How to Create a Detailed Process Map ?
Step 1: Decide Between a Normal Process Map v/s Swim Lanes Process maps can be built in the usual way wherein sequence is the primary concern or in the swim lane pattern. In the swim lane pattern along with sequence, accountability is also formally recorded. This is because each group of participants is recorded separately […]
Why Viewing Global Trade in Zero Sum Terms is Shortsighted and Self Defeating
Trade Wars and Zero Sum Thinking The ongoing trade wars between the United States, on one hand, and the rest of its trading partners, including China, Canada, and the EU or the European Union stem from a basic misinterpretation of global trade in Zero Sum terms or I win, You Lose kind of thinking. As […]
Managing Technology in Operations Management
Introduction In last decade or so technology has changed the way organization conduct their business. Advent of technology in operation management has increased productivity of the organization. Technology and Operations Management The scope of Technology and operation management has evolved over a period of time and has moved from development of products into design, management […]
Project Control and Engineering Change Control in ERP
Project control module is used for organizing long term projects such as building a ship or power plant. The production environment resembles make to order situation where customer order driven purchasing, production, estimating, engineering, planning and control is done. This module also enables in setting up, analyzing and amending the budget for the project undertaken […]
Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Root Cause of High Healthcare Prices
Healthcare prices in the United States are much higher than compared to the rest of the world. There are many factors which can be held responsible for this high price. However, one of the most important factors is the presence of unscrupulous middlemen. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are one such class of middlemen which act […]
The mention of the Measure phase of the Six Sigma module brings into mind pictures of statisticians performing complex operations on data to derive meaning out of it. While this is true to some extent, the complexity of the process is highly over-rated. True, that there is a tremendous amount of statistics involved. However, in recent times, the statistics part is being taken care of by the software. Humans need to understand the logical part of the process and provide input to the software and interpret its outputs. The major objectives of the Six Sigma module are mentioned below:
The Six Sigma project team needs to come out with an explicit list of vital inputs, desired outputs and process metrics that they are planning to track. The fact that there are probably hundreds of metrics makes it important to identify and list the vital few. This decision has large scale implications on the performance of the project and is usually taken by the Project Lead on the basis of data provided by the Six Sigma team and the Process Owner.
There have been many cases of measurement bias in Six Sigma history. The bias may have its roots in the complexity of the calculation, the wrong method of data collection or the bias of the person performing the exercise. However, methods have been developed to get rid of all these errors. Measurements are taken automatically, calculated automatically and sent to the concerned managers automatically who use pre-defined rules to make a decision.
One of the biggest challenges of this phase is to validate the fact that the measurement system in place is good for the purpose. We have discussed this challenge in detail in the section titled Management Systems Analysis.
Measure phase also includes collecting the measures that the current process has. This includes measuring the defects per million. Once the defects per million are calculated, the current Sigma Level of the process is found out. This gives the team an idea of the effort that may be required out of them.
A common practise in the measure phase is to put a figure in front of the losses that the organization is currently facing due to inefficient processes. This helps the management valuate the process and the Six Sigma team can bargain for more resources to successfully implement the project. The financial numbers help re-iterate the project value in front of the Project Champion and the Senior Management.
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Characteristics of Data – Central Tendency and Dispersion
February 12, 2025
Steps Involved in Conducting a Measurement System Analysis
February 12, 2025
