Define : Six Sigma to Resolve the Problems

New Customer Challeges

Globally, enhanced customer expectiations are throwing up new challenges for businesses. The most important challenge lies in alignig business processes to customer requirements while maximizing resource utilization and returns.
Six Sigma practitioners are responsible for resolving thise problems that do not allow a process to add value to a product or service.

A Good Problem

According to Six Sigma guidelines, a rpblem is defined as good if it can be resolved systematically by applying common quality improvement methodologies. A good problem is clearly defined, and its impact can be readily meaured in terms of the time requered to fix it and the delay it causes in product delivery. Most importantly, resolving a god problem must have a visible impact on customer satisfaction.
You can identify a good problem using statistical tools such as Impact-Effort matrix that plots the effort required to fix a problem against its impact on customer satisfaction.

A Good Problem - Example

Let's consider an example to understand the concept good problem. Suppose you're working in a company that uses large trucks to deliver perishable foodstuff for its clients. Each truct carries foodstuff for several clients. Your customers are complaining about delayed deliveries. After analyzing the delivery process, you find that these delays are caused by frequent breakdowns.
This is a good problem because it is clearly defined, its impact is measurable in tems of delay in delivery and the frequency of delay, it can be reloved using quality improvement tools, and it impacts customer satiscation.

Resolving a Good Problem

In the example, there are several solutions to resolve the problem. You can set up a rpcess for preventive maintenance of the trucks, purchase a logistics management software application to manage deliveries, or purchase smaller trucks to service only one client at a time.
Agter you identify the possible solutions, you need to perform an Impact-Effort analysis to select the best solution. One major factor for considering a solution is the cost of implementing it.
Sometimes, you may find that a good problem is too complex to fix in the existing process. To solve such a problem, you may need to redesign the process completely. However, if the good problem is not very complex, you only modify a part of the wexisting process to improve it.

Resolving a Good Problem Using the DMAIC Model

The DMAIC model of Six Sigma is often used to resolved good problems, It is divided into five phase: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.
This model is useful when a problem can be resolved by improving an existing process or when you need to create a new process.


The Define Phase of DMAIC - Define

In the Define phase, you state the goals and the scope of improvement in the process. You can include customer requirements, available resources, project benefits, process maps, and other statistical parameters that you need to measure within the Define phase.
Example:
A company has an agreement with its customers to provide after-sales support. Customers complain that the company phone lines are frequently busy.
You can use the DMAIC model to define this problem. You identify that the main cause for customer not being able to reach the customer care executives is the high volume of traffic and the small number of telephone lines available. At the same time, there is a high incidence of employee attrition in your support center and the new recruit lack the necessary speed to handle customer calls.
Based ont these observations, you define the scope of improving the process. The definition will include investing in infrastructure, training new recruits, and modifying company policies to retain trained personnel.

The Measure Phase of DMAIC - Measure

In this phase, we need to measure the impact of the problem in terms of defects, missed opportunities, and affected areas. This helps us collect data on the current process performance. We can use this data to make a more specific and detailed identification of the problem area than what we had previously defined.
Example:
the parameters that we could measure include the time of day when the telephone lines are busy, the volume of missed calls, and the geographic region from where most call originate. We may also measure the time taken by a new employee to come up to speed in handling customer calls and the average tenure of an employee with the company.

The Analyze Phase of DMAIC - Analyze

After completing the Measure phase, we analyze data related to process improvement. We can use data analysis tools, such us Histogram, Pareto Chart, or Scatter Plot, to identify the root cause of the problem during the Analyze phase.
In our example, we analyze the data gathered to identify that we have fewer telephone lines that we need and that employees lack motivation.

The Improve Phase of DMAIC - Improve

Next, in the Improve phase, we can test various solutions to address the root cause of the problem. This is mostly done through a 'pilot' or test run of the improved process.
In the Improve phase of our example, we add an additional five telephone lines and formulate HR policies aimed at motivating and retaining employees. A detailed employee training and refresher course is also introduced. We conduct a test run to gauge if the changes are effective in adequately improving the performance of your positive enhancement of customer satisfaction. We may now plan for full-scale implementaton of our improvement effort.

The Control Phase of DMAIC - Control

Finally, in the Control phase, we need to create a detailed control plan to maintain the levels of quality that we achieved during the Improve phase. During this phase, we continuously revisit our DMAIC model to establish new processes and standardize existing processes, implement new improvements, and communicate the changes to all concerned.
Example:
Taking a final look at the example of the customer durables company, we may continuously monitor process to ensure that it does not vary from the expected standards.
After we have achieved our process improvement targets, we can communicate to senior management that the new process is fully functional.

Summary:
In the Define phase, we establis the goals and scope of the process improvement projcet, and the collect the data on process performance in the Measure phase. In the Anlyze phase, we identify the root cause of the problem before applying the right solutions to address the root cause of the improve phase. Finally, in the Control phase, we make a detailed control plan to maintain the desired levels of quality.