Home > Articles > Programming

Paper Organizers International: A Fictitious Six Sigma Green Belt Case Study

This chapter presents a case study to demonstrate a Six Sigma DMAIC project in action. From start to finish, the case study presents examples of each phase of the Six Sigma program.
This chapter is from the book

CHAPTER OUTLINE

16.1 Background of the Case Study

16.2 Define Phase

16.3 Measure Phase

16.4 Analyze Phase

16.5 Improve Phase

16.6 Control Phase

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

  • Conduct a Six Sigma DMAIC project

  • Use the tools and methods of the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control Phases

16.1 Background of the Case Study

The Company

Paper Organizers International (POI) offers a full range of filing, organizing, and paper shuffling services. To accomplish these tasks, POI purchases metallic securing devices [*] (MSDs), staplers, hole punchers, folders, three-ring binders, and a full range of related products to serve its customers' paper-handling needs. The employees, or internal customers, of Paper Organizers International use Metallic Securing Devices (MSDs) to organize piles of paper pending placement into folders or binders.

The Purchasing Department of POI has noticed an increase in complaints from employees in the Paper-Shuffling Department (PSD) about MSDs breaking and failing to keep papers together. This creates opportunities for client papers to be mixed together. The Purchasing Department would like to improve the process for purchasing MSDs to eliminate complaints from employees in the Paper Shuffling Department.

Origin of the MSD Six Sigma Project

POI's mission statement is "Put the Right Information in the Right Place," RIP it! To accomplish this mission, POI has established a cascading set of business objectives and business indicators, which ultimately result in potential Six Sigma projects, see Table 16.1 on page 491.

Table 16.1. POI's Business Objectives and Indicators with Potential Six Sigma Projects

President

 

Director of Paper Shuffling Department (PSD)

Business objectives

Business indicators

Area objectives

Area indicators

Potential Six Sigma projects

Increase the number of orders

Number of orders/month (c-chart)

Increase the number of orders in PSD

Number of orders in PSD/month (c-chart)

New customer promotions project

Increase the number of POI services (filing, organizing, etc.) utilized by each customer

Average/and standard deviation of number of services utilized per customer/quarter (linex.gif and S-charts)

Increase the number of services utilized by each customer in PSD

Average and standard deviation of number of services utilized per PSD customer/quarter (linex.gif and S-charts)

Existing customer promotions project

Minimize production costs

Production costs/month (I and MR charts)

Minimize production costs in PSD

Production costs in PSD/month (Figure 16.1; I and MR charts)

MSD quality project

Eliminate employee complaints

Number of employee complaints/month (c-chart)

Eliminate employee complaints from PSD

Number of employee complaints from PSD/month (c-chart)

Employee morale project

The monthly production costs in the PSD are shown on the Individual and Moving Range chart in Figure 16.1 (see the next to last row in the fourth column in Table 16.1).

16fig01.jpgFigure 16.1 Minitab Individual and Moving Range Chart of Monthly Production Costs in the PSD

Figure 16.1 on page 492 indicates that production costs are stable (no special causes such as points beyond a control limit or too many sequences up and down, etc.) in the PSD with an average monthly cost of $1,096,880.00 and a standard deviation of $99,000 (liner.gif/d2 = $111,672/1.128).Additionally, production costs are approximately normally distributed (see Figure 16.2 on page 492). Team members discovered that PSD management considers monthly production costs to be very high, given the volume of work being processed by the department.

16fig02.jpgFigure 16.2 Minitab Histogram of Monthly Production Costs in the PSD

The four potential Six Sigma projects shown in the rightmost column of Table 16.1 are prioritized for attention in Table 16.2. Table 16.2 on page 493 is a Cause-and-Effect-type matrix (see Section 4.1) that weights the importance of each potential Six Sigma project to each of POI's business objectives.

Table 16.2. Prioritization of Potential Six Sigma Projects

Business objectives

Potential Six Sigma projects

New customer promotions project

Existing customer promotions project

MSD quality project

Employee morale project

Increase the number of orders

Weights

.35

3

3

0

0

Increase the number of POI services utilized by each customer

.10

1

3

0

0

Minimize production costs

.40

0

0

9

3

Eliminate employee complaints

.15

0

0

9

9

Weighted average of potential Six Sigma projects

1.15

1.35

4.95 [*]

2.55

The cell values are assigned by top management and are defined as follows: 0 = no relationship, 1 = weak relationship, 3 = moderate relationship, and 9 = strong relationship. The Finance Department developed the importance weights for each business objective to maximize the impact of Six Sigma projects on the bottom line of the organization. Consequently, the most critical project with respect to the business objectives is the MSD quality project; see 4.95 in the last row of Table 16.2. The champion and process owner of the MSD process prepared an initial project charter and presented it to the members of the MSD quality project team.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020