YELLOW BELT REFRESHER

Under normal learning circumstances,

the six sigma content would be taught in a sequenced progression.
In other words, you wouldn't try to learn
the Green Belt content of Six Sigma until you'd gone through,
and learned the Yellow Belt content.
However, here in Coursera,
each course in Yellow Belt and Green Belt is being offered individually.
So, someone might be coming into this course,
as their very first course.
And if that's the case, they might feel overwhelmed from the very start.
While we definitely suggest all learners go through
the entire Yellow Belt specialization content
before beginning the Green Belt specialization,
we also wanted to try to help those who might have come in to the Green Belt first.
Some people may have
the background knowledge to be able to pass through the Yellow Belt content,
and begin with the Green Belt content, without any problem.
Others may come in with a good base of knowledge,
but still need some help in Green Belt.
For those people, we've created these Yellow Belt refresher areas.
In this Yellow Belt refresher area,
you will find some of the lectures from
the Yellow Belt specialization courses that will hopefully,
fill in some of the knowledge gaps.
If after going through this refresher area you still feel a little overwhelmed,
we recommend that you go through the Yellow Belt specialization in its entirety.
Then, you will be better prepared for the Green Belt content.
Thanks for watching and happy learning.

FISH BONE DIAGRAM

The cause and effect diagram was created by Kaoru Ishikawa in the 1960s.
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It's a formal brainstorming tool for identifying possible root causes.
The purpose of a cause and effect diagram is to gather information and ideas from
as many people as possible and to explore all possible causes of a problem.
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It allows you to identify, explore and
display a problem and all the possible causes in a structured way.
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Strangely this tool has three commonly used names.
Ishikawa called it a cause and effect diagram.
Others called it an Ishikawa diagram in his honor.
And because of its appearance, many people call it a fishbone diagram.
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These are all names for the same tool.
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There are a lot of ways to brainstorm ideas.
The fishbone or Ishikawa diagram is a somewhat structured
approach to brainstorming, specifically aimed at identifying potential causes.
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This is the basic layout of a fishbone or Ishikawa or cause and
effect diagram, you see it looks like the skeleton of a fish.
And our analysis is intended to identify major factors,
those are the big bones, that contribute to the problem.
And then further break these down in to more elementary causal factors,
the little bones, that cause these factors to create or prevent problems.
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There many different suggested categories for fishbone diagrams, but
you don't need to be constrained to follow any of them.
The major reason for
these labels is to get participants to think of different types of causes.
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This scheme is probably the first one that was widely used.
And you can make up your own categories, whatever fits your department or
your application best.
Do not confine yourself to a certain number of categories.
The number of major bones is not critical, but it's usually four to six.
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Let's consider a few other examples.
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Oftentimes, customer service problems are caused by an institution's policies.
Legitimate and necessary policies may cause problems for a variety of reasons.
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A policy intended for one purpose may have unintended consequences in another area.
Policy may have become absolute, but remains in place.
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A policy maybe applied incorrectly because it's poorly understood or
ambiguously defined.
A policy maybe causing problems because no one has bothered to identify legal
approaches to living within the policy and still accomplishing what needs to be done.
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Procedures are a frequent source of perceived waste in customer service
problems.
When a customers looking for a service, they're not likely to enjoy being told
that they must follow some lengthy procedure that from their point of view
has little or nothing to do with the service they're expecting.
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Long lists of required signatures, multiple forms requiring
redone the information in inexplicable waiting periods cause people to
feel like the procedures rather than their needs are what is driving the process.
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Service enterprises involve lots of people who interact directly with customers.
As such, people represent our greatest opportunity to delight customers and
our greatest opportunity to disappoint them.
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People must have the knowledge, skills, and
authority to provide the services that our customers are looking for.
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Every time one of our employees has to say to our customer I don't know how to do
that or I tried, but it didn't work or I'm not allowed to do that,
we create at the situation where our people disappointed our customers.
Finally, we have potential problems with our physical plant or facilities.
This can include lack of facilities or lack of access to these facilities,
or old and outdated facilities that do not meet customer requirements.
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Some naming schemes seem to fit different situations better than others.
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It's really not important which scheme you use or whether you create your own,
the important thing is to consider lots of different types of causes.
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To use a fishbone diagram, first draw the fish
bone structure with the problem at the head.
If you've carefully constructed a problem statement, including measures,
it should go there.
Then add your categories, remember, these are just to spur different ideas,
different areas of thought.
Don't agonize over the categories.
Now you're ready to brainstorm with your team.
One approach is to use post-it notes.
Just write the idea on a post-it and stick it next to the appropriate bone.
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Do not let the team get in a debate about which bone is the best fit,
this is a distraction.
Either pick a bone or write the idea twice.
When the diagram is complete, you can take a picture to preserve the work for
subsequent use.
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Here is a customer service example.
A precise problem in the head is a good idea, but it can be a general
statement of the problem, it can be a product or a process or a service.
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And the causes can be thought of more as enablers, rather than sources of problems.
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This tool can be a lot of work to set up and use.
It's small groups that are often simpler tools for identifying root cause.
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But, if a problem is particularly complex or difficult, or
if you want the input of a large number of people,
there's an alternative to the small group brainstorm.
You can create a large fishbone diagram perhaps on four by eight foot foamcore.
Then supply post-it notes and mount the diagram in an area where anyone and
everyone will see it.
Anyone walking by can read the diagram, and contribute by posting a note.
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Used this way, the diagram must be actively managed.
At least once a day you should organize the notes, and
remove any that are not serious suggestions.
You might leave it up for a week.
And you can get suggestions from people on other shifts, even from suppliers or
customers visiting your work space.
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Cause and effect diagrams may be an effective tool for
generating ideas from small or large groups.
This is a brainstorming tool.
It generates a large quantity of ideas about possible causes.
It does not identify root cause.
The team needs to investigate all of the ideas and
use other means to identify probable causes.

CHECKSHEETS
Checksheets are simple and flexible tools for collecting data.
When you begin an improvement project,
you may find that you don't have any of the data that you need.
A Checksheet is a simple, quick,
and usually temporary tool for collecting the initial data that you need to get started.
There is no single checksheet form that can be used in all applications.
Therefore, the design of the form must be
customized to the type of data that's to be evaluated.
You can use check sheets to count or measure defects,
complaints, phone calls, or many other things.
There are three main types of checksheets.
Recording checksheets, where you enter counts or measurement data.
Checklists, which are written reminders.
And the Measles chart,
which can be used to identify the physical location of defects or other issues.
An example of a checksheet is shown here.
It's based on the method that customers use to make a complaint.
Complaints were received four different ways: by letter to a post office box,
by calling a toll free 800 phone number,
by e-mail to a special email address,
by walking into the store and complaining to a customer service representative.
Each time one of these events happens,
a corresponding mark is made in the appropriate row.
This table summarizes how
complaints were received during the past week.
The total number of complaints is 25.
We can calculate the percentages as follows: There were three written complaints.
Three divided by 25 equal 0.12.
We can multiply that by 100 to obtain the percentage.
Repeat this for each row.
An analysis of complaint methods like this might help you to
start analyzing staffing needs.
This is another example of a Recording Checksheet.
This one is used to record the measured time to resolve a help desk issue.
If a call lasts less than a minute,
a mark is made in the first row in the calls column.
If it's more than one minute but less than two,
a mark is made in the second row in the calls column and so on.
It's always a good idea to include important information about the process,
the location, area, shift,
and who is involved.
This can be done at the top of the checklist.
If you've ever made a grocery list,
you've made a checklist.
Pilots routinely use checklists to make sure that nothing important is forgotten.
They're also used in areas such as housekeeping at a hotel or in medical procedures.
Whenever there is a complex or delicate procedure,
a checklist will help prevent errors.
A Measles Chart is a physical representation of something of interest.
This can be an accurate drawing or a rough sketch.
The idea is to make a mark on the drawing each time you find a defect,
and to make that mark in the same location on the drawing as the actual defect.
In this case we have a drawing of a bumper with several X marks
to indicate where defects have occurred.
It's also possible with the Measles Chart to record more than one type of defect.
And with every type of checkesheet you can
separate data by shift or by different production lines.
Before you collect any data,
even with something simple like a checksheet,
you should make a plan.
You should know what data you want, how,
and who is going to collect it,
and what you think you will do with it.
The data collection plan does not have to be complicated.
Just create some columns and list the answers to these three questions.
Checksheets are simple way to collect data that is not otherwise available.
They're quick, flexible, and can be customized to suit your needs.
When you don't have any of the data that you need this might be a good place to start.

FLOW CHART AND PROCESS MAPPING

One of the basic and primary tools for process improvement is a process map,
also called a flowchart.
A process map is often the starting point for improvement efforts.
They can be used to demonstrate actions or procedures.
Before we can understand a process map,we need to understand what a process is.
A process is any activity,
usually a number of steps that receive an input and convert that input to an output.
This could include changing raw material into
a component or finished product in manufacturing.
It could be the steps in the delivery of a service or it could be acting on information.
There are many types and variations of process maps.
Here we see five major types.
We will focus on the most basic.
There are also many different variations of process maps.
We'll discuss some of these in future modules.
The purpose of creating a process map is to gain
an understanding of a process so we can improve it.
Process maps are useful for documentation and for training,
for certification and other uses.
Process maps can help to eliminate
written procedures by presenting them in a visual schematic.
For high level business processes that cross functional boundaries,
there often is no one person who knows the whole process.
This is why we need teams to map processes.
The participants in a process mapping exercise should include
the people who actually use the process on a daily basis.
An example of a business process map might be the process of creating purchase orders.
Process maps are appropriate and necessary in nearly any process improvement effort.
They should be one of the first things that a process improvement team does.
It's important to map the process as it is actually being performed.
Not the way it was designed or the way the manager thinks it's done.
We call this the current state map.
As we mentioned, there are many levels of processes.
We're going to talk about two.
Business processes and work processes.
Business processes tend to be
high level processes like accounting, customer service, etc.
They often cut across functional departments.
They also contain work processes.
Most processes are also interrelated with
outputs from business processes and work processes,
being inputs for other processes.
Because business processes or high level processes,
they contain multiple work processes.
For example, accounting may include billing and tracking accounts receivable.
Each step in a business process may contain
one or more work processes which can be
mapped separately and will provide much more detail.
There are a number of different shapes that can be
used to create process maps and this may vary by industry.
These are some examples for manufacturing.
For our purposes we will use only a few.
The level of information in a process map can vary.
But we're focused on the simplest form.
There are many different symbols that can be used and we're going to show
you how to map a process with just three symbols.
The symbol for the start or end of
the process is an oval or a square with rounded corners.
Inside this symbol, it may say start or end.
A square or a rectangle is the symbol for a process step.
Inside this symbol you will name the step.
Decision points are of diamond shape.
They can only have two possible answers like yes/no, or pass/fail.
Usually one answer will lead to a continuation of
the process and the other answer will either end the process or redirect it.
If there are more than two possible outcomes,
you might need more decision points.
One easy way to map processes with the group is to use sticky notes.
As the steps develop you can rearrange as needed to get the right sequence.
A standard sticky note can be turned 45 degrees to use for a decision point.
When the team is done with the sticky note map,
it can be preserved by taking a picture.
For a more permanent and professional looking map,
the information can be easily transferred to
one of many computer programs that have drawing tools.
This could be something like Microsoft Word or Excel using the drawing tools function.
There's also free software that will do this such as
Google Docs or Sheets or Open Office.
Vizio is software that's designed specifically for this type of application.
This is an example of a simple process map.
In this case, it's someone's morning routine.
Yours is probably different,
but it includes begin and end points,
a decision point, and multiple steps.
One of the biggest challenges for a process mapping team is
determining the appropriate level of detail and using it consistently.
There is no rule for this.
It's a judgement call by the mapping team.

PDCA
PDCA is a simple improvement model that has evolved over decades with many contributors.
It probably began with Walter Shewhart,
although W. Edwards Deming often gets credit for it.
PDCA stands for Plan Do Check Act.
Another variation of this model comes from Deming in its PDSA or,
Plan Do Study Act.
In either case the simple four step circular model can be easily
understood and it can be mapped against
nearly any other improvement model such as the DMAIC model.
The PDCA model is a simple approach that can be
applied to process improvement in manufacturing,
service, education, healthcare et cetera.
It provides the team with a disciplined approach and helps them manage the improvement.
Without the discipline of an improvement model,
teams have a tendency to just do it without
the necessary discussion, documentation et cetera.
The first step, of course, is Plan.
In this step the team will define the problem and discuss possible causes and solutions.
The problem definition is critical.
It helps limit the scope of the project and acts
as a touchstone if the team begins to wander.
Ishikawa added determining goals and targets to the step.
The team might also develop predictions and plans in this step.
In the Do step the team implements their solution.
Ishikawa added education and training to this step.
This is where plans from the plan step are carried out.
New problems or observations should be documented and data analysis can begin.
It should also be noted that if possible a pilot
or a simulation is a good way to minimize risks.
In the Check step,
the team evaluates the results of their solution and looks for other effects.
It's not uncommon for a solution to be partially successful.
That is why the model is presented as a circle.
The data analysis is completed in this step.
The predictions are compared with results and lessons learned or documented.
Successful parts of the implementation should be
documented and standardized in the Act step.
For further improvements, return to the Plan step and begin the process again.
Demming considered his model more of a plan for management.
Instead of Check, he identified the third step as Study.
In the Study phase the results of the improvement would be compared with
predictions that were made in the Plan step to ensure learning.

defects per unit and defects per million opportunities.

These are two common Six Sigma measures,
defects per unit and defects per million opportunities.
DPU or defects per unit,
is simply a ratio of the number of defects to the number of units produced.
Or the total number of defects found in a sample divided by sample size.
To calculate, you simply divide the total number of defects by the number of units.
Let's say, for example, that you're processing mortgage applications.
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This month, your organization processed 75 applications.
In these applications, 12 errors or defects were found.
We would divide the number of defects, 12, by the number of units, 75.
There're 0.16 or 16% defects per unit.
We multiply the decimal by 100 to find the percentage.
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So when we multiply 0.16 by 100 we find that about 16% of
the mortgages had an error.
But, we need to remember that a single mortgage application
could have multiple errors.
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Let's say we're making automobiles.
In this month, we've produced 1000 new cars.
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Automobiles are complex machines and many things can go wrong.
We found 9000 defects in our automobiles.
When we divide the number of units produced,
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1,000 into the number of defects, 9,000.
We find that we have 9 defects per unit.
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Some units may have more defects and some may have none at all, but
the average number is 9.
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Defects Per Million Opportunities, for this measure, we want to convert our
defects, or errors, to see how many there would be out of a million opportunities.
First, we should define opportunities.
Every possible defect in a product or
error in a service represents an opportunity.
So from our mortgage application example, let's say there are 30 different fields
that need to be properly filled out in the application.
We multiply the number of fields, or places where an error could occur,
by the number of mortgages processed.
30*75 = 2250 opportunities for
error in our 75 units.
To calculate DPMO we first divide the defects by the opportunities.
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Then we multiply this number by 1 million.
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In our example, there were 12 errors.
And we just calculated opportunities, and
found that the 30 fields on 75 applications
represented 2,250 opportunities for error.
Then we divided 12 by 2,250 and
we get 0.00533,
multiplying this number by 1 million,
gives us our defects per million opportunities of 5,333.
If you´ve already calculated DPU, or defects per unit,
you can use a little simpler formula.
You can divide DPU, defects per unit, by the number of opportunities per unit.
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That and multiply that by 1,000,000.
As you can see, you'll get the same result.
This measure gives us a different perspective regarding errors and defects.
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Let's turn to our automobile example again.
We found that we had an average of nine defects per vehicle or
9,000 defects across 1,000 vehicles.
Consider that automobiles are complex machines.
There're a lot of opportunities for error or defects.
Let's say there're 500 opportunities for a defect in each vehicle.
Actually, there're probably many more.
If we multiply the number of opportunities per vehicle by the number of vehicles,
we find that we have 500,000 opportunities for defects.
Remember, to get DPMO we first divide defects by opportunities.
We had 9,000 defects, so we divide 9,000 by 500,000.
This equals 0.018.
We then multiply this by one million.
Again we could use the shortcut but since we have already calculated DPU and
the result is the same.
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Remember, defects per unit is simply the number of defects found in a sample
divided by the number of units in that sample.
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To calculate defects per million opportunities,
we first have to calculate the number of opportunities.
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We get this by multiplying the number of opportunities for
error in a single unit by the number of units in our sample.
This gives us the total number of opportunities.
Then, we divide the number of defects by total opportunities, and
multiply by one million.
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Or, we can use the shortcut, and
divide DPU by the number of opportunities for error per unit.
And multiply that result by one million.
In either case, the result is our DPMO, or defective parts per million opportunities.

ROLL THROUGHPUT
Our next measure is called Roll Throughput Yield.
Roll Throughput Yield is the probability that a process with more than one
step will produce an error or a defect-free unit.
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This also applies when multiple components are used to create a single product.
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Before we can calculate Roll Throughput Yield,
we need to calculate First Pass Yield for each operation or each component.
First Pass Yield is actually just a complement
of our defects per unit calculation.
Remember to get defects per unit,
we divided the number of defects by the number of units.
Let's take an example.
Say we are producing 50 units and we find 3 defects.
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We divide 3 by 50 and we get a DPU of 0.06.
We can get the complement of our DPU calculation by subtracting it from 1.
In this case, the answer is 0.94.
We can interpret this to mean that we have 94% good quality.
It also means that, for any individual part,
there is a 0.94 probability that it will be defect-free.
This is our First Pass Yield.
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It's also possible to account for rework in this calculation, but for
now we will keep it simple.
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Now let's add some more components to our assembly.
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We now have four components in our assembly.
The First Pass Yield for
these components is 0.94, 0.96, 0.98, and 0.96.
Again, that is also the probability that a component will be defect-free.
It would seem that these numbers do not look too bad, but
we want to know how many of our assemblies will be defect-free.
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Our assembly could have a defect occurring from any one of these components.
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According to the multiplication rule of probability,
we can find the probability of multiple events
happening at the same time by multiplying the individual probabilities.
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So if we multiply the First Pass Yield or
probability of good parts for each component together,
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we can get the probability that the assembly will be defect-free.
This is RolledThroughput Yield.
The answer rounded off is 0.85.
That is, there's only a 0.85 probability that
these four components will produce a good assembly.
Imagine how this works in complex products, like a computer or
an automobile transmission.
The more components or steps in the process, the more opportunities for
failure.
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This time you try it.
Remember, to get DPU, divide defects by units.
To get First Pass Yield, subtract DPU from 1.
First Pass Yield is the probability that a component will be defect-free.
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Now multiply the First Pass Yields for
each component together to get the Rolled Throughput Yield for the assembly.
Now pause this video, and try the calculations.
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For each component, we divided the number of defects by the number of units to get
the defects per unit.
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Then we subtracted that result from 1 to get the First Pass Yield.
This is the probability that a component will be defect-free.
Then we multiply those probabilities together
to get the Rolled Throughput Yield, which was 0.95.
So there is a .95 probability that an assembly made up of these
components will be defect-free.
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Did you get it right?
If not, review the video and try again.
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
Affinity diagrams are another silent technique.
It's particularly useful when the number of ideas is very large, or
the problem or causes being brainstormed are not well-defined.
Allow five to ten minutes for participants to write ideas down on Post-it notes,
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one idea per Post-it note.
When everyone is done, put them on all or whiteboard.
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All the members of the team then go to the board and
silently rearrange the ideas into logical groups.
No talking while this is done.
If an idea appears to be closely related to two groups, then write another note and
put it in both.
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This method can take 50 to 75 ideas and reduce them to 6 or 8 groups.
Once the logical groups have been developed, the team can talk, and
discuss a name or label for each group.

Activity network diagrams

Activity network diagrams are excellent for
organizing tasks resulting from the brainstorming session.
These task items need to be sequenced,
meaning, which task can be performed before the other.
You may discover that some tasks are not related,
and can be done at the same time as other tasks.
While these tasks are being refined or perhaps broken down into further tasks,
the duration of each task can be estimated.
The duration can be expressed as: the Earliest Start Time or ES,
the Earliest Finish Time or EF,
the Latest Start Time LS,
and the Latest Finish Time or LF.
There are a number of software packages capable of
organizing and tracking these tests such as Microsoft Project.

multivoting.

Another decision making tool is multivoting.

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In multivoting each team member gets multiple votes, usually five, but
if there are a large number of ideas, there might be more.
Again, start with a reduced list.
If you have 12 ideas, you might allot five votes to each participant.
Participants can apply these votes anyway they want.
They could vote once each for their top five ideas, or
if they feel really strong about one idea, they can put all five votes on that one.
Or they can do anything in between.
Record and add up all the votes.
Discuss the reasons for voting.
If the decision is not clear, you may as a group remove items that got no votes or
only a few votes and then vote again.

Nominal group technique

Nominal group technique is similar to the slip
method of brainstorming that we discussed earlier.
The topic or problem should be defined to start with.
Participants then get five to ten minutes to quietly write their ideas on
a piece of paper.
The facilitator then asks for one idea from each participant in sequence.
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The facilitator will write these on a flip chart.
Other brainstorming methods, no discussion or evaluation is allowed at this point.
When all ideas are accurately recorded discussion begins to clarify and
evaluate ideas.
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Finally, the group will select one or more ideas through the use of the team decision
making tools we will talk about in a few minutes.

Force Field Analysis

Force Field Analysis is a team tool with lots of applications including root cause.
This is another structured brainstorming tool.
A Force Field Analysis seeks to identify forces that will
help you accomplish what you want and those that might work against you.
If you can identify the driving forces that will help your team accomplish their goal,
you might be able to leverage those forces.
If you can identify forces working against what you want to accomplish,
you may be able to minimize or mitigate them.
At the very least,
this information will help you to understand the problem better.
A common way to do this is to use a flip chart or a white board,
draw a large T-shape and label the two sides as shown here.
It's good to pair driving and restraining forces but it's not always possible.
Sometimes, your team might also identify
forces that seem to belong on both sides of the chart.
Let's say that you're leading a team that has the task of implementing
a process change or even a process improvement initiative.
You might brainstorm the forces that will help you succeed,
and those that might work against you.
The team will probably come up with many more than are shown here,
but as an example,
there may be a strong desire to improve
customer satisfaction but you may have employees or managers who are resistant.
Perhaps you have a particular manager who is supportive and wants the team to succeed,
but there may be others who feel differently.
Some employees may be eager to be involved and to help make things better,
but they also face the pressure of the production schedule.
Employees may have lots of good ideas,
but do they have the resources to implement them?
When you've identified these for and against forces,
you may be able to come up with ways to use the strong driving forces to help you,
and you may be able to head off or minimize some of the restraining forces.
You might use Force Field Analysis to identify
root causes of something like late customer orders.
The idea is that for large problems like this,
there are a number of forces that combine to produce the current situation.
If we can identify them we might be able to address the causes.
What if we have this problem with late customer orders and we want to fix that?
There are a lot of things that could cause this problem.
These are just a few.
Management's desire for getting rid of late customer orders is certainly a driving force.
Lack of capacity to do all of the work that
the organization has committed to may be a restraining force.
Employees usually want to do a good job and may be willing to do what is
necessary but perhaps management is not authorizing overtime.
Maybe poor quality is working against us as we have to
rework product or rerun some orders causing us to be late.
But we have also just begun process improvements,
so maybe we can leverage that effort to help solve the problem.
Another restraining force may be a bottleneck in the process.
Perhaps we can alleviate this bottleneck if
our employees are flexible and willing to stagger breaks and lunch.
These were just a couple of examples of the use of the Force Field Analysis.
It's usually done by a team to help them to understand a large project or problem.
Part of the attraction of this tool is it is so simple and easy to use.
All you need is a marker and a flip chart or a white board,
and a team with ideas.

PRIORITIZATION MATRICES
When brainstorming root cause with a cause and effect diagram for
instance, the team may come up with a large number of possible causes.
You may not have the time and resources to investigate all of them so
you need to prioritize.
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You can also use this tool for
other team decisions like selecting a process improvement or a vendor.
This tool might be used in the analyze phase, when determining root cause,
or it might be used in the improve phase when selecting an improvement.
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It's easy to do a prioritization matrix in Excel.
There's a little math involved so Excel simplifies this as well.
0:45
In this first example we'll use the tool to select a vendor from
three possibilities.
0:52
Across the top row the team will list their decision criteria.
0:57
These are not predetermined,
this is one of several team decisions that must be agreed upon as you use the tool.
1:05
After discussion the team decided that the most important criteria for
this selection were cost, quality, flexibility and delivery.
But cost, quality, flexibility and delivery are not of equal importance.
So the team must decide how to weight these factors.
We use decimals, but you can also use percentages.
The team decided that quality was the most important factor and
gave it a weight of 0.4 or 40%.
Cost was 0.3 or 30%.
Delivery was the next most important criteria and at 0.2 or
20% and flexibility was weighted at 0.1 or 10%.
Regardless of how many criteria you choose,
the weights must add up to 1 or 100%.
The next step is to rank order the options with
the largest number being the most desirable.
The team determined that Vendor C had the best price,
followed by Vendor A, and Vendor B was the most expensive.
2:16
So since B was most expensive it gets the lowest ranking, 1.
Vendor C was the most desirable price so it is 3.
This was repeated for each criterion.
2:29
Each time you assign a ranking to the options based on a criterion,
the team will have a conversation and reach consensus.
This tool takes some time.
2:40
Once all the option have been ranked against all the criteria,
you'll multiply each ranking by the weight assigned for that criteria.
For example, under Cost, Vendor A was ranked number two, so
we multiply 2 times the relative importance of cost, which is .30.
The result is .60.
Vendor B was the most expensive, so
it has a ranking of 1, and its score is .30.
Finally, Vendor C had the most desirable price.
So it's score will be the weight or
relative importance times its ranking of 3.
So its score is .90 on cost criteria.
Repeat this for every option in each criterion.
3:34
The multiplication and addition can be done more quickly and
more reliably if you use Excel.
3:40
Once you've created a score for each option against each criteria,
you can add the scores for each option going across.
The scores here are shown in parenthesis.
So for vendor A it's .60 plus .40 plus
.30 plus .60, for a total of 1.90.
Repeat this for each option, adding across.
The highest total score is probably the most desirable choice.
4:13
A caution about the Prioritization Matrix.
As we go through this process, we're assigning weights and
ranks and multiplying and
adding numbers to these fields like it's quantitative but it is not.
The team decides what those weights and ranks will be so it's qualitative.
The real value is in all of the team discussions.
The team has to discuss and decide what the criteria would be.
The team will have another discussion to decide what the weights will be,
then team will yet have another discussion to decide on how to rank the options.
The real value in this tool is in these discussions.
4:58
Through this process,
the team gets a deeper understanding of the decision it's making.
5:05
Do not let the numbers make the decision.
Sometimes a team after all this discussion will decide
on the option with the second highest score.
Because after all of the discussion they may decide that the weighting or
ranking were not quite right.
5:23
Let's look at another example.
This time we're selecting which improvement option to give priority too.
In this case the team had chosen the following criteria and weights.
The cost of the implementation is first with a weight of 30% or 0.3.
Speed of implementation is the most important
because we want to be able to demonstrate some quick results to gain buy-in.
So it's weighted at 40%.
Complexity is probably closely related to speed but
the team decided to include it and
its weight is 10% and finally the benefits of improvement are weighted at 20%.
When we ranked the options the teen felt that improvement two and
improvement three We're the same on the speed criteria.
If there is a tie like this, use the value half-way between.
So the team could not decide which was one and which was two so
they ranked them both 1.5.
Now we multiply the relative importance or weight times
the ranking just as we did before and add up the scores for each improvement option.
Improvement 1 had the highest score since the score
between Improvement 1 and Improvement 2 is fairly close
the team might have some additional discussion about this.
However, since Improvement 1 had the highest score,
in the most important criteria and was no lower than second in any other,
it seems likely that the team will choose Improvement 1.
Remember the team makes the decision not the tool.

SIPOC
A SIPOC is a high level process map that includes suppliers,
inputs, processes, outputs and customers.
SIPOCs serve to bind the processes together,
and like other process maps,
serve to promote effective communication.
The SIPOC diagram will help you understand the process,
know what your customers consider to be the most important,
and where to start moving the project forward.
The SIPOC is used to help see the business in a process perspective.
It also shows the cross-functional nature of a process.
Additionally, it shows the inter-relationship
between the customer and the supplier in each interaction.
This is a key difference from a normal process map,
flow chart, or value stream map.
When completing a SIPOC,
here are some questions that will help.
Note that these are all closely aligned with the types
of questions we ask regarding processes.
Here is an example of a SIPOC.
Note that inputs and outputs can be tangible and intangible.
The scope of the suppliers and customers are also quite broad.
In addition to the apparent benefits regarding inputs, outputs,
customers, and suppliers, the SIPOC helps us establish project boundaries.
Steps for creating a SIPOC include identification of process boundaries and activities.
We must define our outputs and associated customers.
Next, our inputs and associated suppliers.
Critical to satisfaction measures are specified in relation to inputs.
Process steps and outputs are then added.
Make sure to be specific.
SIPOCs are bound to need further adjustment.
Here is an example for taking a business trip.
Where multiple processes are in play we can
combine into one overarching flow that defines all steps in the process.
We often uncover more inputs,
outputs, and process steps when creating SIPOCs.
Additionally, we may discover suppliers and customers we never knew we had.
Here is another example for washing clothes.
Processes can be bound over simple tasks or complex tasks,
even cyclic tasks where you are both the supplier and the customer, can be explored.
TREE DIAGRAMS
ree diagrams are popular, and looks like an organization chart.
This can also be accomplished during a brainstorming session.
The problem is represented at the top, while the affinities or
categories are branched out along.
With the possible problem areas to explore.
The tree diagram can be used to develop elements for
a new product, it can be used to show relationships of a production process.
It can be used to create new ideas in problem solving,
it can also be used to just outline steps needed to implement a project.
0:36
In this example, we see that the paint inspection failed.
0:42
Possible areas of concern could be the paint booth,
it could be the adhesive assembly, or it could be simply the design.
0:50
So, we break that down even further to say what is it we're going to look at within
these areas.
So you see for instance, the paint booth we see that the sprayer could be broken.
It could be an over-spray or under-spray.
It could be the paint booth, if it's on an assembly line,
it could have a line speed issue.
Or you could have the wrong paint.
1:11
So, these areas are explored by the team.

CONTROL CHARTS-1
We control things to consistently meet standards.
In a control process we continually observe
the performance of a process to maintain gains,
analyze the variation, and move closer to a state of self-control.
The PDCA method is a fundamental yet effective means of driving change.
Before beginning we should understand what we are trying to accomplish,
what we can change to achieve the improvement,
and how we will measure improvement.
We can also explore economies in our process by standardizing as much as possible.
We cannot solve everything at once.
So starting with the most important root cause can give us the most substantial gain.
A control plan is the manner in which we sustain
the gain and implement the proposed change effectively and robustly.
As we deploy policy changes we must ask ourselves,
which corporate policy should be changed as a result of the project?
Have some policies been rendered obsolete?
Are new policies needed?
Did the project bring the organization into compliance with a standard?
Based on the outcomes of these questions we must be prepared
to modify procedures for the new process,
modify quality appraisal and audit criteria,
update prices and contract bid models,
change information systems, revise budgets,
revise forecasts, or modify training.
One useful approach in controlling a process is through dynamic control planning.
Dynamic control planning is a collection of
essential information that pertains to a process.
This information can include SOPs, control plans,
FMEAs, gauge control plans,
and quality planning sheets.
Document control plans are living documents that outline a larger scope of documents.
As such, when changes are needed,
operators have the responsibility to make these changes known so that
an update can be made and corresponding training can take place.
A gauge control plan focuses specifically on the instruments used
to monitor and assess the proper function of the process.
It is not meant to be a substitute for actual calibration,
but more a guide of what, how,
and when certain tasks shall be completed as pertains to the proper function,
performance, and upkeep of the instrument.
It also outlines contingency planning,
should certain conditions fail to be met.
Control charts show process variation while work is underway.
It provides a means for monitoring the state of
the process in real time and detecting issues.
SPC is a graphical tool used to monitor ongoing performance.
Control charts can trace their origins back to Shewhart at Western Electric in the 1920s.
Control charts established performance boundaries.
They also help us uncover assignable causes of
variation and distinguish these from chance causes.
There are over 30 types of control chart's in use today.
So control charting can be applied to many types of data.
They also assist in creating a foundation from which
professionals can discuss and address process performance issues.
Control charts are applicable for any scenario that varies over time.
We particularly are interested in using these types of tools to
assess process performance after an improvement has been implemented.
Remember, control charting is not just for monitoring.
It is also for detection.

CONTROL CHARTS-2
Picking up where we left off,
the components of the control chart include a center line,
an upper and control control limits.
Quality characteristic values are plotted along the vertical axis.
There are two types of control charts, attribute and variable.
With control charting we can know when to take corrective action,
the type of remedial action to take,
when to lead the process along,
the process capability, and the possible avenues for quality improvement.
Before we can eliminate variation,
we must recognize that there are really two types of variation at play.
Special cause is assignable variation,
something that is not inherent in the process.
Common cause is due to chance.
Variability due to common or chance causes is something inherent in the process.
Demming believed that 15 percent of all problems are due to special causes.
Action on the part of management and workers can reduce special causes.
Demming also believed that about 85 percent of all problems are due to common causes.
These can only be solved by management since you must change the system.
The center line is where the average or target value will reside.
Typical processes can be deemed out of control
when points are outside the control limits,
there are nonrandom patterns,
or if target values are on only one side of the center line.
If the process is under statistical control then we can estimate the process parameters,
the mean, the standard deviation,
and the process capability.
Per the central limit there,
as we increase the sample size,
the control limits will be drawn closer together.
This is due to a decrease in the variance.
Control limits are usually placed at plus or minus three sigma.
This captures 99.74 percent of the behavior of the sample statistic.
This is our indicator that the process is in control and
our process consistently performs within these limits.
In most cases sampling is done in time order or by process.
We call this type of sampling the instant of time method.
Observations are selected at
approximately the same time for the population under consideration.
If we want to detect a small shift,
a large sample size is needed.
Choosing large samples frequently provides
the most information but is not always feasible.
We must consider whether we have destructive testing and the cost of sampling.
Once you have localized and eliminated assignable causes we should
remove out of control points and revise the center line and control limits.
There is no need to maintain control charts if
the process demonstrates consistent capability.
Instead, focus your attention and resources on other areas.
Be aware that the control limits on
a control chart are influenced by the variability in the process.
As such, these control limits will change.
Today's technology makes this a very manageable behavior.
Control charts are easy to set but very difficult to maintain.
Often our failure to maintain comes down to our inattention,
in other words, failing to make adjustments when the control chart detects an issue.
Prioritization of productivity also overshadows control charting.
Lack of training can also derail a control charting program

MGT. PLANNING TOOLS

In this module, we will explore a number of management and
planning tools to be used by your continuous improvement teams.
0:10
The first two of these are really management tools.
The next two focus on the customer.
0:16
Then we will look at more team tools.
8D is a problem solving model for reactive situations.
And finally, we will explore the concept of process capability.
0:30
Balanced scorecard is a method of monitoring an organization's performance
that encompasses more than just financial measures,
a few key measures from four areas are monitored.
Think of the balanced scorecard like the vital signs of your organization.
0:47
Benchmarking is a technique for learning from others.
We don't have to invent everything new.
When we see best practices, we should borrow whenever we can.
0:59
In the voice of the customer sections, we will learn about various ways to listen to
our customers, to discover their wants and needs, and
how to translate those wants and needs into specifications that we can work to.
We'll also learn how customer wants and needs can change over time.
We will introduce some new team tools that are used for
managing projects and for understanding complex relationships.
8D is a reactive problem solving model developed by Ford Motor Company.
It's used when something has gone wrong that we need to fix.
1:37
This is often when customers have been affected.
1:41
There are several measures of process capability used in six sigma, and
they are a key to its success.
In this module, we will explore the idea of process capability conceptually.
Process capability is a comparison of the variation in a process
with the specifications which are derived from customer requirements.

KANO-MODEL
The Kano model is useful to help give us insight into customer behavior.

0:07
The Kano model is built around two measurement dimensions,
quality performance, and customer satisfaction.
0:17

Customer satisfaction is represented by the vertical line here

with high satisfaction at the top, and low satisfaction at the bottom.
0:27
In the middle, customers are indifferent.

0:32
The horizontal line represents quality performance.
Fully implemented high quality performance is at the right.
And at the left, quality performance is absent or not achieved.

0:48
Kano described three different types of product or
service attributes which are applied to this model.
The first type of product of service attribute is called a threshold or

basic attribute.
These are things that customers take for granted.
1:05
The second type of customer or service attribute is called a performance or
linear attribute.
1:12
It's also called a satisfier.
These are things that customers have identified as wants or

needs and generally more is better.

They result in satisfaction when performance is high and
in dis-satisfaction when it's not.
1:28

So if you perform well on a performance or

linear attribute then customers will be very satisfied.
And if your performance is low they will be dissatisfied.
Depending on what product, service or customer group we're talking about,

this might include things like reliability, cost or safety.

1:50
Providing satisfiers is often considered the minimum requirement to
stay in business.
1:56
Finally the third type is delighters.
These are things that the customer does not expect and they're excited to receive.

2:06
Doing well on the basic or
threshold attributes may be almost invisible to customers.
If you do them really well, customers barely notice.

But if you don't, customers are quickly dissatisfied.

These are things that customers expect and take for granted.
Often if you ask customers what they want they will not even mention these because
they don't even think about them.

2:30
If you buy a new car for example and ask what you want,
you probably will not mention that you want it to start everyday.
It's taken for granted you expect that.
Performing well on these basic attributes will not make the customer satisfied but
failing to perform will make them dissatisfied.
Because of this, threshold or basic attributes or
sometimes called dissatisfiers.

2:58
The second type of customer services attribute is called a performance or
linear attribute.
It's also called a satisfier.

These are the things that customers have identified as wants or

needs and generally, more is better.
3:14
The result in satisfaction when performance is high, and

dissatisfaction when it's is not.

3:21
So, if you perform well on a performance or linear attribute,
then customers will be very satisfied.
If your performance is low, they will be dissatisfied,
depending on what product, service or customer group we're talking about.
Again, these things might include things like reliability, cost or safety.

Providing satisfiers is often considered the minimum requirement

to stay in business.
This is the third type of product or service attribute.
It's called an exciter or delighter.

These are things that customers probably don't expect and

may not have even thought of.
These are necessary to achieve really high customer satisfaction and
provide a real competitive advantage.

4:09
You can probably think of a customer experience when you got something that
you didn't expect, they usually leave an impression.
These attributes are not static though.
4:21
Over time, delighters become performance or
linear attributes because people are no longer surprised by them.
4:30

Things that are performance attributes may become threshold or basic attributes.
Midas belted tires used to last about 20,000 miles.
4:40
When radial tires were introduced they could last 30 to 40,000 miles and

customers were delighted.

When, over time, we've come to expect that.
40,000 miles may now be a basic requirement for tires.
It's important to consider how these attributes affect customer satisfaction

and how they may change over time.

VOICE OF CUSTOMER-TOOL TO MEASURE
In our improvement efforts, everything should start with the customer.
We need to know what our customers want and need,
we do not want to guess, so, the only way to know is to ask them.
0:14
These are some tools that are commonly used to collect Voice the Customer data.
We can use surveys, focus groups, interviews, direct observation and others.
Valuable data can also be obtained from customer complaints and warranty claims.
Often, more than one method is used.
0:34
Surveys are probably the most widely used method for listening to customers.
0:40
They can be paper based but increasingly there are electronic.
The advantage to surveys is that you can reach a large number of customers.
Disadvantages include low response rates and
the inability to ask follow up questions.
0:57
Careful survey design is important.
It's often best to hire someone who specializes in surveys.
To do the development and to interpret the results.
1:07
Focus groups are small groups of customers or
potential customers, a discussion is led by a skilled facilitator.
To dig deep into customers' wants and needs.
1:20
This ability to ask follow-up questions is a major strength of focus groups.
A drawback is that they tend to be expensive.
1:30
Similar to focus groups interviews can be used to get in-depth information.
These are typically done one-on-one, and also use a skilled facilitator.
1:42
These are also expensive and it's necessary to make
sure that the subject for the interviews are representative of your customer base.
1:51
Direct observation may be an underused technique.
In a customer service situation, a manager might simply watch and
record what is happening.
Better yet, customer contact employees can be trained to make and
record observations and customer concerns.
2:11
It's not sufficient to simply collect customer data once and
assume it will be consistent.
There are a number of reasons why you should continuously collect this
information.
You may be asking customers how your performance compares to competitors.
But competitor performance can change.
2:30
Customer needs can change as well as evidenced by the Kano model and
customer priorities are also subject to change.
2:39
When Voice of the Customer information has been collected,
it is often not in a form that's very useful.
Customers tend to describe their desires in vague or general terms.
2:51
This customer feedback has to be translated into something useful,
it needs to be turned into specifications that can be measured.
3:00
This is a simple example, a family wants to select a destination for
their vacation.
The needs or wants that they have expressed are proximity to the beach and
a desire for warmth.
3:13
It's not hard to identify attributes that align with these needs,
in this case, temperature and the number of blocks to the beach.
3:22
Through further conversations with the family, it was determined
that they wanted something within six blocks of the beach and
an air temperature greater than 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Those are our specifications, we now have something measurable we can work to.
We can also apply a tolerance, another tool for translating Voice of
the Customer information to specifications is the CTQ or Critical to Quality tree.
3:52
With the CTQ tree, you identify the needs,
the drivers of those needs and derive a measure from that.
In this same example, we look again at the warmth need.
4:06
The drivers for this need are a desire to wear shorts and
to swim or play in the water.
The related measures, then, would be air temperature and water temperature.
4:19
We will revisit the idea of specifications when we talk about process capability.

BENCHMARKING AND BALANCING SCORE CARDS

Benchmarking & Balanced Scorecard are two commonly used Management Tools.
Together, they can help us improve and monitor our performance.
0:13
Benchmarking is the process
of finding improvements by comparing our processes to other processes.
Usually, the target of a benchmarking exercise is compared
to a similar process that is known to perform well.
Many companies compare their performance measures with those of their industry or
competitors.
The measure performance of these comparators is often called a benchmark.
These measures can be very useful in assessing competitiveness.
However, benchmarking is more about process and
there are several ways to do benchmarking.
0:53
Internal benchmarking is comparing processes with other
processes in your organization.
Particularly in large organizations,
very similar functions may vary a lot in performance.
It's useful to identify the best in the organization, and study how it is done.
1:14
Internal benchmarking, though, is limited by your internal culture and history.
Even the best in your organization may not be great, compared to competitors.
Competitive benchmarking is externally focused.
How do your competitors perform the function of interest?
1:36
Of course, getting your competitors to share this information may prove
difficult, but it may not be impossible.
This is what American automobile manufacturers did in the 1980s
when they visited Japan to study their manufacturing methods.
Competitive benchmarking is also limited by the quality within your industry.
2:00
While it may seem counterintuitive at first,
some of the most useful benchmarking might be done with organizations
in completely different industries.
2:11
This is functional benchmarking.
In functional benchmarking, you can select the function that is common to many or
all organizations regardless of industry.
This could be customer service or training or strategic planning.
2:27
These are not industry specific.
By going outside your industry, you can identify and
study the organizations that are the best in the world at that function.
2:41
Often, if an organization agrees to let you benchmark, it's useful to reciprocate.
2:47
Different organizations are good at different things.
Two organizations can study each other to determine best practices.
This might be done between suppliers and customers, for example.
3:02
The Balanced Scorecard is a system for measuring performance and
implementing strategy, developed by Kaplan and Norton and published in 1996.
Most organizations at that time, and possibly now, focused almost
exclusively on financial measures to assess their organizational performance.
Financial performance is an outcome.
If you want to influence the outcome,
it's necessary to pay attention to the things that produced that outcome.
To that end, Kaplan and Norton suggested monitoring
small number of measures in four areas of performance.
Financial, customers,
operations, and learning.
The idea is to select a small number of key measures for each area.
Financial performance is our goal.
To achieve it, we have to be good at satisfying our customers.
4:06
Our operations need to be efficient and effective, and
we need to learn and grow as an organization.
With a balanced scorecard, you don't have to measure everything.
Think of it as the vital signs of an organization.
A balanced approach like this provides a more useful view of performance,
and it helps to identify improvement opportunities.
MORE TEAM TOOLS
In this video we will look at some additional tools for the team to use.
We will discuss the Gantt Chart for project management,
the Interrelationship Diagraph and Matrix Diagrams for understanding relationships,
and the Process Decision Program Chart or PDPC,
a special tree diagram for identifying possible failure points in a complex project.
A Gantt chart is a tool for monitoring and managing a project.
These can be created by hand,
but there are many software packages that will do it including some free ones.
The Gantt chart lists all of the tasks and
subtasks on the left in the order in which they will be done.
The right side is a calendar where you can indicate planned beginning and end times.
One big advantage of using software is that you can
establish dependencies - which steps need to happen before other steps.
This allows you to start steps without dependencies earlier in the process.
The purpose of an Interrelationship Diagraph is to show cause and effect relationships.
This is another team brainstorming tool.
Using a white board or a flip chart,
a problem statement is placed at the top.
The team would then list concerns around the outside border.
Then arrows are drawn to show various relationships.
This is a simplified example for a new software implementation project.
This only shows a few of the possible issues.
This tool is usually used to understand complex relationships.
A Matrix Diagram is a table that demonstrates relationships.
The house of quality and quality function deployment is an example.
Symbols can be used to signify the strength of a relationship.
In the simplified example here,
relationships between product or service
attributes and the various processes that create them are shown.
Note that not every process is related to every attribute.
Matrix Diagrams can have a variety of uses and can be customized to meet your needs.
The Process Decision Program Chart or PDPC is a type of tree diagram.
It can be used to list anticipated problems and possible solutions.
You might start with a tree diagram showing the main levels of a project plan.
The team can then brainstorm what could go wrong at various points.
The team can also brainstorm possible countermeasures.
These are four tools for complex situations that you can now add to your tool box.
8D PROBLEM
There are hundreds of problem solving models but most are very similar.
Most of them have five to eight steps and
can be readily mapped against the PDCA or PBSA model.
0:15
We've mostly talked about the model.
This is a proactive approach, an opportunity is identified and
the model is used for improvement.
0:26
But sometimes we have a problem that needs to be solved.
Something is gone wrong, perhaps we've produced some bad product.
In this case, we're being reactive and 8D is often used in this situation.
0:41
This model is widely used in the automotive and other industries.
0:46
One primary difference between proactive and
reactive models is that a reactive model should have a containment step.
In containment, you put in place a temporary fix.
This does not address root cause, but
it temporarily prevents the customer from experiencing the problem.
Think of it as a band-aid.
The purpose of problem solving models is to give discipline to the process.
The D, in 8D, stands for discipline.
Problem solving models are made to ensure that decisions
are made on the basis of facts, not opinions.
1:25
Using a disciplined approach like this may help to ensure that the problem is
truly solved.
1:31
8D is often used in reaction tool problem.
It might be inappropriate tool when a problem is large and scope or
significance, or when a customer is affected by the problem,
when a problem is recurring or when a process is out of control.
1:53
These are the eight steps, there's actually nine in the 8D process.
Most of them will probably look familiar from other tools and
models that we have looked at.
2:05
Planning is step zero, do it before you start.
This should be a team effort, and the plan should be written.
It's likely that as you proceed you will learn things that cause the plan to
change, that's okay.
Dwight Eisenhower once said, plans are useless, but planning is essential.
The written plan will change, but the value is in the planning process.
2:31
Like most of our improvement efforts, the 8D requires a team.
An ideal team size is usually four to six people, but
others can be enlisted to help if they have particular expertise that is needed.
2:46
Defining a problem can be the most important step.
This step is often skipped or addressed too quickly.
Organizations or
individuals sometimes take a ready shoot aim approach to problem solving.
3:01
Problems should be defined very precisely.
Starting with a general problem topic,
3:08
a specific problem statement should be developed.
The problem statement should include a description of the current situation
as is, and a description of what it should look like, the desired state.
Both should be measurable.
3:26
Here are some useful rules for creating problem statements.
The statement should be based on data, that is it must be measurable.
No causes, be careful not to stay or imply cause, identifying causes comes later.
No solutions, do not state or imply solutions, this can be hard to do,
but solutions also come later in the model.
Finally, make sure your problem statement is not too general, make it specific.
3:55
This is an example of a problem statement based on student complaints about parking.
Not defining a problem like this can lead to unnecessary waste in cost.
As an example, an urban university in a medium size city
decided based on student complaints that they had a parking problem.
So they bought some land at the edge of campus and built another parking lot.
The complaints continued, so they hired a consulting firm.
The consulting firm did a study collected data, and reported
that the university had plenty of parking spaces, they were just in the wrong place.
Nobody wanted to walk from distant parking lots to class.
4:43
University then decided to build a parking deck in the middle of campus.
4:48
The university could not solve the problem initially because it assumed
that the problem was not enough spaces, it wasn't clearly defined.
The consulting company gathered data and properly defined the problem.
This step is to keep the problem from doing more damage,
to stop the bleeding so to speak.
5:11
Think of containment as a band-aid.
The idea in this step is to make sure we're not continuing
to cause our customers pain.
Containment is what makes 8D different from other improvement models and
why it's appropriate for reactive improvement.
5:29
A caution here.
5:30
Often we put containment in place and
think we have solved the problem, this is not a permanent solution.
5:39
Another example, another university had a similar parking problem.
They responded by setting up a shuttle service to move students from distant
parking lots to classrooms.
This contained the problem, but it did nothing to address root cause,
which was that parking spaces were too far away.
Note, that root causes and escape points are plural.
There's often more than one root cause.
There are a number of tools that we've already discussed, such as, five whys and
fish bone diagrams, to help you get to root cause.
Root cause identification can be imprecise, but
precision is not always possible.
6:22
There's one way to be absolutely sure of root cause.
If you can remove the cause and the problem goes away, then put
the root cause back and the problem comes back, then you can be pretty sure.
6:35
This is often not possible, so we use other tools to get us as close as we can.
6:42
Most people and many teams, when they're faced with a problem
6:47
have a tendency to jump to step five, we all have
a tendency to want to move right to a solution before we understand the problem.
It's critical that we do not skip steps one through four,
7:02
once you've established root cause, you need to figure out how to fix it.
The solution should be tested to verify that the customer will no longer
be affected.
7:13
To implement, follow your plan.
7:16
This is why team consensus is important,
without it, you may not have the support you need for your solution.
7:24
To validate, go back to your problem statement and measure your process after
the change, if you're successful, it will be closer to the desired state.
You may need to go through the problem solving process more than once to
address additional root causes.
7:43
This step is similar to the control phase in the DMAIC process, or
the standardize step in PDSA.
7:52
Step seven is where you standardize.
Once you have corrected the problem,
you have to make sure the process does not revert back to what it was before.
This may include changing process documentation, training, or other methods.
Finally, we congratulate the team.
Okay, this may not seem like a real step, but it's important.
It's important to recognize the work and
success of the team, and there are lots of ways to do this.
8:23
It's also an important tool for communication.
Everyone needs to know what has changed and what has been accomplished.

PROCESS CAPABILITY
here are a number of calculations for process capability.
These will be covered in course three.
For right now, we're going to focus on understanding the concept of process capability.
For a start, process capability refers to
the capability of a process to meet customer requirements consistently.
Everything starts with customer requirements.
Earlier, we talked about how to uncover customer wants and needs.
Unfortunately, these are often too vague or general to be of use to specifications.
Some translation is usually required to obtain specifications from customer requirements.
You might think of specifications as goalposts.
Our objective is to produce products or services,
all of which fall within the specified limits.
All processes vary, we need to know how much.
To find out, we have to look at the historical data from the process.
This data will give us a distribution.
Many processes follow a normal distribution such as this one.
The curve may be wider and shorter or taller and narrower,
but there are always three standard deviations to
the left of center and three standard deviations to the right of center.
We know that about 68% of everything we produce based on
historical data will fall within plus (+)
or minus (-) one (1) standard deviation of the center.
We also know that about 95.5% of everything we
produce will fall within plus (+) or minus (-) two (2) standard deviations of the center.
And 99.73% of everything that we produce
will fall within plus (+) or minus (-) three (3) standard deviations of the center.
This is virtually all of the product or service.
Now, specifications come from customer requirements.
Process performance comes from historical process data.
These are two separate things,
but we want to compare them.
How well does our process performance match the specifications?
Calculations will give us a ratio but for right now,
we just want to visualize.
If the distance between
the upper and lower specifications is wider than the process distribution,
then the process will be capable of meeting customer requirements consistently.
In this case, the specifications fall
right on plus (+) or minus (-) three (3) standard deviations.
Remember that 99.73% of everything we produce will fall within this area.
This process is just "barely capable".
If the process distribution is wider than the specification limits,
the process is "not capable".
The tails of the distribution on
the specification limits represent non-conforming product or services.
The process is not capable of consistently meeting customer requirements.
It may be that the process is not wider than the specification limits but is off center.
In this case, the process is also not
capable of meeting customer requirements consistently.
This process is creating non-conforming products or
services in the tail on the left side of the distribution.
A Six Sigma process will look like this.
There are six standard deviations between
the nearest spec limit and the center of the process.
Remember, that the specification limits originate with the voice of
the customer and the distribution comes from the historical process data.
We can overlay or compare these,
to see if the process is capable of consistently meeting customer requirements.