How do you define the problem and goal of your Lean Six Sigma project by listening to the customer?

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that aims to improve quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction by eliminating waste and variation in processes. To achieve these goals, you need to define the problem and the desired outcome of your project clearly and accurately. But how do you know what your customers really want and need? How do you translate their voice into measurable and actionable objectives? In this article, we will show you how to use some tools and techniques to listen to the customer and define the problem and goal of your Lean Six Sigma project.

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1 Customer Requirements

The first step in defining the problem and goal of your project is to understand what your customers expect from your product or service. Customers can be internal or external, and they can have different needs and preferences. To capture their requirements, you can use various methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, or feedback analysis. The key is to ask open-ended questions, listen actively, and avoid making assumptions or judgments.

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2 Critical-to-Quality Characteristics

Once you have collected the customer requirements, you need to translate them into specific and measurable attributes that affect the quality of your product or service. These are called critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics, and they reflect what your customers care about most. For example, if your customers want fast delivery, a CTQ characteristic could be the delivery time in hours or days. To identify the CTQ characteristics, you can use tools such as affinity diagrams, tree diagrams, or Kano models.

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3 Problem Statement

The next step is to define the problem that your project is trying to solve. A problem statement is a concise and clear description of the gap between the current and the desired state of your process or product. It should include the following elements: the problem, the impact, the scope, and the baseline data. For example, a problem statement could be: "The average delivery time of our online orders is 7 days, which causes customer dissatisfaction and lost sales. We want to reduce it to 3 days for 90% of our orders by the end of the quarter."

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4 Goal Statement

The final step is to define the goal of your project, which is the expected outcome or benefit that you want to achieve by solving the problem. A goal statement is a positive and specific expression of the desired state of your process or product. It should include the following elements: the goal, the metric, the target, and the timeline. For example, a goal statement could be: "To increase customer satisfaction and revenue, we will reduce the delivery time of our online orders from 7 days to 3 days for 90% of our orders by the end of the quarter."

By listening to the customer and defining the problem and goal of your Lean Six Sigma project, you can align your efforts with their expectations and needs. You can also establish a clear direction and scope for your project, as well as a way to measure your progress and success. Remember to use the tools and techniques that best suit your situation and context, and to validate your assumptions and data with your customers and stakeholders.

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