Analyze Phase

 

Project Name: Streamlining Customer Complaints Investigations

Problem Statement: The time to complete a complaint investigation needs to be shortened to accommodate for the frequency of complaints throughout the year to ensure timelines are met.

Moving into the analyze phase of this project, I utilized the following tools:

·         Micro level Process Flowchart

·         Cause and Effect Diagram

·         Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA)

·         Data Analysis

For the purposes of this blog, I will focus on the use of the micro level process flowchart, cause and effect diagram and the FMEA tools.

During this project, it has been identified that there are only a limited number of areas which can be modified due to restrictions with global procedures and the software in use for this system. So during the analyze phase, we looked to the areas over which we would be able to influence change.  On review of the process flow chart from the measure phase, we focused in on four key process steps and from those tried to develop the flowchart further. To help develop the micro level process flowchart, we utilized a training presentation that is used for any new employees into the group to step down each step of these process steps. On review of this, it was determined not to create an additional flowchart as the steps involved were too detailed to create a flowchart. Instead a summary document of each of the steps was created. An extract of this summary document can be seen below:

Reviewing the outputs from the brainstorming session during the define and measure phases, a fishbone diagram was developed to help pull together the problems under the appropriate headings and review if there were any further problem areas which could be reviewed as part of this project. The output from this diagram will be used within the next phase to help determine the areas which can be improved.

Further to this, the FMEA tool was utilized to help determine what high risk areas there are and what areas can be improved within the scope of this project. There was no existing FMEA for this process developed within the company before, so the high level process flow was utilized as a starting point to help create this FMEA. From the process steps, the failure effect and cause for failures were developed. An appropriate severity, occurrence and detection were then assigned. Based on company standard, where the RPN is greater than 125, action is required. There was only one area highlighted as having an RPN of 125. However, there were a number of areas close to this action figure which highlight other areas for improvement which can be reviewed after this project.

Assessment of Analyze Phase: The analyze phase was very useful to help determine the key areas which are feasible for improvement. The FMEA analysis helped to show that even though the severities associated with the process steps are quite high, our detections in place are good. This is apparent with the low occurrences for each of the process steps. However, this project will look to improving the detection scores even further and reducing the occurrences to the lowest possible score where feasible. The output from the tools in the analyze phase will be used to determine what improvements can be made in the next phase to meet the metrics set out in the define phase of this project.

Next Step: Improve. Implement and verify the solution.