The post COVID-19 world is different from that before 2019. Businesses have to adapt to the new normal. Processes that are implemented during the pandemic have to be dismantled. Customers' behaviours and expectations are changing. Organisations have to find solutions for their supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, high operating costs, environmental and sustainability expectations.

Consider the organisation you are working in or one that you are familiar with. You are asked to identify a business process in this organisation where this new norm is affecting the business in meeting customers' expectations and internal performance target. You may discuss with your supervisor or experienced colleagues to select this process. You are going to lead a Lean Six Sigma project to improve the process in the current environment. Submit a report on how you would identify the process issues, analyse the problem, recommend and implement ideas to improve the process and establish control plans to sustain the improved process using the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC approach. We shall thereafter call your selected organisation as the "subject organisation" and the selected business process as the "subject business process".

This ECA focuses on the process centric approach and qualitative analysis of the DMAIC model. Collecting extensive data and performing data analysis are not required.

Question 1a Introduce the subject organisation, including its name (use a pseudonym if it is sensitive to provide the real name), its major businesses and customers, its products/services. Provide the website or real address of the subject organisation. Question 1b Discuss the challenges faced by the subject organisation's businesses in the new normal. You need to discuss how the challenges affect its financial and operational performances, its value/supply chain, e.g., customers, suppliers, and/or the processes in its production or service delivery, etc. Question 1c Examine the suitability of Lean Six Sigma in improving the subject business process in the subject organisation in the new normal. Question 1d Describe the role/function of the subject business process, the issues or challenges it faces in the new normal. Question 2a Develop the SIPOC diagram of the subject business process in its current state. Describe how the subject business process is affected by the new normal. Question 2b List down the stakeholders that are affected by the issue(s). Identify the problem statement about the issue(s) in the subject business process. Examine the impact of the issue(s) on the subject organisation's businesses and its stakeholders. (You may refer to the problem statement template in Gitlow et al., 2015, p. 247.) Question 2c Define the CTQ and its operational definition by analysing the VOC and the issues in the subject business process. Compare the current CTQ performance of the subject business process with its performance pre-pandemic. Propose the project objective. Question 3a Develop the "As-Is" Deployment Flowchart for the subject business process. The chart should reflect the impact of the new normal. Question 3b Conduct a Gemba walk and identify three (3) different wastes using the DOWNTIME acronym, and related potential root causes for each of the wastes in the subject business process. Indicate in the "As-Is" flowchart where these process gaps are. Question 3c You need to organise a brainstorming session to discuss the possible causes of the issues in the process. Describe or show a photo of the brainstorming session. Show the Fishbone/Cause and Effect diagram of the potential causes. Question 3d One way to narrow down potential root causes is to leverage on experts' opinions and then use the pareto principle to find the likely root causes. Describe or show a photo of how the session with experts is conducted. Update the Fishbone Diagram from Question 3(c) on the likely root causes. Question 4a Countermeasures/improvement ideas can be obtained by either brainstorming sessions, or adopting lean methods and tools and applying 70 change concepts. Recommend two (2) countermeasures/improvement ideas to improve the subject business process. Show how you and your team select the two (2) countermeasures/improvement ideas. (You can refer to Gitlow et al., 2015, pp. 360-361). Indicate how the two (2) countermeasures/improvement ideas improve the "To-Be" process. Question 4b Propose two (2) measures to standardise the improved process in Question 4(a). Evaluate the effectiveness of the measures. Question 4c Develop a control plan to control the improved process. Make assumptions for the metric requirement and any other quantitative figures (where necessary).