Suresh Jayaram

Hi Mahi, Are you talking about how to improve on-time delivery of products/services to your customers? SJ

Dear Sanjay/other Members, There are no well established norms for MBBs - even with respect to training and certification let alone continuing requirements. I think it is a great idea to have a refresher training for BBs and MBBs. Could we use this forum to discuss questions/concerns - sort of as a refresher? Or is a formal refresher training the best way to go? Not sure how many people would be interested in such a course. One thing we could do is to have a period of validity on the BB/MBB certificate (say for 3 years). If a person wants to renew their certificate, then they need to demonstrate that they have been active either by coaching, completion of projects, additional training etc. What would you think about such a requirement? SJ.

Dear George, Good observations. The decision on how often to sample and at what periods we need to take action based on sample results are business decisions a company has to make. During the initial phases, this data collection and action period may be long but over a period of time, I would expect that it would get shorter and shorter so that companies can respond quickly to changing performance levels or requirements. Would invite other's comment on the first three questions... Let me answer your last question: The formula in www.raosoft.com uses a normal approximation to the binomial distribution. This is a reasonable approximation if n is large and the value of p is not close to 0 or 1. This approximation is valid if n*p > 5 and n*(1-p) > 5. In the above case discussed by Fowzieh, this is satisfied. Note that the formula quoted on the raosoft website is calculated at a power of 50%. If you desire a higher power of test (1-beta), you need to use a formula that includes power in the sample size calculations. Attached is an excel spreadsheet that you can use to calculate the sample size for different values of power. sample_size_calculator_v1.xls

Dear Shradha, Companies that have already deployed Six Sigma would have an organizational structure in place to approve Green Belt and Black Belt projects. Typically, the deployment champion in the company would have made provisions for this approval to ensure that the organization is working on the right projects. Assuming you are working in a company that does not practice Six Sigma, you need to have the approval of at least your project sponsor - the manager who currently has the pain area and the resources to ensure the success of the project. If you have been through Benchmark Six Sigma training, we provide help and assistance to you in reviewing your Six Sigma project to ensure it is appropriate.

Dear Namrata, You are right. Green Belt and Black Belt project leaders not only have to work on the technical side of the problem and suggest good solutions but also have to ensure that they work on the human element - so that the solutions that they recommend are deployed within the organization. Hence, resistance analysis and change management are integral to the success of the Six Sigma resources / projects. SJ

Dear Fowzieh, Here is an excellent book on Minitab. Six Sigma and MINITAB: A Toolbox Guide for Managers, Black Belts, and Green Belts by Quentin Brook, QSB Consulting. Best Regards, SJ

Dear Namrata, Good questions. Clearly, we have a problem statement (say improve efficiency, or reduce errors etc). Six Sigma is a structured methdology to arrive at the solution. It does not say what the solution is, but just what steps you need to take to arrive at the solution and hence solve the problem. Ideally, when you start a Six Sigma project, the root causes of the problems are not known and the solutions are not known. The root causes may differ from company to company. The Six Sigma project team follows the methodology to arrive at the causes of the problem and the solutions. If you have a good cross functional team, you come up with good solutions to attack the problem at hand. As pointed out by you, one of the causes could be lack of proper training. We can collect some data regarding this issue and use Six Sigma to identify if training really is the cause of the problem (if so, how much) and which method of training provides the best improvement.

Dear Siddharth, Once you finish your GB training and pass the exam, you will receive a certificate of completion for the Green Belt. After this training, if you desire to get an additional project completion certificate, you will have to complete a Green Belt project and submit it to us for review. Once we review and approve it, you will receive a second Green Belt certificate that will acknowledge that you have also completed a project. The project that you undertake has to be a valid Green Belt project. Please refer to several threads on this website that discuss the selection of Six Sigma projects. One example is: http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/index.php?/topic/683-criteria-for-selection-of-six-sigma-project/ We will post the Green Belt course contents in a separate thread. Best Regards, SJ.

Dear Vijay, You bring a very valid point. I have seen some companies (and Master Black Belts) get bogged down by analysis paralysis - expect Green Belts and Black Belts to use all sorts of tools for no apparent reason which only causes projects to take a lot longer than required with no added value to the company. At a high level, Six Sigma is a methodical approach to solve problems which includes the following steps: a) Develop project charter Ensure measurement data is good & establish baseline c) Identify root causes d) Develop best solution e) Implement & control None of the above steps can be skipped if you want a robust solution. Having said that it is up to the project leader to decide what tools really make sense in each phase of DMAIC for the given project. Not all projects need complex tools, you can use relatively simple tools to get to the right solution as long as you cover the bases and address the high level steps identified above. In summary, Six Sigma is not about the tools and it does not have to take 6 months to a year to complete a Six Sigma project. Best Regards, SJ

Dear Nitin, Here are a few more questions to your list: 11. What is the pain area - when does it occur, where does it occur, how often, quantify... 12. Is this a chronic issue or a one-time issue? 13. Is the solution already known? 14. Is the root cause already known? 15. Is data available to understand the root cause? 16. Who are the recommended team members? 17. Expected financial impact of the project 18. Identify risks for project failure 19. Can the project be successful - chance of success and can this project be completed on time 20. Are there other similar projects that have been done before?

Dear SK, It is not always required to calculate Sigma Level on projects. The Sigma level can be "manipulated" by playing around with the number of opportunities for defects per unit. Having said that, it may still be useful to talk about the sigma level so that the current performance of the process can be compared with other processes and improvements before and after the project can be compared. Some companies require you to report Sigma level for all projects. In order to compute DPMO, you need some sort of a customer specification limits. In your case, for both your projects you have not reported any specification limits. I am assuming that you have done some benchmarking and decided that 16:1 is a lower specification limit for your employees. This is probably dicated by your business rather than your customer. Assuming that this is your specification limit, you can compute the DPMO as follows: a) Number of team leaders who have less than 16 direct reports can be considered as defects/defectives. The ratio of number of defects divided by 80 multiplied by 1000000 = DPMO c) You can then use the conversion table to translate DPMO to Sigma Levels. If all your team leaders currently have less than 16 direct reports then, DPMO = 1,000,000 and Sigma Level = -infinity!!! There are other variants of computing sigma level and I would invite discussion on them from other team members. Best Regards, SJ

Dear Gaurav, Here are some example projects that could be launched in these areas: Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales force Reducing the time taken to respond to quiries Improving customer satisfaction scores (net promoter scores) Improving revenue growth Reducing the time for new product development Reducing the number of iterations and errors in product literature Improving profitability (focussing on 80-20 rule - high value add products) Improving effectiveness of advertising dollars Improving the project management process Reducing risk

Dear SK, Please find a basic project charter template (in Excel) attached. SJ http://forum.benchmarksixsigma.com/files/file/38-black-belt-project-criteria/

There are several places from which ideas for Six Sigma projects can be obtained. VOC (Voice of the Customer) We can listen to the "pain" the customers are experiencing and then launch Six Sigma project to attack these pain areas. The "pain" areas can usually be classified as related to product/service features, quality, timeliness, cost, and service. By solving these problems our customers will be more satisfied with our products / services. It is a lot easier and cheaper to sell products / services to existing customers than to constantly seek out new customers. VOB (Voice of the Business) We can talk to senior managers in the company about what problems / issues keep them awake at night! These "pain" areas are usually related to growth, cost of products / services, cost of quality (rework / scrap / warranty), financial issues such as profitability, cost of capital, carrying cost of inventory, accounts receivables, payables, employee retention issues, new product introduction times, and a host of other issues! By focusing Six Sigma project on these issues, we will enable the company to effectively compete in the global marketplace. VOP (Voice of the Process) We can also get Six Sigma project ideas by mapping the current business processes and looking for areas which are clearly non value added from either the customer's or business's point of view. Sometimes, there is no point asking customers or business managers what is the problem, when it is clear what the issues are just by mapping the process. Hopefully, when we use the above sources, we get several ideas to pursue. We need some mechanism to rank and prioritize the projects so that only the best projects are selected for launch. In one of the subsequent posts, we will discuss a project selection matrix.

Vittal/Ashok, I agree with the points above regarding savings, but we also need to ensure that not all projects a company picks are such that there are no savings to report at the end of the projects. At a minimum, we need to make an effort to at least report some soft savings as a result of the Six Sigma project. A company needs a good mix of project with some projects reporting financial savings that impact revenue, cash flow, and profitability. It is okay to have some projects that don't have any hard savings but only report soft savings. Reporting savings is important for sustenance of Six Sigma programs within a company. If senior management does not see benefits, they may cancel the Six Sigma program in the long run. This was one of the down falls of the TQM program. ------------------------ Ashok, Most companies have GBs and BBs. Some companies also have White Belts and Yellow Belts too - as pointed out by you. A White Belt or Yellow Belt is someone who has gone through a very very high level overview of the Six Sigma program. For example, they may have taken a 4 hour class on Six Sigma. White Belts and Yellow Belts are not required to complete any projects similar to Green Belts and Black Belts. The idea is that all people in an organization need to have at least a rudimentary understanding of Six Sigma methodology and be able to converse in the same language (mean, standard deviation etc). They can then provide effective support when Green Belts and Black Belts come to them asking for help / support on their projects. So, an organization may aim for 100% of its employees to be White/Yellow Belts, about 25% of its employees being Green Belts, and about 1-5% of its employees being Black Belts. I once went to a conference where someone was advocating a Blue Belt - can't recall what they wanted to do with it! SJ

Dear Anil, Thanks for your question. This group is the right place to ask questions about these programs. Since you are relatively new to Lean Six Sigma, you will have to start from the basics to get to MBB certification. First, you will need to complete the GB course, then the BB course, and finally the MBB course. Each course builds on the other. The GB course provides the overview and basic concepts that can be used to solve relatively simple projects. The BB course builds on the concepts and provides more advanced tools to solve more complex problems. Finally, the MBB course covers advanced concepts that will enable you to master the material. You may want to explore Benchmark Six Sigma training programs by visiting https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/

In order to pick a good Six Sigma project, the following items have to be considered: a.) Strategic Importance The problem that you pick as a Six Sigma project must be important for the company and must support the company's strategy. There is no point working on things that are not important for the company. A project that solves critical problems for the company will not only benefit the company but also ensure that company management will support the project and provide resources to ensure its success. b.)Root Cause / Solution Unknown It is important to pick a problem that does not already have a known root cause or solution. If the solution is known, just go ahead and implement it. Don't waste Six Sigma resources to identify the root cause and come up with the same solution. c.) Chronic Issue Select a problem that is a chronic issue (happens often). If you pick a problem that only occurs once and will not repeat, there is no point in spending time to develop a solution if it never happens again. Also, it would be difficult to collect past data to analyze the causes because the problem occurred only once in the past. d.) Well Managed Scope Select a project that can be completed in a reasonable period of time (3 months for GB, 6 months for BB max). The project that you pick should be in your control. You should be able to make the recommended changes in order to improve the process. If things are not in your control, then it would be difficult to deploy your project recommendations and hence complete the project.

This quiz was started on Yahoo groups on Thu Jul 31, 2008 Six Sigma is all about making decisions based on facts and data. Hence, it is critical that we ensure that the data used on Six Sigma projects are of good quality. The process of ensuring that the data is of good quality is called Measurements Systems Analysis (MSA). There are several problems that can affect data quality: Accuracy, Stability, Linearity, Repeatability, and Reproducibility. The most common tools used in Six Sigma projects to check MSA is the Gage R&R (Crossed) for continuous data and Attribute Agreement Analysis for discrete data. I have the following discussion questions for the group (assuming the data is continuous): a) Is a Gage R&R study necessary on all Six Sigma projects? For example, what if the data is obtained from an automated system. Is a Gage R&R study sufficient to ensure data validity? _____________ CORRECT RESPONSE IS GIVEN BELOW Dear All, Thanks for your responses to this Quiz. It is clear to all of us that data integrity and validity are very important on Six Sigma projects. Since Six Sigma is based on making decisions based on facts & data, if we don't have the right data, we will of course make the wrong conclusions. Nevertheless, several Six Sigma projects that I had a chance to review clearly did not spend much time validating the data to make sure that the data was good. One reason given was that the data was coming from an automated mechanism, so it had to be good. Even if the data is coming from an automated source, we need to ask several questions. a) Is the system able to detect changes as and when they occur? b.) Do the measurements represent the "reality"? c) Is there a common understanding between different people with respect to what the data is telling them? A good operational definition is critical to interpreting the data correctly. Maybe the measurement system is measuring one thing and we need a different start and stop point based on our project metric. d) Is the measurement system stable over time? e) Is the measurement system linear over the measurement range? f) Are there potential for data entry, or data transfer errors from one application to another? g) Is there sufficient discrimination in the measurement system? Gage R&R only checks for one aspect of the measurement system (repeatability and reproducibility). You will need to perform system audits, calibration studies, linearity studies, run charts, & control charts to answer all the above questions. The amount of resources you invest in checking data of course depends on the criticality of making an error. At a minimum, it is imperative that we perform some rudimentary checks otherwise we run the risk of making incorrect conclusions on our Six Sigma projects. Best Regards, SJ.

FOLLOWING TOPIC PASTED FROM YAHOO GROUPS ORIGINATOR: Suresh Jayaram DATE: Fri Sep 5, 2008 Introduction to DFSS & DMADV You are probably familiar with DMAIC - the Six Sigma methodology used to make improvements to existing processes. Even though DMAIC includes powerful set of tools and techniques, it is not suitable for all applications. For example, if a new product or service needs to be developed or if the improvements obtained by using the DMAIC approach are not sufficient, then Six Sigma provides an additional more powerful methodology called DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) that can be used. DFSS ensures that the new products or services meets stakeholder needs, provides a high level of performance, and are robust to process variations. While DMAIC is a reactive approach fixing past problems, DFSS is a proactive way to avoid problems in the first place. DFSS approach enables launching new products & services on time, on budget, and on target gaining incremental revenues sooner, achieving greater market share, and ensuring that the company generates differentiated products & services that target customer & stakeholder needs. There are several approaches to DFSS, but the most popular methodology is called DMADV. DMADV stands for "Define - Measure - Analyze - Design - Validate". The Define phase consists of defining the project charter which includes the business case and the opportunity for the new product or service. In the Measure phase, the needs of the key stakeholders are identified and measurable CTQs are developed. The Analyze phase consists of subsystem design and generating and selecting the best possible concepts. In the Design phase, a detailed design for the product or service is developed and optimized. The robustness of the design is ensured to minimize the impact of variation on performance of the product or service. Finally, in the Validate phase, the generated designs are verified and validated using simulation and other approaches. Some of the tools covered in DMADV training are: Multi-Generational Project Plans (MGPP), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Kano Analysis, Kansei Engineering, Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Pugh Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis, Fractional Design of Experiments, Taguchi Optimization, and Discrete Event Simulation methods. In summary, DFSS is a powerful set of tools and techniques that can help you develop products and services that truly satisfy your key stakeholder needs. By adding this toolkit to your repertoire, you can demonstrate to your current or future employer that you understand how to not only reduce the bottom line costs using DMAIC but also develop robust products and services to increase top line growth using DFSS. Now the key question - Who should go for DMADV Black Belt? DMADV Black Belt is most suitable for those Green Belts or Black Belts --- Who are leading or wish to lead Six Sigma initiative in an organisation Who are involved in major process restructuring or process re-engineering Who see their role in initial conceptualisation of products/ processes Who do not see much scope in DMAIC projects as their processes have matured to a large extent and the only choice now is redesign Who want to reach perfection in process performance to create zero defect processes as differentiator Who need to often restructure processes due to emerging technology or due to highly competitive, ever changing nature of business Software development professionals, R & D professionals who work with new product development

Here is a simple quiz... When we compute the standard deviation of an entire population, we divide by N Sigma = Sqrt [( (x1-xbar)^2 + (x2 - xbar)^2) + ... )/N] However, when we compute the standard deviation of a sample, we divide by N-1 S = Sqrt [( (x1-xbar)^2 + (x2 - xbar)^2) + ...)/(N-1)] Where, x1, x2, x3... are the individual data points and xbar is the average of the data points. N is the number of data points. While xbar in both cases is given by xbar = (x1 + x2 + x3 + ...)/N Why is this so? SJ. This quiz was started in Yahoo Groups on Fri Sep 12, 2008 ___________________ FOLLOWING CORRECT RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED Hi SJ, Here's my explanation. Degrees of freedom can be defined as the number of values we can choose freely. Assume that we are dealing with two sample values, a and b and we know that they have a mean of 18. eg., Symbollically, the situation is (a+b.)/2 = 18. How can we find what values a and b can take on this situation? The answer is that a and b can be any two values whose sum is 36, because 36/2 = 18 Suppose we learn that a has a value of 10. Now b is no longer free to take on any value but must have the value of 26, because if a=10 then (10+b.)/2 = 18 so 10+b = 36 therefore b=26. This example shows that when there are two elements in a sample and we know the sample mean of these two elements, we are free to specify only one of the elements because the other element will be determined by the fact that the two elements sum to twice the sample mean. We will use Df when we select a t distribution to estimate a population mean, and we will use n-1 df, where n is the sample size. For example, if we use a sample of 20 to estimate a population mean, we will use 19 Df in order to select the appropriate t distribution. Regards, Dilip Kumar ______________ Hello all: If denominator N is used for the sample S.D, its role as an estimator of the population S.D will be biased. That is, if you consider all possible samples of size N and average all of the resulting variances, this average will not be the population variance. When this happens, the related statistic is may be termed as "biased", as the last thing you want is a biased approach. The multiplier N/(N-1) corrects this bias in theory. In statastics we could/might infer this as the 'Degrees of Freedom'. (The actual population S.D might (most cases IS) be higher than the sample S.D) When N is fairly large, the difference between the different formulas is small and trivial. Using the N-1 version of the formula, we still define the standard deviation as the average amount by which scores in a distribution differ from the mean. Thanks Philip _____________

FOLLOWING TOPIC PASTED FROM YAHOO GROUPS ORIGINATOR: Kushal Amin DATE: Tue Oct 7, 2008 Hi, We have identified a project in a Publishing house, on Optimizing no. of units to be printed. This would help in reducing inventory &streamline initial investment. We wanted a clarification on if this would be within the purview of a GB project or is it more suited for a Lean project ? Is there any specific criteria that would help us determine this. Kushal Amin Japeth Ebenezer GB batch Aug'08 Hyderabad _______________ FOLLOWING RESPONSES WERE RECEIVED Greetings This could be a lean project and we have investigated on this on a similar publisher to bring down inventory from 119 days to 40 days with regards T. M.Venkatesan _________________ Dear Kushal, Usually, if the root cause of the problem is NOT known and the solution is NOT known, then it would be a Six Sigma project. Lean on the other hand has well established solutions to handle common issues (say deploy 5S to improve organization). In these cases, why should we use Six Sigma and spend resources to work with facts & data to identify a solution, if the solution is already known? Lean would be appropriate in these situations. If the process is not well controlled, and there are no well established processes or standards, we could straight away deploy Lean to improve the operations. However, Lean may not be able to attack tough problems or causes of persistent variation. This would call for a more detailed investigation of the root cause and requires the discipline of Six Sigma. So, Six Sigma may be required after you deploy Lean. In order to avoid the confusion, just call it Lean Six Sigma and use what tools make sense! SJ.

FOLLOWING TOPIC PASTED FROM YAHOO GROUPS ORIGINATOR: Arijeet Bhattacharya DATE: Fri Oct 10, 2008 HI All, I would like to know if anyone currently undertaken any project in Garment Industry or already done in the past. Arijeet Bhattacharya Sept 08 GB batch. FOLLOWING RESPONSES WERE POSTED TO YAHOO GROUPS Dear Arijeet well i am also looking forward to start a project in textile industry, i have found out a few key areas where the project can be done 1) wastages at every process 2) productivity 3) effeciency all are to be taken one by one for every process. all the processes cannont be attanded at once there are many more but these are some hidden things that directly effect the profits you would be having few more at your end regards J.Sandhu _______________ Greetings I have visited a few textile mills and found the major areas to be looked into are according to me; 1. Absenteeism 2. Pollution 3. Resulting in low efficiency If these areas are looked into it can make miracles in the output per employee and overall morale in textile mills I will be shortly starting a project charter and shall share if you are in touch with me after a month"s time? with regards T. M. Venkatesan _________________

FOLLOWING TOPIC PASTED FROM YAHOO GROUPS ORIGINATOR: Nirmalya Kumar Chaudhuri DATE: Thu Jul 24, 2008 Team, Pls find attach 3months data. I am totally new to Service Industry / Call Center. I was with mfg industry for last 14yrs. Our problem is , we are providing daywise forecast for call and we have given target for service level; abandant% & AHT to our call center. Now since the call volume fluctuates , it is affecting SL ; abandant% ;AHT etc. Everytime Call Center is telling us that this is due to fluctuations in our forecast [ although they are maintaining extra manpower to handle some fluctuation ]. How to handle this scenario ? How can we validate the same ? Can we do some regression with PI to fix the acceptable target ? What should be the confidence level ? I want some statistical method to explain my call center mgmt about the Acceptance Level [ with due consideration of fluctuations in forcecasted call ]. Service Level target is now 75%. Regards, Nirmalya _________________ FOLLOWING RESPONSES WERE PASTED TO YAHOO GROUPS Please find some preliminary analysis of your data attached below. As discussed over the phone, I have only done the analysis for SL. Similar analysis can be performed for AHT and Abandonment %. From the attached analysis, I concluded the following: a) The correlation between forecasted volume and actual volume is very low. The forecasted volume does not have much predictive value. b.) There seems to be a decent correlation between call volume received and service level. As call volume increases, the service level decreases. Due to the amount of variation in the data, the prediction limits are pretty wide. For example, for a call volume of 40,000, the predicted service level was around 60% but for new data this could wary anywhere from 30% to 90%. c) If you work with means, then the confidence intervals will be much narrower. d) Looks like if you want to assure a service level of at least 75%, the current setup is not able to handle it, if the call volume is greater than 38,000 (approx). Please review the above and we can discuss more later. If anyone else has a different take on this data, please post your analysis to the group. Best Regards, SJ. _______________ Hi All Just wanted to added , basis the forecast is the manpower planned . Then this is the problem as the manpower is fixed on the basis of Forecasted . Volumes > the forecast and the manpower is not able to handle the Volume . 1) need to built better forecasting model ( use statistics method like regression / time series analysis / use of minitab ) 2) Variance of 10 to 15 % is acceptable in the forecasting 3) Manpower needs to planned accordingly 4) Need to check is there any unplaned event which is trigerring call volumes 5) Use the Erlang calculator to calculate the manpower for a realistic picture . Regards A S _________________

FOLLOWING TOPIC PASTED FROM YAHOO GROUPS 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.

Sometimes people ask us "Is Six Sigma only for manufacturing?" Six Sigma can be applied to all areas. The methodology and tools used are not specific to manufacturing. Anywhere there is a product or process, there is bound to be variation. When, there is variation, there is bound to be defects and dissatisfied customers. When there is variation, Six Sigma can be used to minimize variation and thus improve customer satisfaction. Six Sigma has been successfully applied to all types of industries: IT, ITES, BPO, KPO, Healthcare, Financial Sector, and other service industries.