Value in the eyes of the customer
It all starts with the customer.
With both lean and six sigma, the customer is always at the heart of any improvement effort
Lean and the customer
Lean is all about maximising value and reducing waste in all of it's forms. Value is defined in the eyes of the customer - what will the customer be willing to pay for? Take the example of a factory making cakes. The customer is willing to pay for the eggs to be mixed with the flour and the mixture to be heated in an oven and decorated with icing, but they're probably less enthusiastic about paying for cakes to be moved around the warehouse or the mixer to be changed over from chocolate to vanilla. In lean value is in the eyes of the customer and is defined as changing the form, function, or fit of the "thing"
Six sigma and the customer
In the define phase of your six sigma project many of the tools you will use are to define who the customer is. For example using a SIPOC ( supplier, input, process, customer, output ) which is used for defining both your project boundaries and your customer. Tools such as voice of the customer, the CTQ tree and stakeholder analysis help you to define exactly who customer is, what they want, and now to translate those wants into an operational definition for your factory.
The Kano model
I was first introduced to the Kano model back in the early noughies when I was working on my six sigma greenbelt certification. Recently we have become re- aquatinted, as I've been pulling together materials for delivering six sigma greenbelt training myself. I always think a hotel works great as an example of the Kano model. You're got the dis-satisfiers, the things that if they were not present the customer will be immediately dis-satisfied. This might include something like a bed, a pillow or a duvet - lets say they are pretty essential basics! Then you've got the performance features where satisfaction is directly proportional to how well or how much they are provided. More functionality means more satisfaction, and vice versa stuff. A great example here is price. The cheaper, the better. Finally, you get my favourite part of the Kano model, the delights these are things that didn't expect or make you you go ‘wow!’. In a hotel this could be a bottle of champagne on arrival, access to free chocolate bars or simply some-one just greeting you by name at the reception desk. A hotel of course is a simple and great example to use but when your customer finished is the goods warehouse its a little bit harder to define what might be considered to be a delighter…
Who is the customer?
Which nicely brings us to defining exactly who the customer is. The customer is not always a consumer such as a hotel guest, electricity user or patient taking medicine. Sometimes the customer to the process you are working on is simply the next thing down the line. It could be the next machine, the next department or the next person to receive a form (electronically or physically) in a transactional flow. Often, in a good and well thought through project, both the next process down the line, and the end customer are considered. Who is your customer?
What's the impact?
If continuous improvement is an about improving things for the customer, then when your project reaches its conclusion, customer satisfaction must be the way in which you measure your success. Has the customer noted a difference? Can the impact you have made been measured? If not, then how do you know you have been successful?
