Vishwadeep Khatri

I got an email from a past participant which I am posting here for everyone's benefit. Please feel free to post answers to this query. Hope you are fine. I was a part of your December 2008 batch - Delhi. I have a question and I am unsure of how to post it in the group. If I am doing a green belt project to improve ASAT (Agent Satisfaction) scores of a process, what test should I use for Hypothesis Testing. According to my understanding, the 'Y' here is continuous data as the customers are rating the Agent on 3 parameters - Not met, Met and Exceeded. E.g: Listening - Met, not met, exceeded Knowledge - Met, not met, exceeded etc The measure phase shows that First Time Resolution is the main reason why a customer is dissatisfied with the Agent. In this case, the 'X' is therefore discrete data. So, how will I confirm that this 'X' that has been identified is the critical X? Please advise. Thanks,

I come across good number of people who attend training elsewhere and later attend Benchmark training for better clarity. They do mention that they got confused in the previous program. I do not wish to name any training organisation here and would leave it to you to find out with word of mouth. On the other hand, I have not come across anyone attending another program after attending a Benchmark program. 50%-80% of our participants join in our program through recommendation provided by past participants. Need we say more?

Another way of comparing fee is to compare Institutes with similar standing and global recognition - If you compare BENCHMARK, OMNEX, ASQ and MOTOROLA, you will find that our programs provide you the highest value for money. Also, you may like to know more about Global and Industry Recognition you get when you attend training from Benchmark Six Sigma. We have been conducting training at Global Leaders like Boeing(US), Google, Amazon, P&G, (US), Diageo, Here Solutions, JLL (Europe) etc. This provides you the highest Industry recognition.

Well, the fee is quite reasonable if you compare with recognized Institutes. Let us have a quick discussion on this. What should the true worth of a training program be based upon? Value of a Six Sigma training program should be based on (take your pick) Basis of how much you can capture and sustain. The ability of a program to influence a participant's thinking. If your thinking process changes and contributes to my results many times over, the training is invaluable! Application ability that the program develops. Motivation (drive) it generates. New discussion networks and communities it creates Recognition it provides Further learning opportunities it creates (it must open up new possibilities) Relevance to your current situation (the fact whether the trainer can help you understand how each topic can relate to you. If choose any one of the above or a combination, you will find our programs to be very high value for money. Price assessment The price for any product or service can be considered as high or low based on the value you derive out of it. The catch is that by the time you derive value from a training program, you have already invested in it. Nobody goes for Green Belt training twice to experience the difference. So, how do you know well in time? Try one or more of the following Check feedbacks of past participants from your industry, your city through the website. Ask for feedback. Ask for references. Study the recognition and background of the company and the trainer to see if you will get the knowledge that applies to your sector. Talk to the trainer and see if you get the confidence.

Have a look at the links below to view topics of your interest. You can participate in any of these discussions. If you do not find the topic that you were looking for, please feel free to start a new topic on the community. Best Regards, VK

Dear Praveen, Good that you asked this question. The answer shall benefit many. Generating financial benefits does not necessarily mean that improvement initiative qualifies as a successful Six Sigma project. An improvement could happen through a brainstorming session and creative thinking with no use of data or data analysis tools. I am sure you would appreciate that such projects do not qualify as six sigma projects (which requires a structured approach like DMAIC) To answer your question, it is mandatory to be trained as GB to be able to carry out a green belt project. It is unclear what you mean by "4 SSB projects". Could you please elaborate further? Regards, VK

Dear Dr. Hemant, You are right. As long as you do not find the first defect, you can say that you have reached the relevant sigma level as far as the finished product is concerned. There is few interesting point here. There are several ways of defining defects. In six sigma following elements could constitute the defect. (This is not an exhaustive list): Not producing as per required production standard (efficiency) is a defect. So low productivity is a defect. Failure in plant and machinery (breakdown) beyond industry standards or acceptable internal standards. Not meeting an internal customers requirement is a defect. So all internal quality complaints are defects. All reworks are due to defects. All scrap is due to defects. On field failure of your biological product during usage is a defect. Not responding to customer complaints within a specified time frame is a defect. Not resolving customer complaint within a specified time frame is a defect. Loss of order due to a communication failure in marketing is a defect. Invoicing errors (that lead to delay in payment) are defects. Not meeting a customer requirement is a defect - So delay in delivery is a defect I guess the point is clear. We need to define defects in the pain area (or the area where we see opportunities for improvement) and then initiate an improvement initiative. Many products are defect free when they are finished goods because of 100% inspection or rigorous inspection at the end. Each failure identified in final inspection or in process inspection is a defect. Going with Six Sigma philosophy, I would say the need for all inspections is due to the possibility of defects. If you can eliminate the need for inspection at all stages and still meet customer requirements (immediate as well as long term) and grow your business simultaneously you would be truly a Six Sigma practitioner. But sadly, this not true for most industries. Six Sigma is about striving for such perfection. Automotive component manufacturers have reached close to such perfection in some cases. They do not need to inspect their products at final stage at all because they have been first time right at various stages. Six Sigma performance can not be sustained. When a company reaches truly Six Sigma performance, generally competition raises the bar (the definition of defect changes, you need faster error free production, you need quicker deliveries) and you find a need for more improvement projects. If improvement is not any more feasible, new designs (of products and processes) are possible. So you start using Six Sigma DMADV instead of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. I have tried to put in a lot in a short while. Hope this helps in getting bigger perspective about Six Sigma. Best Regards, VK

Dear Praveen, You have a valid question. Covering the curriculum in four days was difficult initially. We successfully addressed this issue in following ways Development - Through research, we have designed this program in a manner that it covers more in less time. Pre-Course Material -To help participants, we provide pre-course material (yellow belt material) on registration which each participant must thoroughly go through before coming for training. Post Training Support - We have a PRIVATE FORUM for past participants where we help them with answers to their queries when they implement Six Sigma. Regards, VK

Dear Patil, Thanks for your query. For applications in Garment industry please have a look at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/topic/844-lean-six-sigma-projects-in-export-industry-focus-on-textile-fashion-garment-industry/ and post your queries within that discussion topic please. Regards, VK

Dear Naseer, Good that you asked these questions. There should be several others having similar queries. For applications in Marketing, kindly have a look at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/topic/681-how-is-six-sigma-useful-in-front-end-areas-viz-marketing-business-development-sales-customer-service-etc/ To answer your other questions There may be providers out there who provide online training or who just provide an examination. We at Benchmark Six Sigma believe that we cannot do justice to the material by teaching it online. A class room style teaching is essential for the participants to gain a full understanding of the concepts. This option also provides the participants to ask questions and get clarification on the concepts. You can very well attend the training without projects (and take up projects as and when possible).

Yes, Ramesh. He can. If he is trained on GB, he can go ahead and attend our BB training. Regards, VK

Some good points here. I agree that MBA or QA professionals or statisticians may have an edge over others. However, MBA or QA training course do not cover green belt content appropriately.Let us have a look at the following questions. Define phase - What are the methods to identify and select improvement projects with the right scope. Which method would you prefer over others? Measure phase - How and why does one use MSA (measurement system analysis) in a practical situation. When do you use Cp and Cpk and why? Explain with examples. Analyze - How can we put hypothesis testing to use in an improvement project in real life? How do you use a chi square test or ANOVA or a t test for identifying the critical input factor? How to use software for calculations? Improve - Why and where is DOE (design of experiments) appropriate? Where is it inappropriate to use DOE? Control - Why should you select Xbar R and not Xbar S for monitoring of continuous data when the subgroup size is small? I am highlighting few facts to substantiate my point - We have had IIT and IIM grads attending Green Belt training and they appreciated the learning through the program. Several Management and Engineering Institutes have tied up with Benchmark Six Sigma for their students being trained before they pass out. Can you make a guess which program these students are pursuing? All of them have gone for GREEN BELT. People who have worked for years in a QA profile can utilize Green Belt to their highest advantage as they clear their concepts (They can apply them straight away) Do you know which program did Azim Premji attend and which was the one former CEO of CEAT tyres attended? It was the GREEN BELT. GE at one time made it mandatory that all Champions (HOD's) must be atleast Green Belts. I wish to highlight here Six Sigma is not about plain statistics and management knowledge. It is about knowing and handling complexities in an improvement project that utilizes world best management techniques. It is also about working through exercises and case studies to know the answers to questions which have existed in our minds for years. Have a look at the following questions for an example How do you calculate appropriate sample size for data collection in different situations? Would the sample size be differently calculated if the data was discrete and not continuous? (simpler question is - what is the difference between discrete and continuous data) Most people agreed after the training that there was a lot more in it than what they imagined. Now, many of you reading this post would be thinking Green Belt is going to be tough. It is not that tough actually. Most of the questions above can be answered with appropriate use of statistical software (in fact most can be done with good old microsoft excel). We need to learn all of these and more through case studies and exercises in Green Belt as we gear up for Black Belt.

Good Question Let us assume the talent pool available in the market is same for company A and company B. Company A decides to to use Six Sigma for improving their results from recruitment process while company B does not do this. Now we would like to understand how company A can get better results with Six Sigma. Let us assume that Company A goes through DMAIC in the following way. Define - Using appropriate Six Sigma tools, it defines the problem as inability to meet SLA for recruitment. This problem is converted into a charter document and discussed in a senior management meeting. The objective of the discussion in the meeting is to finalize whether this improvement project meets the criteria for approval as a Six Sigma project. As senior management gets convinced about the opportunity for improvement and sees the possibility of good return on investment through this project, the project gets approved with a leader assigned. A team is identified to work on the project with clear objective and a time frame of 4 months is provided to the team. These 4 months shall be used to select the right Six Sigma techniques on the issue, with right people working on the project and senior management support assured with resources (time, meeting places, communication support). Company B continues in a haphazard manner fire fighting as always. You might have noticed that well begun is half done for company A. Measure phase - Team at company A prepares a detailed process map of the current process, finalises the CTQ with an operational definition (bringing absolute clarity about when do we consider SLA as met and when is it considered as not met). It also checks and fixes the measurement system and brings visibility and accuracy (Company B does not know at a point in time how many people are on rolls, how many recruitment requests are pending and for what reasons). Company A now measures and documents its current process performance to be at sigma level = 2.3 and fixes a target of improvement at 3.0 Analyze phase - Using appropriate six sigma techniques, team at company A now identifies that various factors that influence the recruitment success. These are listed as - i. Understanding of hiring needs from departments properly. ii. Identifying the right approach for recruitment drive iii. Selecting the message (including introduction to company and career prospects) iv. Selecting the right media for recruitment. v. The short-listing mechanism. vi. Making the offer with terms and conditions vii. On-boarding and induction process. Analyze phase part II - Team at company A now identifies the factors that are critical to recruitment success. For this it carries out a survey on good (selected people or people who got an offer) people who did not join in a recent drive. Team uses certain techniques like FMEA, graphical techniques like box plot, hypothesis tests like the t-test to finalize on validate few critical factors that influence selection success. Company B meanwhile knows that there are several factors that influence the efficiency of recruitment process, but has no idea where to focus for improvement. Improve phase - Team at company A identifies solution alternatives using techniques like creative thinking, benchmarking. The team then selects the best solution using the appropriate technique out of pugh matrix, multi-voting, delphi technique etc. Before implementing the solution, the team finds that they can carry out a DOE to optimize the solution further. The new alternate process (improved process map) is documented, piloted, validated and implemented. The team records the benefits with the next recruitment drive. Company B continues as before. It has no mechanism to learn from its own mistakes or to learn from mistakes of others (and no data driven approach to reach conclusions, no management support to approve good recommendations when they arrive) Control phase - Team at company A puts in the right controls in the improved process so that the benefits can be sustained over a period of time. It carries out mistake proofing at few places, and creates a control plan with audit check-lists to ensure that desired behaviour changes does actually happen. Finally with a better process in place and removal of gaps, delays, errors, and ineffective communication (at the right places), Company A starts attracting the best talent more effectively. To put in in brief Six Sigma philosophy is about using a systematic, scientific, data driven approach that leads to the best possible process (the best does not remain best for long so there is a need for continual improvement and more improvement projects periodically) Six Sigma methodology provides us with world best tried and tested techniques and we select and use the appropriate ones for a specific improvement project. Benchmark Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt training gears you up with not just the right techniques but also provides the wisdom about when to select which one. Do let me know if you have more questions. This post has been promoted to an article

Hi Rakesh, The answer to your question can be found at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/topic/662-six-sigma-in-supply-chain Regards, VK

Dear Karan, Most of the DFSS tools are covered in MBB. The next batch of MBB is announced for Chennai. Next MBB for Mumbai is not yet scheduled. Regards, VK

Dear Varun, Answers to your questions are mentioned below. Green Belt suits you. Work experience is not mandatory to join the course. The project completion shall depend on the industry and process that you work on. For example, if you work with a call center and initiate a project it just turns out that enough historical data for all important variables in the project is available, the project may be done in 45 days (assuming management agrees with your recommendations and initiates change, and you get voluminous data every day to validate the improvement. If we take another example, it may take not less than one year in a software development company which carries out few projects and (however hard you may try) validation shall take its own pace. We provide web based support during the project period. American companies do accept the certification as the course is globally recognized through Exemplar Global (Previously RABQSA). Regards, VK

Dear Dr. Hemant, It is good that you posed these questions. Although your question is already answered perfectly, I thought I shall add some more detail. (my comments are in blue) Your comment - I am new to this concept but I have read some books on this. One thing really confuses me is one statement - "errors detectable by customer". ( 4 / million) Is this true? My response - If you are at performing at Six Sigma level, it is true that errors detectable by customers shall be 3.4 per million or less. Few points worth noting here: If you succeed in reaching the sigma level 6, you shall have almost zero defects. But if your process is at Sigma level 3, you shall have 6.6% defects. When a company starts working on a process with six sigma methodology, it may try to move initially from Sigma level 3 to sigma level 4 (from 6% defects to 0.6% defects). Each improvement project completed successfully takes you one step closer to perfection. It is important to note that when a company implements Six Sigma, it may not target perfection in initial projects. In a Six Sigma implementation, customers could be internal or external. If the quality supervisor of microbiology lab finds a labeling error (before the report is given to the patient), the quality supervisor shall be unhappy. The quality supervisor is the internal customer. If you calculate sigma level with internal customer perspective, the errors may be more while at patient level (external customer) the errors may be much lesser. We need to define who is being considered as the customer for our process before we start working with the six sigma project. Your comment - If it is there are many products where the customer will not know the difference or will notice after years. For example, Soft drinks are being projected as health hazards after years and tons of consumption. Will this constitute failure? My response - The definition of failure is to be finalized by the process owner (soft drink manufacturer in this example) and this can vary from company to company. Ideally, any unexpected or hazardous impact on the customer should constitute a defect. In a Six Sigma implementation, we start with VOC (voice of customer) in most projects. The company needs to understand the stated and unstated expectations of customers (in terms of cost, taste, health, and safety in soft drink example). Your comment - One more thing (I read a question on implementation of Six Sigma in Microbiology and one on hand made products). Machines and human beings are different. I wonder if a human being can ever guarantee to beat same way even 100 times ( I know I am stretching it too far). My response - For processes that have human involvement or human intervention, we can not target perfection in the same way as in machines. However, a lot of ART is being converted into SCIENCE in pursuit of perfection. Let me explain benefits with three examples of Six Sigma implementation. Food outlets - Burgers and Pizzas from a single brand have become more and more similar irrespective of which part of the world you buy them (Cooking was always an ART but some have converted it into science). Development - Software companies are finding ways and means of documenting and transferring knowledge to freshers so that they become effective early. Health - Brain Tumor removal is getting safer and safer with the use of technology. Patient falls are less due to better stretcher design and better beds. Your comment - Anyway, my main question is - is it to be targetted to detectable by the customer or in real? My response - As a part of Six Sigma philosophy, we do not expect the customer to ever have a possibility of knowing, experiencing or detecting defects. So our objective is to ensure zero defects (either through better design or through better operations). in our own processes that lead to the customer experience. When you go deeper, you will realize that the six sigma focus is first time right every time in processes that can impact a customer. This may need hundreds of improvement projects and therefore the need to train people as green belt, black belt, etc. We can have a good discussion if you are planning to attend a forthcoming green belt training. Dates are at https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/calendar/

Dear Kaushal, It is possible to do a project at another place. In our recent Green Belt training, 3 participants got projects in one hospital (from where one participant attended the training). However, you need to carry out your own networking within the training batch or in our PRIVATE FORUM (past participant forum) to find a project after training. However, project is not a mandatory requirement for exam based certification from Benchmark Six Sigma. You have the option of completing a project within 3 years of training to earn the additional project completion certificate (at no extra cost) from Benchmark.

Dear Muthu, Six Sigma is the only approach that is based on ROI (return on investment). Like every improvement initiative, it has its costs (Costs in terms of time and effort people spend while doing projects in addition to obvious training costs). The key lies in having a good mechanism for project selection. Only those projects which promise a good annualized ROI should be selected. (for example one company had a criterion of 1:5 ROI for project approval). If 8 out of such 10 projects succeed, the company would make profits to the tune of more than 4 times investment within first year. The benefits accrue year after year and overall impact can be huge when many projects are carried out.

Dear Sandeep, Long Term and Short Term consider time based subgrouping. If another subgrouping approach is used, the equivalent terms used are OVERALL and WITHIN. So Long Term is equivalent to OVERALL (considers overall variation) and Short Term is equivalent to WITHIN (considers within group variation) VK

I agree with you Daniel. Regards, VK

Good point Ravi. I have not been very clear in the previous message. Big improvements happen when we convert improvement opportunties into well defined projects, assign the right team members, have the right management support and approval and use a structured methodology (like DMAIC) After tasting success with Six Sigma and setting their own house in order, many companies induce/ recommend/ suggest Six Sigma implementation in upstream and/or downstream companies. Companies like GE induced many suppliers to use Six Sigma. Similarly automotive companies are training and developing their suppliers on usage of Six Sigma techniques, Banks are forcing their service providers to use Six Sigma in their BPO environments. Common projects taken up are - Reduce delivery time without increasing cost. mprove quality without increasing delivery time. Reduce delivery time without reducing quality. Reduce cost without increasing delivery time.

In the example discussed so far, it has been highlighted that if the requirement is Sigma Level = 4 or Cpk = 1.33, several combinations of mean and standard deviation are possible and there is no option of ignoring standard deviation reduction here. To invite more discussion, let us assume this is a process where we want a significant improvement in average TAT (significant reduction in mean) and have already found that the standard deviation can not be reduced. (variation shall continue to play spoilsport). Let us also assume that reaching sigma level of 4 is not a predetermined target. If I repeat the same question - Would you set the goal for your project to reduce the average TAT from 5 minutes to 4 minutes? In case somebody does set that goal and the average TAT actually reduces from 5 to 4 with standard deviation being same as before, can we say that there has been an improvement in the average TAT?

Ari, Ram, SJ, Radhika, We have had some good discussion here. I agree with Ram that specification limits can relate to defectives when we consider critical dimentions or criteria. Also, Ari is right in highlighting that each defect does not lead to a defective. Let us take example of external audits. Minor non-conformities are defects but may not consider the management system as defective. However, Major non-conformities are also defects but even a single one is capable of making the management system unacceptable. There are similar product examples in garment industry and automotive industry where we work with minor and major defects. Similarly one critical defect in a call centers is sufficient for the entire call to be rendered defective.