The Lean Six Sigma: NTUC Fair Price Case Study

Introduction

The Lean Six Sigma is one of the NTCU proposed strategy that the organization would wish to put into practices so as to boost the NTCU overall performance. NTCU believes that upon application of the Lean Six Sigma, the overall performance of the businesses will be accelerated and costs brought about by poor quality and management shall have been reduced. NTCU would like to apply the Lean Six Sigma to help the organization eliminate waste and reduce defects and various within the business. NTCU has recognized that the 6 sigma is a strategy that is applied by several performing businesses. This will enable NTCU compete favorably with other sector of commerce in Singapore e.g Honeywell, Yoke (2000). The Six Sigma is a strategic plan that focuses on discovering the organizations approaches in every improvement realized by the business. The DMAIC was first applied by Motorola Company then others followed. Sue (2007). The tool of the Lean Six Sigma is that the businesses should apply the logical method of DMAIC. DMAIC requires that the business defines, measures, analyze, improve and control its' processes.

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Part A: Two areas in the NTCU organization's operations that Lean Six Sigma techniques can be applied to improve the quality performance in the organization. Rastogi (2018)

The following departments of the NTCU are used for the case study in trying to implement the Lean Six Sigma techniques in the success of the business; supply chain department and the staffing department. The technique used to analyze the departments according to the Lean Six Sigma is the DMAIC, which is defining, measuring, analyzing, improving and controlling of the business achievement level. To implement the DMAIC the department should obey the following concepts.

The departments conduct process mapping. This means the departments must identify the sequence in which all the activities in the business happen in relation to the ideal business activities. For instance the Supply chain department should check the transportation of goods produced in the entire sections of the production units of NTCU. The department should then compared with the theoretical approach in which the supplies should do, this will eventually give them insight to improve their mapping. On the other hand the Staffing department of NTCU should check on how they do conduct their daily routine recruitments. The mannerism of the helping staffs, how the staffs relates with the recruits among many other objectives then compare with other organizations on how they do carry their recruitment operations.

The departments should check on their failure mode and the effects. This is essential in the sense that, the departments are capable of knowing where they went wrong and the effects they felt on the same amiss. For examples in the supply chain department they should consider the day, the supplies were not done in a particular store and the resultant effects that befell the store. The department would then be cautious of the future occurrence of the same incident. The same analysis should be done with the recruiting department, so that the department is informed of what would have coursed the problem during staffing and also serge the way forward for such an occurrence.

The departments do adequate statistical tests and analysis. The essence of statistical tests such as the standard deviations, mean, mode and, many other statistical methods ensure that important effects of variations are separated from the random variations. This is essential in the department of supply chain because it would clearly give statistics of the frequency of deliveries and the amount of the products delivered at a given store which intern will give the consumption rate of the area. On the other hand the staffing department will be capable of knowing the employees to be absorbed for a specific duty.

The departments should design experiments. Hayler & Nichols (2006) Designing experiment is essential to the business because explains the cause of an inch and the effect of the inch to the business. The department of chain supply should design the experiment to help them keep track of mistakes that befalls the department. On the other hand the staffing should design an experiment to give the insight of the problems associated with requirement and the aftermaths of staffing.

The departments should control their plans. Patterson & Speed (2009) the essence of controlling plan is to ensure that the business activities are regulated monitored and the benefits spotted. The supply chain department should ensure that, the supply of the groceries, food staffs, drugs and, many other products are regulated on daily basis to ensure that, the benefits from them are closely monitored. On the other hand the staffing department should ensure that the employees of NTCU are sustainable and manageable. This is linked to global view on the same issue of control has evident in Byrne. et al (2007)

Part B: Evaluating the Lean Six Sigma project charter

Raifsmide & Kurt (2004) . One of the Lean Six Sigma application and technique described above is the definition phase from the DMAIC. A designed model of similar features gave a remarkable provide in return, see Arash (2008). The definition phase is very important phase in the organization because it is the one that captures the entire successful project that obeys Lean Six Sigma. The phase focuses on the current state of the business, problem statement and the desired future state of the organization. The phase is used in documentation of the project charter as shown below. Other diagrams of charter can be traced from Michael (2002).

Simple Lean Six Sigma Project Charter

Project Name: NTUC SUPPLY Champion:

Belt: Master black belt:

Problem Statement: The project will address national shortages on food staff like rice, toilet papers etc. The problem occurs once in a month or even after two months. The problem is known when the customers do not find them in stores. The impact of the problem is that customer's interest is not met and at the same time the sales force is hampered. Project Goal: By the end of the research the problem shall be occurring once in a year or possibly no future occurrence.

The aim is to improve the NTUC supply from national shortages to no shortages by the end of year 2018. Arthur, ( 2007)

NTUC SUPPLY:

NTUC Supply servers over 600,000 customers a day and therefore should not miss items Scope: The study will be conducted within the major cities of Singapore. The key areas of visits being the production units. The citizens will also be involved in the suggestion of the way forward. Maxey, Rowlands, George, & Upton, (2007)

Team Members: The following are to take part.

Bobby Chin -Chairman overseas

Lim Kok Guan - Finance officers he should facilitate the project

Other Stakeholder- Carry other duties

John, Meran, Roenpage & Staudter, ( 2007) Benefits: The merits of the research are when it will be successful then, the customers will never miss their desired commodities like eggs, toilet papers etc. The prices will also remain constants because the supply will be constant. Brue,( 2007)

Timeline: The project will take several stages and time limits.

Definition phase from 7th May to 27th 2018

Analysis phase from 1st June to 20th 2018

Improve and control stage from 1st July 25th

August 2018

Part C: Suitable Lean Six Sigma techniques for

Affinity Diagram

When ideas are placed together from different expertise of the organization then according to Sigma Six, the brainstormed information is then analyzed, prioritized before they can placed into the implementation stage. Affinity diagramming is used to handle large number of opinions. The diagram is an essential part of the Lean Six Sigma process. The diagram can be implemented and used in business cooperation such as NTCU as a standalone quality improvement process. The diagram resembles a shape of fish skeleton. Christine (2004)

Effort matrix

Impact Effort Matrix is a grid of dimension 2 by 2, which aid in evaluating the solution in relation to their relative effects. This set explains identifies information of the business. The matrix effort uses the qualitative analysis to give the strengths of the set of information. The grid states that the best solutions are on the right quadrant, since they are easy to implement but with substantial effect. Basu & Wright (2003)

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a technique that uses systematic ideas from a difficult and challenging situation. Brainstorming is usually done by group of think tanks who natures free thinking. Examples of areas that brainstorming technique is applied as an effective technique include the following, designing process or re-engineering of process by use of SIPOC and secondly in process mapping. Goffnett (2004). When brainstorming techniques goes through the company of NTUC competitive ability goes through. Companies (2008)

Priotization Grid

Priotisation Is a grid of L-shape matrix that establishes a pair wise comparison of criteria and option. The grid tries to narrow down the events of the project by citing the merits of order of important activities of the business. The priotisation grid is important in the project bounding and in the analysis phase of the Lean Six Sigma quality. Jutras C. (2009)

References

Arash S. (2008). Design for Six Sigma (DFSS): lessons learned from world-class

Arthur, J. 2007. Lean Six Sigma demystified. London:McGraw-Hill Education

Basu R. & Wright N. J. (2003). Quality beyond Six Sigma, Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann

Brue, G. 2007. Six Sigma for managers:24 lessons to understand and apply Six Sigma principles in any organization. McGraw-Hill Education

Byrne G. et al (2007). Driving operational innovation using Lean Six Sigma, IBM Global Services

Christine S. (2004). Lean Six Sigma Expanding value inside and outside your Company, Xerox Global Services

Companies (2008), International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, iSixSigma- as iSixSigma-magazine

Goffnett S. P. (2004). "Understanding Six Sigma: Implication for Industry and Education", Journal of Industrial Technology

Hayler, R.; Nichols, M. 2006. Six Sigma for financial services: how leading companies are driving results using lean, Six Sigma and process. New York: McGraw-Hill Education

John, A.; Meran, R.; Roenpage, O.; Staudter, C. 2007. Six Sigma+lean toolset. Berlin: Springer-Verlag Berlin

Jutras C. (2009). Taking Lean Six Sigma Beyond Manufacturing: " The Journey to Business Improvement", Benchmark

Maxey, J.; Rowlands, D.; George, M.L.; Upton, M. 2007. The Lean Six Sigma pocket toolbook: a quick reference guide to 70 tools for improving quality and speed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education

Michael L. G. (2002). Lean Six Sigma. McGraw-hill Picture Source: Retrieved on 21st April 2018 from http://www.itilitsm-world.com/sigma.htmPatterson L. & Speed J (2009). Aligning Business Process Management, Service

Raifsmider R. & Kurt D. (2004). Lean Six Sigma in higher Education, Xerox Corporation

Rastogi A. (2018). A six Sigma Process Improvement Methodology.*Greycampus* Retrieved on 21st April 2018 from http://www.greycampus.com/blog/qualitymanagement/dmaicSix Sigma Quality, Honeywell International Inc

Sue R. (2007). Motorola celebrates 20 years of Six Sigma, iSixSigmamagazine Retrieved on 21st April 2018 from http://www.dmaictools.com/excel-templateshttp:/Yoke M. M. (2000). Honeywell Aerospace Electrical System, Singapore - Implementing