also called lean enterprise.
Lean production can easily be applied to non-manufacturing environments (Banks, hospitals, restaurants, etc…)
 Banks operate on low margins and require quick response and efficiency.
 Many bank processes, such as check sorting and mortgage approval, are systematic and repeatable
Example:
processes that are natural candidates for lean enterprise solutions.
Banks
 Handling of paper checks and credit card slips involves a physical process that is similar to a
manufacturing operation. The faster a bank moves checks through its system, the sooner it can collect its
funds and improve its return on invested capital.
Example:  Applied Lean enterprise principles to check processing operations.
Financial
Institution

Documented the check handling process from start to finish:
a. Recorded time spent in:
1. actual processing
2. waiting
3. rework
4. handling
Findings:
a. Found that almost half of a bank’s processing capacity was consumed by non-processing activities
such as fixing jams and setting up machines.
b. Revealed wide variations in the way individual operators performed their task, which lowered overall
productivity.
c. Found that the flow of incoming checks was not well matched to processing capacity, creating
bottlenecks.
d. Analysis revealed that all checks presented for morning processing were sorted 3 times. These steps
made it difficult to process the morning check volume in time to meet the account-posting deadline.
However, many of the checks did not need to be completed by the morning deadline.
Solution
a. Used just-in-time principles, they reduced batch sizes and spread the check flow evenly through the
day.
b. (Regarding d) The sorting of low priority items was shifted to later in the day when volumes were
lower. Capacity increased by 122%.
c. By freeing up capacity that had previously been taken up by waiting time, maintenance, and rework,
they were able to increase actual capacity by more than 25% without investing in additional
equipment, and more than doubled the margin contributed by the operation.
•

•
Example:
Medical
Laboratory
•
•
•
•
•
•
Example:
Local
government
•
•
•
A medical laboratory had been improving cycle time from test sample receipt to shipment for several
years and had achieved a 30% reduction, primarily by using new technology. However, doctors were still
asking for faster responses.
Solution
a. Using performance benchmarking, the lab quality coordinator found some examples of
manufacturing plants that had reduced cycle time by as much as 90% with little capital investment.
b. Identified and reduced waste that existed between the process steps, such as movement, waiting,
and inventory.
c. Used Lean production techniques to change the flow of test samples in the lab, and reduced cycle
time by another 20% within 7 months.
Fort Wayne Indiana. – The author does not reveal much about the problem.
Mayor enrolls the city of Fort Wayne into membership in the Northeast Indiana TQM Network.
Created new position of Quality Enhancement Manager, assisted by a SS Black Belt formally with GE.
10 city employees from various departments received SS Black Belt training and each completed a cityapproved project.
Results of some projects:
a. Reduced larcenies by 19% in a targeted area.
b. Increased fire code re-inspections by 23%.
c. Reduced the time to re-inspect by 17 days.
d. Increased the amount of transportation engineering change orders within an accepted tolerance by
21%
Fort Wayne Water pollution control plant – Waste activated sludge
Goal: Increase the amount of waste activated sludge processed through the plants centrifuge.
Result:
a. The city avoided $1.7 million in improvements to the WPC Plant’s digester.
b. The digester’s use of alternative fuels dropped 98%.
c. Operating time on the process decreased by 4 hours per day.
My Thoughts: Formalizing process improvement events helps to break down barriers and bypass “bad behavior” that
exists in many organizations.
Implementation Planning
σ A Six Sigma team must plan for implementing a solution. May include:
a. A pilot project to determine whether the proposed idea is feasible and will accomplish the improvement
objective
b. Preparing budgets
c. Training, facility or procedure changes
d. etc…
The Deming Cycle
A simple methodology for improvement
Originally called the Shewhart cycle after its founder, Walter Shewhart but renamed by the Japanese in 1950.
Plan, Do, Study, Act
PDSA
Similar to DMAIC except much of the focus in on implementation and learning so it complements the
Improve phase of DMAIC well.
• Consists of studying the current situation and describing the process: inputs, outputs, customers, and
suppliers
• Understanding customer expectations
• Gathering data
Plan
• Identifying problems
• Testing theories of causes
• Developing solutions and action plans
• Covers most everything in DMAI
• The plan is implemented on a trial basis, for example, in a laboratory, pilot production process, or with a
Do
small group of customers, to evaluate a proposed solution and provide objective data.
• Data from the experiment are collected and documented.
• Determines whether the trial plan is working correctly by evaluating the results, recording the learning,
determining whether any further any further issues or opportunities need to be addressed.
• Often, the first solution needs to be modified or scrapped.
Study
• New solutions are proposed and evaluated by returning to the Do stage.
• Statistical hypothesis testing can be used to verify whether a proposed improvement does indeed improve
performance
• Cost-benefit analysis might be applied to ensure that the improvement is fiscally responsible.
• Improvements become standardized and the final plan is implemented as a “current best practice” and
Act
communicated throughout the organization.
Back to the plan stage for identification of other improvement opportunities.
13
What is the Deming cycle? Explain the four steps.
Figure 6.3 The Deming Cycle
The Seven Management and Planning Tools
Tools had their roots in post-World War II operations research developments in the U.S., but were combined and
refined by Japanese companies over the past few decades.
Popularized in the 1980s by the consulting firm GOAL/QPC.
• A tool for organizing a large number of ideas, opinions, and facts relating to a broad
problem or subject area.
• Group ideas into similar categories, allowing for better understanding of themes (Wall of
1. Affinity diagram
sticky notes grouped together in a logical fashion)
• Cause-and-effect diagrams can be thought of as a graphical version of affinity diagrams.
• Useful in Analysis and Improvement phases.
• A tool for identifying and exploring casual relationships among related concepts or ideas.
• Example: Drawing arrows between sticky notes placed on a wall to show the chains of
2. Interrelationship
relationships among factors to show which factors influence or drive others.
digraph
• Helpful in drilling down to the root cause of a problem and for building a cause-and-effect
diagram.
• Useful in Analysis and Improvement phases.
• A tool to map out the paths and tasks necessary to complete a specific project or reach a
specified goal.
3. Tree diagram
• Breaks up tasks into progressively smaller elements or subtasks.
• A graphical version of the standard outline for a report or essay.
•
•
4. Matrix Diagram
•
•
•
5. Matrix data analysis
•
•
•
6. Process decision
program chart
•
•
•
7. Arrow diagrams
•
•
14
Implementation phase.
Spreadsheets that graphically display relationships between ideas, activities, or other
dimensions in such a way to provide logical connecting points between each item.
Example: House of Quality.
Implementation phase.
A tool to arrange data and display quantitative relationships among variables to make them
more easily understood and analyzed.
Scoring models are essentially matrix data analysis tools.
Implementation phase.
A method for mapping out every conceivable event and contingency that can occur when
moving from a problem statement to possible solutions.
Provides countermeasures that will:
1) Prevent the deviation from occurring.
2) Be in place if the deviation does occur.
Implementation phase.
These are essentially project management networks that have been used extensively to
sequence and schedule project tasks.
Shows the sequence of activities in a project along with time estimates and are used to
schedule and control projects.
Implementation phase.
List and Explain the seven management and planning tools.
Figure 6.4 Process Decision Program Chart
http://qualityamerica.com//Knowledgecenter/designedexperiments/designed_experiments_topics.asp
Designed Experiment
An experiment conducted under controlled conditions, using factor-levels intended to estimate specified
factors and their interactions. A designed experiment may be contrasted with the analysis of
happenstance, historical or casual data.
A designed experiment presumes that the process being studied or the simulation being performed is
stable and that the important factors in the process have been recognized. While an experiment may be
performed on an unstable process, the results may not be directly useful because of large experimental
error. All the important factors must be included; otherwise, the factors cannot completely describe the
process. See also Factor Selection.
http://www.qualityamerica.com/Knowledgecenter/designedexperiments/complete_factorial_design.asp
Complete Factorial Design
Complete Factorial Design - (CFD) A CFD consists of all combinations of all factor-levels of each factor.
A CFD is capable of estimating all factors and their interactions. The total number of unique runs in a
complete factorial design for fixed-level designs may be calculated as bf where b is the number of levels
for each factor and f is the number of factors. For example, a complete factorial design of three factors,
each at two levels, would consist of 23 = 8 runs.
Similarly, a complete factorial design consisting of five factors at two levels and four factors at three levels
would require of 25 * 34= 2,592 unique runs!
In most cases, CFD are not desirable and fractional factorial designs may be run with suitable results.
http://www.qualityamerica.com/Knowledgecenter/designedexperiments/fractional_factorial_design.asp
Fractional Factorial Design
Fractional Factorial Design - (FFD) A FFD is a design that is a regular fraction (1/2, 1/4, 1/8,...; 1/3,
1/9, 1/ 27,....; 1/5, 1/25,...), a 3/4 fraction or an irregular unbalanced fraction of a complete factorial
design.
A fractional factorial design is obtained by aliasing factor interactions with one another, which prevents
independent estimate of their effect.
Project Review – Improve Phase
A project review of the Improve phase should ensure that
 Team members have received any necessary “just-in-time” training.
 Process maps have been studied and evaluated in detail.
 Ideas and suggestions from all the right people have been solicited and considered.
 All reasonable alternatives have been identified.
 Both incremental and breakthrough improvements have been considered.
 Criteria for evaluating alternatives have been developed.
 Alternatives have been thoroughly evaluated for feasibility and improvement potential.
 Improvements identified align with the project metrics (“vital few” independent variables) and goals.
 Mistake-proofing has been incorporated into improvement ideas.
 Impacts of proposed changes have been tested and verified through experimentation or a pilot project.
Case Study
An Application of Six Sigma to Reduce Medical Errors
Review Questions
1
Explain the Japanese concept of kaizen. How does it differ from traditional Western approaches to improvement?
2
What is flexibility and why is it important to a modern organization?
3
What are the key impacts of cycle time reduction?
4
What is a stretch goal? How can stretch goals help an organization?
5
What is reengineering? How does it relate to Six Sigma practices?
6
What are the fundamental questions that should be asked when analyzing a process using a process map?
7
What is a kaizen blitz? How does it differ from traditional kaizen applications?
8
Why do people make inadvertent mistakes? How does poka-yoke help prevent such mistakes?
9
List and explain the three levels of mistake proofing.
10
Describe the types of errors that service poka-yokes are designed to prevent.
11
List and explain some of the tools and approaches used in “lean” organizations.
How does the lean operating concept relate to Six Sigma?
12
What are some reasons why the lean approach appeals to small organizations?
13
What is the Deming cycle? Explain the four steps.
14
List and Explain the seven management and planning tools.
Discussion Questions
Things to Do
Problems
Endnotes
IMPROVE
The following are example questions that will test your knowledge of the concepts within the IMPROVE phase
of a DMAIC Six Sigma project.
1) A four level, three factor, DOE is being conducted but due to time and budget constraints a half
factorial is used. What will be the number of treatment combinations?
A) 64
B) 16
C) 41
D) 32
Answer: D
Recall that factors are the power which the levels are raised. Four cubed is 64, and a half factorial means that
half of the full factorial combinations will be used, which is 32.
2) Which of the following are true of the Evolutionary Operations (EVOP):
A) Used when process is not in control
B) Limited to two or less input variables
C) high experimental risk
D) uses large samples sizes to detect small experimental differences.
Answer: D
EVOP is evolutionary in that it learns from existing behaviors to predict future treatments to improve the
response. It is normally used when a process is in statistical control.
3) Waste Elimination is a key component of the IMPROVE phase and will involve cultural
transformation and high assurance that team members and affected stakeholders are ready to change.
What tools are commonly used (not all depending on the project) at this time.
A) Stakeholder Analysis
B) Takt Time / Operator Balance Charts
C) SPC
D) Kanban / Pull Principles
E) Standard Work
F) Visual Management
G) Implementation of TPM
H) ANOVA
I) SMED
Answer: All choices EXCEPT C and H
4) The goal of IMPROVE is to make a fundamental change or prove through trials that a fundamental
change is possible by eliminating waste and determining the relationship of the key input variables that
affect the outputs of the process. When a process is in statistical control what are possible steps to
improve it to a better desired performance level.
A) Target and resolve the special causes
B) Minimize the common cause variation
C) Influence the customer to open up their specification limits
D) Open up the process control limits
Answer: B
The special causes must be eliminated to have an statistically controlled process. It may be possible that a
customer has unrealistic specifications or those that are too tight that it is not practical or financially viable, it
may be possible to work with them and prove through testing and validation that the specifications can be
opened or changed. It is not possible to select these values as you would like them, they are set by a formula
through the process itself, they represent the Voice of the Process.

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