Vishwadeep Khatri

DOE stands for Design of Experiments. There are multiple objectives for using a DOE. Understanding whether interactions effects are significant. Sensitivity analysis among critical X's (finding out which critical X's impact Y more than others and in what way) Finding our the most effective combination of inputs that can optimize Y. Identifying the critical X's (inputs) that impact the Y's (outputs) These objectives are usually always important in new product introduction or new product development activities. However, the same objectives exist if we are willing to look for optimum combination of inputs in an existing process (the combination in use currently may not be the best possible combination for great business results) The answer to your question is - DOE and NPI are different. DOE can help in NPI. DOE can help in improving an existing process or product as well. Hope this answers your query.

Dear Mohamed, Essar and Oil India Limited are also our clients. Now referring to your question of proposed Six Sigma projects, all such business or client pain area can be converted into a Six Sigma project where root cause is unknown or unverified and the solution (obviously) is also unknown. List of such projects are large and shall vary from company to company based on process maturity and type of projects handled. Best Regards, VK

Dear Swapnil, Do you see opportunity in TAT reduction or in accuracy (correctness) improvement? If yes, find out which one of them makes more business sense. Then try building a charter document that has a SMART goal. Let me know if you have any further questions. Regards, VK

A Black Belt should upgrade to Master Black Belt for several reasons. Enhanced Six Sigma knowledge and skills - There are a good number of questions that Green Belts and Black Belts ask but do not get satisfactory answers. Many such questions are answered in our MBB program. Six Sigma project management and dashboards- An MBB can marshal his Six Sigma resources well by choosing the right number of projects, managing them with visual dashboards. Leadership, communication and mentoring skills Advanced techniques - Taguchi Methodology, key Multivariate analyses, TRIZ. Simulations - Simulations are great as method of finding optimum solution, testing hypothesis or for validating solutions. Running simulations just needs a regression equation and good knowledge of range (and type) of variations in them. Simulations have wide range of applications ranging from marketing to field sales. forecasting to operations, inventory management to supply chain, HR resource planning to project management. This is one tool a Six Sigma professional must not miss.

Dear Anup, We have worked with some retail organizations. As per our experience, good improvement projects are feasible in most processes in Retail industry including inventory management waste reduction & waste management stock replenishment barcoding effectiveness transportation efficiency repacking effectiveness managing returns turnaround times in queues consumer satisfaction enhancement, etc. To begin with, you need to identify the important pain areas experienced by management (or customers) in your company. Let me know about more so that we can take this forward. Regards, VK

SIPOC is one type of high level map. In addition to SIPOC, you should also draw an overview flow chart showing cross functional dependencies. It is better to draw a single chart that covers the START to END of your process being considered for Six Sigma project. Regards, VK

Hi Swapnil, The scope and application depend highly on your aspirations. If you plan to get into management and finally into Business Leader's role, Six Sigma is of immense value. If your plan is to be a great graphic designer, the scope is lesser. If you wish to head a graphic design team sooner or later, I would say good scope again. Swapnil, to make this simple, Six Sigma is best applied by people who believe in process improvement, and strive for delivery of better TAT and accuracy for customers better than ever before. The best method to get a great answer to your question - Provide more details about what you do, what are the pain areas faced by key management professionals in Graphic Design function. These details shall help in exploring applications better.

Hello Sarang, 100% of automotive companies are using Six Sigma techniques. Many of them do not use the methodology called Six Sigma DMAIC or DMADV. If your question is about techniques, the answer is 100%. SPC, FMEA, QFD, DOE, etc.. they use mst of them. Regards, VK

Dear Praphul, 1. The project that you take should have unknown or unverified causes and unknown solution (when you begin). If solution can be found just by process mapping and brainstorming, there is no need to term it as a Six Sigma project. But you should still carry it out as the main objective is improvement. 2. Six Sigma requires use of Data Driven techniques. If you are not using data, it shall not be considered for project completion certificate. 3. Please post the hypothesis query in past participant forum. 4. Monetary benefits is not a mandatory requirement. However, good impact on a KPI should be visible. 5. To convince people that change is possible, you can carry out mistake proofing for some type of defects and showcase it. Also you may like to show with examples how extraordinary processes can make a difference. Best Regards, VK

Yes, the first check was REPEATABILITY, the second was a check on REPRODUCUBILITY as well as ACCURACY. Regards, VK

Hello Sarang, Most of the leading companies are using Six Sigma Concept. This is due to the fact they have gone for ISO/TS 16949 certification. If you go into details of this certification, you will realise that many of the Six Sigma techniques are required to be demonstrated for it. Regards, VK

Dear Viswanadh, I know hundreds of people who have done Green Belt projects and they are not from IIMs. Many of them have not yet undergone MBA.The qualification criteria varies a lot from company to company. A client of ours hired 5 B-Tech Engineers from Anna University, Chennai and sponsered them for Green Belt and Black Belt before taking them on board. There are good number of Insurance professionals (and those in banking and financial services who have had success stories). Some of them can be seen here - http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/page/media.html/_/banking-and-finance/ Regards, VK

I have observed in my recent interactions that people who have undergone Green Belt and Black Belt with small gap (and no project) have had impressive success stories. The fact that they did not carry out a Green Belt project first was no way a deterrent. Distinction in terms of project is based onthe following Black Belt project is relatively higher complexity (need for high rigour tools) BB project is cross functional (need to have soft skills and ability to handle resistance to change) BB project is longer duration (need to convince others persevere with data collection and analysis) BB project needs approval from higher ups (as it requires a "yes" for more resources) The important points to consider are What should a Green Belt do if a project turns out to be more complex than what was initially considered? What should a Green Belt do if a project turns out to have more cross functional linkages than what was initially considered. One answer is - "Take the advice of a Black Belt/MBB or refer to Fraternity for help" It is easy to understand that the Green Belt would have been better placed if he had undergone Black Belt already. Having undergone both programs, a person would not be perturbed by such happenings and shall be able to take up bigger challenges with confidence. Black Belt program also leads to better soft skills and ability to answer wide range of questions. No wonder, there are openings announced for Black Belts and Master Black Belts while Green Belt is considered a good additional qualification. Regards, VK

Dear Ashwini, Some identification ideas - Look for pain areas that have a good relation with key business metrics.For example - Relation with business benefits (like productivity or efficiency enhancement through training) Relation with internal customer impact Relation with external customer impact More ideas - Good projects may be identified in Improvement in training need identification process, Delivery effectiveness of specific high impact training modules Reducing Turnaround Time of training interventions. In any of these (selection should be on the basis of what makes more business sense), the important starting point may be the metric identification. If you have do not have good metrics in place, you may need to define such measures. Additionally, you may like to use Lean tools. (we do offer Lean Management Certification program with special emphasis on business processes like training) Best Regards, VK

I agree with Gaurav. We do not need to use the term Six Sigma in a company which is not exposed to the philosophy well. We have a good number of participants who have been using various Six Sigma techniques in process improvement initiatives but wisely avoid the terminology till some initial good assignments are completed. Six Sigma techniques are so powerful that each one if applied well has potential of bringing big benefits. However, in companies where senior management is driving Six Sigma, the scenario is different. Have a look at various perspectives at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/blogs Regards, VK

Sujeet Singh says: Hi kk, From your test of HOV, you can easily see what all subgroups are not homogeneous; which are falling away in comparison to other subgroups. Now go for one way ANOVA test but make sure you remove the subgroups which are not lying in HOV. Regards, Sujeet Singh

What if HOV fails ? Written by kaushal kayal / about 21 hours ago / 1 Comment Hi Guys – just a simple query for experts here. I am conducting a hypothesis test on some potentially critical Xs with more than 2 sub categories each. The objective is to identify whether 1 or more of the sub groups is statistically significant. “Y” here is continuous & all the Xs are discrete. Have conducted tests of Normality & Stability. In order to proceed with ANOVA, i need to ensure homogeniety of variances. What test should i conduct if the HOV fails ?

Dear Ajay, There are many ways to answer this. You can have a look at what many of our participants have had to say in this regard by clicking the following link http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/blogs/ Best Regards, VK

Hello Sonali, For this you need to communicate with customers of college canteen (students) and capture their expectations. You may like to talk to the canteen owner to know his pain areas (or problems that the canteen administration people face). In general terms the CTQs could be Revenue Cost due to wastage or losses Availability of key items Timeliness of service Having mentioned these, the Six Sigma project CTQ should invariably be derived from process owners or customers or business owner. Regards, VK

Hi Mohan, You may have a look at this video to get inputs on Six Sigma Case Study in a KPO environment. http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/page/media.html/_/business-strategy/six-sigma-in-strategy-suvendu-mahapatra-r23 Regards, VK

Santhosh, The correct control chart for variable sample size and defectives is p chart. Crossing a lower limit in a defects or defectives control chart is not a worrisome issue. (as you are charting defects/defectives - lower the better). However, in such a case, you may like to investigate the reason for an extraordinarily good performance. Regards, VK

Hello Niranjan, Opportunities should be same as the number of inspection check list items prepared by a subject matter expert for the process. Generally companies concur to take only the critical elements as opportunities. Regards, VK

Hi Roopa, You can have a look at videos on the following link -http://forum.benchma...page/media.html You can also take part in discussions at the following link - http://forum.benchma...ce-and-banking/ Best Regards, VK

Hello Bhuvana, The best method for you to use is simulation. In a simulation model, you need to input values for each product and costs (based on past data and known trends). Best Regards, VK

Using wikipedia as a source, you can notice that Pre-Press includes the following - Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in graphic form on paper or some other medium. Before the advent of desktop publishing, typesetting of printed material was produced in print shops by compositors or typesetters working by hand, and later with machines. Copy-editing, is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of a manuscript.Copy-editing is done prior to the work of proofreaders, who handle documents before final publication. Markup is an artificial language using a set of annotations to text that give instructions regarding the structure of text or how it is to be displayed. Markup languages have been in use for centuries, and in recent years have also been used in computer typesetting and word-processing systems. Proofing involves creating an accurate facsimile of the artwork before beginning production runs. This serves as a bond between the printer and their customer that the final product meets an agreed upon standard. Proofs in general can be done for all parts (images, illustrations, texts and colors) of print product. In this part, three types of proofing should be checked and printed out: the print-ready PDF files, the printer's proof and the imposition proof. Print-ready PDF files should be made after the layout using preflight at the printing house. The printer's proof should be printed out in high-resolution and checked by the customer. The imposition proof, which is usually done by the printers, should also be printed out to check and adjust the printing press. Proofreading traditionally means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. Modern proofreading often requires reading copy at earlier stages as well. Screening and adjustment of a continuous-tone of images such as photographs Imposition, or the combination of many pages into a single signature form. Separation, or specifying images or text to be put on plates applying individual printing media (inks, varnishes, etc.) to a common print. Manufacturing of plates The usage of different materials of plates should meet the needs of printing method. Usually rubber, plastic,aluminum are used for plates as well as film which is the photomechanical exposure and processing of light-sensitive emulsion on a printing plate. Manufacturing of plates should be well planned and delivered beforehand. Also, the cost should be calculated as well. Manufacturing of a high-quality print (PDF) file, which is used for the final printing. Paper select, choosing a proper paper is also a very important step in prepress. You may apply Six Sigma to pre-press activities if you identify chronic pain areas in any of the steps.