Creating Six Sigma - Essay Example

5. What is a "process?"
A process can be defined as a sequence of activities in which, suppliers and customers both participate as suppliers have some input after which, value is added and lastly, the output is given by customers.

6. What methods are used to identify "customer requirements?"
The methods used to identify customer requirements are interviews, surveys, focus groups, observing the customers, and complaints.

7. What is the problem-solving approach in six sigma that is like the scientific method?
The problem-solving approach in six sigma appears as a scientific method in the five steps of tactics that are defined, measured, analyze, improve and control.

8. What purpose do the "tollgates" serve in six sigma?
The tollgates in six sigma are for designating specific tasks to project members that should be completed so that the project should advance sequentially starting from define and ending to control.

9. What areas of a process need to be measured?
The areas of the process that need to be measured are cycle time, cost, value, and labor.

10. What does "Lean" help leaders understand? Briefly explain.
“Lean” help leaders to understand that individuals are not broken, but the system, which means that people working in hospitals are not flawed, but the system. The management system of the hospitals needs to change to work efficiently.

11. What two companies are most credited with creating lean?
The two companies, which are most credited with creating lean are Toyota and Ford.

12. How would you define "Lean?"
Lean can be defined as a toolset, management system, or philosophy that keeps the capability of transforming the method of organizing and managing hospitals. The hospital system involving patients, employees, and physicians can be improved in terms of management and health care by adopting the lean methodology. Overall, lean can be defined as a management system that is supportive of hospital management and the health care profession reducing errors and maximizing efficiency.

13. What is a "Kaizen?"
Kaizen can be defined as a strategy according to which, workers in an organization work collaboratively for continuous growth and betterment of the manufacturing process at all levels.

14. What are "value and non-value" activities in lean? Briefly explain with examples.
Value-added activities in lean can be defined as those activities due to which, products or processes get better, however, non-value-added activities are those that have no participation in the products or process and can be removed as waste. For example, generating a printed slip of emails of the orders is a waste and should be eliminated while the generation of a printed slip for required items is value added activity.

15. What is a "value stream" and how does it relate to sub-optimization?
A value stream can be defined as a sequential set of activities that are needed to generate a particular product or service. It is related to sub-optimization as sub-optimization occurs when the outputs are less than expected because of some lacking work from some business entity. Sub-optimization puts a negative impact on the value stream as the outputs of products and services are flawed.

16. What are the three forms of process from a lean perspective? Why is this important?
The three forms of process from a lean perspective are about waste and they are muri, mura, and Muda. Muri is a wasteful design, mura is a wasteful implementation and Muda is wasteful action. These forms are important as lean works towards the elimination of wastes to make the activities value-added.

17. What are the lenses of process observation and how are they applied?
There are two lenses of process observation, which are the solutions lens and the waste lens. They are applied to the processes for adding value to the processes and bringing improvement to the products.

18. What is a "spaghetti diagram" and what can it be used for?
A spaghetti diagram can be described as a pictorial representation of the information that flows through processes and it is used to attain information about one’s recent state. Read More