How To Use SigmaXL for Design of Experiments (DoE) [VIDEO]

Posted on16. Mar, 2010 by Monique.

Design of Experiments (DoE) – SigmaXL Demo

this video tutorial will show you how to use the statistical software package, SigmaXL, to design a 3-factor experiment for a catapult competition.  You may recall this exercise that is commonly used as a learning project in statistical quality control courses.  Our goal is to identify the process drivers that significantly impact the process output.  The Pareto charts generate will indicate the most significant factors and rank in order from most to least significant.  We want to find the best settings for our catapult that will consistently launch a ball a distance of 100 inches.  Watch VIDEO to see demonstration. . .

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Value Stream Mapping: Get To Know Your Process

Posted on28. Apr, 2009 by carolesf.

Q:  When you start a project of business process improvement, what’s one of your most useful and versatile tools? 
A:  Value Stream Mapping. 

Value Stream Mapping

is a tool of Lean Thinking which enables you to identify the activities of a business process and their associated costs.  VSM is a great way to create and communicate process changes, and hence is a key component of any change management strategy.  Mapping the current process is usually applied during the “Measure” phase of DMAIC in Lean Six Sigma.  Mapping the desired future process is part of the “Improve” phase. 

The most basic philosophy of Lean Thinking is “Add only value — that the customer is willing to pay for.”  To achieve this, one of the most important activities you can undertake is to map out your process and discover which steps waste time and/or money.  In Value Stream Mapping, you’ll identify every activity currently required to produce your company’s product or service to the customer.  Each activity must then be assessed as to which of the following categories it falls into: 

(1) Value-add:  Activities which are required to produce what your customer wants to buy.  These are activities which the customer would gladly pay for, if they knew you were doing them behind the scenes.  By all means try to control these costs, but never at the risk of reducing the product’s value in the eyes of the customer.

(2) Non-Value-add:  These are activities which the customer would not want to pay for, but which are required for legal, regulatory, or business reasons.  These also include supporting administrative functions such as HR and Accounting.  They may not directly lead to your customer’s desired product, but just try to run your business without them!  Certainly try to reduce these costs, but you will not be able to eliminate them outright.

(3) Waste:  These are activities which the customer would not want to pay for, and no one else should either.  In Lean Thinking Generates Value — And Profits, I give examples of the “Seven Deadly Wastes”.  Eliminate these immediately if not sooner. 

Makes a lot of sense, but if it were easy, everyone would do it, right?  So how is Value Stream Mapping done?

(1) Start by mapping the existing process.  Map not only materials flow, but also paper flow and information flow.  Such maps often seem complicated and even intimidating at first glance, but once you get to know what the different symbols mean, it will start to make a lot of sense. 

(2) Assess the current process in terms of Value-add, Non-value-add, and Waste activities.  (In some cases, Non-value-add and Waste are binned together.)

(3) Develop a map of the streamlined future process, eliminating wasteful activities.  This is where the art and science come in, and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt can help.  Takt time, kaizen, kanban, and all those other concepts and techniques of Lean can be used individually or in combination to help you achieve this step. 

(4) Implement the future map. 

Value Stream Mapping is one of the key inputs to assessing how to streamline a given process.  Often once you have identified the costs and binned them into Value-add, Non-value-add, and Waste categories, the necessary process changes can seem to leap right off your computer monitor.  If you know the cost of the original process, and the cost of the streamlined process, the difference is the cost savings directly attributable to your project team’s efforts.

And that makes Value Stream Mapping a highly “valuable” tool for your career, too.

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Fishbone Diagram: Root Out Those Causes

Posted on28. Apr, 2009 by carolesf.

The Fishbone Diagram

, also called the Ishikawa Diagram, was developed by quality management pioneer Kaoru Ishikawa.  It is also sometimes referred to as the Cause-&-Effect Diagram — because that’s what it focuses on. 

This is a tool used in brainstorming sessions during a Lean Six Sigma project.  It can be used in either the Analyze or Improve phase of the DMAIC problem-solving framework. 

 Why is it called the “Fishbone” Diagram?  Well, take a look.  Could it be called anything else? 

 The parts of the fishbone diagram are:

• The head of the fish contains the Effect, or Outcome, of a process.
• Horizontal branches contain Causes.  (Note the arrows, which indicate the causal relationship.) 
• These are usually divided into 4 – 6 standard categories, depending on the type of business and process under study. 
  • For Manufacturing, a common list of categories is:  People, Materials, Methods, and Machinery / Equipment.
  • For Service, the list might look like:  People, Policies, Procedures, and Machinery / Equipment.  
  • Personally, I like to add the categories of Environment and Measurement as well, bringing the total count up to 6.  
  • The fact is, you should not feel bound by any particular list of categories.  Use what works for your company.
• Sub-branches contain contributing reasons for each Cause.

What to put on the branches?  Well, here’s where brainstorming comes in.  To help guide your team’s brainstorming efforts, you can use the “5 Why’s” approach.  With the 5 Why’s, you keep on asking “Why” until you either identify the root cause, or run screaming out of the room.  (Just kidding.)  Usually, it takes only 5 Why’s — or fewer — to get to the root cause of a particular problem.

 If you have (or ever had) small children, you are familiar with this approach; you just didn’t know that’s what it was. 

“Mommy, why do I have to wear my seatbelt?”  (The first Why.)
“Because that’s the rule.”
“Why is it the rule?” (The second Why.)
“Because I want you to be safe.”
“But why do I need to be safe?”  (The third Why.)
“Because I don’t want you to be hurt if we ever have a car accident.”
“Why don’t you want me to be hurt?” (The fourth Why.)
“Because I love you!”  (Ah-hah!  Root cause, and we didn’t even get to the 5^th Why.) (Note, also, the desire at this point to run screaming from the room.)

Now, having gone through that process for every possible factor contributing to the presence of defects, we can map them onto the fishbone diagram.  This provides an excellent visual aid to avoid leaping to premature conclusions, and to make sure no key factors are missed.

The Fishbone diagram may seem simple, but putting it into practice can be harder than you might think. 

• It’s important to get the right team members / stakeholders into the brainstorming session. 
• It’s also important to manage the group dynamics, so that by the end of the process, all team members have taken ownership of the entire diagram.  You don’t want people remembering which idea was whose. 
• You may wish to break up the brainstorming activity into more than one session with a break in between.  The break can enable some good ideas or missed factors to bubble up to the surface of participants’ minds, which can help the later sub-sessions be more productive. 

In short, the Fishbone diagram can be a useful process improvement tool, helping teams to look beyond the obvious answers to the root causes of defects.

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Lean Six Sigma: What Is It?

Posted on24. Apr, 2009 by carolesf.

Lean and Six Sigma

Most people in business today have heard the term “Six Sigma.”  Over the past few years, though, we’ve also begun to see the term “Lean Six Sigma.”  You may be wondering, “What exactly is Lean Six Sigma?  Is it different from “regular” Six Sigma?”

Originally, Lean and Six Sigma were seen as competing methods.  The Lean approach focused on minimizing lead time for a given process, seeking speed and efficiency.  Six Sigma focused on minimizing variability in a given process, seeking to minimize minimizing defects in output.  Followers of each approach were quick to point out the shortcomings of the other method.  A Lean process could still produce poor-quality outputs; and a Six Sigma process may not necessarily have been faster or more efficient than the process it replaced.

But why should you have to choose between quality and speed?  Shouldn’t the ideal business process result in both quality and speed?

This realization led business leaders to see Lean and Six Sigma as the complementary tools that they are.  Using the integrated Lean Six Sigma approach, a company can improve both efficiency and quality — at the same time.

Sound good?  Broadly speaking, here’s how Lean Six Sigma works.

The basic problem-solving framework is known as DMAIC:  Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. 

Define & Measure: 

Identify the process and problem we want to work on.  Then, measure the extent of the problem. 

For the target process, the Black Belt leading the project will produce a an As-Is map.  The idea here is to capture the process as it currently exists.  Not as it was designed to be.  Not as we wish it could be.  But as it is.  (This is typically quite an eye-opening exercise.)  The value stream map identifies costs in the process. 

Analyze

Next, the Black Belt will want to capture the voice of the customer, to identify issues that are critical to quality — in the customer’s eyes.  Remember, the customer is the key stakeholder in any business process.  If the business doesn’t keep its customers happy, none of the other stakeholders will be around for long.  Therefore, the costs in the value stream map can be put into one of two bins from the customer’s perspective:  Either value-add or non-value-add costs.  In other words, ask yourself this question about any of the identified process costs:  “Will the customer be willing to pay for this?”  If YES, it’s a value-add cost.  If NO — get rid of it; it’s a non-value-add cost. 

Here I want to remind you of something I said in an earlier post:  Defects are a waste that the customer does not want to pay for.  This fact illustrates why the Lean and Six Sigma methods of process improvement, in reality, work so well together:  Both approaches zero in on this point. 

Improve:

Now that the Lean Six Sigma team has identified areas of wasted cost, wasted time, and/or sources of defect-producing variability, we can revisit the process map.  Now we define what the process should look like. 

Control:

The team’s work doesn’t end with a new and improved process map.  We must also consider how to avoid a similar problem in the future, and how to recognize it more quickly if it does occur.  In other words, we must ensure that we can maintain control over this new process as it is moved from the Powerpoint slide into the real world.  This is the Control phase of the DMAIC framework. 

If the Lean Six Sigma team has done its job well, the new process should be shorter, faster, less costly, and more effective than the old process.

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FISHBONE DIAGRAM: How To Construct A Fishbone Diagram

Posted on15. Apr, 2009 by Monique.

A Fishbone Diagram

or cause and effect diagram is a tool used during brainstorming sessions of Lean Six Sigma projects. This tool will help you drill down to root causes of defects and identify possible failure modes. You will use this graphical tool in conjunction with the Five Whys method of questioning. This tutorial demonstrates how to use SigmaXL software to present your findings during future tollgate presentations. View video for more information on this technique.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Analyze
• Improve

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

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Reduce Cycle Time in Your Process Map with Concurrent Activites

Posted on07. Jan, 2009 by Monique.

Yesterday, I was traveling on the highway, listening to my favorite CD when I made an observation.  I took note of the tractor trailers on the road and noticed the majority had tractors with single trailers.  Interestingly, the UPS and FedEx tractors had double trailers.  I thought to myself, “Why are UPS and FedEx using double trailers?” 

I had to put on my Lean Six Sigma goggles and observe that this was a deliberate business strategy.  I thought about a single large trailer sitting at the  dock with one crew of people to load items.  Imagine how much time that would take.  Now, picture the scenario where you have two crews on two separate dock doors loading the smaller trailers.  If loading a trailer is my process, I have tapped into the opportunity to reduce my overall cycle time by implementing concurrent process steps.  Concurrent engineering or process mapping is not a new concept to Lean Six Sigma practitioners, but I think it is often overlooked.  When reviewing the As-Is process map, it’s natural and expected to immediately focus on the non-value added steps, such as delays and loop backs.  Cutting non-value added steps will ultimately reduce your cycle time, but it is also important to take advantage of opportunities to turn sequential steps, into simultaneous process steps. 

The pit crew model is often implemented for setup reduction projects in manufacturing facilities and operating rooms.  This team divides the work and helps prepare the tools, die, equipment, or surgical instruments for the next job, while the current job is in process.  The pit crew is a wonderful application of implementing a process with concurrent activities to overlap setup and processing time.   Cut your cycle time by multi-tasking.

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How to do Multiple Regression Analysis with SigmaXL

Posted on05. Jan, 2009 by Monique.

 Learn how to perform Multiple Regression analysis with SigmaXL. 

Why perform a Multiple Regression Analysis?

Y = f (x₁, x₂, x₃, . . .x_n)

To detemine which input or process variables (Xs) affect your output (Y).  Multiple regression helps find the source of  most of your variation in the process.  If you know the primary sources of variation you can reduce or eliminate the variation.  The demo below shows that Responsiveness to Calls and Ease of Communication account for 90% of the variation.  This tells you that your improvement efforts should center around these factors to have the greatest impact on Overall Satisfaction.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Analyze

Type of Measure

• Input
• Process
• Output

Type of Data

• Continuous

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

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Voice of the Customer: Do you have super Sonic hearing?

Posted on01. Jan, 2009 by Monique.

The Voice of the Customer is the primary reason for engaging in continuous improvement efforts. Happy customers are critical to long term growth and profitability.  As Lean Six Sigma practitioners we must always make sure the Voice of the Customer (VOC) remains paramount in the evaluation of existing processes and the design of new processes.  Challenge yourself to listen to the customer.  Does the customer have any frequently asked questions or challenges?  What can be done to improve the customer’s experience?

During my last visit to Sonic America’s Drive-In, I noticed some really great things about the new menu design.

Healthy Meal Selections

As a parent of a pre-schooler, I really appreciated the new side options for the kid’s meal.  The kid’s meal now includes a choice of a fresh banana, string cheese, or milk.  Fresh fruit and dairy sides for kid’s meal is a trend that has been adopted by other fast food restaurants such as MacDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Subway.   This new menu selection will enable Sonic to compete with other chains that market to health conscious parents.  In addition, Sonic now offers fresh bananas on the Dollar Menu for customers who may want a quick snack with a beverage.

Happy Hour Drink Specials

During my visits to Sonic’s happy hour, I have often asked myself, “Which drinks are half-price?”  In response to a frequently asked question, Sonic has an answer in it’s new menu layout.  Beside each happy hour drink there is an icon on a clock.  The icon represents that this is a happy hour drink.  I no longer have to ask or wonder.  This is a great example of how we can use lean and visual displays to improve customer experience. 

Placement of the Treat Menu 

The treat menu is now located above the main menu on the driver’s side.  The treat menu used to be on the bottom right-hand side with a darker blue background.  Now, it has a lighter blue background and is easier to see than the passenger side menu board.   I used to have a difficult time seeing the passenger side menu when I was sitting in the driver’s seat.  This simple placement change is most likely the result of visual display research with the goal of drawing attention to the meal options because the meal options take up most of the menu board.

So, are you listening? 

The changes implemented on Sonic’s new menu are responses to customer frequently asked questions and business metrics.  I can’t help, but recognize how much putting bananas on the dollar menu will help Sonic reduce costs related to perishable good storage.  From a business prospective, people feel good about making healthy food choices and it would not hurt to reduce your perishable good waste.  The more people that order bananas as a side that’s fewer bananas to trash because they go bad.  It’s a win-win for the customer and Sonic.  So the next time, you go to Sonic think about all the hard work and effort Lean Six Sigma practitioners make to keep customers happy and want to come back.  It’s simple, listen to the voice of the customer.

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Generate multiple Pareto charts – It’s EASY with SigmaXL!

Posted on30. Dec, 2008 by Monique.

Why use the Advanced Pareto chart function?

To help prioritize your efforts to reduce/eliminate defects. The Pareto principle indicates that approximately 80% of process defects are caused by 20% of the problems. Separate the vital few from the useful many.   The SigmaXL function helps draw comparisons between similiar categories.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Measure
• Analyze

Type of Measure

• Input
• Process
• Output

Type of Data

• Discrete

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

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How to Create a Basic Pareto chart using SigmaXL

Posted on30. Dec, 2008 by Monique.

Why use a Pareto chart?

To help prioritize your efforts to reduce/eliminate defects.  The Pareto principle indicates that approximately 80% of process defects are caused by 20% of the problems.  Separate the vital few from the useful many.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Measure
• Analyze

Type of Measure

• Input
• Process
• Output

Type of Data

• Discrete

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

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Acuity Institute Review [VIDEO]: What Does Acuity Institute Have to Offer?

Posted on26. Dec, 2008 by Monique.

Acuity Institute

is the gold standard for online six sigma certifications. If you are looking for a convenient way to achieve your professional development goals, you will be pleased to find that the Acuity Institute’s Six Sigma Black Belt, Green Belt, and Kaizen Workshop certification courses will exceed your expectations. The drawbacks of many traditional six sigma classes are extensive time commitments, need to travel to the training site, costs in excess of as much as $4,000, and often require the purchase of additional six sigma statistical software. Unfortunately, traditional six sigma certification programs do not meet the needs of the busy professional with family responsibilities and demanding business schedules. Small organizations also may not be able to make such a large financial investment to initiate six sigma program deployment. What is the alternative? Try Acuity Institute!

Quality Online Certifications

The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) has approved Acuity Institute as an Authorized Provider. Meaning, Acuity Institute is authorized to offer IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET Standards. Experienced Six Sigma Black Belts and Master Black Belts, who have over 30 years of experience combined, developed all Acuity Institute Six Sigma courses. The course developers have worked with many Fortune 500 companies. The course modules consist of audiovisual presentations in Macromedia Flash Player to provide you with the opportunity to work at your own pace.

Affordable Six Sigma Classes

The Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Packages starts at $999 and offers 12 CEUs upon successful completion of the course. The Standard & Advanced Packages include the Simulated Project Certification option. No other company offers this in the market today. The project simulation gives the user the opportunity to solve a six sigma problem and present information on each phase of the DMAIC process. You not only learn the six sigma tools, but the appropriate application of each tool. The certification also includes SigmaXL software ($199 value) and six sigma project forms to communicate your project findings to stakeholders, sponsors, and process owners. An e-Book is also included in the purchase price. What more could you want from a six sigma training program? Acuity Institute has it all and more. Including convenient payment plan options available.

I can speak from personal experience and say that this was the ‘BEST’ option available. I am a single mother and I was able to complete the basic certification program in 12 days!! (Note: Not typical results) If I can do it, you can do it.

Learn More About Six Sigma Training Classes

Sign Up for Six Sigma Certification

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