Vishwadeep Khatri

Finally the Benchmark Six Sigma website has a new look after years. The big changes are as follows. A home page that show cases Industries and functional areas A change in focus from just Six Sigma project driven approach to a broader Data Driven Decision Making Four sections - Professionals, Organisations, Institutions, Learn & Share The majestic new logo and the chosen logo colours. A dynamic calendar integrated with our CRM

Question - A forensic expert walks into a room with a bunch of dead Six Sigma Black Belts who show no visible signs of injury. What's the first thing he should check for? Answer: Poisson distribution.

Srikant, there is a no re-appear fee for the first repeat attempt. A person can re-appear at an exam location but not at Benchmark office.

Sure. Scores in mathematics can be your CTQ.

Six Sigma qualification and skill-set is the most useful single program that prepares a candidate for a cross functional shift. As the techniques are same across industry sectors, it also helps in cross - industry shift. I have seen hundreds of professionals shifting industry and function (aided by SIx Sigma competence) which would otherwise be considered impossible.

The best use I have come across in a large scale ERP implementation is - Carrying out the ERP implementation as a DMADV project. Some of the ORACLE teams have been doing this. Hope this helps. You may like to go through the following topic as well - https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/topic/35176-common-mistakes-while-implementing-erp/?tab=comments#comment-45882

Also, you may like to see the topics tagged as "Lean Six Sigma in Maintenance"

Most of the textbook definitions of Six Sigma talk about Six Sigma being a strategy, methodology, metric, philosophy etc. There is another definition that I use in my training programs frequently. Lean Six Sigma provides you with world best methods of data driven decision making. If you are working in an organization or running a business, it is inevitable that you shall need to use data in decision making. Some pointers that highlight the importance of data driven decision making are given below. Even if one uses brainstorming techniques with teams, one can generate and use data.The use of basic cause-effect approaches for analysis like fishbone diagram get strengthened only by effective use of data.All functions in an organization generate data of various kinds. It makes sense to learn correct methods and techniques that help in decision making for business success.Analysis of wastes in a process requires data (like cycle times, takt times, value added time, non value added time, productivity, etc)Finding whether internal/ customer requirements (or regulatory requirments) are met requires data driven techniques like hypothesis testing.Forecasting methods are essentially a set of data driven techniques.Comparison of two or more sets of data( for comparing vendors, technology, techniques, materials, processes, customer types, teams etc) is a common need.Market research or R&D makes us of data all the time.Problem Solving is strengthened by usage of data.Project Management requires data driven decisions.Performance management cannot be considered fair unless data is capured, analyzed and used properly.To get more ideas on how Lean Six Sigma is useful in a specific Industry or Functional area, please make use of tags present at the top right section (found after clicking on forum tab above).

This topic has focused on companies who have announced FORMAL use of Six Sigma as a way of doing business. There are thousands of companies (virtually all large successful companies) who use techniques covered in Six Sigma body of knowledge for data driven decision making.

Hi Manpreet, Good to see your question. Stock replenishment is a key challenge in retail supply chains. In case you are facing such a challenge, you can learn Six sigma techniques to address this challenge. Going into details of stock replenishment issues, the challenge faced by each business is somewhat unique. The budget constraints and specifics vary a lot. If there is no easy solution in sight, a Six sigma expert along with a person having subject matter knowledge can try several management techniques to find the solution. The 'thrill' of a six sigma project exists purely because the solution is unknown and can be found only after significant study has been done with the right kind of data being captured. It is risky many times to jump to a gut- feel based solution instead of data driven decision making. Also, a gut feel decision may not be the most cost effective solution and a trial and error approach may be very costly for business to try several times. Welcome to the world of Six Sigma! You can explore other topics or go to website (using link at the top ), take contact details from there and talk to a Marketing Manager.

Hi Sachin, The answer is YES. Six Sigma techniques can be used in many ways for objectives mentioned by you. These challenges may be converted to SIx Sigma projects as well if they meet the criteria explained at http://forum.benchma...-sigma-project/ If you have a specific situation to discuss, please share here for further inputs.

A pain area needs to be identified that is suitable for Six Sigma application. Please have a look at "What is Six Sigma?" section for this.

Please have a look at the videos at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/page/media.html/_/banking-and-finance/ to get some idea. You can also visit www.benchmarksixsigma.com or our youtube channel to view the same. Hope this helps.

Hi Robin, I agree. Studying the video capture frame by frame is a good method to identify process detail and can lead to mistake proofing ideas.

No. You shall need lot more information. If you have a specific situation, please share here and we can explore the sample size assessment.

Sure. DMADV can be used in such a case. The net present value calculation should be positive in such a case. Please study the subject "net present value" and you shall get your answer. You can also use an online calculator like this one for assessing NPV. Hope this helps

Most useful. Six Sigma is about two things. Business analysis to find improvement areas (Define phase and Analyze phase) Measuring the right things, bringing improvements and ensuring the right controls (Measure, Analyze and Control). Business analysts are supposed to know and use half of six sigma techniques (at the least) in their day-to-day job.

Dear Kavitha, Feel free to explore around in this forum, especially the basics at http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/forum/68-what-is-lean-six-sigma/ and let me know if you have specific questions.

Hi Durga, For being successful in quality role, you need good ability to work with data. Quality primarily is about goodness. Goodness needs to be measured. Measurements and improvements in measures need data analysis ability. Most of the important data analysis tools come from statistics. To go through some basics in statistics, have a look here -http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/topic/353-statistics-level-1/ Hope this helps.

In my view, if we keep one as primary metric and the other as secondary, the complexity is addressed. Views?

Yes, in Excel, if you click on f(x), search for probability, you shall see various distributions, choose the distribution of your choice and click "help on this function" link at the bottom. You shall see explanation of the tool with example. Have a look at this screenshot for normal distribution. Hope this helps. Regards, VK

ANOVA should be usable for both the analyses. If you share some data, it should be possible to explore the application in detail.