please respond to each of the following posting separately with or without citation
1. Karen
Provide an example of variation in the products or services in your industry and explain how this variation impacts customers.
In the call center industry one of the biggest complaints is hold time and the duration of the call, call handling time (CHT). As in any call center there can be variations in call length and the quality of the call. The longer hold times create a queue which means cardholders must wait for service. Long calls also are inefficient and ineffective for the cardmembers creating customer dissatisfaction.
Select one specific Six Sigma concept or tool seen in the Six Sigma Foundations course in LinkedIn Learning that you found to be most useful.
The tool I think will be most helpful is the project charter. This document will make the Six-Sigma process laser focused by creating clear objectives, timelines and scope (1). I find that in my line of business, leaders want better CHT but do not really know how to articulate the problem statement and specifically what they are trying to solve. The project charter will help the leaders and project team apply Six Sigma methods specific to the issues. All the data from the process flow and Kaizen work will help create clarity on how to effectively apply Six Sigma methods.
An example of a problem statement that would drive results could be,
CHT in the Philippines is outside of the acceptable target range. Increased CHT is creating higher wait times for customers which can be seen in the voice of the customer results. The increases in CHT are creating a longer queue for customers to wait before being serviced.
Increases in the CHT began in the 3rd. Quarter and have increased by 50 seconds.
Customer satisfaction scores have decline by 600 bases points.
The clarity in this problem statement will be the foundation for all the other phases and tools that should be used to Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (1). The problem statement should include pain points with quantitative data, include the What, When, and How Much, specific but not overly detailed and it should not have bias or solutions in the statement (2).
The Champion will know exactly how to work toward improvements and know who to include in the project team to drive results. The problem statement should not have solutions. The focus should be on the facts and the actual issue. Without a clear problem statement, the application of six sigma could fail to yield the results of reduced CHT.
Once the problem statement is understood the project leader can coordinate the team to determine the objective, scope, timeline and the metrics used to measure success.
Explain why you selected this particular concept or tool. How easy or difficult would it be to apply this in your industry?
I work in MIS and we receive many requests to analyze and create recommendations to solve issues like the one mentioned above. In most cases the problem statement is too generic and leaves room for misunderstanding. Forcing a team to really understand what they want to solve and the impact of the problem is the most critical phase. I think this is something that can be easily applied and is applied in some cases.
Chua, Richard. Six Sigma Foundations. Keu Roles of Executives and Champions. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/six-sigma-foundations/key-roles-of-executives-and-champions-2?resume=false&u=57878161
Simplilearn. 2021, March 10. Verma, Eshna. The Six Sigma Problem Statement. https://www.simplilearn.com/six-sigma-problem-statement-article
2. Melissa
Provide an example of variation in the products or services in your industry and explain how this variation impacts customers.
At Carter Machinery, one of our primary business units is Rental. A key process in the rental business is making the machine ready to go back out for rent when it returns from a customer. This can be simple cleaning, refueling and basic maintenance or it can be heavy repairs for damage or product issues. There is a lot of variation in the process for how long it take to make a machine ready again and this impacts customers because we may not have the model of machine they need when they call. This costs them delays and downtime and it costs us the loss of a rental agreement and generally reduced asset utilization.
Select one specific Six Sigma concept or tool seen in the Six Sigma Foundations course in LinkedIn Learning that you found to be most useful.
You can assess if this process is performing at six sigma by setting the ideal mean turnaround time for making a machine ready again with an acceptable variation (in other words, establishing the upper and lower control limits in a control chart). In the Six Sigma Foundations course, they also refer to this as an SPC chart (or Statistical Process Control) (1). Anything that falls outside of the acceptable range would be considered a defect. If the defects exceed a ratio equivalent to 3.4 defects per million opportunities, then it’s not within six sigma quality. As a blackbelt, if I was leading an improvement effort to reduce this make ready time variation, and therefore improve the quality of the make ready process, I would first map the current state process and then I would try to collect as much data for each step in the process as I could. At a high level, the process steps are:
The customer calls the machine off from agreement
Logistics picks up the machine and transports it back to the Carter location it was rented from
The machine is received into the yard and assessed for damage
A workorder is opened and any work is performed.
The machine is marked available and parked back on the ready line in the machine lot.
I would try to collect data for how long each step in the process is taking and start to determine the root cause(s) for rental make ready’s that fall outside of the acceptable control limits. I would then use an Ishikawa diagram (or the foundations course refers to it as a cause-effect diagram) to analyze the root causes (2).
Explain why you selected this particular concept or tool. How easy or difficult would it be to apply this in your industry?
I chose the current state process map combined with the data analysis because it’s an important foundational element that’s required to correctly identify the rental make ready processes that are unacceptable and why. I’ve used these tools/concepts many times, for many six sigma improvement projects. These tools, as well as the entire Six Sigma methodology and toolkit is extremely applicable to the construction dealer industry. I currently lead our Continuous Improvement team that utilizes Six Sigma
Sources
Chua, Richard. Six Sigma Foundations. How to use SPC charts. LinkedIn Learning. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/six-sigma-foundations/how-to-use-spc-charts-2?autoplay=true&resume=false&u=57878161
Chua, Richard. Six Sigma Foundations. How to use the cause-effect diagram. LinkedIn Learning. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/six-sigma-foundations/how-to-use-the-cause-effect-diagram-2?autoplay=true&resume=false&u=57878161
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