Backdrop to International Trade
Any student or professional wanting to understand more about Imports and Exports would have to understand the history and economic principles that have chartered the course of international trade to its current regime. In the backdrop of the countries economic policies and financial conditions such as its balance of payments situation, the governments formulate rules […]
Project Integration and Communication Management
Project integration management refers to the process of tying everything in place. Integration management deals with: Developing the Project Charter and Project Scope statement (Initiating Process Group), Develop Project Management Plan (Planning process group), Direct and Manage project execution (Executing Process group). Hence this is process that integrates all the disparate processes and provides a […]
Why Viewing Global Trade in Zero Sum Terms is Shortsighted and Self Defeating
Trade Wars and Zero Sum Thinking The ongoing trade wars between the United States, on one hand, and the rest of its trading partners, including China, Canada, and the EU or the European Union stem from a basic misinterpretation of global trade in Zero Sum terms or I win, You Lose kind of thinking. As […]
Planning Functionality of an ERP System – Setting up of Planning Engine
In customer centric business environment, it is critical to have an effective plan to manage production capacity, materials availability and shipment schedules. The planning functionality of an ERP system provides organizations the means of meeting such customer centric approach. Planners are able to simulate alternate scenario planning wherefrom they determine which assemblies and components to […]
Going From People Driven To Process Driven
A process driven organization has certain obvious advantages over a people driven organization. Many old fashioned entrepreneurs still prefer to be people driven for the fear of losing control over their organization. However a large majority still aims as process oriented as the ultimate way to create an organization. Many have tried and failed because […]
In the equation - Y = f(X), Y is the dependent variable and it is dependent on the variable X. In other words, when there is a change in value of X then value of Y will automatically change. The following are the characteristics of both types of variables:
| Y | X |
| Dependent variable | Independent variable |
| Output of the process | Input to the process |
| Effect | Cause |
| Symptom | Problem |
| It is monitored | It is controlled |
It is important to know that the variable or the factor that we want to improve is a Y or an X. If the variable under control is a Y then we should identify the Xs or the independent variables that affect Y and we should focus on improving the Xs and thereby improving the Y. There could be more one X that influences the Y and we should try to brainstorm along with the team to identify as many Xs as possible and then perform Pareto analysis or other prioritization tools to identify the critical Xs that impact our Y.
Customer is the person (whether internal or external to the organization) who uses the output that the organization produces. A customer could be
Customer requirements can be defined as the needs of the customer and his expectations from the output that the organization is producing and delivering. When the organization is able to meet all the customer requirements then it will lead to Customer Satisfaction. On the contrary, if the organization is unable to meet the customer requirements then the customers will be dissatisfied and over the period of time they will turn away from the organization’s product. Customer requirements are also called Voice of the customer - “VOC”.
While performing the above the following questions should be asked:
CTQ stands for ‘Critical to Quality’. In other words it represents the critical requirements of the output. CTQ’s could be derived from Customer requirements, Risks, Economics and Regulations. For eg a CTQ could be on-time delivery or accuracy etc. It is very critical to identify and define CTQs appropriately because it depicts the quality parameters that relate to wants and needs of the customer.
Once we have collected the voice of the customer (VOC) we then will have to arrive at Critical to Quality (CTQ) elements so that the customer requirements can be incorporated into our process and the output can be produced as desired by the customer.
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The Cost of Poorly Performing Processes – Need for Six Sigma
February 12, 2025
