Shubham Chamoli

5 WHY TECHNIQUE
 
5 Why methodology was originated in Toyota by Taiichi Ohno and Toyoda Sakichi. The concept behind this method was to find a permanent solution to the problems that were being faced on production floors. For elimination of the issue/problem permanently, it is necessary to reach to the main cause or root cause of the problem.
 
Japanese always believed in the concept of "Go and See yourself", i.e. to understand the problem, one must go on the floor and witness the problem. So, it is important that we ask these questions from person who are involved in the process.
 
As per the technique 5 Why, it is believed that if we ask 5 whys to the problem, we will reach to the root cause of the problem. It clearly means that the problem that we are facing may seem easy to solve but in spite of implementing the solution, the problem may resurface, reason being that the actions were taken but not on the root cause of the problem. It is important to reach to the root cause to eliminate the issue permanently. 
 
By 5 Why, we intend to dig deeper and go deep inside the problem to find out the root cause. The same can be achieved mostly by asking 5 Why's but we may get to the solution even before the fifth why or even after it. 
 
5 Why method is very easy and can be used by everyone. It encourages team member of all levels to participate in problem solving activities.
 
Though it can be used only to solve problem that are less complicated, or we can say that it can be used easily when we have single root cause to a problem. But if we have multiple root causes, we may have to use other advanced techniques like Fish Bone Diagram, Pareto analysis, etc. 
 
5 Why can be used for:
1. Manufacturing defects analysis.
2. Identification of Process inefficiencies.
3. If there are any equipment failures.
4. Employee mistakes identification and correction.
5. Solution of customer complaints
 
 
As 5 Why assumes a linear relationship between causes and its effect, it cannot be used in:
1. Complex problem with multiple interdependent reasons.
2. Process with insufficient data or evidence to support evidence.
3. Problem arising due to interpersonal conflicts. 
4. Problems due to organizational issues/policies.
 
To Summarize: 
 

 
 
Effective for: Simple, linear, and direct causes. Ineffective for: Complex, multifactorial, or deeply systemic issues that require a more comprehensive and data-driven analysis.  

TEXT ANALYTICS OR TEXT MINING
 
TEST ANALYTICS is the process of analysing and processing large volume of unorganized and unstructured text data thru a software for indentification of any sort of pattern, logic, concept, keywords or other attributes of data.

CHALLENGES ADDRESSED BY TEXT ANALYTICS
Used for Opinion mining or sentiment analysis by reviewing social networks, emails, reviews for positive and negative reviews or feelings of customer. This is used to fix issues in products or service before it impacts the sales, revenue or profits. Data mining is also used for screening job candidates based on the keyword present in their resumes vis-a-vis requirement for the post. Used for blocking spam emails as per the actions and words available in past data. Also used for classifying contents of websites. Used for identification of fraudulant claims of insurance by analysing data. Diagnosis can be done by identification of description of medical situation or symptoms.  CHALLENGES BEING WORKED UPON
Data available for processing is often uncertain, unclear, indefinite and contradictory. Very difficult to process.  Ambiguity in the syntex of the data need to be processed along with presence of slang or sarcasm or techinal language to get proper result. Large amount of training data is required along with processing power which make the execution expensive. If data is biased result of analytics can be imperfect.

PROCESS BENCHMARKING FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
 
Process Benchmarking is a methodology in which we compare two processes over performance, just to identify, the scope of improvement in each process resulting in implementing best of best practices among the process resulting in better output or performance. 
 
This has always been the best methodology adopted, to improve, by companies within same industry, having more or less, same type of process. One process can be executed by different companies in different way, hence resulting in different results.
 
So, to reduce time and effort in identification where we are lagging behind, industries started process benchmarking with the competitors available in the market. By this way, they were able to identify the shortcomings in their process and improve the same by benchmarking it with the best solution available and implemented by competition. 
 
For Example, a company "XYZ" takes 1 hour to complete a process. By comparing it to a similar company "ZYX" of the same industry, it was found that it completes the same process in 45 minutes only. This means it takes 15 minutes more by XYZ to complete that process when comapred to ZYX. With this benchmark in place, XYZ can make improvements similar to company ZYX to reduce the time to 45minutes. 
 
Benefits Of Process Benchmarking
Helps understand your current position. Enables making improvements that matter. Encourages planning and aligns goals. Helps outlining roles clearly. Stages in Process Benchmarking
Define Focus : Define a tightly focused subject and choose an issue which is critical to the organization’s success. Select Benchmarking Partners : Identification and selection of organizations that excel in the process. Gather Data and Information : Collect data of organization selected available in form of products/schemes/resourses in market. Analyse and Compare : Compare your data with above collected data and identify the gaps in practices. Set Performance Target : Set goals as per above gap, to come at par or surpas them.  Develop Action Plan : Develop action plans which will meet above goal setting.  Implement and Monitor : Implement the actions and monitor result to meet the expectations. Learn and Iterate : Learn form above activities and repeat for continous improvement.  

 
 
 
Project Identification Made Easy
Process Benchmarking helps in project identification in a very easy way, as by comparing your data with others in the market, we get a very clear picture of our shortcomings. These are the areas where we have to improve and take projects. This methodology helps us in reducing time and area of improvement in measure phase, as we specifically identify the areas where we are lagging behind. Also, this helps us in getting solutions quickly as better performer has already implemented these solutions. 
 
To conclude, it is very clear that Process Benchmarking is a very efficient tool for analysing your performance against that of industry and it very clearly reflects the areas that needs improvement. Thereafter helping in identification of areas to take improvement projects with focus.