Simplify – The Second of the 5S’s

March 2nd, 2010

SimplifySimplify is really simplify access. Make things neat. Here we specify a place for everything and everything is put in it’s place.

After we have sorted everything out in step one , we now need to organize what is left. To do this we identify the places with tape or paint where things should be placed. Label the places for the things and label the things that go in the places. Include offices as well.

Provide a standardized address to every location in your work area. Here are a few basic steps to Simplify.

  1. Preparing for labeling – Here we review the area that we are about to label things in. We review each work area/station and identify were things should be placed for easy access. We need to keep things used several times a day so that they can be retrieved with in 30 seconds or less with the minimum of motion from the operator of the work station. During this preparation we will need to find some one to be a “Label coordinator” to order and get all the materials needed to label everything in the area.
  2. Label all the items and/or their location . You can use masking tape at first to see if things are laid out right and to give time to get the labeling materials in. Label everything that is needed in the work area; this includes but is not limited to Contents in Draws, Garbage cans, Stationery, tools Books chairs Tables, etc.
  3. Outline where all the large items go. Outlining is where you place Tape or paint lines on the floor or table top (etc.) for the large item. The outline area needs to have a label for what should be in it. Things that you might outline are Movable carts , Garbage Cans, Walkways, Stationary items in a cabinet, Desks, Chairs, Equipment, Copiers, material pallets, etc.
  4. Create shadow board for smaller items. Many times you will see a peg board with the shapes of tools painted on them, this is a shadow board. When you do a shadow board do each tool or item in a different color so you can paint that item with the same color. Items that you can shadow Board are: Hand tools Desk supplies, Mops, Shovels, Rakes that get hung on the wall etc.

Once you complete this step everyone should find that it is easier to do their job as all of their needs are close and available. I once had a client that manufactured Satellites and each satellite was assembled in a bay from start to finish. Each step of the assembly process would move in and out of the assembly bay. Workers would roll in their 5-6 feet tall multi-drawer tool boxes. They stated they needed all their tools. The company was constantly buying tools for their employees as they continued to loose their tools. Some when home and never came back, some were borrowed by a fellow worker, some were just hidden in that bottom drawer way in the back. It was getting very expensive so the company did the 5S’s. In the Simplify step the company gave everyone their tool boxes to take home and then they made Shadow Box trays with the tools needed for each step. As a Satellite completed a step of the process the old step tool trays were stored in cabinets and the new ones were brought out for use. Even with this added setup time things moved faster through there assembly. People were happier and working with less stress all because the tools were there when they needed them. Believe it or not there were no complains from anyone. It really works.

Well there you have Simplify of the 5S’s . Remember that the 5S’s are not a one and done. You should do this on a regular basis. Many companies create a dashboard for the 5S’s so a department knows how well they are doing. If you have questions or comments please leave them or send me an Email.

Bersbach Consulting
Peter Bersbach
Six Sigma Master Black Belt
http://sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com
peter@bersbach.com
1.520.829.0090


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Sort – The First of the 5S’s

February 22nd, 2010

sort

In a nut shell this first step is to sort through and sort out. In this first step a team needs to eliminate all unnecessary items from the work area. Here we look closely at everything we own. As we look at everything we have to decide if it is “needed” or not. If it is not needed we remove it from the work area. The question here is defining “Needed” and what do we mean by removing it if it is not needed. So let me puts some steps together and give you some details.

1. Form a team consisting of work area members. This team should be from 5 to 10 members. Plus the members need to try to be unbiased about what they are going to do.

2. The team now goes through the area and identifies all the items in the area which will not be needed for the next month. Needed mean that it will actually be used in that month. A month is the standard but in special situations you may make this time frame different. If a work area is seasonal it may be “not needed in the month of fall.” The area should include office areas as well.

3. Tag all item identified above as not needed with a “Waste Tag”. This tag normally is Red and has the following information on it. (Note: Never tag a people)

    • Item Name
    • ID Number (if it has one)
    • Quantity
    • Date tagged
    • Tagged by who
    • Reason for tagging
    • What is the item (Machine, Equipment, Raw material, tools, supplies, work in progress, finished material, other)
    • Reviewed By (we talk about this later)
    • Disposition (we talk about this later)

4. Rapidly remove tagged items to a holding/ review area but off or out of the process area.
5. Upon the completion of the area waste tagging, the area supervisor and the team lead will get together and separate the tagged items into two groups:

  • Items to be retained and stocked – These are items tagged as not needed for the month ( or what ever period of time was set by the team) but will be needed less frequently in the area. These items are then stored a distance from the area relative to the frequency of use.
  • Monthly – Next to area.
  • 6 months – Building stores
  • Yearly – Long term storage
  • Items to be discarded –These items are sold, given away or scrapped but never stored anywhere on site.

6. Once the two groupings have been made the final decision is coordinated with management and the “Tag Team”.

7. Last is to coordinate the movement of the tagged and grouped materials.

Well there you have Sort of the 5S’s . Remember that the 5S’s are not a one and done. You should do this on a regular basis. Many companies create a dashboard for the 5S’s so a department knows how well they are doing. If you have questions or comments please leave them or send me an Email.

Bersbach Consulting
Peter Bersbach
Six Sigma Master Black Belt
http://sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com
peter@bersbach.com
1.520.829.0090

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The 5 S’s – a Summary

February 8th, 2010

Here is another simple but ever effective tool for improving the way you do business. Many call this a “Lean” tool, which it is, but I like to think of it as a great effective Six Sigma technique that many time needs to be a “Go Do” in areas where things are really cluttered.

What is 5S’s you ask? It is a 5 step process use to arrange work areas to optimize performance and safety. The 5S’s are: Sort, Simplify, Sweep, Standardize and Sustain. These simple fives steps, if done right, can have a great impact on all of the following:

  • Can give you increase effectiveness of floor space.
  • Can improve inventory management
  • Can reduce search time
  • Can reduce the number of accidents/ and safety incidents.
  • Can improve your working conditions.


So lets talk through what the 5 S’s are and how you use this technique. First is that you apply them in the below order. Plus , just like in any Six Sigma project, you will need a good cross-functional team to make it happen. So lets step through each step that the team (not just you) must do to use the  5S’s. This is a high level look at each step and in later articles I’ll go into depth on each of the 5S’s individually. (Keep a watch at my blog to insure you get them all).

  1. sort Sort through and sort out. –  In this first step the team needs to eliminate all unnecessary items from the work area. What has to happen is to look at EVERYTHING and see if it is needed (necessary) and those things that are; are kept in the work area and everything else is moved out side that area. Note the word “Eliminate” does not always mean throw away. Many things are used once in a while and NOT everyday. They are kept but in storage out side the work area so they can be found when needed but they are not taking up valuable space in the work area.
    .
  2. .Simplify things – To simplify things here we mean to determine fixed locations and quality of all necessary tools, support equipment, and inventory. Another way of saying this is a place for everything (necessary) and everything in it’s place.

  3. Sweep up – Make sorting, cleaning and checking a part of your daily routine. This includes preventative cleaning and sweepmaintenance. By the way this is talking about the people working the process. Janitors and cleaning crews have no idea how the areas equipment or tools are working and thus if the “true operator” cleans and does simple maintenance they will see leaks and wear that other will never see. Think about a secretary  that while dusting the desk will pick up and remember that the stapler seems to jam now and then, they could look closer to see what is needed or if a new one needs to be ordered. Cleaning serves will never pick up on that.
  4. Standardize the processes – Establish standard processes and clear rules to maintain work place order. Review your rules continually so you can revise them to eliminate waste as customer focus/needs change.Standardize
  5. Sustain the Gains – Establish a vision for management to have everyone continually apply 5S’s to what they do. This means training everyone in how to apply the 5S’s. Keep a 5S’s awareness and discipline throughout the company. Every department should be keeping metrics to trend their improvements. Many companies think they apply the 5S’s to their companies but often forget or just ignore this fifth step thinking it is not that important. But if you follow any of the Six Sigma approach to process improvement you know that sustaining the gains is just as important as any other step and is critical to the success of what you do.


Well there you have it. The 5S’s in a nut shell. I will be over the next weeks going into depth on each of the 5 S’s. Keep watching, and I will try to get them to every blog I post this to. But in case I miss the one you are looking at you will always find them all at my blog  http://www.sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com/knowledgebase/ . As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact me.


Bersbach Consulting

Peter Bersbach

Six Sigma Master Black Belt

http://sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com

peter@bersbach.com

1.520.829.0090

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2009 Malcolm Baldridge Award Recipients

February 5th, 2010

Created by Congress in 1987, the Baldrige National Quality Program
exists to help organizations like yours improve their performance and
succeed in the competitive global marketplace. We are the first and
only public-private partnership and Presidential award program
dedicated to improving U.S. organizations.

This Website shows the latest winner of the 2009 Malcolm Baldridge Awards.

Manufacturing – Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technology

Small Business – MidwayUSA

Health Care – AtlantiCare and Heartland Health

Nonprofit – VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center

Check them out and Congratulations to all !!



Bersbach Consulting

Peter Bersbach

Six Sigma Master Black Belt

http://sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com

peter@bersbach.com

1.520.829.0090

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Article Review – Where Process-Improvement Projects Go Wrong (WSJ)

January 25th, 2010

Today a friend sent me this article “Where Process-Improvement Projects Go Wrong” from the Wall Street Journal. The author seems to feel that most Lean Six Sigma projects fail, but has some very interesting lessons learned.

I agree with your article when it comes to how weight-loss and Six Sigma fail. They both do fail just like a spring, But I disagree with how often they fail. I have seen and read hundreds of successful projects that show Six Sigma successes[i]. I have not read them but I feel there are probably just as many in weight loss success as well. Yes some are successful in several projects before the “fad” wears off, but what really makes them fail. Both Weight Loss and Six Sigma, failure is due to a lack of  commitment to a cultural change not just a few projects. I think you found that out too in your lessons learned[ii].

Lets look at your four lessons learned:

  1. “…the extended involvement of a Six Sigma or other improvement expert is required of teams are to remain motivated.” This is very true. IF the Expert is pulled on any improvement project usually it means failure. Where you have a company that has committed to a Six Sigma cultural change, pulling the expert means closure of the project and an explanation from top management (not a lower level) of the reason it is no longer a viable or priority project. All Six Sigma project should be a high priority project.
  2. “…performance appraisals need to be tied to successful implementation of improvement projects.”  This also is true. Every project, in a company committed to a Six Sigma cultural change, has a sponsor who insures that the project is aligned to company goals and objectives that directly impact his or her departments performance. This means failure of the project is failure to meet the goals that they have committed to and YES their performance appraisals are tied to the success of those goals and the perforance of their department.
  3. “… improvement teams should have no more than six to nine members and the timeline for launching a project should be no longer than six to eight weeks.” Since every project should be aligned to key company goals, it would mean that top management would what this project done NOW and not later. Delay would only cost the company money. If that is not the case the project should be dropped. By the way the “DEFINE[iii]” step helps insure this IF it is done right. Also in Define not only is the start decided but also the expected completion date and team membership. People, the most important resource of a company, need to be allocated to maximize their skills. In Six Sigma teams need to be small (5-10) so that the rest of the company can meet its customers demands. Even that many has a big impact on a department. So each team has to be carefully selected to represent all that will be impacted, but large enough to accomplish the task in the time allotted. This is all done in DEFINE with the “expert” and the Sponsor.
  4. “…executives need to directly participate in improvement projects, not just “support” them.” When a company has truly committed to this cultural change and deployed Six Sigma properly you will find every project has a director-level sponsor identified, duties specified, and sufficient time committed and scheduled in advance. Here the sponsor is part of the project team. That is how important the project is to the company.

If Six Sigma is implemented right as a business cultural change in the way they address issue and problems that hold them back from achieving their goals, then everyone get the idea and a voice. It becomes an improvement method everyone is focused on, understands and likes because they have an input into the process.

Peter Bersbach

Bersbach Consulting

peter@bersbach.com

1.520.829.0090

[i] Six Sigma Forum Magazine, ASQ Six Sigma Forum Division, www.sixsigmaforum.com

Quality Progress, American Society for Quality, www.quality progress.com

Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare, Lionheart Publishing Inc., www.psqh.com/digital

Quality Digest, Quality Digest, http://www.qualitydigest.com/content/six-sigma

Quality in Healthcare, ASQ Healthcare Division, www.asq.org/qhc

The Quality Management Forum, ASQ Quality Management Division, www.asq-qm.org 

[ii] Where Process-Improvement Projects Go Wrong, Wall Street Journal | Business, January 5, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB20001424052748703298004574457471313938130-lMyQjAyMTAwMDIwNTEyNDUyWj.html 

[iii] The First step of DMAIC – Define, Peter Bersbach, Bersbach Consulting, October 27, 2009, http://www.sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com/uncategorized/the-first-step-of-dmaic-%e2%80%93-define/


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The Check Sheet – Simple but powerful

January 19th, 2010

checklistI recently heard a gentleman talking about using check sheets, sometimes called checklists, in the surgery room of hospitals. His point, and I agree, is that check sheets can reduce errors and cut down surgery time for all most any surgery given. He stated that many surgeons think that the check sheet could not be used because every patient is different and thus every surgery is different. I agree that every patient is different and that during the “same” surgery on different people one has to constantly adjust to the circumstances. But in reality surgery is the same as most any other procedure. Most companies know that there is variation in everything and thus have to be ready, through robust procedures to adjust the process to have positive end results. Look at NASA, they uses check sheets for every flight and every flight is different and very dangerous, but they find they can not do without them. I think that if surgeons thought about it there are a lot of things that you do the same; at least the major steps. Plus as complicated as surgery is and with all the variations that occur you need a good check sheet to keep the complicated process steps in focus and not forget anything critical that one wanted to get done.

There are several types of check sheets and believe it or not we all use them almost every day; Shopping lists, grocery lists, task lists are all types of check sheets. But the one the gentleman talked about I call “Run Rules.” Why I call them Run Rules is that in critical or complex process you need a “cheat sheet” that is used all the time during the process run. In six sigma these, check sheets, are a control, to insure that changes that are put in place maintain the gains they were designed for.

Why are they needed if you have standard operating procedure? Because those are detailed and lengthy but extremely important for reference and those learning for the first time. For those that have been doing the process for some time, they are not now really look back to those procedures. They have them in their heads. In critical or complex processes , including surgery, there are something’s you want to make sure they are “in their heads.” They are things you really do not what forgotten. These go on the “Run Rules” or check sheet that everyone looks at daily as they are doing the process to insure everything gets done. So if everyone IS going to look at them you have to create them so they are the “go to” item when doing this process. Here are some guidelines for creating effective Run Rules/ Check Sheets. 

They are:

  • Only a small but critical portion of the Standard Procedure applicable to the activity.
  • One page MAXIMUM.
  • Used as a reference for everyday use.
  • Key steps identified as value added for the customer.
  • On a Standard form so anyone stepping in recognizes them.
  • Easy to understand
  • Good for new employees and things you do not do that often.


In summary these Check Sheets/Checklists/Run Rules are your day to day reminders of the details in what you are doing.

Well I hope this has been informative. If you have questions drop me a line.

 Peter Bersbach
Bersbach Consulting
peter@bersbach.com
1.520.829.0090

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LCS a Creative Thinking Tool and More

January 4th, 2010

Creative ThinkingHere is a tool that I feel is the greatest tool for coming up with good creative ideas. Ideas on what happened. Ideas on how it happened. Ideas on what caused it. Ideas on how to fix it. Ideas on how to improve it.

Many times we are in meetings where discussions are taking place and you try to add to the discussion only to have someone else ”Knicks” your comments. The person “Knicking” really did not mean to make it sound like your idea was bad but that is the way it came across. Unusually, you will not add more to the conversation. Once put off we tend to keep quite. Plus, I might add, the issue being discussed never really gets resolved by the group. What is happening here is just something that our culture seems to thrive on and that is negative comments. We tend to always come up with why something will not work. We seem to be focused on that. But we never or rarely come up with why something will work, or at least what is good about that idea.

This tool helps in this discussion area to bring out what is good ( the golden nuggets) first and then discuss the issues with the idea next. So here it the tool:

LCS

LCS stands for Likes, Concerns Suggestions. In almost any meeting you can use this tool and you will be amazed at how it improves the discussions in the meeting. Here is how it works:

  1. Everyone in the room must use LCS. At first this means that you will have to explain it to those in the room. Many times I’ll have soft spongy toy’s around the room so if someone does not follow these rules that anyone in the room can and will throw a toy at them to remind them to use LCS.
  2. LIKES – First, if you are going to make a comment about something the first thing you should say about it, is what you like. In doing this you show the person that made the statement and the rest of the members in the room that you understood what was said by identifying things in the statement that you liked. What I call the “Golden Nuggets” of an idea.
  3. CONCERNS – Second, no idea (or comment) is perfect so many times we have some concerns about some points in the original statement. Well those get stated next, but only if you have suggestions to improve or correct your concerns. If you can not come up with a suggested improvement then DO NOT STATE YOUR CONCERN. Why? Because you have no idea that is better. If you did you could add it as a suggestion, which means that you could now state your concern and suggestion for improving it.
  4. SUGGESTIONS –Third, if you state a concern YOU MUST ALWAYS give a suggestion to improve on your concerns. In brainstorming this is called piggybacking off someone else’s idea. They had an idea you liked some of it you had some concerns and suggestions that made the idea better.

Usually the ideas created using LCS are far superior to those that don’t. The reason for that is it is additive intelligence. With a good cross-functional team using LCS a diverse amount of intelligence is brought to the meeting and through LCS it is unleashed to solve an issue or problem the team is working on.

Now remember in Six Sigma even this discussion is only an opinion of the team or group. Now you have to go collect data and prove that the opinion is correct.Well give it a try and let me know what you think. Enjoy


Peter Bersbach

Six Sigma Master Black Belt

Bersbach Consulting

From Process to Profits

1.520.829.0090

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System Reformers of the Health Care Industry

December 8th, 2009


cost cuttingI just finished a reading an article titled “The “Third School” for Controlling Health Care Costs?”[1] and I found it very exciting to read. In it, he talks about “System Reformers” that once were focused on improving Quality and now are focused on Quality and controlling costs. I have worked in manufacturing for years and our Quality Organizations were just that focused on “Improving Quality”. In today’s world that has changed for the better with the coming of Six Sigma a process focused on improving quality and reducing costs. I believe these reformers Altman talks about are the same.


I know some people do not like the words Six Sigma and that is because what they were told was Six Sigma did not work. There maybe several definition out there but the one I know that is working is Six Sigma is a 5 step process based on facts and data focused on customer value to grow the business. Six Sigma Belts are change agents/ System Reformers trying to create value for the customer/ patient by reducing costs (which speaks to management) and improving value (Quality). Even in manufacturing Quality Improvement never got a high priority until Quality Professionals started talking money.


I agree with Altman real cost containment and control never really comes from outside the box through regulations by the “Regulators” nor from competing health care plans and informed consumers per the “Marketeers”. It has to come from inside the box through what he calls the “System Reformer”. The True Reformer/ Change agent will be focused on creating value for all stakeholders (Stockholders, Employees/ Care Givers, and Customers/ Patients). They have to create value, NOT costs, and it can be done one area/ company at a time. The big issue will be working these change across different organizations. Again, though, manufacturing did this by working with its suppliers and customers to help them apply the same to their groups.


I believe that all of the serious questions he mentions about the System Reformers success can be addressed. Will the System Reformer approach be successful? I would answer YES! At least to all that embrace its approach. The results, from these companies, will drive others to do the same. That is how Six Sigma became as successful as it has. At first many company did not embraces Six Sigma but with time and successes at their competition, many now do. And a lot of those are in the Fortune 500.


I see the System Reformer as the only true way to get cost under control.


Peter Bersbach

Six Sigma Master Black Belt

Bersbach Consulting

From Process to Profits

1.520.829.0090





[1] Drew Altman, PhD, “The “Third School” for Controlling Health Care Costs?”, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation www.kff.org , Oct 29 2009, http://www.kff.org/pullingittogether/102909_altman.cfm

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The Fifth Step of DMAIC – Control

November 30th, 2009

DMAIC’s Control


ControlControl is the fifth step of the Six Sigma five step process DMAIC. The objective of Control is to Develop and implement the best controls to maintain the gains and to celebrate, share & reward your successes.

This is the step that is most forgotten because we think we do not need controls. But if we do not perform this step then the gains we achieved in improve will be lost very quickly. Lost because when ever you change a process it takes time to make it part of everyone way of doing things. Think about this with yourself. You have just decided to change the way you do something. How easy is it to forget your new plan without something to help you remember that you changed? An example of this is if you say that from now on I will not snack after dinner. How long will it take before you forget that change and you do snack unless you place some controls (maybe locks on the snack cabinet) to remind you not to. So with any new process you will want to have controls in it to insure that those working the process don’t forget the new method.

The second thing in the objectives is to celebrate your success. I am afraid that in most companies, just like the news, good news or success stories are NOT mention much and it is extremely important that success is shared with all. This is how six sigma becomes a culture rather than a one shot application. Celebration, recognition and reward can be very simple and are always greatly accepted by all. So share your story. If you have a good one send it to me and I will post it on my website.

Here are a series of questions that you will want to answer before calling your project complete and moving on to the next one:

  • Does your results link back to your objectives, deliverables, and exit criteria?
  • Will the controls implemented sustain the gains?
  • How will you recognize and celebrate the success of your team?
  • Have attitudes changed about using Six Sigma?
  • Have you addressed and closed all parking lot issues?
  • What do you need to grow?

It is very important that you get all of these answered. Some that stand out are “Will the controls implemented sustain the gains” and “Have you addressed and closed all parking lot issues”.  Make sure that the controls you implement help to sustain the gains. Remember that controls are non value added to the customer but important to delivering what the customer wants, so minimize them but make sure they work. Something that may be unknown to you but very familiar to me is what I call a “Parking Lot”. On every project, I have a parking lot. I use it to put concerns, thoughts, and ideas that come up during the project that, at the time, pulled the team off its focused objective at the moment. Usually these are later addressed in the project but sometimes they have nothing to do with the project and don’t get address during the project. You must hand this off to someone to make sure they are address and not just dropped. They could be another project that will be worked. Forgetting them is like discarding a twenty dollar bill and it has a negative impact on spreading the Six Sigma culture in a company thus impacting further projects.

To answer the questions above it may take several tools and techniques to insure you have control.

  • Non Statistical Controls
    • Standardized Procedures – These are detailed written series of actions which have to be executed in the same manner in order to always obtain the same result. Verbal never is good enough. It needs to be written down so that everyone does it the same way.
    • Run Rules – These are like standardized procedures but are only one page long and are used as a reference or guide by those that have been doing a job along time. Detailed procedures are usually not looked at after one has learned and done the job for some time, but there are things in the procedure that need to be available to even the expert worker. These are kept on what I call Run Rules. Must do for all.
    • Visual Controls – You may have heard the saying “a Picture is worth a 1000 words” it is true. Visual Controls are basically pictures that help control a process. Think of a handicap sign in a parking lot; it is a visual control to help hold parking spots for those that need to park closer to the store. And every driver knows what they mean. The old take a number is another visual control where it insures the customer that has been waiting the longest gets help first.
    • Contingency Plan – These are plans that you need to develop for when something goes wrong with the new process. It lets everyone one know that if they run into a problem (and believe me someone will) this is what you do to continue with the new process.
    • Preventative Maintenance – Is the same thing as oil changes with your car or your annual physical; it keeps everything working at an optimum level. It is proactive rather than reactive so you can schedule it during off hours. It is heavily into preventative,
      predictive, and scheduling. As a scheduled activity it needs to be coordinated with all involved working as a team.

  • Statistical Controls
    • Control Charts – Control charts are not always the best method of controlling a given process element. In fact, control charts are seldom the method of choice. When process elements are important we would prefer that they not vary at all! Only when this cannot be accomplished economically should we resort to the use of control charts to monitor the element’s variation.

______________________________

The above are six tools I have not talked about before, other useful Control tools that I have talked about are:

Brainstorming, LCS, Affinity Diagramming, Multi-voting and 5 Whys from my article The First step of DMAIC – Define.

Well there you have it, a little more understanding of the Control step of the Six Sigma 5 step DMAIC process. I hope that this gives you a better understanding of what questions to answer and what tools to uses to get those answers in Control.

Peter Bersbach
Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Bersbach Consulting
From Process to Profits
1.520.829.0090

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The Fourth Step of DMAIC – Improve

November 23rd, 2009

DMAIC’s Improve

ImproveImprove is the fourth step of the Six Sigma five step process DMAIC. The objective of Improve is to develop and implement the best plan for improvement of the opportunities (Root Causes) identified in the analyze step. It is not to develop only one plan because to get the “best” you need to have several approaches to work through with your sponsor to find the best mix of solutions that is acceptable to all. I often tell my black belts to develop several options and pick one to really sell to management and the sponsor. If you do not do this then management (your project sponsor) only have the ability to accept what you have or reject the team efforts and shut down the project.  You have to understand that the team is focused on improving the process. Management is focus on the whole business and the plan you really want may have a bigger negative impact some where else. That can happen and you need other options that will. Here are a series of questions that you will want to answer before moving on to control:

n      What options do you have?

n      What options will we go ahead and do?

n      What is the plan to implement the new process (options)?

n      What additional resources are needed?

n      How does your new process work?

n      Are you sub-optimizing?

n      What are your measures that show improvement?

n      What went different than planned?

n      Does this solution support company’s goals?

It is very important that you get all of these answered. Some that stand out are “Are you sub-optimizing” and “Does this solution support company Goals?”  Sub-optimization is when you make improvements in your process only to have a negative impact further down stream in the company or organization. This is best address as I mentioned earlier buy making sure you understand all the options to improve. Once you have a plan make sure again that you are making an impact on your company goals. Some times we get to this stage and do not make sure that the options we want to implement really do impact the company goals.

To answer the question above it may take several tools and techniques to collect the “facts and data.” So here in Improve, there are several good tool and techniques that can help get you that data.

  • Constraint Management – A Constraint (bottleneck) is any resource with fewer throughputs than the demand placed on it. Usually constraints regulate the output of the process so you need to use techniques that optimize the constraint and keep it running/ working all the time.
  • Pull Systems – These are method of controlling the flow and quantity of resources by only replacing what has been consumed. It is a system of signals to refill/ replenish right when you take the last item to work.

  • Setup Reduction – Setup is the time required for the process or activity to changeover from producing the last good piece of the prior item (part) to the first good piece of the next item. Setup Reduction is a set of techniques used to reduce that time.
  • Lot Size Reduction – Lot Size is defined as “The amount of a particular item that is ordered from the plant or a supplier or issued as a standard quantity to the production process – (APICS). Lot sizes larger than 1 adds wait time to every piece in the lot. Waiting is considered a waste[1]. So in Lot Size Reduction we try to decrease the lot size to one.
  • 5 S’s – The 5 S’s are a waste elimination process that is applied to any process. There are a lot of methods to doing this and worksheets to help but in short the 5S’s stand for:
    • Sort through and Sort out
    • Set everything in order
    • Shine everything
    • Standardize processes
    • Sustain the gains

  • Design of Experiments – This is simply when you design an experiment to determine when you change something how a process reacts to that change. Many times we do this by hold all input variables constant except one and  observe the response as you vary the single input. This is called OFAT (one factor at time) which is not the best way to do a designed experiment. Problems with this approach are:
  1. It usually isn’t possible to hold all other variables constant.
  2. There is no way to account for the effect of joint variation of independent variables, such as interaction.
  3. There is no way to account for experimental error, including measurement variation.

Most that do Design of Experiments (DOE) vary two or more variables simultaneously and make multiple measurements under the same experimental conditions. This eliminates all three of the above problems. This is the best way to run an experiment to get the most for your efforts.

  • Simple Business Analysis – This analysis takes all the approaches to improvement and evaluates them on at least in these three areas; effectiveness, costs to do and time it will take to implement. Below is a simple chart I use to do this analysis.

Business Process Analysis____________________________________________________________________________________________

The above are seven tools I have not talked about before, other useful Improve tools that I have talked about are:

Brainstorming, LCS, Affinity Diagramming, Multi-voting and 5 Whys from my article The First step of DMAIC – Define.

Plus  DE & UDE, Gauge R&R, Basic Summary Stats and Pareto Charts from my article The Second step of DMAIC – Measure.

Cause & Effect Diagrams,  The Third step of DMAIC – Analyze.

Well there you have it, a little more understanding of the Improve step of the Six Sigma 5 step DMAIC process. I hope that this gives you a better understanding of what questions to answer and what tools to uses to get those answers in Improve.

Peter Bersbach
Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Bersbach Consulting
From Process to Profits

1.520.829.0090

[1] The Seven Types of Waste a Summary

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