Vishwadeep Khatri

Q. 197 A statistically unusual observation or an outlier is of special interest many a times. However, an outlier is ignored or removed from data set sometimes. What are the factors that help one decide if an outlier is to be considered and investigated or if it can be ignored safely? Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

The winning responses this week have been selected as those from Ram Rajagopalan, Indrani Poddar, Natwar Lal and R Rajesh. Noteworthy perspectives from Anupama and Kiran Kumar Also, please read response from Benchmark expert, Venugopal.

Q. 196 The rating in Net Promoter Score is obtained as Ordinal data (rating scale from 1 to 10), but this data is later modified to three discrete categories (categorized as promoter, neutral or detractor). When Ordinal is a better type of data, why is Ordinal data converted to Categorical data? Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Q. 195 While customer may be akin to God in business world, not every customer is worth the time and effort. What could be some guidelines for customer rejection ? Use examples from industries that you are comfortable with. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Congratulations to Manish Prasad and Natwar Lal for providing multiple examples of evolution of Kanban Boards. They are joint winners for this question.

Congratulations to both Natwar and Jayaram for giving perfect response for this question. Winner among the two is Natwar based on his introductory assumptions that are better explained clarifying the context.

Q. 194 Kanban Board was initiated as a Physical Board for teams who have a standing meeting every day to allocate tasks, report progress and take decisions. It has evolved in different ways in different domains. Provide examples for different kinds of Kanban Boards. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Hi Pratik, If you want to excel in Quality Assurance leading to Operational Excellence and further leading to Business Excellence, you may start with Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, followed by Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. In due course of time, you may progress to Business Excellence Master Black Belt. The first two can be done in quick session. All our courses can be seen at the calendar here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/calendar/ Our contact details can be found in the contact us page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/contact-us/ Let us know if you have any more questions.

The winner this time is Natwarlal for perfect response and many meaningful examples. Neelakandan has also provided correct response and an example.

Q. 193 Explain "Optimal Stopping Problem" and its impact on business problem solving with suitable examples. Also explain what is the best approach to address this problem. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening 5 PM as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Hi Vastupal, Happy to note that someone not just got free nomination and training but is also using the skills. Thanks for highlighting the Excellence Scoreboard as it is not being noticed by many people.

Q. 192 In Process FMEA, do existing process controls affect only the Detection Rating? Or do they influence the Occurrence Rating as well? Provide examples to explain your answer. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Q. 191 Explain the four terms with respect to Run Charts - Mixtures, Clusters, Oscillations and Trends. Does a run chart provide any advantage as compared to a control chart? Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

This should help. It is important to remember that seeking inputs is only start of the journey. Employees will look forward to some implementation in the direction of their inputs or a reasonable feedback. When you begin with a good intent, it is good to think through the entire sequence. There are chances that the surveyor gets overwhelmed by number and kind of responses and feels immobilized due to lack of resources or authority.

Q. 190 In the DMADV roadmap of Lean Six Sigma, the last phase is Verify/ Validate. Explain the difference in Verification and Validation using examples from different domains/ industries. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Q. 189 Pareto Analysis is one of the most used tools in the search for significant contributors to a problem. What are some of the common misuses of Pareto Analysis? Explain with examples. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Hi Shraddha, Congratulation on getting the top score in Mumbai Green Belt recently. With respect to your question - I would say that the objective is important. The question usually is - "Why should one want to consider assessment of loss and waste?" Usually the answer to that question is "To improve the efficiency or turnaround time of a process". In Lean Six Sigma world, we like to select processes of business interest and then calculate waste in those processes through Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) or Value Added %. It is generally not advisable to calculate waste for the whole organization. We recently had a discussion on PCE on the link below - You may also like to look at the following for modification of definition of waste - Hope this helps.

Q. 188 Explain the common challenges in Severity Assessment as a part of PFMEA (Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis). Also mention how these challenges can be addressed. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Q. 186 Provide some of the latest examples where breakthroughs with improved accuracy or reduced turnaround times have been achieved due to use of effective algorithms for predictive analytics. Do provide your reference source of information at the end of your response. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Q. 185 Explain Drum, Buffer and Rope approach and describe how it relates to Kanban. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Q. 182 Explain Prior Probability and Posterior Probability along with application of Bayes' theorem in a business scenario. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

The best answer has been provided by Vastupal. He has explained the three systems along with reasons why one should be preferred over another.

Q. 180 Highlight the advantages of heuristic methods over classical problem solving methods. When should we prefer heuristic methods? Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.

Thanks for posting that question. Use of Lean Six Sigma in Vendor Management varies as per Industry and roles assigned to Vendors. Here are a few examples Vendor Management in Automotive and Aerospace sector is a crucial area and the function is named as Supplier Quality Assurance. The expectations are high and engagement is deep and regular. We have worked with Boeing on APQP, a program that is focused on quality assurance through the entire supply chain. Vendor Management in an FMCG or Pharma Sector involves much lesser engagement with a specific vendor but their is rating on Quality and Delivery for all vendors. There is special focus on Raw Material and Packaging vendors as the impact of their operations is large and evident. We have worked with companies like P&G. Vendor Management in IT and Service Sectors is dependent on extent of involvement. The involvement is very high in Vendor Managed Operations (VMO). The vendor managed operations (mostly support services) are utilized by large organizations like Google. We have engaged with Google and have delivered a program on VMO. Overall, Lean Six Sigma (DMAIC) is heavily utilized in all the above situations. As an example, an outline of DMAIC applicability in VMO for IT and Services is shown below. The table also shows all the elements that are essential to make the Vendor Managed Operations successful. Sec Clause Description Lean Six Sigma Relevance for Vendor Managed Operations 1 Leadership and Planning 1.1 Statement of Direction (PROJECT SELECTION) 1.2 Business Planning (PROJECT SELECTION) 1.3 Target Setting (DEFINE) 1.4 Reviewing Business Performance (MEASURE) 1.5 Responsible Sourcing 2 Processes 2.1 Defining Requirements Passing Reference (DEFINE) 2.2 Developing and issuing RFX (MEASURE) 2.3 Selecting and contracting OSP’s 2.4 Implementation and Change Management 2.5 Closing Relationships and Programs Passing Reference 2.6 Reviewing OSP Performance (MEASURE ad ANALYZE) 2.7 Paying OSPs (MEASURE and Analyze) 2.8 Reporting Performance to Clients Passing Reference (MEASURE) 2.9 Gathering and Analyzing Customer Feedback (MEASURE) 2.10 Design of Key Customer Related Processes 2.11 Knowledge and Content Management 2.12 Quality Management (DMAIC) 2.13 Sales Management 2.14 Forecasting and Capacity Planning (MEASURE) 2.15 Scheduling and Real-Time Management 2.16 Training and Verifying OSP Staff Skills (DMAIC) 2.17 Customer Service Support Staff -Monitoring and Coaching 2.18 Unassisted Channel Management 2.19 Managing Process Control (CONTROL) 2.20 Corrective action and Continuous Improvement 2.21 Data Privacy and Compliance (MEASURE, ANALYZE) 2.22 Business Continuity 2.23 Reporting and Data Integrity (DMAIC) 2.24 Vendor and Key Supplier Performance Management (MEASURE) 2.25 Annual Review (MEASURE) 3 People 3.1 Hiring and Recruiting (DMAIC) 3.2 Training and Development 3.3 Managing Staff Feedback (MEASURE) 4 Performance (DMAIC) 4.1 Measuring Customer Experience (DMAIC) 4.2 Client Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction (DMAIC) 4.3 OSP Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction (DMAIC) 4.4 Overall Cost Management (DMAIC) 4.5 Key Business Process Performance (DMAIC) 4.6 Key Support Processes Performance (DMAIC) 4.7 Achieving Results (DMAIC) While I have highlighted one example, it is possible that you are referring to a different Vendor Management set up. Please feel free to ask questions relevant to your Industry and personal role. I will be happy to respond.

Q. 178 Explain the meaning and application of DFA index for a component. Note for website visitors - Two questions are asked every week on this platform. One on Tuesday and the other on Friday. All questions so far can be seen here - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/lean-six-sigma-business-excellence-questions/ Please visit the forum home page at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/ to respond to the latest question open till the next Tuesday/ Friday evening as per Indian Standard Time. The best answer is always shown at the top among responses and the author finds honorable mention in our Business Excellence dictionary at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/business-excellence-dictionary-glossary/ along with the related term.