Question
How It's Made is a popular television show that describing the way different products are produced. Each episode has 3-5 segments, with each profiling the
"How It's Made" is a popular television show that describing the way different products are produced. Each episode has 3-5 segments, with each profiling the manufacturing of different type of product.For this assignment, we will be completing the DMAIC methodology to improve the process for a part of the following product manufacturing processes. below is the video links to the processes used as case study
- (crayons)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJjiKyLQfQ
Task 1: Complete each step of the DMAIC process methodology.
- Refer to the DMAIC Methodology table on slide 19 of the slideshow for Module 10, completing each step of the methodology. A copy of this table can be found in the 'DMAIC Additional Guidelines' document,
- You will not take actual measurements or actually implement recommendations at a factory. Instead, you will describe these steps in detail, using information from the linked video to guide your analysis and decision-making.
MGMT 6055 Additional Guidelines for the Final DMAIC Assignment (Worth 15% of your course grade)
Task 1:
For your process improvement, document each step of the DMAIC process methodology (including SIPOC and process map). Refer to the DMAIC Methodology table below for steps
Guidelines for Completing Task 1
Define -
Project/Team Charter:
Instead of adapting the Project Charter template from the beginning of our course, it would be acceptable if you wrote a one-paragraph description of the process and the purpose of the project. Also, write a sentence or two describing the timeline for this project (overall, how long do you expect that it will take to complete one cycle of the DMAIC methodology for your process improvement project, including implementation?). If there are any obvious assumptions that you would like to identify for your project/process, you can describe them in your Project/Team Charter. Regarding the Team Charter, under normal circumstances, you would list project team members and their roles. For this assignment, don't worry about team details.
Project CTQ:
Project CTQ (Critical to Quality) is similar to the acceptance criteria for a Scope Statement. What objectives or goals to we hope to satisfy with our process improvement (e.g., improving customer satisfaction, reducing waste, decreasing cycle time, etc.)?
Toll Gates: These are points in your project and process that represent "go/no-go" decisions. Are there any stages of your process where the entire process would stop or be terminated for some reason? Are there any steps of your DMAIC project where you envision that the project might be terminated for some reason?
Map "As Is" process: Here, you're creating a SIPOC diagram and also a detailed process map with swimlanes. There are examples in the class PPT slides. For your SIPOC diagram, the middle column (process) should be a summary listing of the process step. You'll ALSO prepare a separate, more detailed process map with swimlanes and correctly shaped symbols (ovals, rectangles, decision triangles). The SIPOC diagram and the process map may be large, so you may wish to create these in Word files and then embed/link those files into your PPT slides.
How many process steps should be in the middle column of your SIPOC table? I suggest that you include 5-8 main process steps in the "P" column of your SIPOC table. How many detailed process steps should you have in your detailed process map? I would expect that there would be somewhere between one dozen and two dozen steps in your process. If there's more than two dozen steps, you might consider collapsing some of your steps. If there are fewer than one dozen steps, think about whether you've created enough detail in your process. (In other words, the "P" column in your SIPOC table should summarize the main steps in the process. The detailed process map should identify more detailed, specific steps in the process.)
Measure -
For each step of your process map, I want you to indicate how activities in that step of the process might be assessed/evaluated/measured. Remember, we're looking for ways to improve the process, so how can we examine each step of the process to determine whether or not it needs to be improved (or how we might improve it)? How can we tell if a step in the process is efficient or inefficient?
Here's how you should approach this phase of the assignment... Create a blank table with three columns. In the first column, list the step number. In the second column, briefly describe the process step. In the third column, write down two or three ideas about how to measure each step in the process. See the example below, for the process of ordering food at a McDonald's Restaurant:
Step # | Step Description | How to Measure |
1 | Customer joins queue and examines menu | Average wait time in queue. Average number of customers at various times during the day. Etc. |
2 | Customer places order at counter | Average time spent taking the order. Percentage of orders that need to be deleted/voided by a manager. Etc. |
etc. | etc. | etc. |
Avoid writing down the same type of measure for every process step (e.g., calculate time to complete) - you can have identical types of measures for some steps but if that's the only type of measurement that I see, I'm going to start to wonder if you know what you're doing! Also, remember your project CTQ's - if customer satisfaction is one of your CTQ's, I expect that somewhere in your process you'd be observing customer-satisfaction-related measures (e.g., number of complaints, customer convenience, etc.). The list of items under the "Measure" in the grey and green DMAIC diagram from the PPT slides - those are examples of some of the types of measures you might want to make at various points in your process. Once you have the table complete, you can embed it into a PPT slide, or you can create several slides with this information.
Analyze -
Have a look at the results of your Measure phase. Pick five steps of your process where you think that the biggest problems may occur.In other words, identify FIVE problems with the existing process (where improvements can be made or inefficiencies may occur). Create a table such as the one below.See the example, for the process of ordering food at a McDonald's Restaurant:
Step of the Process Where Inefficiencies Might Occur | Brief Description of the Nature/Type of Inefficiencies (e.g., potential bottleneck, waste, idle time, etc.) | |
1 | Example from McDonalds process: Prepare hot food | The cooking time might be longer for some foods, so some parts of a customer's order that are prepared more quickly might get cold while other items in the customer's order are being cooked. There is a bottleneck while slower-cooked foods are being prepared. |
2 | Example from McDonald's process: Fill soda cup | If soda cup lids are stacked onto the counter for customers to use, there might be contamination as customers touch other lids with dirty fingers. This is a health concern. |
3 | ||
4 | ||
5 |
For this assignment you don't actually have to analyze anything! Also, don't identify process measurement tools or methods that you might use to determine the root causes of the problem. (In an actual DMAIC project, however, you would complete these additional activities.)
Improve -
Examine your table from the 'Analyze' phase and pick ONE of the process steps from that table that you propose to improve. Come up with three alternative solutions to improve the process step. Describe each alternative improvement, with three advantages and three disadvantages for each alternative solution (nine advantages and nine disadvantages in total). Then pick the best solution that you'll want to implement and indicate why this is your preferred solution.
Outline your implementation plans - for example, how will you pilot the solution and then roll out full implementation? How long will your pilot implementation last, before you determine whether to roll out the solution as a permanent change? What possible risks do you anticipate with your implementation, and how would you manage (e.g., decrease, eliminate, mitigate, etc.) those risks?
Control -
Here, you want to outline how you will make the proposed change a permanent part of the process. Will you do training? Create policy documents? Incorporate regular monitoring or measuring to make sure that the solution is working?
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