Control Phase

Control Phase Activities:

Having completed the Define, Measure, Analyze and Improve phases of the A3 the proposed solutions must now be monitored for effectiveness to confirm that the proposed solutions addressed the root cause of the Rework problem and are maintained.

As part of the close out actions of the ‘Improve Phase’ an action plan was established to monitor the implementation of the proposed solutions to the Rework problem.

The simple ‘Action Plan’ tool consisted of the following:

Improvement	Who	What	By When
Improvement 1	EOC	Guidance document update	April 2013
Improvement 2	Cross functional team	Provide cross- functional refresher training	April 2013
Improvement 3	Analysts of the System	Electronic System Updates	June 2013

Monitoring of Improvements:

(1)   Visual Management System – continue to monitor WIP

(2)   Metrics on Rework – 3 month analysis of data post completion of solutions 1 and 2

(3)   At close of 3 month review period, calculations to be completed to confirm that A3 goal of a reduction of 25% in Change Request reworks is achieved.

(4)   In addition, 3 months subsequent to Electronic System Updates, calculations to be repeated to confirm that A3 goal of a reduction of 25% in Change Request rework is achieved.

Improve Phase

Improve Phase Activities:

The outcome of the Analyse Phase determined the activities to be completed in the IMPROVE phase. The areas that were considered as the key areas which would reduce rework in the Change Request process included the following:

(1)   SYSTEM: Update the electronic system used to process change requests to add further ‘prompts’ in the system which would mandate certain information to be added by the originator of the change.

(2)   PROCEDURES: Multiple procedures are in place to outline the requirements regarding change requests. Additional guidance also in place. Mandate the use of the guidance document. Also update of the guidance document to divide into critical sections, rather than current detail which combines all requirements in one place.

(3)   TRAINING: Cross functional training to re-emphasize the required content for Change Requests.

The following DMAIC Tools were used during the IMPROVE phase:

(1)   Prioritization Matrix:

Many forms of this tool are widely available using weighted and unweighted scoring of potential solutions.  See below a customized prioritization matrix which considers business needs in relation to each proposed solution as outlined below:

 

  

(2)   Brainstorming: Brainstorming was completed by the project team members classify each of the proposed solutions into a defined category for presentation to the Project Champion and Management to determine the resources (personnel and financial) support available to implement the proposed solutions.

(3)   Who/What/When: For each of the proposed solutions, the project team assigned an owner of the task, an outline of what activity was to be completed and a completion date.

Analyze Phase

 

Analyze Phase Activities:

From the Measure Phase, the Key X’s were selected based on the use of the 5 Whys

tool.

The 5 Why’s tool allowed the team to work through the primary reasons for rework and

allowed the team to determine the root causes of each. Refer to the weblink for an

example of the template used during this process.

http://www.theiplgroup.com/5%20Whys%20Template.pdf

An extract of the Template is provided below:

5 Why’s Template:

Define the Problem:

Why is that?

1.

            Why is that?

            2.

                                Why is that?

                                3.

                                                     Why is that?

                                                     4.

                                                                          Why is that?

                                                                          5.

The 5 Why’s highlighted multiple root causes which contribute to the ‘rework’ during

the process. Therefore, further analysis of the 5 Why’s process was required to select

the primary root causes.

 

Further analysis was completed through brainstorming all root causes and selecting the

primary root causes through team process experience and a multivoting process by the

team.

Cause and Effect Analysis was also completed on the Key X’s to determine the impact of

each of the root causes.

Summary of Analysis:

The Analysis concluded that a number of factors where contributing to the ‘rework’. These

included the following:

(1) Different expectations and needs across functions reviewing changes e.g. experts in the

change finding very technical detail acceptable, while other functions who are not

experts in the process require less technical detail.

(2) The system by which the changes are processed encourages a ‘collaboration’ approach

to reviewing changes rather than ‘first time quality’ by the personnel initiating the

change request.

(3) Further training re products/processes by the department would reduce rework

regarding ‘clarification’ of change and change detail.

Measure Phase

Six Sigma Project: Measure Phase:

Measure Phase Activities Completed to date:

(1) As part of the Measure Phase, aim was to collect data on the current state. From the Define Phase, it was established that for all Changes processed within the department, that > 50% required ‘rework’.

(2) In order to understand the current state, the reasons for the rework needed to be assessed. All ‘Change Approvers’ in the department were requested to document the reason for any ‘rework’ completed under particular criteria. The data collected was tabulated and reflected in Pie Chart as illustrated below. This makes the primary reasons for rework very visible.

Measure Phase – Next Steps:

To gain a better understanding of the underlying root causes for rework in the primary areas highlighted in the Pie Chart, the 5 whys (Root Cause Analysis) will be completed to generate a detailed assessment of the main reasons for rework in these areas e.g. Description of Change, Reason for Change, Rationale etc. Refer to website link below for general information on 5 why method

http://www.lifetime-reliability.com/tutorials/lean-management-methods/How_to_Use_the_5-Whys_for_Root_Cause_Analysis.pdf

DefinePhase

SixSigma Project: Define Phase:

Background:

In order to meet Quality System requirements and various regulations, changes to products, processes etc in many companies must be reviewed by cross functional teams prior to implementation to ensure they are appropriate and meet all relevant requirements. This project focuses on the process for review of change requests, in particular focusing on 'rework' involved in this process.

Scope:
The scope of this project, which will apply the DMAIC process, is to assess 'rework' involved in the review of changes received by a particular department. 'Rework' relates to instances where >1 review of a change request is completed e.g. due to omitted information etc. No types of change requests are being excluded from the scope at the 'Define Phase' as further data needs to be obtained during the 'Measure Phase' to further understand the change types and their impact on the process.

Goal:
This is to reduce the level of rework involved in the process, and implementing actions as required, to improve efficiency, reduce burden and cost.

Progress to Date and Tools Used to Date:

1. To gain an understanding of the critical process steps in the change request review process, the process was mapped. The mapping of the process was extremely effective in highlighting the primary steps in the process and for highlighting that 'rework' is built into the process i.e. through review of change request, wait for additional information, review updated information etc.                    
2. The mapped process was used to establish a Visual Management System per the principles of Lean Manufacturing. This in turn was used to highlight the status of all change requests being reviewed at a particular time. The Visual Management System was extremely effective in illustrating that there was a high level of WIP (Work in Process), which was attributed to a large degree to 'rework' activities. This data was analysed to understand the occurrence. Data for a set time period was reviewed, and the data illustrated 'rework' activity in > 50% of change requests processed. This is clearly illustrated below through use of the Pie Chart.         
3. The data illustrated in the PieChart highlighted that 'rework' was a contributing factor to the WIP, which in turn was causing challenges in meeting the needs of the customer i.e. customer service through efficient processing of change requests.       
4. However, the data gathered and methods used during the Define phase, while confirming the presence and occurrence of the 'rework' issue, the methods used did not provide information on the root cause of the 'rework'. Therefore, this will need to further assessed during the 'Measure' phase of the DMAIC process.                                  

 Summary: The Project is on schedule. The Scope and Project Goal has been defined. As the project progresses to the Measure Phase, further assessment of data is required.