IN-, DURING, AFTER- process improvements, productivity can be measured, look for the metric of efficiency with which resources such as labour or capital are employed in the production process. There are two widely used productivity measures; labour productivity and multifactor productivity. Lean Six Sigma programmes will support on this.
Archive | Lean Six Sigma @de
Translating Customer Needs into Key Process Measures
Listening to the Voice of the Customer.
Do we really know the answer to these questions?
- How does the customer view my process?
- When it starts for them?
- When it is finished?
- What is the customer looking for when measuring the performance of my process ?
- How well does my process meet the customer’s expectation of what constitutes value ‘in their eyes’?
We must first understand who the Customer actually is. We should then define how to listen to the Customer when he is expressing his opinions about the quality of our products or services. There may already be an established process within your business to extract this valuable information on an ongoing basis (Market Research), however, it may also be the case that the business does not capture such information in a coherent and usable format. This is often the case with internal customers. Therefore, specific techniques and deeper analysis is required to understand what the customers requirements for the process output actually are.
Process Improvement requires ‘solution thinking’
Solution thinking often means being “creative”
It is useful to think about looking elsewhere for ideas as Benchmarking and looking within the team for ideas as Creativity
Many people, technical thinkers in particular, but others as well, often view all kinds of “creativity” on projects negatively; we want hard facts and analysis, “Creativity” has the reputation for being wild, uncontrolled, undisciplined; the generation of new ideas that were of limited (or no!) practical use
But remember, you have not improved something until you have created something new.
Green and Black Belts will learn that creativity can be managed. It can be focused. It can be the reason that the Lean Six Sigma project succeeds.
Creativity is a skill which anyone can learn to do better, the creative process can be accelerated and directed.
Green Belt sessions in Kortrijk / Courtrai in Belgium
starting from 19th of March next, there will be monthly Green Belt session in the city of Courtrai in Belgium, 20 km from Lille, FR.
have a look at the calender for the dates !
Don’t get stuck in ‘methodology wars’
It is easy to get stuck in deciding what methodology to use.
Yet the underlying activities are very similar.
The real work is in using the DMAIC methodology and LSS Black belts should always be able to use any sensible methodology;
- If you try to make improvements or solve problems without a methodology, you will probably jump to conclusions or you may become lost.
- All improvement methodologies cover the same basic sequence of events, see also PDCA
- Methodologies designed to react to new problems, such as DMAIC, include containment actions to quickly stop the customer being affected.
- Use the Lean Six Sigma methodology, it will lead to innovation.
DMAIC is a team-based problem solving methodology.
Teamwork divides the task, but doubles the success.
It is imperative that the project team comprises of the necessary cross-functional members that may have an influence on the problem solving process
- Recommended team size is between 6-8 members
- The team can evolve over time. Only invite those who are needed to specific meetings
- The team must be supported and empowered by Senior Management
The team roles must be clearly defined:
- Project Sponsor
- Team Leader – Black Belt or Green Belt
- Team Members – Yellow Belt or Green Belt
Green Belt Training Sessions in Krakow and Warsaw
the next green belts sessions have been booked in March and May for the Polish participants. the green belt weeks can be used at the same time as the 1st week for the future black belt trainees. all sessions will be conducted in the Novotel Conference Centres in Krakow and Warsaw. starting Mondays at noon and ending Fridays’ at noon, after the Green Belt examination. Polish candidates can book for special prices. all material and training is in english. coaching in polish is available. pls look for the details on the site.
Determine the ‘maturity’ of your processes.
What’s the point of all this?
If you determine the ‘maturity’ of your processes, you can do several things:
- compare your processes against each other, determine the worst processes and prioritise them for improvement
- compare your processes against other organisations, either for your own understanding of the level of your processes or for use in competitive tender situations
e.g. US Dept of Defense requires subcontracted software development organisations to have a CMMI Maturity Level of 5 in order to be even considered
- Monitor improvement of your processes over time and obtain feedback as to the effectiveness of your improvement actions
- Use it as a baseline to prevent process maturity from slipping backwards
Process Assessment and Process Maturity.
Black Belts using the Lean Six Sigma methodology for innovation and process improvement need to carry certain elements during de phases of a project, e.g.
Process Assessment:
- Compare characteristics of a process or set of processes against defined criteria to obtain a value or score of the maturity, robustness, compliance, etc. of the process(es).
- Assessment is a generic term that includes process audits, quality audits, evaluations, etc.
Process Maturity:
- A measure of (usually) the control and management of a process or processes against a scale from ‘chaos’ at one end to continuously improving’ at the other.
These two:
- give information for decisions on improvement priorities
- enhance the drivers to improve – ‘You get what you measure’
Fehlervermeidung, "Poka Yoke"
“Poka Yoke” ist eine Technik zur Vermeidung von Fehlern, welche von Black Belts zur Lösungsfindung und Vorbereitung der Implementierung verwendet wird. Idealerweise wird es dadurch unmöglich, Fehler zu machen. Es ist preiswert, … sehr effektiv, … basierend auf Einfachheit und Genialität.
“Pokal Yoke” bedeutet, unbeabsichtigte Fehler zu verhindern. Dieser Ansatz stammt von Shigeo Shingo (1909 – 1990) aus Japan.
Fehlervermeidung ist eine einfache Technik. Sie sollten Sie zu jeder Zeit im Auge behalten, insbesonderem beim Entwerfen der Lösung oder der Verbesserung. Idealerweise sollten Sie verhindern, dass alle Variationen und Möglichkeiten der Fehler auftreten können.
Wenn dies nicht zu 100% möglich ist (die Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie gilt wie immer auch hier), sollten Sie versuchen:
- Identifizieren (schnelles Identifizieren, jedes Mal wenn das Problem auftritt)
- Erleichtern (machen es schwierig, einen Fehler zu machen)
- Fehlerauswirkung mindern (Minderung der Auswirkungen, wenn der Fehler auftritt)
… In dieser Reihenfolge!