Assignment:
In a retail store that sells office furniture, the financial report at the end of the year 2016 showed that the company has been losing market share. Preliminary analysis suggested that this lost is due to poor customer satisfaction during the product ordering process. As a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, you have just been assigned a project to improve the process of quoting price and delivery for new office furniture to customers in this company. Answer the following questions: (lean six sigma)
a) What is the most important primary metric (e.g. key process output variable) for this process?
The most important and primary metric for this process is - CTQ (Critical to Quality). is the key measurable charecteristics of a product whose performance standards or specification limits should meet the customer's specifications. In this case, the retail store which is selling the office furniture is not neeting the customer's quality requirements.
The key process output variables in this case is non-reliability, poor performance and bad quality products.
b) Study the following options and select the best among them which you think should be used to determine the possible sources of waste in this process. You are expected to very briefly discuss the value of each method first before selecting the best approach.
- A DOE study to determine sources of variation at the factory.
- A value stream map of the quoting process.
- A 2-sample t-test on process time before and after improvements.
- A comparison between what has been done in the past when sales have fallen and repeat those actions.
- A meeting with the owner to discuss what he/she thinks.
The study which determines the possible sources of waste in this process is Value stream mapping.
DOE STudy - Design of experiments is the design of the tasks which aim at describing the variation under different conditions.
Value stream mapping - It is a lean management method which aims at analyzing the current state and based on that plan for the future trends.
Sample t-test - This test focuses on higher productivity
According to the above case, to determine the possible sources of waste, value stream mapping can be done.
c) Based on the brief description provided, create a process map of the ordering/quoting process, and identify the NVA and VA steps. Comment on which could be eliminated or reduced.