Six Sigma – What’s Needed to Succeed
Six
Sigma, the popular methodology for process improvement, is a statistical
concept that identifies the variation inherent in any process. By subsequently working to reduce these variations
once it defines them, the Six Sigma methodology diminishes the opportunity for
error, thus reducing process costs or increasing customer satisfaction.
The
core objective of Six Sigma is to implement a measurement-based strategy that
focuses on process improvement and variation reduction. At a high level, this is accomplished through
the use DMAIC, an improvement cycle (define, measure, analyze, improve,
control) [Note to draft: Link to Six
Sigma: Striving for the Perfect Process
blog] for existing processes that lack efficiency, and the statistical
representation of Six Sigma, which
describes quantitatively how a process is performing.
There
are, of course, many proven methodologies an organization can consider for
process improvement. So, why should they
use Six Sigma, and what do they need to make sure they succeed?
When to Use Six Sigma
Given the similarities between
continuous improvement methodologies, it can be difficult to determine which
one is right for a given situation. To help organizations make that decision,
the Six
Sigma Council outlines the following scenarios, and the benefits
of Six Sigma can bring to solving each one.
When facing the unknown
– A process is operating out of control but the problem causing the deficient output
is not known.
Six Sigma looks for potential causes and using sigma level
calculations prioritizes them. It then
sets up the framework to resolve the causes and get to a solution.
When problems are widespread and
not defined – The problems in the process are
known and understood, but the scope of the solution is not defined, leading to constant
scope increases and lack of viable solutions due to their unmanageable size.
With control measures in its methodology, Six Sigma stays clear of
unmanageable scope escalations in favor of incremental improvements over time.
When solving complex problems
– A problem with many variables causes a complex process, where it’s challenging
to identify an approach, definition, and measure for a successful outcome.
Due to its statistical basis, Six Sigma can handle problems that
contain large amounts of data and variables, deciphering them to give
hypotheses, premises, and conclusions to base changes on.
When costs are closely tied to
processes – A process that has a high cost risk due to its very small
margin of error – where one incremental change can translate to millions of
dollars of loss or gain – requires solution accuracy before implementation.
Six Sigma leans on its statistical process control to create
assumptions, therefore when implemented properly, this method is significantly more
accurate than its alternatives.
Success
in Six Sigma
The Six Sigma method is not without its challenges, of
course.
To be successful,
Six Sigma requires support – primarily in the form of resources and data – at
all levels of an organization. Adequately staffed engagement teams with
necessary levels of subject matter expertise are a must for positive results, as
is access to consistent and accurate data streams to enable calibration
factors and the capturing of necessary KPIs – crucial to data outputs value.
But ultimately, taking advantage of how customizable this approach
is to fit your industry and organizational needs will be the key to successful
process improvement.
Is
It the Right Choice for You?
When starting on a process
improvement initiative and considering the Six Sigma methodology, it is
important to have all the information first. Knowing when this method is best applied can
set you on the path to operational process perfection.
The Six Sigma methodology has been
adopted by top operational
excellence consulting firms, including Trindent Consulting. Click here
to learn more about how we can work with you to utilize this valuable tool in
driving the efficiency of your organization.
Driving Behaviour Change in Performance Improvement
Behaviour is an integral part of performance – the two terms are often used interchangeably – so it’s no surprise that behaviour is a critical component of performance management and that behaviour change is the most challenging part of performance improvement implementation.
Because behaviour change is one of the pillars of sustainability and no performance improvement initiative can succeed without it, the challenges must be overcome in order for an organization to effectively implement change.
Challenges
Behaviour management is a daunting task on its own. Adding change to the mix can create complex challenges for anyone responsible for managing another employee’s performance, and these challenges can easily thwart the progress of change implementation.
So, how can this be tackled? As with any problem, the first step must be to determine the root causes. While it’s easy to blame employees for simply not wanting to change their behaviours, organizations often forget there are two components to successful behaviour change; one is the front-line employees, but the other equally important one is the managers.
Managers need to examine their own shortcomings when
it comes to driving employee performance. They have to be able to step back and scrutinize
whether or not they have effectively:
- Communicated with their team about the change;
- Managed their team’s cognitive biases against the change;
- Understood the differences in perception on the need for the change;
- Taken into account a poor corporate culture that doesn’t facilitate acceptance of the change;
- Considered the inevitable range of emotions that always goes along with change.
Some combination of these, along with various difficulties
unique to each workplace, can create a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to
managing employee behaviour around change implementation.
Steps to Changing Behaviour
While the list of obstacles to managing behaviour
change may seem daunting, a disciplined and structured approach can mitigate
many of these and create a path to successful change.
The ultimate goal of behaviour change is to have employees internalize and take ownership of the desired behaviour, and what’s required to drive this is the good habits of active management – setting clear expectations, developing capabilities, and putting proper motivation in place.
There are several steps a good active manager can take
to successfully drive behaviour change in their teams:
- Communicate. In order to exercise appropriate behaviour, employees need to understand what’s expected of them. Expectations need to be clear and realistic, but most importantly, they need to be known.
- Measure and review. Once targets have been communicated, behaviours need to be quantified as much as possible and then tracked and reported. Knowing whether expectations are being met allows for early and easy course correction.
- Grow Capabilities and Empower Success. Skills need to be evaluated on a skills matrix and adjusted to meet targets. If an employee lacks the needed skill to successfully participate in an implemented change, training should take place right away.
- Set motivators. There needs to be a clear understanding of rewards for desired behaviour and consequences of deficient ones.
- Follow Up. By following up on performance and providing feedback where it’s needed, the loop is closed on continuous communication and the motivators are maintained.
At Trindent Consulting we help clients successfully attain behaviour change on every engagement. Visit www.trindent.com for more information on how we Make It Happen ™.
Trindent Client Interview: Transforming Fuels Blending Practices
A leading North American refining corporation engaged Trindent to optimize gasoline blending practices at one of their largest and most complex refineries. The engagement delivered improvements in blending value chain, behavioural adjustments at all levels of client personnel, and over $40,000,000 in annualized savings.
We spoke to
a senior workstream supervisor and one of our direct contacts at the refinery
to learn more about his experience working with Trindent Consulting.
What was
your expectation when Trindent was hired to solve the gasoline blending
problem?
Trindent had a strong track
record of performing in the specific areas that we needed help with. We had
issues with Octane and Volatility giveaway concerning the fuels blending
practices, and a sub-standard structure in the way that blends were planned,
developed, executed, and tracked. So, in other words, from the time a recipe
was sent down to the time, it shipped out. We were looking to closing that loop
and understanding how we could improve performance.
Initially, when the Trindent came in, we thought it was going to
be a regular experience where a consulting team would come in, tune us up a
bit, and then we could go about our business. But soon we realized that we were
in much worse shape than we had originally anticipated. We discovered that we were battling with more complex problems like issues with analysis
reliability, our octane lab had not been supported adequately and there
was a global issue with understanding how to execute blends.
What
was the initial sentiment among your team members when Trindent first came in?
Our team welcomed Trindent
with open arms. We were looking forward to the experience because we knew that
we had to get from point A to point B and we needed someone like Trindent to help
us navigate. I think it is the core professionalism within Trindent or maybe
they just understand what’s going on and have empathy. Nobody on the Trindent
team was ever confrontational or made anything uncomfortable for any of the
project managers, business leaders, or anyone on our staff. I never felt like Trindent
was trying to insult our intelligence or throw us under the bus. It was clear
from the start that they were interested in long-term results and had clear
objectives from day one which was refreshing.
What did
you find different about Trindent? How is Trindent different from other
consulting firms you have worked with in the past?
It's impossible to count the number of ways Trindent is different. From the customer side, sometimes when you hear about consultants you cringe because you’re worried that they’re just trying to sell their latest product once you buy that, you’ll never hear from them again. Anyone that has dealt with consultants in the energy industry knows that that’s the typical experience. But the interesting dynamic about Trindent is that their objective is abundantly clear from day one. They come packaged with - here’s who we are, here’s what we do, here’s what we’re offering. Once they go through the identifying barriers to get where we need to get, they start deploying other people both within our organization and from their team. It never seemed like we were just being thrown under the bus. Everybody on their team was high-spirited and energetic, worked hard to engage with not just me, but with the people that reported to me and this was something that’s not typical to consultants. It wasn’t like they were just going to hand us some tools, and we would’ve had to navigate the rest, they went beyond that. They had very knowledgeable people in the field that developed personal relations with people at all levels and developed a rapport and trust with our staff on the field and that made the entire process go so much smoother.
For someone in my position, it
was fascinating to see how Trindent managed to do this all so well. And I’ll be
honest, in all my years of working with “consultants” I never felt like that
but with Trindent, I felt like more than consultants - they were members of my
team and I still feel that way.
Did you
feel that our methodology and tools drove behavioral changes, enhanced
ownership & accountability, and helped blenders during execution?
Absolutely. I pride myself as
someone who can navigate through various personalities but we were struggling to
manage conversations with people across different levels at the organization
and multiple teams. Trindent gave us a
structured script to drive consistency so our message was clear. With this
script, we started to build a structure and a cadence that the blenders became
accustomed to. One of Trindent’s geniuses is sitting down, talking to people,
and reading through all the superfluous stuff to find valuable information. They
gave the blenders an avenue to vent their grievances and eventually it was
through these conversations we learned what we needed to look at.
We wanted our people to get addicted to success so once they started feeling valued, they started taking ownership.
Trindent talked to every single person. They talked to everyone from operators, to blenders and front-line supervisors. This activity was key to building a structure that was custom built for our site. So they were using a proven methodology but they had found a way to fit it to our specific needs to the point where people started to open up and started to look forward to our group conversations. They started taking personal ownership. They started raising red flags instead of us having to go find them. We wanted our people to get addicted to success and once they started feeling valued, they started taking ownership. At the end of the day, that accountability is all we needed to move forward.
Could you
share an overview of the results?
Within the first few weeks, Trindent
started putting together processes and we were able to see tangible results*
very early on. Octane and volatility giveaway were the two areas we had
problems in and if we were to attach a dollar value to them, let’s just say
that they were both running neck to neck in terms of their impact on the
business.
Within the first month and a half Trindent gave us tools with which we could finally start looking at the big picture instead of just mapping the dots. We were now starting to see the trends and I would say that within the first six months, we had seen an overall reduction in octane giveaway by one whole octane number which is massive, and for volatility giveaway, they achieved a reduction that exceeded 50% of the existing numbers and with these results, the gains were immediate.
What was
your overall view of the engagement? Could you say a few words about your
experience working with Trindent Consulting?
The first thing I would like to say is that is Trindent lived up to its sterling reputation. They’ve been involved in a lot of aspects of the refining business and I can say that the level of integrity and the work ethic that their team came with is something that I haven’t experienced with other consultants. I always felt like from start to finish Trindent truly cared about our success and it was really about them watching their clients experience success.
I would say within the first month of the project I was getting feedback from people in the field asking about when the Trindent team members were visiting next. In the midst of all this we ended up in a pandemic but believe it or not, the folks are still looking forward to the Trindent team coming back.
The level of integrity and the work ethic that their team came with is something that I haven’t experienced with other consultants.
You never felt like you were
just given a folder full of marching orders to go through. The Trindent team
members were always giving us ideas to help improve and fine-tune our
processes. They were very good at identifying where we needed to tweak, tune,
and facilitate all the different personalities on the team in a way that didn’t
make it confrontational. All our team members were comfortable with Trindent
and this ensured a smooth flow of the project from start to finish. Even though
currently we are in the midst of a pandemic, I continue to get feedback from
people in the field asking about when the Trindent team will be coming back,
and that says a lot.
To sum it up, Trindent to me stands for professionalism, integrity, and compassion.
Learn more about how Trindent can Make This Happen ™ at your refinery.
Challenges between a small & a large firm. Which one should you choose?
Dear Prospective Candidate,
During its recruitment process, Trindent Consulting is often asked about the differences between working for a small and a large consulting firm. Usually, candidates are concerned they will not receive the same development opportunities, exposure, and training at a small firm as they would at a larger one.
Rest assured that working at a small firm not only offers these same experiences but at Trindent Consulting we exceed those expectations in several areas:
- Challenge – At a large firm, engagements can be multi-year and have teams that include well over ten consultants, which limits how varied your experience and exposure can be. Skillsets can stagnate and employees can find themselves pigeonholed into a niche area of expertise. At Trindent Consulting, we strive to implement six-month engagements with teams of four consultants. For an employee, this means their role is continuously evolving and their skillsets are constantly developing and expanding. Our small size also gives employees the kind of frequent exposure to internal and external executive-level staff they wouldn’t have at a large firm, as well as much more diverse exposure to different clients and industries.
- Development – Candidates are often concerned that they will not receive the same training as they would at a larger firm. However, at Trindent Consulting, we put all our consultants through a best-of-breed 12-week training program - a complete education on relevant frameworks, methodologies, and approaches, all of which are industry agnostic. Employees also receive specialist training from our in-house Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), as well as any external training identified by you or by a business need. Each employee is further given a mentor to guide them through our continuous improvement and development program. Mentors offer support, communicate feedback, and guide you through a bi-annual, self-designated Development Plan.
- Advancement Opportunities – With a small team, our accomplishments are showcased not just among the engagement team, but within the entire company. Every month, employees are recognized through our Value Excellence Award program and given the spotlight in our internal newsletter. As well, in a small firm, there is greater flexibility in promoting employees based on Key Performance Outcomes and merit – not simply their tenure.
- Communication – In a large firm, it can feel like your voice is not heard or like it's one among hundreds or thousands. Trindent believes that development does not stop with our employees. To be the best firm, we strive to hear every employee and act on their suggestions. We have weekly calls with the entire firm and monthly employee engagement surveys and meetings, and our semi-annual company retreats give every employee the opportunity to speak up, be heard, and make a difference.
If these values appeal to you and you want to challenge yourself, develop your skillset, and seek advancement opportunities, then Trindent Consulting is the right firm for you.
Visit our careers page to learn more about our values, interview process, working at Trindent, and current openings.
Medical Equipment Inventory – A Key Part of Supply Chain Optimization
When
maintained correctly, medical equipment inventory becomes an important part of
improving equipment management in a healthcare organization, which in turn plays
a key role in enhancing the company’s bottom line.
With better equipment management comes improved access to, quality of, and use of medical devices; as well as constructive insight into the company’s financial position, giving management a foundation on which to make better business decisions.
Insights
Gained from Inventory Management
To provide an optimal operational
advantage, equipment inventory must include an accurate, up-to-date record of
all assets held by the organization, one that includes the current status of every
piece of equipment. Why is this
important? For a medical company, their equipment inventory provides the basis
for decisions on business operations.
Some of the key management
insights gained from equipment inventory include:
- A technical assessment of devices,
which provides
details of the type and quantity of equipment and its current operating status. This ascertains whether there is sufficient functioning
equipment on hand for current and upcoming demand; - Asset management facilitates the accurate scheduling and
tracking of preventive maintenance, repairs, expiries, alerts and recalls,
which minimizes equipment shortages due to malfunction or disrepair; - The value of inventory, which
allows for accurate economic and budget assessments of the company.
If equipment inventory is
inaccurate, inventory management cannot be done properly, these insights will
become incorrect, and the business decisions based on them will be negatively
affected.
Supply Chain Optimization
Accurate equipment inventory – and good inventory management – also plays a critical part in supply chain optimization, and the insights it provides in that area can lead to numerous operational improvements.
Recently, Trindent Consulting was engaged by a leading medical devices company to optimize their supply chain. Some of the biggest contributors to sustainable supply chain savings that we uncovered were linked to poor inventory management. With a focus on optimization, all aspects of the information derived from the company’s equipment inventory were examined. Our team specifically focused on inventory category parameters, turn times, product expiries, and forecast inventory needs because of their high impact on inventory management.
Once the data derived from equipment inventory was
corrected, it allowed for a streamlined supply chain inventory process to be
implemented. As a result, waste was
reduced, fill rates were improved, net field inventory levels were reduced, and
the company realized significant – and sustainable – annualized savings.
How Trindent can Make It
Happen
With deep industry knowledge, Trindent understands the specific challenges of healthcare, and works with our clients to implement and deliver sustainable results. Click here to learn how Trindent can help you optimize your medical equipment inventory, enhance your inventory management, and improve your supply chain.
The Importance of An Effective Ethanol Uplift Model
By Kai Y. Wan
“How to establish a good ethanol uplift model?” is becoming an increasingly common question when it comes to gasoline blending. With the mandatory addition of 10% ethanol to a majority of gasoline products, accurate prediction of the final fuel properties is more crucial than ever. With years of experience in blending optimization projects, at Trindent we have developed specific expertise in this area, and here are some insights:
Ethanol Uplift Model Best Practices
Each
refinery has its configurations that are developed as a result of the molecules
they are making. Therefore, picking the right independent variables to start
the development of the model is critical. It starts with understanding the
principle of what Octane Number (ON) is, and how this property is related to
the chemical molecules inside the gasoline. Typically, a refinery can use as
much as 7-8 independent variables, and around 10-15 iterations before finding
the perfect model which is not only accurate but also makes chemical sense. The
complexity of the model is also important as you want to make it sophisticated
enough to provide the accuracy you want, but also simple enough to integrate
into the existing system with ease.
Managing Component Distribution
Once a
model is developed - the next question would be – how do we optimize it? In
addition to adjusting the ON of the neat blend stock (which is often the only
approach most refineries take), refineries may take advantage of smart
component distribution between different grades, and component sales and
maximize the overall benefit of ON uplift.
Going Beyond ON
While a lot of focus on the ethanol model is about ON, do not forget that other properties are affected by the addition of ethanol, too. Therefore, a mature ethanol model system would consider other key properties such as RVP, distillation, and V/L. A good ethanol model system would allow a refinery to achieve method repeatability level giveaway for all their constrained parameters, and maximize the benefit from production cost management.
The author of this blog, Kai Y. Wan is an Engagement Manager at Trindent Consulting.