[Samurai]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

A small point : There is a customer for every process. The person next in line receiving the product is the customer. So you can think in that way. Instead of you as the head judging the quality of work, the receiver of the input of a particular process could be the judge

I didn't mean I was personal judging each employee, I ain't that jobless . I am responsible for setting up the process to do that, review it regularly and make improvements. Subjective judgment is made by the team leaders for their reportees. They will consult with everyone who collaborated with that employee, before making their subjective judgment on each criteria. I only review the results and question the outliers. Otherwise, I directly judge only those who report to me.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I didn't mean I was personal judging each employee, I ain't that jobless . I am responsible for setting up the process to do that, review it regularly and make improvements. Subjective judgment is made by the team leaders for their reportees. They will consult with everyone who collaborated with that employee, before making their subjective judgment on each criteria. I only review the results and question the outliers. Otherwise, I directly judge only those who report to me.

What may be interesting to you is if you apply statistical validation before concluding your hypothesis and making a decision. While you will still take the decision that you deem fit, statistics might give you a different perspective, one that may even help.

If you want to get some statistical inference on any data set, I'd be more than glad to help, you know just for kicks.

[Coupé]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

To continue my enlightened discourse.
=====
They were hanged. So there is a risk. Tread carefully

Warning:

Reading this I just realized that I am missing my wife. There are no statistics or deterministic systems that can describe or reproduce the satisfaction I derive while battling her wits when she's around. Can't wait for her to be back in town.

Coupé

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I didn't mean I was personal judging each employee, I ain't that jobless . I am responsible for setting up the process to do that, review it regularly and make improvements. Subjective judgment is made by the team leaders for their reportees. They will consult with everyone who collaborated with that employee, before making their subjective judgment on each criteria. I only review the results and question the outliers. Otherwise, I directly judge only those who report to me.

Obviously Samurai - I didn't mean that

What I meant was that the parameters for the review can be developed by the customer of each step in the process

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by fine69

What may be interesting to you is if you apply statistical validation before concluding your hypothesis and making a decision.

Our 50 criteria scoring sheet was actually developed by my wife, who is majored in statistics and trained in data analytics.

Originally Posted by fine69

If you want to get some statistical inference on any data set, I'd be more than glad to help, you know just for kicks.

Hey, thanks for the offer. But I don't think I have that much useful metrics to qualify for it. My setup is really small, so we don't collect too much metrics.

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

What I meant was that the parameters for the review can be developed by the customer of each step in the process

Among the engineering staff, only I have the background for it. But I do have plans to get the senior staff trained in this area.

[revvedup]

Thank you all for contributing and giving me a good idea about the pros and cons of getting Six Sigma BB or PMP certified. It has certainly been quite educational

Also as pointed out earlier in this thread, they don't teach Minitab as a part of the ISI GB course and this is essential to carry out the graphical and regression analyses, normality tests and construct control charts etc. Although I was lucky enough to discover http://blog.minitab.com/, where I found interesting ways of learning how to carry out different tasks in Minitab.

A question, can control charts be used in other phases other than the control phase ? I read recently that one can use control charts to identify sources of variation by rational sub grouping. Can somebody give a suitable example of this in practice ?

[fine69]

Originally Posted by revvedup

A question, can control charts be used in other phases other than the control phase ? I read recently that one can use control charts to identify sources of variation by rational sub grouping. Can somebody give a suitable example of this in practice ?

Process control is checked before conducting a Process Capability analysis. Process Control and Normality checks are the pre-requisite for a Normal data based Process Capability analysis. This is done in the Measure phase.

Control charts don't show the source of variation but merely point out the data points which are outside the control limits or show stratification, mixtures, oscillation etc. (there are certain guidelines to interpreting control charts, you can read further on it). Source or cause of the same needs to be found out by the project lead so that assignable causes can be eliminated from the data in order to only let the common causes remain.

Rational subgrouping is used when you want to study the behaviour between and across subgroups. A good rational subgrouping would mean similarity in data behaviour within a subgroup and difference in behaviour outside the subgroup. E.g. you wish to study a data which involves people working in different shifts. Different shifts can act as a rationale behind subgrouping a data and its most likely that variation within a shift would be less as compared across shifts.

However, one might not always have a rational subgroup, this is when control charts like I-MR (Individual-Moving Range) come into play.

[revvedup]

Originally Posted by fine69

Process control is checked before conducting a Process Capability analysis. Process Control and Normality checks are the pre-requisite for a Normal data based Process Capability analysis. This is done in the Measure phase.

Control charts don't show the source of variation but merely point out the data points which are outside the control limits or show stratification, mixtures, oscillation etc. (there are certain guidelines to interpreting control charts, you can read further on it). Source or cause of the same needs to be found out by the project lead so that assignable causes can be eliminated from the data in order to only let the common causes remain.

Rational subgrouping is used when you want to study the behaviour between and across subgroups. A good rational subgrouping would mean similarity in data behaviour within a subgroup and difference in behaviour outside the subgroup. E.g. you wish to study a data which involves people working in different shifts. Different shifts can act as a rationale behind subgrouping a data and its most likely that variation within a shift would be less as compared across shifts.

However, one might not always have a rational subgroup, this is when control charts like I-MR (Individual-Moving Range) come into play.

Thanks, your posts have been most insightful fine69. My company intends to send me on a black belt program. Before I start the course, I was thinking of getting a heads up by getting a quality black belt book and solving some problems in it.

What book would you recommend ? For my green belt examination, I used the ASQ Green belt handbook and I was thinking of getting the same again. Would you recommend it ?
http://www.flipkart.com/certified-si...=9788131728697

[fine69]

Originally Posted by revvedup

Thanks, your posts have been most insightful fine69. My company intends to send me on a black belt program. Before I start the course, I was thinking of getting a heads up by getting a quality black belt book and solving some problems in it.

What book would you recommend ? For my green belt examination, I used the ASQ Green belt handbook and I was thinking of getting the same again. Would you recommend it ?
http://www.flipkart.com/certified-si...=9788131728697

This book is ok but a lot depends on what kind of books you like to read. This book is more of a tool-by-tool explanation, which I personally don't prefer that much. I like books that have a little flow and are more textbook like.

My recommendations would be -
1. "Introductory Statistics 3e" by Ross - Statistical understanding is very important for Analytical concept clarity in Quality assuarance, and one will find it very easy while appearing for Black Belt Certification.
2. "Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook - Motorola University" - Most of the ppts from various consultants are taken from this book. It has a good blend of Management aspect and Analytical aspects of Six Sigma
3. "Six Sigma Handbook" by Breyfoggle is equivalent to a text book written in DMAIC BOK concept.
4. "Six Sigma Demystified" by Keller & Pyzdek (if I'm not mistaken) - this is another interesting book
5. Memory Joggers - there is one for Black Belt and one is a series which contains all other memory joggers, both great as a ready reckoner.

PS: For anyone interested in knowing the statistics that goes behind Six Sigma hypothesis tests, sampling, probability tests etc, "Complete Business Statistics by Aczel" is THE book to read. This is one of my personal favourites!

[revvedup]

Originally Posted by fine69

This book is ok but a lot depends on what kind of books you like to read. This book is more of a tool-by-tool explanation, which I personally don't prefer that much. I like books that have a little flow and are more textbook like.

My recommendations would be -
1. "Introductory Statistics 3e" by Ross - Statistical understanding is very important for Analytical concept clarity in Quality assuarance, and one will find it very easy while appearing for Black Belt Certification.
2. "Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook - Motorola University" - Most of the ppts from various consultants are taken from this book. It has a good blend of Management aspect and Analytical aspects of Six Sigma
3. "Six Sigma Handbook" by Breyfoggle is equivalent to a text book written in DMAIC BOK concept.
4. "Six Sigma Demystified" by Keller & Pyzdek (if I'm not mistaken) - this is another interesting book
5. Memory Joggers - there is one for Black Belt and one is a series which contains all other memory joggers, both great as a ready reckoner.

PS: For anyone interested in knowing the statistics that goes behind Six Sigma hypothesis tests, sampling, probability tests etc, "Complete Business Statistics by Aczel" is THE book to read. This is one of my personal favourites!

Well I usually get books that allow me to learn a tool and then give me plenty of problems to practice, so I can understand the tool that I have just learnt.

Thanks a lot for your exhaustive list , out of the ones that you have mentioned, which one(s) have plenty of problems to solve too ?

[fine69]

Originally Posted by revvedup

Well I usually get books that allow me to learn a tool and then give me plenty of problems to practice, so I can understand the tool that I have just learnt.

Thanks a lot for your exhaustive list , out of the ones that you have mentioned, which one(s) have plenty of problems to solve too ?

Six Sigma Demystified would have exercises but these would be like 10-20 quiz type questions at the end of each chapter.

If you are looking at doing exercises in Minitab or Excel then the book that would keep you occupied for a while would be "Six Sigma Statistics with Excel and Minitab" by Issa Bass. This book explains the tools with the help of ample examples in both Minitab and Excel. This book is more of exercises and less of other things, nice book nonetheless.

I can guarantee that after going through this book you might stop referring to Minitab for about 50% of your scenarios because Excel (even without SigmaXL) is pretty good if you know the right formulae etc.

[Dieseltuned]

Hi Guys,

Any body has any idea about the "Six Sigma Green belt certification" program run by KPMG ? Is the certificate given by them worth it as they have said that they will be giving the green belt certification on the basis of passing an exam and no need to run through a project to demonstrate hands on usage of six sigma principles ?

Regards
Dieseltuned

[Nissan1180]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Hi Guys,

Any body has any idea about the "Six Sigma Green belt certification" program run by KPMG ? Is the certificate given by them worth it as they have said that they will be giving the green belt certification on the basis of passing an exam and no need to run through a project to demonstrate hands on usage of six sigma principles ?

Regards
Dieseltuned

KPMG certifications are valued, but you might find yourself handicapped without a practical exposure. I got a GB certificate from ISI Kolkata while working on 2 projects for my employer, and ISI Professors conducted a weekly session here to review the projects and teach us the tools.
The main benefit that I've personally experienced is that you become more objective in your assessments and you're able to look at evaluate any process quantitatively. This is something that you'd be able to appreciate better with a parallel hands on experience in using the tools that you've learnt on a live project.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Any body has any idea about the "Six Sigma Green belt certification" program run by KPMG ? Is the certificate given by them worth it as they have said that they will be giving the green belt certification on the basis of passing an exam and no need to run through a project to demonstrate hands on usage of six sigma principles ?

There isn't a single certification body left in the market which ensures that they've tested the theoritical knowledge along with practical application of somebody who's trained on DMAIC methodology. And by knowledge & application I mean everything that is supposed to be understood & applied by a Green Belt.

The number of MBBs or BBs who really know the subject themselves are few in number today because of this certification business so if one is being interviewed by somebody who's got a certificate just like thousand others then one needn't worry.

As for the "worthy" part of it. There are many companies who would want their managers to be Green Belts and get happy if you are a Green Belt (most don't care where you got it from). Who is a Green Belt and what all is he supposed to know/deliver? They don't care about this part either.

The process is that once you do the training you get a 'Trained' certificate and once you submit your project you get the 'Certified' certificate.

'Trained' doesn't really matter so you should be aiming for the 'Certified' certificate. ISI is the cheapest so you can do it from there in case you are only after the 'Certified' certificate because their certification process is the most lousy.

Don't be under the notion that you'd be able to get trained and be able to retain that knowledge of concepts/tools beyond one month (unless of course you keep on revisiting it or start applying it practically, chances of both of which are minimal).

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

KPMG certifications are valued, but you might find yourself handicapped without a practical exposure. I got a GB certificate from ISI Kolkata while working on 2 projects for my employer, and ISI Professors conducted a weekly session here to review the projects and teach us the tools.
The main benefit that I've personally experienced is that you become more objective in your assessments and you're able to look at evaluate any process quantitatively. This is something that you'd be able to appreciate better with a parallel hands on experience in using the tools that you've learnt on a live project.

Hello,

Apologies for the delayed response, but i found ISI guys typical sarkari folks, An email sent to their Mumbai office almost 8-10 days back is still unanswered.
I am still in the lookout for SSGB course which includes a project. Thinking of registering with KPMG atleast for the training.

Regards
Dieseltuned