SuriBabu

Thanks VK for bringing this up. Very relevant question for current business world which is transforming very rapidly. My view is as follows. TPS expert Shigeo Shingo has provided us a good base on Kaizen event target prioritization. while this target prioritization is largely applicable and very relevant all industries, the order may change a bit from industry to industry or organization to organization in current scenarios. For example, A cash rich manufacturer may follow the order like 1) Better 2) Easier 3) Faster 4) Cheaper. Spending for the idea implementation not a problem for this company but they want best change in their process which is bit easier though takes some additional time. The order may change to the company which is trying to settle in the market with low working capital. It may be like 1) Cheaper 2) Easier 3)Faster 4)Better. This organization might be looking for quick solutions which can give quick benefit and relief with low cost though it could be short term fix. Sometimes if we want "Better" as first priority, "Cheaper" would become last one. similarly if we go for "Easier" it may not be the "Better". Though these are looking like 4 different targets, all are interlinked like below. Easier solution is faster also to implement Better solution may not be a easier and cheaper one and vice versa. Faster implementation may become costlier Conclusion - in current rapid transforming world, Kaizen target priority order will change depending on the customer's requirements and hunger towards solving the problem. We have to consider all four targets for sure but the order of consideration differs depending on the time, scope, quality and cost. Finally whatever order we follow, a Kaizen project should be faster(Implementation time), cheaper(Less cost to implement), better (Best possible from the lot) and easier (No complex strings) when compared to any other project execution methods. Thanks, Suri

Dear Sandeep, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is there in the industry for quite sometime now but more popularized in last 3 or 4 years. Considering the competition in every industry, every organization is trying to keep their operating cost low and provide the right product or service with right quality to the customers. It has become mandatory to every organization to search and implement new methods of production to improve the margins and quality at same time. RPA is becoming new buzz word or new method to talk and implement as every customer, organization, Industry are looking for change and a quick change. As a Lean Six Sigma Practitioner, our role has become more significant during initial stages of RPA implementations. In a simple way, A LSS Practitioner can identify and suggest the right opportunity to implement RPA by following structured method. Few debates are there saying that there is no involvement required from LSS Practitioners in RPA implementations as these would be pure technology driven. At the same time, I have observed that many projects are not able reach their end objective on time (Please read the line again... NOT ABLE TO REACH THEIR END OBJECTIVE ON TIME) due to lack of structured methodology during initial phases. A Lean Six Sigma Practitioner can support/add value to make the RPA projects success as below. 1) Understanding the objectives and preparing the business case for improvement 2) Establishing right metrics to measure the improvement 3) Preparing detailed VSM to identify highly manual repetitive time consuming process steps. 4) Estimating the benefits by performing cost vs. benefit analysis (All the processes may not yield greater ROI but many qualitative aspects to consider) 4) Design/Re-design the process to make it suitable for RPA (Please note that automating the process As-Is may not give desired results) 5) Standardize the input and handoffs 6) Support the RPA developers with suitable functional guidance 7) Tracking and Monitoring the projects with robust governance models (Depending on PMO structure in the organization) 8) Evaluating the outcomes (Metrics, Benefits) post implementation Depending on organization's project management structure, LSS Practitioner can have greater role to play in implementing RPA projects. Few organizations have started RPA consultant roles to manage all the activities mentioned above and few are managing with existing LSS teams. Fundamental method would be the same irrespective of organization structure however, LSS practitioners will have additional edge of LSS methods and concepts to get quick results. Hope this helps.

Dear Raghavendran, SLA and Quality score... both are at agreement with client. I assume you refer SLA here as Turn around time. If the answer is Yes... let me explain the scenarios as below. Customer went to a furniture shop and ordered 4 chairs. Shop keeper agreed to deliver the chairs at customer place within 4 hours. Chairs arrived at customer place within 3 hours but one chair has a broken leg. TAT met but Quality missed. Customer went to a furniture shop and ordered 4 chairs. Shop keeper agreed to deliver the chairs at customer place within 4 hours. Chairs arrived at customer place after 6 hours and all the chairs are with good condition. TAT missed but Quality met. Another example, A hospital requested a blood bank to provide A+ blood within 1 hour. Blood bank sent blood within 45 mins but A- one. TAT met but Quality missed. A hospital requested a blood bank to provide A+ blood within 1 hour. Blood bank sent blood after 2hours as requested A+ one. TAT missed but Quality met. In first example, We are okay to have TAT missed but required good quality as there will not be any impact of few hours delay. In second example, It is very critical to have both TAT and Quality as it will impact a life. So... conclusion is its all depends upon your business/client what is important and how much it is important. It does not mean that if you miss your TAT that will impact your quality score also. Point to remember is Both are very important as a good product with delayed time is equal to a bad product within the timeline. Hope I have answered your question.

Dear Surabhi, If your data is discrete, you can use below formula to arrive at right sampling for review. n = [ (z2 * p * q ) + ME2 ] / [ ME2 + z2 * p * q / N ] Z = 1.96 (for 95% confidence level) p = proportion defective q = 1-proportion defective ME = Margin of error that you can accept in your sample N = Population n= Sample For example, Your team has processed 1000 works with 95% of accuracy as you specified. You are willing to accept 1% margin of error in your sampling. Then calculation would be, n= (Square of 1.96 * 0.05*0.95+0.0001)/(0.0001+square of 1.96*0.05*0.95/1000) n = 0.182576/0.000282 n= 646 Reviewer has to audit 646 works out of 1000 works done. There are many articles available on sample calculations. I suggest you to go through those for better understanding. Hope this helps. Regards, Suri

Hi, Further to Gautam's explanation, you can follow 80-20 principle for actionables. As long as I know, there is no industry best practice or thumb rule for threshold limit. Having said that, I must agree that most of the organizations follow 100 or 150 as threshold limit depending on their process maturity. I always suggest to use 80-20 principle for threshold limit as it will give scope for continuous improvements all the time. Also this will cover all the process steps over a period of time. Every time you look into FMEA for threshold limit, concentrate on top RPNs which are contributing to 80% of sum of RPNs. Please see below example: Process Step - B, G, A, C, I, H, D, E, J, F RPN 504, 432, 280, 240, 210, 180, 120, 27, 4, 2 Cumulative % 25%, 47%, 61%, 73%, 83%, 92%, 98%, 100%, 100%, 100% here you can consider 210 as threshold and continue on improving process steps with more than 210 RPN (B,G,A and C in this case). once you are done with improvements, you can revise the RPN and calculate the threshold again. You can repeat the cycle till your process reaches the satuaration level. Hope this helps...

This article was posted on 10th September 2009. I think it was the same period where whole quality world started looking at Lean + Six Sigma combination. I felt this article focused on how industries were looking at quick returns from Six Sigma. This thought was a trigger for combining Lean principles with Six Sigma tools. As mentioned in the article, most of the organizations were looking for benefits within 3 months from the time of project initiation. As six Sigma need to be stabilized data to study and proper implementation of the tools & techniques, it is not always possible to get benefits within 3 months. Though organizations were expecting the quick benefits, they were not ready to move out of the SS for that. Lean can give quick returns based on VA & NVA analysis in the process, what if Lean and SS works together...? Organizations can start realizing the benefits within a short frame of time by converting process NVAs and at the same time, they can continue with SS to re-engineer and sustain the benefits for a long time. On the face of it, the article is looking like it is focused on re-entry of SS, but in my view, it is focused on changes in SS.

I completely agree with VK... in addition, one can utilize the structured methodology of Lean Six Sigma in following HR activities. 1) Reduce Appraisal cycle time 2) Improve E-SAT 3) Reduce Recruitment cycle time 4) Better utilization of resources 5) Employee Query resolution Accuracy/Turnaround times 6) Payroll process improvements and many more.... As VK mentioned, one needs to see the process/activity behind HR function. In my view, Lean Six Sigma is applicable rather can be utilized across functions and industries. Hope this helps...

Hi, This is further to Shahazad's reply. We can also consider each parameter in the survey. Unit - Each survey replied Opportunity: 1 - Each parameter answered in each survey DPU - No. of Defective units/Total no. of Surveys Total Opportunities: No.of parameters in each survey * Total No.of Surveys DPO - No.of parameters scored less than agreed rating/Total opportunites This approach will give more specific area to concentrate for improvements. Hope this helps...

India, once upon a time we were leading rather ruling BPO/KPO markets. In recent past, situations are changed a lot. We are now competing with China, Phillipines, Sri Lanka and so on... Almost all BPO/KPO organizations are struggling to keep their cost down for better margins and provide same value to their customers at reduced costs. Being in a Six Sigma BlackBelt role, I face a question everyday.... What else we can consider for cost reduction? Salaries - We are in competitve world, cannot play with salaries T&E - Yes, upto some extent but we have already worked on that Recuitment & Trainings - Yes, upto some extent but we have already worked on that.. For any people depended organization, above three are the major cost areas. All the companies already worked on these 3 areas and now looking for few more cost junks to concentrate. IT, Accommodation, SEZ units, Transportation, Employee additional allowances etc.. are few more areas which can be looked out. For any cost reduction project, we can think about metrics like Value and Volume. Is there any better metric available to consider? If yes, What could be best suitable metric for cost reduction projects? Lets discuss....