Ms._Sharmistha

Supermarket in lean six sigma refers to a predetermined market inventory/storage. It's the location where a predetermined standard inventory is kept to supply downstream process. When any internal or external customer need any item they can retrieve the requisites from the supermarket . The supermarket basis the usage and demand, restocks the supplies .Supermarkets are located near the supplying process in order to have a quick check on customer's buying pattern, usage & requirements .
Before we go into further details of Supermarkets, lets understand what is a Three Pull strategy that is often put in use and how  supermarket is one of the derivatives from the Three Pull strategies
 A Pull Process is one where a unit/ workstation starts to work on its next order only when there is an available free slot on the output section . Which means if the demand of any item is high be it from an internal or external customer it would trigger the production of that item . Here the customer pulls order rather than the Push production where items are prepared no matter whats the demand is . The output section is not considered in Push production .
In Pull Process the inventories between workstations are managed & it directly influences and maximises the Lead time. The 3 forms of Pull connections are 
 
1.  Continuous flow : Products are worked on one by one with maximum inventory of one between workstations
2. Sequential Pull :A fixed quantity is determined & the sequence of product is defined, however a buffer with a defined maximum is allowed between workstations for variance.
3. Replenishment pull: Maximum number of products waiting where which type of product to be used is unknown
 
Supermarket is also known as a replenishment pull system where it manages inventory where variation of parts can be kept without knowing in what order the parts can be taken from the inventory/storage. A customer can take out parts randomly from the supermarket and the supplier replenishes the taken parts after a certain interval.
Supermarket can be implemented as connection between process steps when designing a Future state VSM
 
Following are the characteristics of a good Supermarket
 Supermarkets must have access to wide range of products, which is why they need to be arranged in shelves. A FIFO approach can be followed here where everyone involved can immediately see the state of things.FIFO lanes be implemented when a particular workstation uses different colours and is not aware how many colours they need in a particular day.A Supermarket should contain a FIFO is each lane to help guide which colour used in what quantity for a particular day which in terms will help forecast & strategise production  Market location serves an important factor. It is important to help gauge on unit consumption & back it up with demand. Market Locator can be used as a sort of isolator between batch demand spikes & upstream supply .If a market is positioned at loading bay it will automatically receive indications of spikes of demand whenever a truck reaches for loading . So its known in advance when the trucks arrive there is a demand spike over a certain period of time. Thereby designating a location or a marked floor area to be the virtual truck area of moving items from virtual truck smoothly for a chosen period is required in supermarket Products to be placed in plastic boxes , whose size would depend on the size of the material & each box is to be identified with a tag that shows the item details, the supermarket where it is located, supplier & quantity Supermarkets should be located in loops.The sequential operations need to have a similar production pace (Cycle time, Downtime, Changeover time etc.),Have similar requirement of workers ( multi-skilling & multitasking) & hence to be located close to each other The boxes become an indication of Cycle flow & Buffer stock depending on the demand. Each box leaving the supermarket triggers signal for the supplier in multiple forms  like Same box needs to be placed . A Kanban card can be put in use to identify when the material goes out and becomes a replenished order and instead of taking out label the whole box can be put in use Thereby supermarket is important as it manages material flow and eliminates waste , it also carries extra items in quantity from a range of a minimum and maximum without interrupting the flow and that results in increase in lead time & associated levels of WIP
 
 

Supermarket in lean six sigma refers to a predetermined market inventory/storage. It's the location where a predetermined standard inventory is kept to supply downstream process. When any internal or external customer need any item they can retrieve the requisites from the supermarket . The supermarket basis the usage and demand, restocks the supplies .Supermarkets are located near the supplying process in order to have a quick check on customer's buying pattern, usage & requirements .
Before we go into further details of Supermarkets, lets understand what is a Three Pull strategy that is often put in use and how  supermarket is one of the derivatives from the Three Pull strategies
 A Pull Process is one where a unit/ workstation starts to work on its next order only when there is an available free slot on the output section . Which means if the demand of any item is high be it from an internal or external customer it would trigger the production of that item . Here the customer pulls order rather than the Push production where items are prepared no matter whats the demand is . The output section is not considered in Push production .
In Pull Process the inventories between workstations are managed & it directly influences and maximises the Lead time. The 3 forms of Pull connections are 
 
1.  Continuous flow : Products are worked on one by one with maximum inventory of one between workstations
2. Sequential Pull :A fixed quantity is determined & the sequence of product is defined, however a buffer with a defined maximum is allowed between workstations for variance.
3. Replenishment pull: Maximum number of products waiting where which type of product to be used is unknown
 
Supermarket is also known as a replenishment pull system where it manages inventory where variation of parts can be kept without knowing in what order the parts can be taken from the inventory/storage. A customer can take out parts randomly from the supermarket and the supplier replenishes the taken parts after a certain interval.
Supermarket can be implemented as connection between process steps when designing a Future state VSM
 
Following are the characteristics of a good Supermarket
 Supermarkets must have access to wide range of products, which is why they need to be arranged in shelves. A FIFO approach can be followed here where everyone involved can immediately see the state of things.FIFO lanes be implemented when a particular workstation uses different colours and is not aware how many colours they need in a particular day.A Supermarket should contain a FIFO is each lane to help guide which colour used in what quantity for a particular day which in terms will help forecast & strategise production  Market location serves an important factor. It is important to help gauge on unit consumption & back it up with demand. Market Locator can be used as a sort of isolator between batch demand spikes & upstream supply .If a market is positioned at loading bay it will automatically receive indications of spikes of demand whenever a truck reaches for loading . So its known in advance when the trucks arrive there is a demand spike over a certain period of time. Thereby designating a location or a marked floor area to be the virtual truck area of moving items from virtual truck smoothly for a chosen period is required in supermarket Products to be placed in plastic boxes , whose size would depend on the size of the material & each box is to be identified with a tag that shows the item details, the supermarket where it is located, supplier & quantity Supermarkets should be located in loops.The sequential operations need to have a similar production pace (Cycle time, Downtime, Changeover time etc.),Have similar requirement of workers ( multi-skilling & multitasking) & hence to be located close to each other The boxes become an indication of Cycle flow & Buffer stock depending on the demand. Each box leaving the supermarket triggers signal for the supplier in multiple forms  like Same box needs to be placed . A Kanban card can be put in use to identify when the material goes out and becomes a replenished order and instead of taking out label the whole box can be put in use Thereby supermarket is important as it manages material flow and eliminates waste , it also carries extra items in quantity from a range of a minimum and maximum without interrupting the flow and that results in increase in lead time & associated levels of WIP
 
 

Quality Circle is also coined as Quality control circle  which is participatory management technique where small circles are formulated who meet up periodically to evaluate the Quality or to solve the problem at hand.  The concept came into picture in 1950 and later formalised in 1962 & then widely propagated and further structured by Kaoru Ishikawa.
The Quality Circle had 4 steps to identify & solve a problem  Plan- Do- Check -Act
The concept is existing now with Kaizen and Six Sigma methodologies , as Quality circle have the advantage of continuity & the circle remains intact from project to project 
 
The Quality circle used 7 quality tools which are even now in use and helps understand RCAs better and help control and improve Quality
Ex : Cause & Effect diagram, Pareto charts. Process Mapping , Graphical tools ( Histogram, frequency diagram, pie charts), Run Charts & Control charts, Scatter plots , Correlation , Flow charts 
As the aspects of Six Sigma would be Define, Measure, Analyse , Improve, Control for any gaps identified in the existing process & thereby fixation , recovery & control, Likewise from a Quality circle prerogative , now we have separate Process management, Process excellence teams who evaluate quality time to time & thereby try to run simulation and help business to improve efficiency .
Few Advantages of Quality Circle 
1. Detection of Quality Deviation  2. Acceptance by Customers  3. Timely delivery 4. Improve productivity
 
Hence the concept is even relevant now !!