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Project Selection Guidelines

General Guidelines for Project Selection Any project should have identifiable process inputs and

outputs. A good six sigma project should never have a pre-

determined solution. If you already know the answer, then just go fix it! For projects that have operator or operator training as

an input, focus on ways to reduce operator variation,thereby making your process more robust to differentor untrained operators.

All projects need to be approached from theperspective of understanding the variation in processinputs, controlling them, and eliminating the defects.

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Typical Six Sigma Projects

Project Selection Ideas By FunctionFinance/Accounting Six Sigma Project Ideas Reduce the time it takes to close the accounting books (cycle

time) Improve the forecast accuracy Control spending over time Reduce balance sheet risk Eliminate unstable customers and associated risks Improve payment processing to vendors/suppliers Improve Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) the average time

taken by a company to collect payment from its customers

Reduce payroll process cycle time Improve cash management processes Improve payment/collection processes Reduce electronic financial transaction costs Reduce the cycle time of reconciliation Reduce the procure to pay cycle Standardize the accrual and deferral processes

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Typical Six Sigma Projects Sales Six Sigma Project Ideas

Improve cross-sell opportunities Reduce time required to enter sales orders Reduce errors and rework associated with sales orders Reduce customer credit worthiness cycle time Reduce the number of "bad deals" that are processed

Improve the cycle time of the entire sales order to cashprocess Increase repeat orders/customers

Shipping/Receiving Six Sigma Project Ideas Improve on-time delivery of products to customers Improve on-time delivery of goods to our facility from vendors

Improve documentation accuracy Reduce line downtime due to shipping/receiving Improve inventory control/rotation Improve inspection processes

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Typical Six Sigma Projects

Human Resources Six Sigma Project Ideas Reduce the time required to hire an employee Reduce the time to process an insurance claim Improve employee on-boarding and orientation processes Reduce expenditures for recruiting firms Improve timeliness and the value of employee performance reviews Reduce absenteeism Improve training efficiency Improve employee satisfaction Identify and correct retention issues

Information Technology Reduce network/server/application downtime Improve process of logging-in to network from remote locations Improve system reliability/uptime Standardize computer loads for configuration and support

productivity improvement

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Typical Six Sigma Projects

Product/Service Design Six Sigma Project Ideas Reduce time required to design a product or service Reduce errors in design Reduce production time

Reduce testing time Call Center Six Sigma Project Ideas Increase/decrease (depending on your business needs) average

talk time Reduce abandon calls Improve employee knowledge

Reduce number of times customer is put on hold

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Typical Six Sigma Projects

External DefectsAudits (customer, regulatory or internal) discovering non-complianceissuesAny out of specification (customer, regulatory or internal) outputinspection process in your organizationAnything you cover for by having a guy in the customer's plant, office

or facilityInternal Defects

Any scrap produced by your processesAny item reworked in a process (sales contracts, invoices, surgeries,software, etc.)Any process with high variation in the product outputAny process with high variation in the material consumptionAny process with many "hand-offs" between individuals or businessgroups

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Typical Six Sigma Projects

Efficiency/Capacity Issues Processes producing less than expected Processes requiring overtime not requested by a customer Processes requiring cycle times in excess of expectations Processes with computer/machine downtime Processes requiring expedited shipping and associated costs

due to delayed output production Any process that has added labor to make the required cycle

General Six Sigma Project Ideas Reduce expenses at... Reduce scrap... Reduce downtimes... or increase uptimes... Reduce rework... Increase throughput at... Reduce quality defects...