Lean Six Homework

For both Lean and Six Sigma, what are three key performance measures?

1. Cycle Time: how often a product is completed by a process or the time it takes an operator to complete all the steps in the work cycle before repeating the. 2.Value-Creation: the part of the cycle time during which the work activities actually transform the product in a way the customer is willing to pay for 3. Lead Time: the time it takes for one piece to move all the way through a process from start to finish

Discuss why a company would wish to implement the Six Sigma methodology.

A company implementing the Six Sigma methodology would do so in order to: retain customers; increase profits; improve process performance; reduce variation present in processes; improve internal operations, quality, and productivity; and gain customers.

How can someone studying a process know whether or not the process is under control? Why is this important?

A process is under control if the amount of variation present in the process remains constant over time. Process centering must also be constant over time. If both of these are constant, then process behavior is predictable, enabling decisions to be made about process performance.

What is a supply chain?

A supply chain is the network of organizations involved in the movement of materials, information, and money as the raw materials flow from their source to production until they are delivered as a finished product or service to the final customer.

Select one of Deming's fourteen points from Chapter 2 and discuss how it relates to leadership

Dr. Deming's first point is to create 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 relates to leadership. This point relates to leadership by encouraging company management to "accept the obligation to constantly improve the product or service through innovation, research, education, and continual improvement in all facets of the organization (Summers,12).

When does equipment downtime occur? What are the three key sources of equipment losses?

Equipment downtime occurs whenever a piece of equipment fails to run or when the loss or reduction of a specified function causes production losses. The three key sources of equipment losses are: equipment downtime, speed losses, and quality defects due to variation in equipment performance. Speed losses occur when the equipment cannot operate at design speeds.

Describe the concept of Six Sigma

Essentially, Six Sigma is about results, enhancing profitability through improved quality and efficiency. Improvement projects are chosen based on their ability to contribute to the bottom line on a company's income statement by being connected to the strategic objectives and goals of the corporation. Projects that do not directly tie to customer issues or financial results are often difficult to sell to management. When choosing a Six Sigma project or any improvement project, care should be taken to avoid poorly defined objectives or metrics. Key business metrics include revenue dollars, labor rates, fixed and variable unit costs, gross margin rates, operating margin rates, inventory costs, general and administrative expenses, cash flow, warranty costs, product liability costs, and cost avoidance. Six Sigma projects are easy to identify, since the Six Sigma methodology seeks to reduce the variability present in processes, and 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. With high-volume products, even small improvements can produce significant impact on the financial statement.

Describe the key aspects of Feigenbaum's definition of quality.

Feigenbaum predicted that quality would become a significant customer-satisfaction issue, even to the point of surpassing price in importance in the decision-making process. Feigenbaum believes that quality is more than a technical subject, it is an approach to doing business that makes an organization more effective. Feigenbaum defines quality based on a customer's actual experience with the product or service stating that quality is what the customer says it is. He formally defines quality as "A customer determination which is based on the customer's actual experience with the product or service, measured against his or her requirements-state- stated or unstated, conscious or merely sensed, technically operational or entirely subjective- always representing a moving target in a competitive market."

Why is information sharing so critical when managing a supply chain?

Information is a key component of a supply chain. Organizations need to know what is needed, how much, and when. They can answer these questions through EDI or electronic data interchange. Information systems and networks provide increased data accuracy and reduce data transfer time. The exchange of information through EDI's, scanners, bar codes, and RFID allows for real-time data gathering and helps manage the supply chain easier. Companies who are effective with information sharing have increased data accuracy and reduced transfer time. They also design and manage their MIS systems effectively, and ensure data accuracy, integrity, reliability, timeliness, security, and confidentiality.

Select one of Deming's fourteen points and discuss how it relates to creating a customer focus in a Lean Six Sigma organization

Institute training on the job is the point I chose. This point is very interesting to me because unfortunately most companies don't do this. For example, my mother worked as a manager at Neiman Marcus. Neimans rolled out a brand new ERP system, new computers, and new processes. These changes were going to make checkouts faster, pull more information, and in turn make the customer happier because they would be able to see if there were different sizes in store and save time checking out. It did the complete opposite. It wasn't necessarily the systems fault, it was the lack of training. Corporate didn't send anyone to train the employees that would be using it. It caused nothing but delays, incomplete transactions, and misinformation being shown. It was a mess! If corporate would have taken the time and spent the resources needed to train the managers and sales reps that were actually using the systems on a daily basis, it would have saved them a ton of money, improved company morale, and made the customers happier.

Why should a company be concerned about the intangible costs associated with not providing a product or service that the consumer expected?

Intangible costs are hidden costs associated with providing a nonconforming product or service to a customer and involves a company's image. For example a cost that almost never gets accounted for would be missing a deadline. What other work or projects could we have done or bidded for if we weren't 2 months behind. Not only does it affect the profit line, but it affects your customer image. Who would want to have a house built buy a company that is constantly missing deadlines, shows up late, is unorganized, forgetful, etc... It is crucial that companies take these costs into consideration.

Define kaizen.

Kaizen refers to the need to make continuous improvement through small incremental changes

Describe Lean

Lean is a war on waste. Lean projects attack overproduction, intellectual waste, idle time, inventory, delivery, motion, and other forms of waste. Removing waste from processes enables organizations to use their resources better.

How does Lean thinking generate process improvement?

Lean thinking generates process improvement in 5 main ways. It first studies the process by directly observing the work activities, their connections, and flow. Next it studies the process to systematically eliminate wasteful activities, their connections, and flow. It then establishes an agreement among those affected by the process in terms of what the process needs to accomplish it. After that it attacks and solves problems using a systematic method. Finally, it integrates the above approach throughout the organization

What is a pull system?

Manufacturing systems requiring products to be produced only when a customer needs it. A pull system is part of JIT or Just In Time.

What is meant by the phrase "measures of dispersion"? How are these values used?

Measures of dispersion, the range and standard deviation, refer to the spread of the data. The range and standard deviation enable those studying a process to understand how much variation is present in the process

What information do measures of performance provide users?

Measures of performance reinforces the strategic plan that enables organizations to guide the direction of their business. It allows them to measure progress towards goals and objectives. Measurement systems allows for users to determine the gap that exists between desired and actual performance, determine the root cause of the gap, determines the necessary corrective action to eliminate the root cause of the gap, and determine whether the corrective actions eliminated the root causes and closed the gap between the actual and desired performance. In addition, these measures optimize overall results by balancing cost, quality, features, and availability for products and their production.

What is involved in a preventive maintenance program?

One of the key steps of a preventive maintenance program involves establishing maintenance intervals for all vital equipment. This is done by: periodically inspecting all equipment, scheduling regular maintenance, planning long-term maintenance, ensuring spare parts availability, lubricating equipment regularly, and documenting maintenance.

How would you recognize an organization with a customer focus? What clues would you need?

Organizations with a customer focus recognize that customers base their decisions about the quality of a product or service on the perceived value they receive. Value can be defined as a solution to a customer's problem or activity that a customer is willing to pay for. If the customer perceives their overall experience with the product or service as valuable, they will purchase it again. Organizations who seek to understand every aspect of their customer's interaction with their company. They as their customers for feedback and truly use the voice of the customer to drive changes about how they want to do business

What does understanding the capability of the process do for Lean Six Sigma practitioners?

Process capability refers to the ability of a process to produce products or provide services capable of meeting the specifications set by the customer or designer. This is critical information because it enables Lean Six Sigma practitioners to know right away whether or not there will be a gap between what the customer wants and what the company (its processes) is able to produce or provide. With this information it is possible to plan, understand, and improve processes so that the gap can be closed.

A company is trying to increase production rates at a particular machine. They are considering making two changes, but they aren't sure which changes will be effective. They would like to run an experiment to determine the best combination of these changes. Response Variable is

Production Rate

Why are measures of performance critical to project evaluation and control

Project control and monitoring involves gathering and appraising information on how the project's activities compare with the project plan. Actual progress is tracked against the performance measures established in the project plan. These performance measures help a project manager assess how time, money, and other resources have been used to produce the expected outcomes. Costs can get out of control when the project costs are not watched closely and corrective cost control is not exercised in time. By closely monitoring the performance measures associated with the project, an alert project manager can be prepared to respond quickly to deviations in order to keep the project on track and under control. Though very few projects have not had their goals and objectives modified in some way or another from their beginning to the end, careful project control enables a project manager to minimize the effects of these changes on the overall project.

How does a reduction in the costs associated with poor quality result in an improvement in a company's profit performance?

Quality in both service and manufacturing industries is a significant factor in allowing a company to maintain and increase its customer base. If your quality isn't good and gets passed to the customer, your warranty costs, scrap, and rework costs increase. So if you can reduce poor quality, eliminate defects before they get passed to the customer, your brand reputation and profit performance is sure to increase. Customers base many purchases off of quality and they will almost never purchase something from a company with a track record of poor quality

What are two aspects of an experiment design that will enable you to tell whether or not the experiment is well designed?

Quickly screens out the factors that do not have a pronounced effect on the response variable and Should provide the necessary to enable the experimenter to detect important differences between signigicant and insignificant variables

What is meant by the term SMED? What benefits does SMED provide?

SMED is the single minute exchange for dies. SMED calls for tooling and equipment to be designed in a way that promotes easy changes from one tool to another. SMED provides quicker setup times, quicker changeover times, and less quality issues.

List and translate the five S's.

Seiei: Separate or Sort Seiton: Set in order, simplify the arrangement Seiso: Shine, sweep, cleanliness Seiketsu: Standardize Shitsuke: Sustain, self-discipline

What is standardized work or standard operating procedures?

Standardized work means that everyone doing a job does it exactly the same way each time. Standard operating procedures include checklists, maintenance procedures, setup procedures, or other process steps.

Why does a lack of effective strategy deployment cause strategic plans to fail?

Strategic plans enable an organization's leadership to translate the organization's vision and mission into actionable and measurable activities. A lack of understanding, commitment, and participation by leadership will cause an effective strategy to fail. Strategic plans fail when what the organization wants to accomplish is not supported by a corresponding how the what is going to be accomplished

How can key processes be identified?

Study the organization from the customer's point of view. Identify those processes that have the greatest impact on the customer's value perceptions about the product or service and the greatest impact on customer retention.

What does the Lean methodology emphasize? What does the Six Sigma methodology emphasize?

The Lean methodology emphasizes process performance and increased quality and productivity all while reducing costs and enhancing profitability. Lean also focuses on eliminating wasted time, effort, and material. The Six Sigma methodology emphasizes the reduction of variation, a focus on doing the right things right, combining of customer knowledge with core process improvement efforts, and a subsequent improvement in company sales and revenue growth.

What does the X-bar chart show users? What does the R chart show users

The X-bar chart shows the accuracy of the data. The R chart shows the precision of the data. Using the R chart in combination with the X-bar chart is critical because together the charts show how the data is grouped (the measure of central tendency) and how the data is spread (the measure of dispersion of the individual values).

What is meant by the phrase "the central tendency of the data"? How are these values used?

The central tendency of the data is where the data is grouped or gathered. Determining where the data is concentrated by using the mean, mode, and median helps those studying a process or product determine the gap between the desired target and what the process is producing.

A school system has decided to adopt a Lean Six Sigma approach to doing business. Describe two key things they need to do to make a success of this adventure.

The school system needs to first prep for adopting a Lean Six Sigma approach. They should first understand what business they are really in. They should then analyze the findings from the internal and external assessments. The school system needs to find their strengths and weaknesses, get customer information, and check the government requirements. They should also study their competition, what are better performing districts doing different? Why are they better than us? After prepping for this approach, they should begin planning. First, they need a vision. What is their strategic direction for the future? Next, they need a mission. They need to turn their vision into strategic actions. Then they need to have their customers identify critical success factors. What do they customers want? After that, they should outline their goals, objectives, key indicators, and put contingency plans in place to allow them to be flexible if something were to go wrong.

What are the benefits of using a Kanban system?

There are multiple benefits to using a Kanban system. First it improves communication by indicating what is needed and when it is needed. Kanban systems also improve process management by focusing on visual control of the process. Kanban is a key control signal for JIT systems and it serves as instructions for production and conveyance and visual controls over production.

Define value-stream process map.

Value-Stream process maps include both value-added and non-value added activities, are the actions required to create a product or service from raw material till it reaches the customer. The steps of creating one are similar to creating a process map/flow diagram except for that during the investigation, details such as cycle time, changeover time, uptime, process activities, and inspection notes are included.

"It takes personal involvement to understand and remove the barriers that stand between current capabilities and improvement." How does this statement by W. Edwards Deming relate to leadership?

W. Edwards Deming states that "The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a negative way, the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure: to help people to do a better job with less effort." Leaders get people to do what they have not done before, thus leading to the organization being more successful. Leaders provide direction and purpose for an organization. It is leaders that provide the ultimate encouragement and reasoning behind why people would want to do their jobs. People perform on the job for a variety of reasons. They may perform for the financial incentives involved, the prestige, or the possibility of future rewards. Sometimes people even perform out of fear, fear of job loss, fear of retribution, or fear of unpleasant consequences. The most effective reason why people work is because they want to. According to Dr. Deming, leadership's overall aim should be to create a system in which everyone takes joy in their work.

How would you recognize that a project is being managed well? What clues would you look for?

Well-managed projects meet performance, timing, and cost objectives with a minimum amount of hassle. Well-managed projects are selected because of their ability to support the overall goals and objectives of an organization, moving the organization towards its vision and mission. Without projects, organizations lack a long-term focus and focus solely on doing day-to-day activities. Conversely, poorly managed projects are costly for an organization. A project that does not achieve its goals and objectives or is not aligned with the goals and objectives of the organization wastes time, money, and other resources. Misdirected projects, poorly planned projects, or poorly guided projects are demoralizing for the organization's members. Care must be taken to ensure that projects are appropriately selected to support the organization's mission and goals. Once selected, a project must be served well by its project manager and team in order to ensure its successful completion.

When determining potential failure causes, what questions should be asked?

What might have triggered this reaction in the system? What factors need to be in place to cause this failure to occur in the system? What would cause this system to fail in this manner?

When beginning to create an FMEA, Lean Six Sigma practitioners want to understand the process. What questions should they ask?

Where and how will this system (process, service, part) be used? In what conditions will this system (process, service, part) operate? What are the interactions with other systems (process, service, part)? What is the ultimate function of this system (process, service, part)?