It 407 Quiz 1

What do lean projects focus on?

-Reducing waste, wasted time, materials, people, and effort.

How do green belts, black belts, and master black belts interact when working on projects?

-Responsibilities of the completion of a project are shared among green belts, black belts, and master black belts. -Leadership on the project is the responsibility of the master black belt. -The master black belt may also provide additional training or guidance to both green and black belts

How does Six Sigma work together with lean concepts?

-Six Sigma focuses on reducing the variation present in a process. -Lean thinking enhance company performance by focusing on the reduction of waste. -They can work together because the both improve the value-added process flow. -Lean techniques are not as statistically oriented. -Six Sigma focuses on improvements that enhance the overall financial health of the organization.

Describe the Six Sigma methodology

-Six Sigma projects have eight essential phases: recognize, define, measure, analyze, improve, control, standardize, and integrate. -Six Sigma also places a heavy reliance on graphical methods for analysis. -Statistical methods, teamwork, and project management are key components of Six Sigma. -Six Sigma methodology seeks to reduce the variability present in processes

Describe the changes that occur to the spread of the process when the amount of variation in the process decreases.

-When the amount of variation decreases, whatever is being produced or whatever service is being provided becomes more homogeneous -Each product or service becomes more similar to the one previous and the one following. -This enables the products produced or the services provided to more easily meet the specifications placed on them by the customer.

What does a person need to do to become a black belt?

-achieved green belt status -continuing training and education in the Six Sigma methodology. -complete a specified number of successful projects, often resulting in a savings of $100,000 or more.

What are the benefits of implementing the Six Sigma methodology?

-better able to produce more products and services with its existing resources through an improved customer focus and streamlined work processes. -increasing their profitability through increased customer retention. -benefit from lower costs because of reduced waste and rework. -fewer customer complaints and warranty claims. -greater market share.

Describe what it takes to become a green belt.

-completed a designated number of hours of training in the Six Sigma methodology. -complete a cost-savings project of a specified size, often $10,000, within a stipulated amount of time.

Why would a company want to follow the Six Sigma methodology?

-enables organizations to capture more market share. -enables an organization to remain competitive in a changing, challenging business environment.

What do Six Sigma projects focus on?

-enhancing profitability through improved quality and efficiency. -project teams seek out sources of waste, such as overtime and warranty claims, investigate production backlogs or areas in need of more capacity, and focus on customer and environmental issues.

What are the benefits of implementing lean?

-improve process performance, improve quality and productivity, while reducing costs and enhancing profitability. -significant reductions in cycle times, handling costs, lead times, floor space usage, inventory, and customer service activities. -improvement in quality, inventory turns, profit margins, and customer responsiveness.

Describe the goals of the lean methodology.

-seek to improve value-added process flow. -seek to reduce the waste present in processes and activities. -focus on finding and eliminating non-value added activities.

What are the four major milestone events in the history of quality control that led to a major step forward in the concepts, methods, and implementation of quality control?

1) Shewhart's introduction of a statistical measure for quality improvement to the process in the form of the CONTROL CHART. 2) Deming's contributions to a NEW MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY for the institutionalization of quality improvement across the entire organization. 3) Taguchi's introduction of quality engineering, the PARAMETER DESIGN/ROBUST DESIGN CONCEPT. 4) The emergence of a world marketplace forcing entire nations to re-think and re-design their approach to quality.

Describe the difference between a black belt and a master black belt.

-Master black belt status can only be achieved by individuals with extensive training. (understanding of design of experiments, regression analysis, and statistics.) -training in project management. -Many organizations require a master's degree from an accredited university. -completed several large scale improvement projects, often resulting in a savings of $1,000,000 or more.