CHAPTER 7 : LEAN SIX SIGMA

Question 1

described as a business
improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service processes by focusing on outputs that are critical to customers and a clear financial return for the organization.

Answer 1

Six Sigma

Question 2

At Motorola, for example, Six Sigma became part of the common language of all employees. To them, it
means ________________, even if they do not understand the statistical details.

Answer 2

near perfection

Question 3

____________________ a pioneered the concept of Six Sigma as an approach to measuring product and service quality.

Answer 3

Motorola

Question 4

Motorola’s CEO,

Answer 4

Robert Galvin.

Question 5

Improve product and services quality ten times

Answer 5

1989

Question 6

at least one hundred-fold by

Answer 6

1991

Question 7

Achieve six-sigma capability by

Answer 7

1992

Question 8

efforts by General Electric, driven by former CEO ___________ ,
brought significant media attention to the concept and made Six Sigma a popular approach to quality improvement.

Answer 8

Jack Welch

Question 9

Ultimate goal

Answer 9

Zero Defects in Everything we do

Question 10

One of the key learnings GE discovered was that Six Sigma is not only for ___________.

Answer 10

engineers (it is for everybody)

Question 11

____________ can use Six Sigma to reduce waste, improve product consistency, solve equipment
problems, or create capacity

Answer 11

Plant managers

Question 12

___________________ need it to reduce the cycle time for hiring employees.

Answer 12

Human Resource Managers

Question 13

________________________ can use it to improve forecast reliability, pricing strategies, or pricing variation.

Answer 13

Regional Sales Manager

Question 14

Six Sigma began as a manufacturing focus to reduce defect levels to only a few parts per million. It evolved into a
formal business strategy designed to accelerate improvements in every facet of an organization.

Question 15

contrasting features between TQM
and Six Sigma include

Answer 15

• TQM is based largely on worker empowerment and teams; Six Sigma is owned by business leader champions.
• TQM activities generally occur within a function, process, or individual workplace; Six Sigma projects are truly cross-functional.
• TQM training is generally limited to simple improvement tools and concepts; Six Sigma focuses on a more
  rigorous and advanced set of statistical methods and DMAIC methodology.
• TOM is focused on improvement with little financial accountability; Six Sigma requires a verifiable return
  on investment and focus on the bottom line.

Question 16

Six Sigma is the realization of many fundamental concepts of TOM, notably, the __________ of
human and process elements of improvement.

Answer 16

integration

Question 17

Human issues include:

Answer 17

management leadership a sense of urgency
focus on results and customers
team processes
culture change

Question 18

process issues include:

Answer 18

• use of process management techniques
• analysis of variation and statistical methods
• a disciplined problem-solving approach
• and management by fact

Question 19

The first step in using Six Sigma is to select an ___________

Answer 19

appropriate problem

Question 20

a deviation between what should be
happening and what actually is happening that is important enough to make someone think the deviation ought to
be corrected.

Answer 20

problem

Question 21

every instance of quality problem-solving falls into one of five categories:

Answer 21

1. Conformance problems
2. Efficiency problems
3. Unstructured performance problems
4. Product design problems
5. Process design problems

Question 22

characterized by unsatisfactory performance that causes customer dissatisfaction, such as high levels of defects, service failures, or customer complaints.

Answer 22

Conformance Problem

Question 23

characterized by unsatisfactory performance that causes dissatisfaction from
the standpoint of noncustomer stakeholders, such as managers of financial or supply chain functions.

Answer 23

Efficiency Problems

Question 24

characterized by unsatisfactory performance by processes that are not well-specified or understood.

Answer 24

Unstructured Performance Problem

Question 25

involve designing new products or redesigning existing products to better satisfy customer needs.

Answer 25

Product Design Problems

Question 26

involve designing new processes or substantially revising existing processes.

Answer 26

Process Design Problems

Question 27

Six Sigma methods are most applicable to ___________________ because the processes that create the problems can be easily identified, measured, analyzed, and changed.

Answer 27

conformance problems

Question 28

For efficiency problems, _________ are generally used

Answer 28

lean tools

Question 29

vehicles that are used to organize and to implement Six Sigma.

Answer 29

Projects

Question 30

One of the challenges of implementing Six Sigma projects is to __________ them with normal work activities.

Answer 30

coordinate

Question 31

Projects fail for a variety of reasons

Answer 31

- not adhering to schedules - poor planning - scope creep - mismatching of skills - insufficient knowledge transfer

Question 32

___________ vital to Six Sigma projects because of the interdisciplinary nature of such projects.

Answer 32

Teams

Question 33

Six Sigma teams are comprised of several types of individuals:

Answer 33

* Champions * Master Black Belts * Black Belts * Green Belts * Team Members

Question 34

Senior-level managers who promote and lead the deployment of Six Sigma in a significant area of the business understand the philosophy of Six Sigma, select projects, set objectives, allocate resources, and select and mentor teams. own Six Sigma projects and are responsible or their completion and results

Answer 34

Champion

Question 35

Full-time Six Sigma experts who are responsible for Six Sigma strategy, training, mentoring, deployment, and results.

Answer 35

Master Black Belts

Question 36

Fully trained Six Sigma experts with extensive technical training who perform much of the technical analysis required in Six Sigma projects, usually on a full-time basis. They have advanced knowledge of tools and DMAIC methods, and often act as project team leaders.

Answer 36

Black Belts

Question 37

Functional employees who are trained in introductory Six Sigma Tools and methodology and work on projects on a part-time basis, assisting Black Belts while developing their own knowledge and expertise.

Answer 37

Green Belts

Question 38

Individuals form various functional areas who support specific projects.

Answer 38

Team members

Question 39

There are two ways for an organization to generate Six Sigma projects

Answer 39

top-down and bottom-up

Question 40

generally are tied to business strategy and are aligned with customer needs. Their major weakness is that they are often too broad in scope to be completed in a timely manner.

Answer 40

top-down projects

Question 41

Black Belts (or Master Black Belts) choose the projects that are well-suited to the capabilities of teams.

Answer 41

Bottom-up approach

Question 42

Factors that should be considered when selecting Six Sigma projects include the following:

Answer 42

* Financial return * Impacts on customers and organizational effectiveness * Probability of success * Impact on employees * Fit to strategy and competitive advantage

Question 43

Six Sigma projects are driven by expected ______________

Answer 43

financial returns

Question 44

Balancing quality costs against expected revenue gains

Answer 44

return on quality (ROQ)

Question 45

ROQ is based on four main principles:

Answer 45

* Quality is an investment. * Quality efforts must be made financially accountable. * It is possible to spend too much on quality. * Not all quality expenditures are equally valid.

Question 46

often used to estimate effects and the financial implications.

Answer 46

Sophisticated statistical methods

Question 47

One of the _______ experienced in organizations new to Six Sigma is a lack of ability of senior managers to estimate what the resources they allocate (or fail to allocate) to Six Sigma projects will "buy" in the way of bottom-line returns.

Answer 47

pitfalls

Question 48

projects that are easy to accomplish, or even can be completed by a single individual in order to show early successes

Answer 48

"low-hanging fruit

Question 49

Finally, Six Sigma projects should ________ the organization's vision and competitive strategy

Answer 49

support

Question 50

refers to approaches that originated at the Ford Motor Company in the early 1900s, but which were refined and modernized by the Toyota Motor Corporation later in the century.

Answer 50

Lean production

Question 51

Simple way of defining lean approaches

Answer 51

getting more done with less

Question 52

Some of the key tools used in lean production include

Answer 52

* The 5S's * Visual controls * Pull production. * Single minute exchange of dies (SMED) * Total productive maintenance * Source inspection. * Continuous improvement

Question 53

* seiri (sort), * seiton (set in order), * seiso (shine), * seiketsu (standardize), * shitsuke (sustain)

Question 54

indicators for tools, parts, and production activities that are placed in plain sight of all workers so that everyone can understand the status of the system at a glance.

Answer 54

Visual Controls

Question 55

In this system (also known as kanban or just-in-time), upstream suppliers do not produce until the downstream customer signals a need for parts.

Answer 55

Pull Production

Question 56

refers to rapid changeover of tooling and fixtures in machine shops so that multiple products in smaller batches can be run on the same equipment.

Answer 56

Single minute exchange of dies (SMED)

Question 57

designed to ensure that equipment is operational and available when needed

Answer 57

Total productive maintenance

Question 58

Inspection and control by process operators guarantees that product passed on to the next production stage conforms to specifications.

Answer 58

Source inspection

Question 59

provides the link to Six Sigma. In order to make lean production work, one must get to the root causes of problems and permanently remove them.

Answer 59

Continuous improvement

Question 60

integral part of continuous improvement in lean environments

Answer 60

Teamwork

Question 61

can be defined as an integrated improvement approach to improve goods and services and operations efficiency by reducing defects, variation, and waste.

Answer 61

Lean Six Sigma

Question 62

Both exploit data and logical problem-solving analysis

Answer 62

Six Sigma and lean

Question 63

Services are generally driven by four key measures of performance

Answer 63

* Accuracy * Cycle time * Cost * Customer satisfaction

Question 64

those places where the defective "product" is sent to be reworked or scrapped (revised, corrected, or discarded in nonmanufacturing terms).

Answer 64

"hidden factories,"

Question 65

Find the hidden factory and you also find _____________ to improve the process.

Answer 65

opportunities