DMAIC Project: Shortening the Lead Time of the Product Change Proces

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Baseline (Define)

The ECR phase of the change management process was selected as the process to be improved. In this phase, product changes are presented, their impact is assessed and a decision is made on whether to go ahead with the changes. The problem with this process was that in some cases the lead time was considerable and could not be predicted (mean and variance problem). The customer for the project was seen as Operations, which is the main entity affected by the implementation of the changes. The objective was to reduce the lead time by 50%.

Process performance at the beginning (Measure)

The average lead time for the ECR phase of the changes was 16 days at the start, with a variance of 18 days. At the outset, there was no full picture of what the average time was, but the measured data helped to outline how much lead times differed and how long some cases took. The data gave the target a value of 8 days, which in itself determined the time scale for solutions and controls.

Improvement measures (Analyze & Improve)

The main causes were found to be the uncontrolled duration of the evaluation phase, the initiation of changes with incorrect or incomplete information and the lack of a channel for communicating change-related issues. The solution to these changes was defined as a pre-assessment phase, where the team responsible for the changes goes through the data. As a second change, the processing of all changes was combined into a weekly meeting where new changes are presented and their evaluation is monitored. This increased control and monitoring and improved the predictability of the lead time.
The tools used to identify the causes included process description, brainstorming and data analysis using different tools.

Results (Control)

Based on a few months of data accumulated after the changes, the lead time for the ECR phase of the changes decreased from 16 days to 6 days as the standard deviation decreased from 18 to 3 days. To maintain the results, lead time monitoring was integrated into the monitoring tool used, which provides a visual indication if changes are taking too long.

For the future, this project will also try to implement the solutions identified with the future SAP-based change management tool. The most important lesson learned is the importance of proper definition and goal setting at the beginning of the project.

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This project was a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training exercise project, which the participant did as part of the training and received a Green Belt certificate at the end of the project.
If you are interested in learning how to improve your processes using Lean and Six Sigma, and obtain a Green Belt Certification at the same time, please visit the training link: Green Belt training.