Vishwadeep Khatri

Dear Sarang, Six Sigma provides you a way of thinking different from others. You shall be able to use specific Six Sigma techniques, concepts and elements at your work place, even if you do not get a chance to do a full fledged project. There are good number of our past participants, who have been instrumental in introducing Six Sigma in their unit, function, department or company. Of course it requires carrying out small assignments whenever and wherever possible and showcasing them well. Six Sigma way of thinking can take you a long way. There are some Benchmark Six Sigma participants who are among top management positions today within 7-8 years of their professional career. They attribute phenomenal career growth to certain factors which have been summed up very well by Vivek Madan (who has a great success story which can be seen at http://forum.benchma...in-a-large-bpo/ Ability to see complete picture from a business perspective very early. I was able to interact with leaders of various businesses internally. So access to people and visibility was always very good. I was able to learn how processes behave. Carrying a Six Sigma toolkit with me always helped in day to day professional situations even outside the projects. Six Sigma language and jargon helped me to get the message across quickly Ability to deliver business benefits brought me closer to leadership sooner than others. The key lies in carrying out assignments that make sense for your immediate superior (or those that make business sense). Six Sigma provides you skill sets to be able to do this. After the training, you need to Carry out small assignments (practice six sigma techniques in a theoretical, simulated or real situation) while you wait for the bigger project. Remain in touch with the subject while you wait for the right opportunity For both the above objectives you shall be supported by PRIVATE FORUM (Another forum designed exclusively for participant queries and discussions) The mantra is simple - Whenever you are able to carry out an assignment (small or big) that helps your immediate superior or the company, your capability get noticed. It is better to start doing such assignments sooner rather than later. Six Sigma provides you competence that is industry independent. Six Sigma participant interviews (from various industries) can be seen at http://forum.benchma...at-2-interviews Regards, VK

Hi Shalini, The cost comparisons - Assuming you did this project vs. assuming you did not do this project, provide you with monetary advantage gained through a specific project. The project metric normally used is Cpk as the monitoring over some period (considered as a subgroup) is considered to be enough evidence. However, Six Sigma project benefits are tracked over a year in some organizations. Ppk can also be tracked in addition to Cpk. This, as you can appreciate, shall also depend on the scope of the project. It is important to note that Cpk and Ppk depend on rational subgrouping which may not always be time-based. When we consider a limited scope project (let us say within a machine line), Cpk enhancement is considered sufficient. Success in such a limited scope project can lead to additional replication projects (several other lines) which may impact Ppk. Moving away from Cpk and Ppk and focusing on the discussion above - the cost variation due to market rates is purely an external factor which does not contribute to either change in Cpk or Ppk. Project success tracked through purely financial benefits (which are impacted by cost and sales price fluctuations in the market) adds some kind of complexity which Suresh has addressed with his remark. We can probably add a twist to this discussion string. Should financial metric (which is impacted by factors outside the scope of the project) really be considered as an appropriate measure for the success of a project? If yes, should the impact of significant process capability enhancement be converted into an equivalent benefit (assuming that cost and price remained same as they were before the project started) Can there be a situation where Suresh's recommendation above will not be an appropriate method? Regards, VK

Dear All, Many people think Six Sigma works for repetitive processes and has no application for project situations. When I say project situations, I mean industries that work primarily with projects. Project situations are common in companies and functions that carry out construction, commissioning and installations, software development, plant and machinery development and manufacture, research & development etc. Although these sectors have significant differences in challenges that they face, the common element is that they carry out projects and each project is unique in itself. To understand the applications of Six Sigma in companies that carry out projects, let us take example of construction industry (as most people have some familiarity with this sector) In construction industry, Six Sigma usage can be understood with following points. Recurring problems exist at each stage of construction. When I say recurring, it means recurring for the company (may not be recurring for individual projects) If you study a construction project, it comprises of large number of individual processes ranging from soil testing to landscaping to structural designs to foundations, superstructure, interiors and exteriors. There are a whole lot of purchase and logistic processes as well. A good number of these processes are common to all projects. If processes and their linkages were robust many of the individual problems would not occur at the first place. The remaining can be reduced. The idea in Six Sigma is about making the processes robust ( so that the results are right the first time, every time) Not all processes are equally important. Processes that matter are those that relate closely to pain areas (for customers/ management). These processes need improvement. In each project, individual project managers, site engineers face a whole lot of problems that they solve. These problems do get solved in the project (after they have caused a delay or cost in the specific project). Normally there is no mechanism to aggregate learning from the experiences of these managers and use it for process improvement. Also companies do not have structured mechanism to use tried and tested techniques to eliminate or reduce such issues in future projects. To be able to study and improve management systems one needs a structured improvement approach provided by Six Sigma Six Sigma provides tried and tested techniques for a team based approach which converts each problem area into an individual "improvement project" When processes improve, there is a reduction in problems and defects. Primary defects in construction industry (and most of the project driven industries) are DELAY, REWORK and COST OVERRUNS and Six Sigma can be used to reduce any of these defects. This is not all. In addition to usage in improvements in existing processes (as explained above), Six Sigma is also used to design new processes (or redesign existing processes that contribute to project success (with better predictability than ever before). Any comments?

One important aspect in printing presses is the ink density. Process capability (the ability of the process to meet customer requirements) can be assessed using questions of the kind that follow. 1. Does your printing result in consistent ink film thickness both across and around the drum? 2. Is your densitometer calibrated and consistently checked? 3. Have you determined the specification limits for the inks in questions? (how far can the density shift up/down before the pressman must make an adjustment? - these upper and lower ink densities will be your upper and lower specification limits.) Now what are the chances that your printing shall remain with this specification limits? If the chances are 100%, you have got a wonderful process going. But if you know the practical sources of variation in this field, you would know that the print thickness does sometimes go out of specification. And each time that happens you have one the three possibilities. 1.Defective output leading to rework that is extra cost. 2.Customer returns or dissatisfaction which can mean lost of future business. 3.Competitor getting advantage over you in the next review by customer, although customer does not state his dissatisfaction. Six Sigma, in this technical process, is about meeting requirements first time and every time. If you are in the printing industry, this may be just one of your concern areas. Working scientifically in each of these areas using world best, tried and tested management techniques shall lead to wonderful business benefits. And that is Six Sigma advantage for you. Note - If you are doing lithographic or 'digital' printing you may want to check out the process control pages at http://www.gain.net (the Printing industries / Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) site. If you are working in flexography, have a look at http://www.flexography.org (The Flexographic Technical Association) site. Do reply to this post if you wish to discuss more on this topic.

Hello All, This topic needs a reference to another link - Six Sigma Success Stories. You can see at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/blog/4-benchmark-six-sigma-blog/ Regards, VK

Dear All, There have been several queries about Six Sigma applications in the field of training. This is of relevance to training organizations and is of relevance to people in training departments or working with training or related administrative roles. Have a look at the following points. 1. In manufacturing, service as well as EPC projects training is closely linked with quality of deliverable and customer satisfaction. When an organization starts identifying Six Sigma projects for business results improvement, training effectiveness is one inevitable focus area. 2. When training effectiveness (as an output variable) becomes a project objective, there are several factors (input variables) that link with it. Recruitment and selection effectiveness Trainer selection and competence Effectivenessof training needs identification Infrastructure quality and availability During and post training assessment effectiveness Content Methodology Medium (classroom, WBT, CBT etc) Planning effectiveness 3. As training effectiveness links with several factors as given above and it is generally unclear which factor has a bigger impact on the objective, (and therefore, a solution cannot be found with JUST brainstorming techniques), it is an ideal candidate for a Six Sigma project. 4. Six Sigma techniques provide the right approach as data driven scientific techniques need to be used to ensure a sustainable improvement. 5. Some companies have been doing projects to relate training hours with employee effectiveness. After all, training cost has to be justified. For example, if a person can learn enough in 20 days of training, 40 days of training expenditure may not be justified. Tests to compare job effectiveness with 20 days vs 40 days of training effort are a useful analysis. 6. One of our participants who has been successful with Six Sigma in HR (and she has always had training as an important focus area) has her interview posted. Click here to view the interview. Do post your queries to discuss more on the subject.

Last few decades have witnessed a phenomenal increase in the fertilizer consumption in many countries. As a result farmers and governments have stepped up efforts to expand farm production to feed the growing populations and increase agricultural exports. The major aim of these countries is to expand the agricultural output at a rapid pace as well as to improve the overall quality of the produce. Six Sigma has a number of applications in Fertilizers Industry which is an industry growing at a rapid pace across the world. IMC Global, one of the Leading Fertilizer companies across the world has adopted Six Sigma and is using it extensively to deliver high quality of products & services to its customers. Six Sigma is used across the organization to improve and streamline procedures with an objective to yield high quality produce. The company believes in ""feed the land that feeds the world". Six Sigma tools like ANOVA and DoE have huge applicability in Fertilizer Industry. For example, the impact of different fertilizers on Crop Yield can be studied. It means studying the impact of various fertilizers on the crop yield and selecting the most appropriate one. In India it will be critical to increase the produce/unit of land since the demand for food would go up. Moreover, the quality of produce is also increasingly becoming a central theme with more and more people getting health conscious. This is the best time to utilize the benefits of Six Sigma in the Fertilizer Industry.

The paper industry is exposed to challenges like increased demands for customized products, customer delivery times and changes in customer schedules. All this has lead to an increased pressure on the prices as well as the margins. Over the years the paper industry is faced with the problem of high energy costs with a lot of energy getting consumed in drying the paper. Six Sigma tools like DOE have been used to reduce the energy costs by identifying, optimizing and controlling the input variables like temperature of the heaters, speed of the fan and the distance of the fan from the paper. Once the best combination of Input variables is attained energy costs can be reduced. Some other examples of Lean Six Sigma application in Paper Industry are: Ensuring timely availability of raw material by improving underlying processes Reducing cost of production Minimizing waste and scrap Improving the overall quality of production Improving the paper machine efficiency and Ensuring effective use of new technology to modernize manufacturing infrastructure.

Food Industry Food Industry is one where it is critical to control quality. Given the huge number of people consuming the food products, even a small defect can assume critical dimensions and can have adverse impacts. Lean Six Sigma, hence, is very appropriate in Food Industry. Infact, the entire Food Supply Chain can benefit from the Six Sigma approach. Some of the examples of Six Sigma Projects in Food Processing and Distribution in this Industry are: Reduction in distribution costs Enhancing reliability of food products delivery Reducing or Preventing wastage in case of perishable items Improving delivery vehicle utilization Improving adherence to schedules at delivery and collection points Reduction in Maintenance costs/produced units Enhancement in Productivity Reduction in machine & plant maintenance cost Reduction in processing machinery downtime Enhancement in quality of packaging If you want to discuss more, please reply to this message post

We have had discussion on this topic earlier on Yahoo Groups. I am pasting the content here to take it further. FOLLOWING TOPIC PASTED FROM YAHOO GROUPS DISCUSSION ORIGINATOR: Vijaya Mair DATE: Thu Sep 4, 2008 Hi one and All, Can any one tell me about using Six Sigma and its tools in Law field or explain the relation of Six Sigma & Law. Thanks - Vijaya ____________ FOLLOWING RESPONSES WERE POSTED TO YAHOO GROUPS I don't believe there is any direct relationship between 6 Sigma and the Law. However 6 Sigma processes could be applied to Law to reduce the chance of errors - especially in the null hypothesis analysis of an error/cause. It is here that we want to minimize the chances of Type - I errors (or Alpha - which would reduce the chances of an innocent being convicted for a crime). My 2 cents worth ... Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel ___________ Sir, The concept is not about a particular field. The whole thing is centered around defects if any and available random data. Regards Anubhav gupta Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel _______________ Hello Vijaya, We can use it ina any field, but you need to tell about the scope of work you are engaged with. Based upon that, I can suggest the appoach. Basically, Six sigma can be used to reduce the process variation or the defects in the process. Any process will have either defects or high lead time. We can focus on either, based upon the importance & feasibility. Regards Santosh E ________________ hi Vijaya.. Six sigma can do wonders in law...finding the staistical relations can lead to accurate judgements...and Lean can help mistake proofing in many areas..its very detailed... _____________ HI Vijaya, I can relate Six Sigma to Law field easily in the following directions. May be it is useful to you. But it is really worth doing Six Sigma in the field of Law as it would solve the problems of lakhs and lakhs of people....and Indian Constituency / Pending cases / Pending files can get cleared. Automation can come in the right departments of Law. I am just throwing my thoughts by putting myself in the shoes of a person in the Law & Order. 1. Timeliness in completion of a case 2. Automation in Data Collection / Information 3. Improving Communication within the department. 4. Reducing the man hours in completing one single case thereby others (reducing the utilization time of lawyers) 5. Cost reduction 6. Improving Employee satisfaction (satisfaction of lawyers) 7. Removal of waste (LEAN methodology that can be linked here) 8. Removal of redundancy (again LEAN) 9. Removal of non value added tasks in the Law field and so on....... Thanks and regards, Badhrinath .S __________________ In my opinion if, by the term 'Law field', one is referring to providing legal services to clients (as done by an individual lawyer or a law firm) then Six Sigma can be related like any other service industry. However if one is referring to the entire judicial process, right from the inception of a lawsuit to it's adjudication, then the process becomes too vast, subjective and dependent on a horde of external factors, to be analyzed & controlled by any single set of objective techniques. On the lighter side... I am sure some enthusiasts can easily relate to usage of Six Sigma techniques even in the fields of politics as well. Regards Vishal Shakher _______________ HI Vijaya, Please throw some light on the specific areas of Law where you wanted to do a project or improve i.e. Pain areas. (Also state if it is Private / Public / Govt related stuff). The discussion points / forum gets to generalistic ideas instead of provoking the thought process. i.e. Brainstorming. As Vishal mentioned Law & Order constitutes a lot. We might not even find a Champion to promote especially in Govt./ Public enterprises. The Six Sigma awareness is very less in the industry. Even if we do not get to improve the present situation by LAUNCHING a project, we can still use all the possible TOOLS of Six Sigma and invite a Champion by showing improvements. Hope you have some extent of power to take decisions in a smaller horizon where you can implement the basic things mentioned in my earlier mail... Thanks and regards, Badhrinath. S __________________ Team, If a project on Law & Order has to be done, we need to identify the jurisdiction of the prevailing laws and states. Well, a six sigma project to improve L&O situation means the entire nation has to be involved, right from POLICE, politicians, Bureaucrats, General Public and in some cases the Armed forces. The project would be mammoth in the true sense of the word. The resources required for this would be numerous. If the project is limited to a legal service firm, then it becomes easier and feasible from resources stand point. As a GB project legal firm is better. May be a group of MBB holders need to plan and do the project for L&O improvement in the nation. Regards, Arun. ________________ Hi, I was heading Quality for QuisLex Legal Srvices (LPO) , operating out of Silicon Towers, in Hitech city. I was one of the first ones, to implemenyt six sigma in LPO. I have handled; 1. Contract summarisation, 2. Litigation support, 3. Legal Research, 4. Mergers & Acquisitions. I could use all tools for the legal scenario with ease. We can even calculate sigma value and find out the root causes. Take corrective actions, improve processes like any other processes from service industry. There are no seperate tools for LPOs. Regards, Eunice.

IT Hardware IT hardware Industry has been upwardly mobile over the past decade with quick penetration of products like PCs, Notebooks, Notepads, Laptops in the Industry as well as the households. Growth is again fraught with challenges because as the customer base grows and new competitors emerge there is a dire need for the companies in this sector to innovate, maintain margins and enhance customer satisfaction. The pressure is all the bit more because it is a price sensitive sector. Given this scenario Lean Six Sigma is naturally applicable in the industry as the need is to strengthen, optimize and improve all processes that impact margins, customer satisfaction as well as innovation. Some of the areas of Six Sigma application are: Improving the value perception of Products Reducing the number of defective products Reducing the warranty costs Quick resolution of customer complaints Enhancing Innovation capabilities by improving related Do post your comments to continue this discussion

Media Industry There are number of ways in which Media Industry can benefit from the application of Lean Six Sigma Methodology. Some of the critical success factors in thisindustry are customer satisfaction, revenue and cost/revenue. Keeping and maintaining the loyalty of customers would be the key driving forces in this Industry in the coming future. Some of the examples of possible projects in this Industry are: Maintaining and improving the quality of content inline with customer preferences Increasing revenue/page or revenue/minute through optimal advertising Resolving customer queries timely Time to change customer package as per their request (specifically for satellite TV providers) Continuous Innovations in programming and content by improving the underlying processes.

Oil and Gas Increasing demand for petroleum products has triggered the Oil and Gas industry to embrace more efficient means of Operations. Six Sigma has been applied by companies in Oil and Gas Industry to improve production, increase reliability and reduce costs while running safe operations. Some of the leading companies in this sector that been benefiting from Six Sigma approach are Chevron, Aramco, Texaco, Aera Energy, Baker Petroilite and Halliburton. Amongst Indian companies Reliance Petroleum, ONGC and Indian Oil have adopted Six Sigma in some of their core processes. Some examples of Six Sigma Projects done in Oil and Gas sector are: Improving Oil Production Improving drilling equipment effectiveness and reliability Improving fluid measurement systems Cycle time reduction in core processes Effective implementation of new technologies Improvement in yield from existing technologies Improving safety in offshore oil and gas operations Do post your queries to discuss more.

Hi Shalini, Interesting questions. 1. If you notice carefully - No. of Rejections per day divided by No. of files processed per day SHALL BE SAME AS No. of rejections divided by No. of files. So it remains discrete divided by another discrete. If both these numbers (numerator and denominator) have very few possibile values, the ratio or percentage can take very few possible values. So data should be treated as dicrete. 2. If you are treating number of rejection per day as continuous, you will need to test normality to be able to use any of the tests that assume normality. 3. All continuous data is not normally distributed. All normally distributed data may not be continuous at source. Questions and comments welcome. Regards, VK

Dear Chris, Six Sigma career requires some aptitude and inclination for basic maths to start with. Someone with years of experience need not worry about a formal degree to benefit from Six Sigma. Hope this answers your question. Regards, VK

Dear All, The global leader in logistics - DHL embraced Six Sigma many years ago. http://www.dhl.com/publish/g0/en/services/log_services/solutions/planning/supply.high.html Regards, VK

If we consider electronic durable items, two of the leaders are Samsung and LG. Both these companies started early with Six Sigma and have Six Sigma programs in place. LG - www.thehindubusinessline.com/2001/11/10/stories/0210186g.htm www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/lg_electronics.html Samsung - www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/12/13/stories/2003121301570200.htm www.samsungen.../Activities.jsp Among office equipment makers, Xerox is one of the leaders. www.xerox.com/about-xerox/citizenship/news/lean-six-sigma-quality/enus.html Regards, VK

Not many people are aware that the one of the most potent Six Sigma techniques named as Design of Experiments (covered in detail in our Black Belt training program) was first used in agriculture. In the 1920s, Fisher created the statistical approach to Design of Experiments (DOE), and the data analysis tool - Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), while working at Great Britain's Rothamsted Agricultural Experimental Station. Design of Experiments was first used in a major way outside agriculture in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Today the statistical approach to design of experiments is used in many areas like manufacturing and R&D, sales and marketing, and service. One of the fundamental concepts in Six Sigma is - One should identify the critical controllable input factors and then find the best combination of those for desirable output. In agriculture, the quality and volumes of crop can be influenced by the use of best combination of factors such as crop rotation pattern, spacing between seeds, fertiliser selection etc. There is no better place for implementation of Six Sigma than agriculture, especially in a country like India where agriculture yield contributes handsomely to the nation's GDP Regards, VK

Dear Abbas, You have mentioned that Six Sigma has more role in quality management as per your knowledge. Please note that the concept of quality management has changed rapidly in recent years. Earlier quality department (for operations) and audit department (for finance and accounts) of the company were considered responsible for quality. The recent concept is 'quality at the source' which means operations professionals are responsible for quality of their own processes. Similarly, Finance and Accounts professionals are being made responsible for quality of their processes. This is leading to quality department becoming smaller and smaller while six sigma 'belts' in each functional area are taking charge of 'quality at the source' I am sure you will appreciate that it is better to control quality of inputs at the source (at much lower costs) as compared to inspecting or auditing outputs at the end (leading to high rework and failure costs). This fact relates to the core philosophy of Six Sigma. These days, professionals from HR, finance, R&D, purchase, logistics, marketing, operations and various support services undergo six sigma programs to contribute to 'quality of the source'. Another reason that has led to Six Sigma training among all disciplines is the fact that complex problems need cross functional teams to address them. All such team member to understand Six Sigma concepts and techniques well. Regards, Vishwadeep Khatri Lead Facilitator, Benchmark Six Sigma

Hello Chris, Benchmark Six Sigma is a Exemplar Global (Previously RABQSA) Certified TPECS Provider for the Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Green Belt and Black Belt Competency Units. The certification is accepted worldwide. We have recently had participants from France and Germany, planning their trip in a manner that allows them to go through Green Belt, Black Belt and Lean Management Certification in India in a single trip. We have had a good number of participants coming from Europe, US and Australia and attending this program in India. Some feedbacks can be seen at the the homepage. To view the calendar of courses, please have a look at www.benchmarksixsigma.com/cal.html Regards, Vishwadeep Khatri MBB Trainer, Benchmark Six Sigma.

Dear Thomas, Punit has provided some ideas to reduce DSO. If DSO improves by implementing such ideas, you may benefit immediately. However, this would not be considered a Six Sigma project. In most companies, high DSO is a chronic issue and requires a detailed improvement project that uses data driven techniques. Six Sigma is specifically needed when common sense approaches have already been tried. Six Sigma is of specific use if causes of the problem are unknown and solution is unknown. If you attend Benchmark Six Sigma Green Belt training, there is a case study that focuses on reducing DSO. The case study is DMAIC based. Appropriate output parameter (DSO) is selected initially in DEFINE phase. A team is chosen for the project. Curr net status is assessed in MEASURE phase. Also reliability of data is verified. In the ANALYZE phase, study various factors are considered which could have impact on DSO. These include Order Size Region Billing Errors Customer type ]Product type Invoice categorization Experience of the person doing follow ups for payments These factors are analyzed with the help of data. Graphical, Quantitative and Qualitative tools are used to find which factors are critical ones. IMPROVE phase techniques are used in generating alternative solutions that focus on the identified critical factors and selecting and implementing the best. In CONTROL phase, good controls are put in place to ensure that benefits are sustainable in longer term. Hope this helps. Regards, VK

Dear Mohd Elzubair, There are thousands of professional trained by Benchmark Six Sigma who did not have a project when they attended their first training. There are two levels in a Green Belt program. The first one is getting qualified (on the basis of training and globally recognised examination). The second level relates to carrying out a real life project and getting a project completion certificate. Benchmark Six Sigma programs provide support for the first Green Belt project carried out by a participant within three years of training. You can definitely consider Green Belt through training and examination to enhance your career prospects. Regards, VK

Hello Farooq, The useful of Six Sigma can be understood in several ways. 1. Benefits to an individual in career progress 2. Benefits to organizations in enhancing business results 3. Benefits to individual in enhancing leadership and process improvement capabilities. If you wish to see how individuals have benefited, click here Regards, VK

Dear Shahir, Box plot explanation can be seen by clicking here. Warm Regards, VK

Dear Anish, Discrete data should be treated a discrete. Division of one discrete value with another discrete value can make it a ratio or a percentage, but it cannot be treated as continuous data. in your case, it is best to work with raw data as discrete data