Six Sigma Black Belt

The general goal of Lean Six Sigma training is to align team members' knowledge, skills, and abilities, KSAs, with Lean Six Sigma deployment goals of the organization.

Identify the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt's training responsibilities.

An improvement team regularly misses its project milestones and meetings often run over time. Executive management has been a little reluctant to thoroughly train all the team members in Six Sigma tools and techniques, and some of the executives are too busy to make it to meetings. Because of the lack of training, senior members tend to discount junior members' ideas, and dominate the team into decisions based on their previous experiences.

Which critical success factors need improvement in this team scenario?

Which circumstances are suitable to the use of a fractional factorial design?

Identify the statements that correctly describe benchmarking.

The Six Sigma team at a custom cabinetry manufacturer has just undertaken a new project. The team has identified an opportunity for improvement in its custom staircase design process. The team has developed a new process, but wants to use a pilot test before full-scale implementation.

Currently, the finishers spend a lot of time reaching, bending, and replenishing materials. A new process has been designed to reduce waste, making the whole process more efficient. The work space of the finishers has been redesigned to ensure tools and materials are within reach. A toolbox was added in the arm of the finishers' chairs. A kanban system has been implemented to alert floor supervisors when materials are low so that they can be restocked before the finishers need them. Workers with varying degrees of expertise and experience have been selected to participate in the pilot.

Members of the Six Sigma team are on site to watch, listen, and record details of what happens during the pilot testing. Carlos, one of the participants, can't find his screw drivers. Tracy, a Six Sigma team member, tells him to look in the tool holder, located in the armrest of his chair. Tracy records the incident and sticks around in case Carlos has any other trouble. Seeing that another participant needs help, Tracy moves on to find out what the problem is. This time, the participant just wants to tell Tracy what a good job she thinks the team has done designing the new process. However, she also has a recommendation about the toolbox located in the arm of the chair. Tracy takes detailed notes of participants' feedback, but she refrains from adding commentary of her own on the design of the new process.

What should Tracy have done to improve the way in which the pilot test was conducted?

You're working with a technical support helpline to help improve the process and increase customer satisfaction rates. You've identified technical support representative experience at the level of five years and customer contact mode being instant messaging as the two optimal settings for desired customer satisfaction levels of 95%.

You experiment to find out whether small variations in these levels will have a significant impact on customer satisfaction.

What is the objective of this experiment?

Identify examples of variables that are well suited for SPC.

Which descriptions exemplify the detrimental impact hidden factories can have on an organization?

You are carrying out a study on local residents to find out how well the neighborhood mall is serving their needs. You take a sample of 500 people and find a p-value of 0.05.

What does this test result imply about statistical and practical significance?

A roofing company has to build trusses with a 33.00 degree angle at the peak. An angle with a known accuracy of 33.000 degrees has been created as the standard. To test the accuracy of the measuring device, the standard angle is measured 12 times. The resolution of the device is 0.075 degrees. And the tolerance set for the process is +/- 0.010, giving a tolerance range of 0.02.

Which statement offers the correct values and interpretation of bias in this scenario? Round the value of bias to three decimal places.

You're working on an experiment to improve the shipping process of an online mall. There are two factors identified with two levels each.

You've already conducted a screening test and are now moving on to determine how the process can be optimized. You've been granted a large budget and desire the highest resolution.

Which is the best design choice for this situation?

A team in a customer support center is comparing the performance of three different operators, and has conducted a goodness-of-fit test to determine whether the distribution of dropped calls among the operators is consistent with last year's pattern. Review the details in the picture.

Was the test calculated and interpreted correctly?

As part of the Six Sigma team at a government agency, you are examining the PCE of the grant application process. The sum of work that a customer would recognize as necessary to process the application is 12 minutes. On average, the overall time it takes to complete the process is 120 minutes. What is the PCE in this case?

Express your answer as a percentage.

A Six Sigma Black Belt at a furniture wholesaler is working on a supply chain project to improve the efficiency of the warehousing and distribution of the company's inventory. What are good recommendations for this team's selection?

A maker of exercise equipment plans to expand its operations. The owners don't want to carry wasteful practices over to the new operation. They want to eliminate waste, improve speed of operations, and reduce inventory. And they want fast results. Also, since the plant renovation will be expensive, the owners don't want to make a major financial commitment to process improvement at this time. Which approach is best for this organization?

The enterprise leadership team at a national hotel chain is assessing potential roadblocks to Six Sigma deployment in the company by performing a roadblock analysis.

Access the Hotel Chain Roadblock Analysis for the results of the analysis, then identify statements that accurately categorize the potential roadblocks identified.

Lately, the industrial tooling plaster used during a design process has been slow to set. Interested in reducing set time, a team of engineers agrees that mixing speed, mixing time, water temperature, and plaster age have the greatest impact on set time. Each factor has two levels. The team plans a randomized experiment with eight runs.

Will this meet design requirements for the experiment, and why or why not?

Which statements accurately describe the characteristics of Latin square designs?

A team testing how well brand new defibrillator batteries maintain their charge in cold, dry climates was concerned when the measurements obtained seemed to be contrary to preliminary studies. Then it was discovered that the lab used to conduct the test was too humid. The test was done again. This time the lab was sure to test when the environmental conditions in the lab accurately mimicked the climate being simulated. Unfortunately, they failed to replace the batteries.

Which types of error are introduced in this scenario?

You are conducting a study on pain reliever dosage and pain levels in patients with chronic back strain. You take a sample of 20 patients and find a resulting p-value of 0.01.

What does this test result imply about statistical and practical significance?

A retail bank wants to determine the joint probability for two key continuous process variables in auto loan application processing – the experience of the processing agent, and the loan amount. Both variables are continuous, and a correlation study reveals that they are poorly correlated. Which distribution is the best for this data?

Which statements correctly describe benchmarking?

Identify the quality considerations and characteristics that are unique to service organizations.

You're working with a laptop producer to decrease the amount of defects on the manufacturing line.

Which statements correctly interpret the elements of the laptop manufacturing process study?

Which statements are true about setting and using target cost when designing for cost?

Three employees of an organization are stakeholders in a Six Sigma project. Ursula is a senior manager who selected the project and is responsible for supervising Andy. Andy provides coaching and support to Tim. Tim is involved with data collection on the project, and works on several other improvement projects.

Which statement most accurately describes each member's Six Sigma role?

Frank, a team leader, and his team are having a good problem-solving meeting. They've had a very productive brainstorming session that has produced a detailed breakdown of the different aspects of the complex problem they're looking at. The next step is to determine if there are causal links between the components of the problem, and if so, to rank them in order of importance.

Which tool should Frank and his team use to accomplish this?

Identify statements that define nonparametric tests.

You're working on an experiment to improve the packaging process at a chocolate factory. There are four factors identified with two levels each.

You need to conduct a screening test and have limitations of time and money. You expect that the higher-level interactions are unimportant and so do not aim at a very high resolution level.

Which design choice is the best for this scenario?

What is this project's ROI for the year, expressed as a percentage? Round your answer to one decimal place.

How do you set and use target cost when designing for cost?

A team is working to improve consistency in the size of faucet holes in sinks. The two factors being testing are drill speed and production run. Each is tested at two levels. The specified hole diameter is 4.5 mm.

Review the matrix and calculate an estimate for the effect "drill speed." If the result is negative, you must precede the value with a "-" sign. Round your answer to two decimal places, if necessary.

Ben is a Six Sigma Black Belt leading a stakeholder analysis in a project that is designed to improve the order fulfillment process at his services company.

Identify the steps in the scenario.

Which statement best summarizes the benefit of a postmortem in a Six Sigma project?

Specification limits and process spread help determine process capability.

In which two ways can you make use of these elements to measure process capability?

What are goals of robust design?

A quality improvement team wants to improve the strength of the plastic resin produced at its facility.

Which statements accurately describe the experiment?

Identify statements that describe how the balanced scorecard approach helps align projects with organizational goals.

The Six Sigma team at an electronics manufacturer has initiated a project to improve the assembly line process. Hazel, the Black Belt on the project, has identified an opportunity for improvement in how the company prepares orders for shipping.

Hazel's company sells radio transmitters to customers who build their own radios. Presently, the parts are picked and packed and then sent for inspection. The parts have to be unpacked in order to be inspected and then packed again. The Six Sigma team has identified this process as being wasteful and has developed a new process that it believes will reduce waste.

A pilot test has been designed to test the new process before it's implemented throughout the organization. A group of assembly line workers has been trained in the new process and will be testing it. The new process will combine the picking, packing, and inspecting of the parts required to build the radio transmitter into one step.

Hazel addresses the participants, advising them to go about their work as if the Six Sigma team wasn't there. One of the participants is quite frustrated and comments on how the procedure set out for inspecting the components is not synchronized with how the components need to be packed into the box. Hazel is interested to find out how this experienced worker would approach the task and encourages her to complete the tasks of packing and inspecting as it makes the most sense to her. Hazel watches carefully.

What should Hazel have done to improve the way in which the pilot test was conducted?

Which are key requirements of a DFX initiative?

What are statements that accurately describe nonparametric tests?

An important purpose of the design of experiments, or DOE, approach is achieving a target.

What are some of the other purposes of DOE?

A sales company randomly selects 1,000 invoices. Any error means the invoice is defective. In 27 invoices, the customer name is wrong, and in 13, the product number is wrong. In 9 invoices, both events occurred. Based on this sample, what's the probability of a defective invoice?

A metal working manufacturer has been awarded a contract to provide the military with a specialized helicopter part. The company has a master part to use as the standard. The inside circumference of the master part is 103.500 cm. During a bias study, the part is measured using a device with a resolution of 0.025 cm. And the tolerance set for the process is +/- 0.25 cm, giving a tolerance range of 0.5 cm.

Calculate both bias and bias reported as a percent of tolerance. Which statement correctly reports and interprets the bias of this measurement system?

The functional limits of an electric mixer motor are plus or minus 10% of the response rpm. The adjustments made before a motor can leave the warehouse cost $4.00, and the cost associated with a defective motor after it has been sold is on average $100.

The economical safety factor equals the square root of the loss when exceeding the functional limit divided by the loss when exceeding the tolerance specs. What should the tolerance specifications be for a 200 rpm motor? Answers have been rounded to two decimal places.

Management at an electronics company that specializes in portable music devices has just finished its forecasting activities. A group of employees with diverse experience and expertise has been assembled to perform scenario planning. Building on what was learned from forecasting, the team is able to establish a present starting point for the scenarios that will be developed to explain possible future outcomes.

The group is able to predict that demand will continue to grow. Next, the group considers uncertain but plausible external environmental variables, such as the company's technology becoming so regulated that the full scope application of the technology becomes restricted for the company. All the variables, predicted and possible, are grouped according to similarity.

Based on best practice, what activities should the team do to complete the scenario planning task?

The Six Sigma Black Belt at a major airline is analyzing the passenger processing time at seven of the airline's economy class counters at an airport. She wants to know if the processing time is within control at all times on a given day. The staff at these counters have a similar level of expertise, use the same infrastructure and software, and handle passengers for the same flight at a time.

Which option describes the best choice for a rational subgroup?

What are the characteristics of effective documentation?

Group challenges and interpersonal difficulties interrupt the positive flow of a meeting.

How should a team leader deal with groupthink or risky-shift forms of maladaptive behavior?

A virtual team is finding it difficult to collaborate because members are reluctant to share work in progress for fear they'll be judged harshly. No one talks of "we" or "our team," and no one knows the limits of their responsibilities.

What are appropriate suggestions for dealing with these symptoms of team challenges?

An electronics manufacturer produces several electronic components that are all quite similar but are produced on different production lines. Each production line has an assigned operator. These operators take measurements, using a common device, each morning as they start their shift and each afternoon as their shifts are ending. Typically, this data is used to identify process variation. But the company also uses it to check measurement correlation. Last month's data indicates a percent agreement of 88% for measurements taken in the morning shift.

What does this data say about correlation in the measurement system?

Which four statements describe how leading and lagging indicators are connected to organizational goals and strategies?

The responsibilities for Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training are varied.

What are a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt's training responsibilities?

Identify the characteristics of effective documentation.

What are the considerations associated with collecting customer data?

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