RajeshGadgil

During the eighties when we went to a bank to withdraw money we had to fill up a Withdrawal Slip and wait in queue to deposit the slip on a counter and take a token. The withdrawal slip then went to an officer who checked the ledger for balance in the account. The slip then went to another officer who tallied the signature. The slip then reached the cashier who called the token no. to pay up - 4 handoffs Then came the "Teller" who took the withdrawal slip checked the balance and tallied the signature on his computer terminal and paid up. Today we just go to an ATM machine and withdraw cash with zero handoff.

YES. We are hiring a professional in an improvement manager job role. He should not only have undergone classroom training or a certification but also have the requisite experience of successfully executing real life improvement projects. If he has just got training then probably he might be a novice with theoretical knowledge but no practical experience. The greatest skill needed by such a professional is stakeholder management. He needs to take people along because he is moving towards bringing about change and any change is bound to face resistance. Hence he should have people management skills coupled with his knowledge of Six Sigma, Lean etc. People management skills are inculcated through experience. Hence he/she should have executed a few DMAIC/ DMADV projects which would be a proof of his overall skills.

If we meet our objective without really bothering about the amount of resources that we have put in then we can say that we have been effective. If we meet our objective while optimally utilising our resources then we will be said to be Efficient and Effective. For example, I am cutting an apple into six pieces of equal size. I can use a knife and cut into six pieces approximately of equal size. I have been effective but not efficient. If I take an apple cutter and cut the apple in one shot, then I am efficient and effective

As Lean concept helps us to identify different forms of waste, we are also introduced to various Lean manufacturing techniques which guide us to eliminate or reduce waste and improve our profitability. The famous Toyota production system has introduced techniques like Kanban, Kaizen, 5S, JIT, Poka Yoke etc. in order to help us not only identifying waste but also eliminate waste. We will need to employ one or multiple of these techniques within the organisation to eliminate or reduce waste.

Tribal Knowledge refers to the knowledge that is held individually by people within the company. It is knowledge gained by the employees during the course of their work which is within the minds of a few experienced employees and is not documented anywhere. Such knowledge can be useful or sometimes might be detrimental to the company, Since the knowledge is held within the minds of people, there is great risk of losing vital knowledge once such employees leave the company. It is considered detrimental to the long term sustainable growth of the company. Primary reasons for employees keeping the gained knowledge to themselves can be: 1. Sense of insecurity - fear of losing losing their job if others also know what they know 2. Ego/ pride of Employees - who feel that they will gain importance if they have more knowledge 3. Corporate apathy - Companies not interested in institutionalizing knowledge of their people Few of methods to capture tribal knowledge: 1. Identify the knowlegde 2. Identify the people who are good or are holding such tribal knowledge. Such people would be mostly the people who have been with the organisation for a long time. 3. Develop training programmes - Appoint such knowledge champions as trainers for new employees. There can be even cross departmental training programs. This will force knowledge champions to make presentations to train others. This will result in documenting the tribal knowledge which can be transferred across generations Tribal knowledge is like the knowledge acquired by our Dada's and Dadi's from their Dada's and Dadi's and it is held in their minds and not documented. Some of it can be baseless and not useful. However. some of it can be very useful. Like we learn from our Dada and Dadi by listening to them through stories, organisations should develop an ecosystem wherein the young employees interact and engage freely with the senior employees to transfer such tribal knowledge.

Following is a list of few qualities for a Business Excellence Sponsor: 1. He should be good at setting clear, specific and measurable goals which will help to establish accountability for a high performance team 2. Build high levels of trust within team members and stakeholders 3. Enable frank, honest and open communication between all team members 4. Good change management and conflict management abilities 5. Should not be shy of taking risks 6. Should nurture and encourage innovation 7. Should ensure fair reward and recognition and not tolerate mediocrity 8. Should be humane in his approach to understand issues 9. Ethical in his approach 10. Most Important - Should Walk the Talk

During these times of intense competition, corporations world over are trying to woo customers with continuous innovations in their products and services. At the same time working towards continuous improvements in their processes for driving down costs is an equally important priority to improve the bottom lines since clients always want more and more at less and less price. Lean and Six Sigma both are adopted by organisations to drive continuous improvement in their processes and drive down costs. Lean concepts help us to eliminate waste (muda) relying on qualitative techniques like 5S, Kaizen, Kanban etc. Six Sigma is adopted with a goal of reducing variance in processes and relies on quantitative and statistical techniques to understand the central tendencies, ascertain dispersions in data sets, check for specific patterns of data distributions etc. Analysis of Variance, Correlation and regressions analysis is then done to establish whether a hypothesis is true or false. Six Sigma uses statistical techniques for problem solving which is essentially descriptive analysis to understand what has happened or what is happening with a primary objective of process improvement. Business Analytics is the use of statistical techniques for Predictive and Prescriptive analysis gathering customer and competition data at different echelons of business to predict customer behaviour in different situations at different times and for different product or service offerings. Results of good predictive analysis help the business to take appropriate decisions. Business Analytics is therefore a domain which attempts to predict customer behaviour and help companies to take actions to positively influence customer behaviour to help improve top line. Lean Six Sigma is therefore a methodology having a primary objective of improving bottom line through descriptive analysis which is mastered by Six Sigma experts. On the other hand Business Analytics is a methodology having a primary objective to improve top line through predictive and prescriptive analysis. Although the statistical techniques would largely remain the same, it is the change in mindset that would help six sigma experts to become excellent at Business Analytics.

Kano Model is a tool used to assess or estimate the customer satisfaction levels while designing a product or services. It was developed by Dr Noriaki Kano wherein he categorised the customer requirements into five different categories. If the designers too care of these customers requirements while they decided on the features of their products or services then it would result in different levels of satisfaction of the users. 1. Must Be features (Threshold attributes) - These are the features or the attributes of a product or services which are expected by the customer or taken for granted. They would generally not be specified. These are implicit or unstated requirements of the customers. Presence of these features do not result in satisfaction of clients. However, absence of such features sure shot results in dissatisfaction. Example of such features would be decent mileage for a car, decent sound quality of the mobile phone, decent colour resolution a TV etc. These are basic needs. 2. Stated Requirements (Performance or One Dimensional Attributes) - These are normal features that expected by the clients and are spoken about. The clients knows that he wants these features in the product or the service. The presence of these features can satisfy a client and absence would dis-satisfy a client. For example having AC in a car, having free wi-fi in a hotel, having at least 12 hours of battery life for a smart phone etc. 3. Delighters (Excitement Attributes) - These are the features which the client does not normally expect. However, presence of these features results in exponentially increasing the satisfaction levels of a client which is Delighting the client. These are also unstated needs. The client does not know about such needs. However, when he gets it he is very happy. Examples of such needs can be free upgrade to business class while travelling, free subscriptions to certain apps like Netflix etc. 4. Indifferent Attributes - Presence or Absence of these attributes doesn't matter to the clients. It does not either make them happy or sad or result in their satisfaction of dis-satisfaction. Clients are generally neutral about such features. A normal car might have a top speed of 160 kms per hours. However for a city driver it does not matter because he would never drive at 160 kms per hour on busy city roads. 5. Reverse Quality Attributes - Presence of such features results in dis-satisfaction of clients and absence results in satisfaction. It goes to say that all clients are not same. For example if a very high tech smart phone is given to client base of older generation then they might not be able to use it properly which might result in their dis-satisfaction. At times a pop up keeps appearing frequently giving frequent alarms which might irritate the users. Kano model helps us to categorise VOC suitably and helps us to prioritise design efforts and investments based on the requirements of the target clients base. Most important aspect to be realised is that the client expectation of the different attributes is not constant and keeps changing with time. The Satisfiers become dis-satisfiers and deighters become satisfiers over time. Twenty years ago haivng an AC in car was a delighter. Today it is a dis-satisfier. It is a taken for granted feature. A driverless car would probably a delighter in days to come and a dis-satisfer in years to come.

Suppose we are conducting an experiment where we measure the weight of 100 random males and 100 random females. We find that for our sample the mean (average) weight of males is 70 kgs with a standard deviation (SD) of 20 kgs, For females we find that the mean weight is 60 kgs with a SD of 20 kgs. In our sample we find that males weigh more than females (70 kgs vs. 60 kgs), but can we extrapolate these results from our sample to the entire population (all males and all females in the world) and conclude that males weigh more than females on average? Statistical significance answers this question by telling us how likely (probability) it is that an alternate hypothesis (males DON'T weigh more than females) is true for the population. In our example its turns out that this probability (p-value) is 0.0005, which means it is extremely likely (99.9995% confidence) that our original hypothesis (males DO weigh more than females) is true. So we can say our results are 'statistically significant'. Generally it is accepted that if p-value is less than 0.05 our result is statistically significant, and we can say with 95% confidence that our result will hold true for the population. Although this choice of 0.05 cutoff is completely subjective and arbitrary, we can define our own statistical significance based on how much confidence we want to have in your experiment. If on the other hand we got the same means and SDs after conducting this same experiment but this time on a sample of 10 males and 10 females, the p-value would be 0.28, and now we would only have 72% confidence that our hypothesis will hold true for the population, so our result is 'statistically insignificant'.

A process is said to be stable when the variations are always within Upper and Lower Control limits whereas a process is said to be capable when the outputs of the process meet the specifications or the customer requirements. In a Stable process, the Special cause variations would be absent. Only Common cause variations would be affecting the process. In such we may not be sure whether the process is throwing up desired outputs which can meet the client requirements. Therefore we cannot be sure whether it is a capable process. In case the process is capable and not stable, meaning that it may be producing results which do meet desired specifications, however instability of the process may at times throw up results which do not meet the specifications. Hence Stability of a process is extremely important before we can certify a process to be capable process. For example, a train is required to take about 60 mins to run from Station A to Station B as per the railway timetable. So 60 mins is the specified time. However, due to some reason or the other if the train consistently reaches its destination within 90 mins +_ 5 mins then the process would be stable but not capable since it does reach within the specified time of 60 mins and therefore does not meet customer requirement. Now consider another scenario wherein the train reaches it destination at times within 60 mins however, many times it would reach in 60 +- 15 mins. In such condition the process may be capable but not stable. It still does not meet customer requirement consistently. Hence process stability is a pre-requisite to process capability.

Voice of Customer is a key starting point for a six sigma project in the journey towards business excellence. It is aimed at understanding the explicit and implicit requirements of the internal or external customers. These are then translated into Critical to Quality requirements. Listening to the voice of customer helps us in: 1. Configuring the features in our products to meet customer requirements 2. Improve the efficiency in operations by doing away with unwanted features 3. Improve customer experience 4. Get ideas to improve our products or services

Process map is a graphical representation of processes followed in any organisation. Process maps help us to: 1. Gain insight into the processes 2. Understand if there are any bottlenecks or repetitions 3. Brainstorm to check if there are any delays or NVA processes 4. Improve efficiency Different representation like SIPOC, Swimlanes, Value Stream maps have their own advantages and are used accordingly. SIPOC for example is used for high level process mapping during the define stage of the a six sigma project. Swimlanes diagrams are used when we need to break down the sub processes and check who on an individual or a functional level responsible for the process task. Value stream maps help us to understand and differentiate between the Va and NVA process tasks. Use and application of the process maps needs to done according to our requirements.

Correction - It is an action wherein a nonconformity in a process or defect in a product or service is simply corrected. It is an immediate action to reduce the impact of the defect or nonconformity. For example if there is fire then we pour water on it or use the fire extinguisher to put off the fire. In case there is mistake in the invoice sent to the client, we simply strike off and correct the mistake. In case the screen of a TV delivered to the client is broken during delivery due to faulty packaging, the customer is unhappy and we simply replace the TV or the broken screen. Corrective action - It is an action taken to analyse the cause which has resulted in occurrence of the nonconformity and ensure that the non conformity or the defect does not recur. Often a root cause analysis is done to understand the cause of defect and improvement actions put in place to avoid recurrence of the defect. For example, in case of fire, the root cause of why fire happened is analysed; whether there was any inflammable material around, what was the source of spark etc. Corrective action can be taken to ensure the inflammable material is removed, source of spark is eliminated etc. In case of a broken TV, packaging, transportation system, handling is improved so that the screen does not break in transit again. Preventive action - These are steps taken to ensure avoidance of potential defect or potential nonconformity. These are more of proactive actions to ensure any kind of undesirable situation is avoided. For example, all actions which can lead to fire will be well thought off and people will be guided to avoid any fire. Like putting No Smoking sign boards, having confined areas for storing inflammable material, training the relevant staff etc. In case of delivering TV, preventive action will ensure against not only screen breaking but to protect from any kind of defect occurrence. Making procedures and systems for corrective and preventive actions has certain cost implications associated with it. In situations where the nonconformity or a defect is a one off incident or is a low risk wherein the cost of correction would be insignificant as compared to the cost of corrective or preventive actions, we can prefer to go in for correction rather than corrective or preventive actions.

A checksheet is a standardised, structured document used to capture data in real time at the location where it is generated. It is typically a form which is given to people nominated to collect data so that data can be captured uniformly without any ambiguity so that it can be used for analysis at a later date. Concept of check sheet was suggested by Dr. Kauru Ishikawa. It is different from a Check list. Therefore checklist and checksheet should not be confused. Data is generally captured in the form of markings done on a blank sheet. For example: While designing a checksheet we need to be first understand what data needs to be collected and at what stage does it need to be collected. Secondly it should be easy to use and thirdly the data collected should make it easy for analysis. Coming to the real question whether checksheet would remain relevant in this era where automation is creeping-in in every walk of our life, there is no wonder that data collection is also automated. Eliminating human intervention in data collection definitely helps to improve the authenticity and the overall quality of data. Therefore checksheets in physical form may become obsolete in this automation era. However, it is very important for everyone to understand the concept and therefore it should continue as a topic in quality education programs. I would like to emphasize here that it is not the concept that is obsolete and is still very much valid. Therefore the young population needs to be taught about it. Only the manner in which the concept is implemented in changing with time.

W Edward Deming once said, Defect are not free. Someone makes them and get paid for making them. Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ), can simplistically said to the payment made to the people making the defect and then to people who correct the defect. COPQ can be divided into two major categories, Cost of corrective actions and Cost of preventive actions. Cost of Corrective action can be further categorised into Cost of correction for internal failures and Cost of correction for external failures. In addition their can be cost of reputation loss, customer dissatisfaction cost, legal penalties, etc. COPQ adds to the cost of producing goods or services and therefore needs to be managed to have a positive impact on the organisations long term objectives. Examples of Internal failure costs are as follows: Scrap, Rework Failure Analysis Inspection/ Testing of rework Degrading of product - which is then sold at lesser price External failure costs can be: Warranty costs Customer returns Customer complaint resolution Potential loss of customer Appraisal cost: Inspection and testing Tools and equipment used for Inspection and Testing Prevention costs: Process Cotrol Supplier Appraisal Training It is important to keep a tab on the cost of all the above activities. Ideally, prevention should be a fool proof so that Internal or external failures are not encountered. Even though tangible cost of internal and external failure can be taken care of, intangible harm to reputation could be much more.

Common Cause Variation in a process is also called as natural variation that occurs due to factors that are beyond our control. They are some things that are inherently part of the process. They are also referred to as Noise or Random Causes. They are usually predictable statistically or can be predicted based on historical experience. Special Causes of Variation are specific issues observed in the process or these are unexpected variations. W. Edwards Deming used the term "Assignable Causes" to describe special causes. Such causes would not have been occurred previously or expected to happen previously and are unpredictable statistically or with probabilities. It is important to differentiate between the special causes and common causes because common causes cannot be eliminated. You need to manage them within the tolerance limits of the process. For example the travel time between point A and Point B can be defined as 25 -35 mins with a mean of 30 mins. The common causes for the variance of plus/minus 5 mins is due to factors such as traffic on the road, no. of signal lights encountered during the journey etc. which are not in our control and need to be catered to in the process. A special cause for variation in the journey time on a particular day can be that there has been an accident on the road (and therefore traffic jam) or there could a car breakdown or simply that the car was out of fuel and we had to spend time at the petrol pump to fuel up. Misjudging the Common and Special causes can result in we spending time and energy in putting additional efforts to eliminate/ reduce the common causes OR sometimes we might simply accept variation due to special causes mistaking them as common causes which could have been otherwise been investigated and eliminated.

SIPOC is a high level process map used to provide a graphical or a pictorial representation of the process, customers, suppliers, outputs and inputs. It is generally done during the define or the measure phase of the project wherein the team brainstorms to map the different dependent and independent variables of the process. Different elements of SIPOC are as follows: Suppliers - Suppliers are the entities that are providing an input to the supplier. These can be Client, Call Center or the end user. Input - These are the independent variables of the process which have an impact on one or more outputs (dependent variables) of the process. eg. Calls, phones, headsets, trainings etc. Process - These indicate the steps or the activities that convert the inputs into outputs. eg. it tells the call centre executive - start with a standard greeting, verify the caller identity etc. Output - This is the dependent variable of the process eg. resolution of an issue with the client, client experience etc. Customer - These are the recipients of the process output. All these are represented in the form of a table with five columns, which helps to capture the "as is" picture of the organisations processes an many times helps to define the scope of the DMAIC project itself. Limitation of SIPOC being that since it maps processes at high level , some times we need to understand and map the process in detail to identify issues if any,

Before they started the Toyota Car Company, Mr. Taiichi Ohno and Mr. Sakichi Toyota invented a weaving machine which would not only operate automatically but also stop automatically in case the thread broke. An operator was not then not required behind every weaving machine, but one operator could keep a watch on many weaving machines at a time and attend to any of the machines which had stopped due to a broken thread or any other problem. This helped to improve the productivity and also maintain quality by stopping in case there was a problem observed. Autonomation is there Automation with a human touch. Thus Autonomation is a kind of semi automation or limited automaton where a machine takes away human intervention from the repetitive and boring tasks but retains the human touch to monitor the process and checking for any abnormalities. Autonomation is, therefore, part of Jidoka - a four-step process Identify an abnormality STOP Rectify the abnormality Investigate and correct the root cause Jidoka involves automated detection of errors at every stage of production and correct the problem at source rather than the issue being identified at the end of the production cycle. Although the production line needs to stop till the a particular issue gets resolved, it helps the spread of any error throughout the production cycle. As they say a stitch in time saves nine. This would be usually implemented with a few sensors installed in the automatic machine to detect the defect and may be an alarm to attract attention of the operator in case of any failure. Few of the modern day examples would be as follows: Building Automation - We install smoke detectors in every room to detect fire. This eliminates need of positioning one person on ever floor or security guards taking rounds every few hours. Instead one security guard keeps monitoring a control panel which gives an alarm in case smoke is detected by any sensor. The fire fighting machinery can be activated to prevent spread of fire and consequent damage. Similar analogy can be extended to fitment of Webcams in buildings. Instead of positioning many security guards we can have webcams fitted at multiple locations with one or few people monitoring the area. Action can be initiated if there is any security breach is observed. Airline Industry - Automatic checkin kiosks are installed at airports to encourage people to do self checkins. Human interaction is only needed when someone is having difficulty n checkingin which is done by support staff moving around the kiosks. Luggage moving on conveyor belts and passing through X-ray machines can also be another example of an automated process wherein human intervention is required only if any abnormality is observed wherein the conveyor belt is stopped to check any suspicious luggage. As far as the manufacturing industry is concerned, the advancement in technology also enables self correction which further reduces the human intervention and inches towrds complete automation. Autonomation therefore enhances the effective utilisation of the manpower and substantially helps in improving the productivity of the organisation. It helps in lowering costs and increases the level of client satisfaction.

Fault Tree analysis is a technique used for analysis of System Reliability, Maintainability and safety analysis. It is a deductive procedure for determining the various combinations of hardware and software failures and human errors that could potentially cause an undesired event or events. Such events are called as Top events. It is also used to evaluate of a occurrence of a top event using analytical and statistical methods Advantages: Deals well with parallel, redundant or alternative fault paths Searches for possible causes of an end effect which may not have been foreseen The cut sets derived in FTA can give enormous insight into various ways a top event occurs Useful for focused analysis of one or two major outcomes Disadvantages: Requires a separate fault tree for each top event and makes it difficult to analyse complex systems Fault trees developed by different individuals are usually different in structure producing different cut set elements and results Same event may appear in different parts of the tree leading to confusion

When we talk of Value adding or Non Value Adding or the Essential Non Value Adding activities we tend to look only form the client point of view and generally we apply binary conditions to the decisions to segregate between VA, NVA and ENVA. There may be situations wherein there might be a condition between binary 0 and 1. There may be a grey area between the black and white of VA and NVA activities. We need to look at the activity from the value it adds to your own organisation rather than looking only from the client point of view. A few activities may be helping in creating an environment which are enablers to the VAs. For example we have team leaders, project management, HR management or generally the management team who undertake activities which may not satisfy the 3 golden conditions. They may also not be necessary for legal compliance like the accounting activities which are classified at Essential NVA (ENVA). These are however Value enablers which create an positive environment to create value for sustainability of the organisation. For example, a elaborate recruitment process, motivational activities undertaken by HR, exit process to collect feedback for improvement from the exiting employees Or the planning, control and monitoring activities undertaken by the project management team, the quality assurance activities like the writing and continuously updating the Quality Manual and the procedures itself may not directly fit into the conditions listed in the question. However without these activities the ratio of VA/NVA would be lower in turn generating considerable amount of waste.

All companies existing on this globe are persistently driven by ambition to grow their revenue and margins year on year and to always stay ahead of the competition by capturing a largest market share in their respective field of business. In this endeavour they employ knowledgeable professionals, experts, specialists with varied backgrounds to help them achieve this goal. There is bound to be disagreements and conflicts when so many experts are brought together to deliberate on any topic. The disagreement or the argument between Lean Six Sigma and Innovation is one such conflict between the proponents of Lean Six Sigma and the proponents of Innovation. Six Sigma is an efficiency and quality process designed to identify problems and remove errors. It is about consistency, sameness and control whereas innovation is about transformation, luck, coincidence, difference, failure and disorder. Six Sigma is great for process improvements, quality and general management which might be good for incremental innovation. But when it comes to more radical blue-sky thinking Six Sigma is not a very ideal solution. One is a left-brain activity, while the other is right-brain. The greatest challenge today for most businesses is about managing the impact of the economic downturn coupled with fierce competition. It is imperative therefore to do things better, faster and cheaper and find new ways to create and capture value to survive. One of the options then is to make the best use of proven tools and techniques of Six Sigma and Innovation. Innovation OR Six Sigma is not the right question: CEOs of Companies which opted to choose between Innovation and Six Sigma, like James McNerny of 3M, Robert Nardelli of Home Depot and Ann Fudge of Young & Rubicam forced a shift to Six Sigma initiatives in innovative companies and almost destroyed them. By taking out innovation spending from the company’s budgets and focusing instead on improving existing processes, these leaders achieved some short term financial successes. However, this improvement could not be maintained in the long run and dry innovation pipelines led to poor performance overall. James McNerney, imported the ‘Six Sigma’ process from his old employer, General Electric into 3M which was known as an invention factory lost focus of the innovation culture in the company. This led to a sagging morale within the employees of 3M and led to the company losing its no.1 position of the most innovative companies in the world in 2004 dropping to no. 7 in 2007. Geoff Nicholson, 3M ambassador, and former vice president for international technical operations who is also widely regarded as the "father" of the Post-It note initiative commented once that "The Six Sigma process killed innovation at 3M". Innovation AND Six Sigma: Such an approach would be better since Executives of such companies would have a more powerful toolset at hand if they manage to utilize combination of the two. Innovation tools can be used to drive Innovation from concept to customer with a Six Sigma driven discipline that recognizes the need for risk and opportunity management to increase the value of an innovative idea whose performance and productivity is improved through Six Sigma. Companies like Caterpillar, POSCO and Scottish Power have successfully demonstrated how Six Sigma and Innovation can complement each other to achieve business excellence. These companies consistently outperform their competition by successfully using both Six Sigma and Innovation in an integrated way to drive sustainable high performance. innovation coupled with Lean Six Sigma led to a wholesale corporate transformation at POSCO. For example, the business-model decision to focus on high-potential segments such as the auto industry inspired new, innovative steel products. These new products, in turn, led to new processes to produce higher-grade steel. The ripples of innovation created through the Lean Six Sigma program enabled POSCO to accomplish a top-to-bottom transformation — from government-owned business to profitable private enterprise, from low-cost producer to value-added provider, and from regional player to global competitor. Six Sigma and innovation can co-exist. They both bring value to the party and while the languages may be somewhat different, it is possible to create a shared vocabulary and a shared understanding of how the two approaches to creating positive business change can work together. It is always a question of finding balance. Finding that balance between chaos and structure. Finding that balance between exploration and exploitation. Innovation and Six Sigma are not enemies. In fact they have a lot in common. In much the same way that it requires organizational commitment and a professional approach to achieve high levels of quality, it requires organizational commitment and a professional approach to achieve continuous innovation. If you can embed quality into your products, you can embed innovation into your organization. It is about connecting the dots and combining the strengths of both these powerful complimentary approaches. Citations: https://www.fastcompany.com/661292/six-sigma-and-innovation-culture http://www.digitalistmag.com/innovation/2014/08/04/six-sigma-versus-innovation-01257311 http://www.ixl-center.com/innovation-and-six-sigma/ http://businessfinancemag.com/business-performance-management/driving-operational-innovation-using-lean-six-sigma

Kaizen, Kaikaku and Kakushin are Japanese terminologies which are in vogue in quality circles. I will try to explain these terms with example of inspection industry in which I work. Kaizen --> It is a Japanese word for continuous improvement. Kai means change and zen means for the better. Change for the better. Generally, it is a terminology used for continuous improvement by making small little changes. It is good in cases where employees are encouraged to look around and observe the areas of wastage in their workplace and suggest to make small changes which can help the organisation to improve by reducing the wastage. Many organisations have instituted awards for Kaizen initiatives to encourage employees. The rise of Kaizen philosophy can be attributed to Toyota. In inspection industry we conduct inspections and issue reports. Kaizen improvements are like making standard formats for the reports, having electronics methods to forward reports to our clients, equipping the inspectors with dongles to access our networks from anywhere etc. It is like implementing 5S, reducing the seven types of wastages (WORMPIT) (7 mudas). Kaikaku --> Kaikaku is about making radical changes to the way we work. It is not about small changes but big fundamental changes in the way work is done. Inspection industry example for Kaikau would be to implement a few software tools for the clients to raise online inspection calls. Having mobile apps is also an example. Inspector is automatically assigned the call without human intervention. Once inspection is over the inspector can issue the report electronically from the site itself. Kakushin --> Kakushin is about Innovation. It is about completely transforming the culture or to give a product analogy, it is about having an alternative product to do the same function. In case we introducing some new ways of performing our job innovating the product or service then we call it a Kakushin. For example in inspection industry wherein an inspector has to travel to the workshops to conduct inspections and certify products. Taking advantage of the latest trends in technology we can use google glass to conduct remote inspections or to use drones to conduct inspection in hazardous area. Such transformation of way that we provide service is Kakushin. In this competitive environment, we need to employ all three Ks to optimise costs and provide a unique product or service experience to stay and be in business.

It would be incorrect on our part to say that either of them is wrong or to have an opinion in favour of either of their thoughts. We would be biased in such case. Deming himself was a statistician who worked with data. However, he probably realised at some point in his life that data alone was not sufficient to take management decisions. Data does bring in objectivity into our decision making. They say data does not lie. It bring out the facts to the table. However, there is a subjective element in good decision making. If we made decisions based only on data then machines can also replace us. If everyone took decisions based only on data then outcomes also would be predictable. However, random events do occur and many times they occur by a rule of nature. For example, we talk of law of averages when a team wins a few matches on the trot and loses crucial matches in the knock out rounds. The subjectivity is about our personality, our risk taking ability, our emotional quotient. The captain of a team then takes a decision a based on his gut feeling and turns around the match. Such events are the outliers, which many times are not considered or ignored by the data scientists. Hence subjective element of the decision making is equally important as the objectivity brought out by the data or the metrics. The outliers which are ignored may also sometimes play an important role. I feel this is what Deming would be suggesting while he made this statement. It is also opined that when the decision making is solely based on data then you are not encouraging people to take risk. Quantitative measurements will therefore keep you where you are and drive towards mediocrity. The qualitative elements may take you towards excellence.

Generally whenever we do a root cause analysis we tend to draw a fish bone diagram to list down all the causes followed by a pareto to identify a vital few and then look out for solutions to avoid the vital few. Identification of necessary and sufficient condition would also be a good practice. We can consider a situation which was shown in the movie "Sully'" recently. US Airways flight 1549 ditched in the river Hudson in Jan 2009. The Root Cause analysis of this failure was done. It was considered a miracle that no one died in this accident. We can say that the bird hit that happened to one engine of the aircraft was a necessary and sufficient condition to damage the aircraft it was not a sufficient condition to bring down the aircraft. Bird Hit happening to both engines was a necessary and sufficient condition to bring down the aircraft. Taking this analogy further, shutdown of engines that occurred was a necessary and sufficient condition for the aircraft to start losing height, it was not a sufficient condition for the aircraft to crash on land. Pilot through their presence of mind aligned the aircraft over the river to land it over water. People might have died due to Hypothermia or by drowning. Landing over water and asking people to jump in water or sliding them out in water might be said to be a necessary condition for people to drown but again not necessary. Presence of ferry boats in the hudson river ensured or demonstrated that this was not a necessary condition for people to die. They reached for help quickly and saved all the passengers, crew and pilots of the aircraft. Presence of mind of the pilots and the crew and the help extended by passenger to each other and the emergency help extended by the ferry boats ensured that it was a necessary and sufficient condition for all the passengers to be saved. The logic can be stated in Binary Algebra as the AND / OR Logic. In case of Necessary conditions it can be CAUSE1.AND.CAUSE2.AND.CAUSE3...... = Necessary Condition CAUSE1.OR.CAUSE2.OR.CAUSE3.......= Sufficient Condition

In all the four terms, the word Excellence is a constant. English Dictionary meaning of the word "Excellence" is being outstanding or "the best" in whatever you do. When we try to or tend to achieve or strive to be outstanding or the best in whatever we do we are trying to achieve Excellence. When it is about Personal goals in life eg. excelling in academics, being the best employee in our office, being successful in achievement our personal objectives, one can say that it is personal excellence. Similarly a company or a corporate body or a business in general would have its own objectives, viz. making profits, doing something good or worthwhile for the society what in business parlance we say creating value for its shareholder or for the society at large it would be termed as business excellence. Now a business or a company is nothing but a body of people coming together to achieve these common objectives. Depending upon the scale of business the no. of people working together in a company can be vary from less nos. to huge nos. Therefore there has to be structure or a method in this madness so that all these people working in different departments of a company, different locations, who might have different personal goals, who might belong to different cultures, different value systems are aligned to the common corporate goals. We need a set of standard and structured processes wherein all these different people clearly understand their roles and responsibilities and are able to act in a certain expected manner that the organisation or the business ultimately can deliver the intended value to its different stakeholders. When the processes are correctly set up and smooth out the operations we can term it as process excellence. A varied range of processes make up operations. Therefore collectively when one or more process get aligned to deliver results we can term as operational excellence. I would state a following hierarchy Business Operations Process People (Persons) If we have to achieve business excellence then we need smooth streamlined operations which are built on the foundation of strong processes which will in turn depend on the excellent people following those processes. Therefore they are all inter-related. Most good organisations or business do understand the importance of people and processes in achievement of their strategic business objectives. This realisation lead Mr. Kaplan and Mr Norton to come out with the Balance Score Card which encourages or builds in the People and Process development in any corporate strategy which most organisations do follow.