ANOVA: ANalysis Of VAriance.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models used to analyze the differences among group means and their associated procedures (such as "variation" among and between groups), developed by statistician and evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher.

In the ANOVA setting, the observed variance in a particular variable is partitioned into components attributable to different sources of variation.

In its simplest form, ANOVA provides a statistical test of whether or not the means of several groups are equal, and therefore generalizes the t-test to more than two groups. As doing multiple two-sample t-tests would result in an increased chance of committing a statistical type I error, ANOVAs are useful for comparing (testing) three or more means (groups or variables) for statistical significance.

Understanding ANOVA basics-part1

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Understanding ANOVA basics-part2

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SIPOC : Supplier- Input - Process- Output- Customer.

In process improvement, a SIPOC (sometimes COPIS) is a tool that summarizes the inputs and outputs of one or more processes in table form.

The acronym SIPOC stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers which form the columns of the table. It was in use at least as early as the Total Quality Management programs of the late 1980s and continues to be used today in Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, and business process management.

To emphasize putting the needs of the customer foremost, the tool is sometimes called COPIS and the process information is filled in starting with the customer and working upstream to the supplier.

The SIPOC is often presented at the outset of process improvement efforts such as Kaizen events or during the "define" phase of the DMAIC process. It has three typical uses depending on the audience:

• To give people who are unfamiliar with a process a high-level overview
• To reacquaint people whose familiarity with a process has faded or become out-of-date due to process changes
• To help people in defining a new process

Understanding SIPOC

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Understanding SIPOC: ordering a Hamburger.

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Several aspects of the SIPOC that may not be readily apparent are:

• Suppliers and customers may be internal or external to the organization that performs the process.
• Inputs and outputs may be materials, services, or information.
• The focus is on capturing the set of inputs and outputs rather than the individual steps in the process.

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Example SIPOC: Automobile Repair

Supplier	Input	Process	Output	Customer
Vehicle owner Customer service representative Facility manager Parts window	Repair inquiry Vehicle for repair Permission to proceed with individual recommendations Open bay Parts for approved repairs Observations	Schedule visit Diagnose problem Prepare work order Source parts Perform repairs Notify that service is complete	Appointment date and time Repair recommendations and cost estimates Work order Parts for approved repairs Telephone/e-mail/text message notification Repaired vehicle	Vehicle owner Mechanic Customer service representative

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SIPOC: Healthcare example 
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SIPOC: Healthcare example 

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SIPOC: Insurance example 

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SIPOC: Healthcare example 

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SIPOC: Healthcare example 

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CTQ: Critical To Quality.

CTQ trees (critical-to-quality trees) are the key measurable characteristics of a product or process whose performance standards or specification limits must be met in order to satisfy the customer. They align improvement or design efforts with customer requirements.

CTQs are used to decompose broad customer requirements into more easily quantified elements. CTQ trees are often used as part of Lean six sigma methodology to help prioritize such requirements.

CTQs represent the product or service characteristics as defined by the customer/user. They may include upper and lower specification limits or any other factors. A CTQ must be an actionable, quantitative business specification.

CTQs reflect the expressed needs of the customer. The CTQ practitioner converts them to measurable terms using tools such as DFMEA. Services and products are typically not monolithic. They must be decomposed into constituent elements (tasks in the cases of services).

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Now how to measure these CTQs?
Watch the below video.

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Critical to Quality (CTQ) Trees
Translating Broad Needs to Requirements

When you're developing new products and services, quality is important – not only to satisfy your clients, but also to help you stand out from your competitors.

However, defining quality can be a challenge, and it's easy to overlook factors that customers care about.

This is when Critical to Quality (CTQ) Trees are useful. They help you understand what drives quality in the eyes of your customers, so that you can deliver a product or service that they are genuinely pleased with.

About CTQ Trees

Critical to Quality (CTQ) Trees, as shown in figure1 below, are diagram-based tools that help you develop and deliver high quality products and services. You use them to translate broad customer needs into specific, actionable, measurable performance requirements.

For example, an instruction such as "improve customer service" is too broad to do much with. However, by using a CTQ Tree, you can drill-down from this broad goal to identify specific, measurable requirements that you can use to improve performance.

CTQ Trees were originally developed as part of Six Sigma. You can use them in a variety of situations, including when you're developing products and services for your "internal customers."

Figure 1 – A CTQ Tree

You use CTQ Trees by first identifying the critical needs of your customers. This is what your product or service must deliver for customers to be happy. For example, if you're launching a new website, a need might be: "Must be accessible on a smartphone."

Then, for each need, you identify its quality drivers. These are the factors that customers will use to evaluate the quality of your product. For example, for the need "Must be accessible on a smartphone," a quality driver might be "Must display properly on smartphone web browsers."

Finally, you identify measurable performance requirements that each driver must satisfy if you're to actually provide a high quality product to your customers. Without these requirements, you have no way to actually measure the performance and quality of your product. For example, the measurable requirement for the driver, "Must display properly on smartphone web browsers," might be for the website to "display as required on the five most popular smartphone web browsers."

It is best to do a CTQ Tree for each individual critical need that you identify. You'll then have a comprehensive list of requirements that you can use to deliver a product that delights your customers.

How to Use the Tool

We'll now look at a step-by-step process for developing a CTQ Tree.

Step 1: Identify Critical Needs

You first need to identify the critical needs that your product has to meet. Do a CTQ Tree for every need that you identify.

During this first step, you're essentially asking, "What is critical for this product or service?"

It's best to define these needs in broad terms; this will help ensure that you don't miss anything important in the next steps.

If you can't ask customers directly about their needs, brainstorm their needs with people who deal with customers directly – sales people and customer service representatives – as well as with your team. (Perceptual Positions is a useful technique here – for example, if people are struggling to move from an engineering mindset into a customer mindset.)

Step 2: Identify Quality Drivers

Next, you need to identify the specific quality drivers that have to be in place to meet the needs that you identified in the previous step. Remember, these are the factors that must be present for customers to think that you are delivering a high quality product.

Don't rush this – it's important that you identify all of the drivers that are important to your customers.

Again, speak to people with customer contact, and ask your customers what factors are important to them.

Tools such as Kano Analysis and the Five Product Levels will also be useful here, as they can help you identify product features that will delight your customers.

Step 3: Identify Performance Requirements

Finally, you need to identify the minimum performance requirements that you must satisfy for each quality driver, in order to actually provide a quality product.

Here it's important to remember that there are many things that will affect your ability to deliver these. For example, do you have enough resources or the right technology in place? And, what will you need to do in other parts of your organization to meet these requirements?


Once you've completed a CTQ Tree for each critical need, you'll have a list of measurable requirements that you must meet to deliver a high quality product.

CTQ Tree Example

Jesse is launching a store that sells baby clothing. After speaking with potential customers, one of the critical needs she identifies is "Good Customer Service." So she uses a CTQ Tree to create a list of measurable performance requirements that will help her achieve this.

Jesse's CTQ Tree is shown below, in figure 2.


Figure 2 – Jesse's Example CTQ Tree

Key Points

Critical to Quality (CTQ) Trees help you translate broad customer needs into specific, actionable, measurable performance requirements. You can then use these requirements to deliver high quality products and services. CTQ Trees were originally developed as part of the Six Sigma methodology.

You use the tool by first identifying the critical needs of your customers. Then, for each need, you identify the quality drivers that have to be in place to meet those needs. Finally, you identify measurable performance requirements that each driver must satisfy, if you're going to provide a quality product to your customers.

Do a CTQ Tree for every need that you identify. You'll then have a comprehensive list of performance requirements that will help you deliver a high quality product.

QFD- Quality Function Deployment.

You can access the presentation of Quality Function Deployment from the following links.

1. KeA_QFD_V1
2. KeA_QFD_V2

Video: Watch the Step-by-Step QFD done for a CAR.

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FMEA - Failure Mode & Effects Analysis

Lecture on FMEA from IIT kharagpur

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DPMO - Defects Per Million Oppoutunities

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About KAIZEN enablers' ACADEMY

Philosophy alignment | People development  | Process improvement 

In the last 20 years of experience across industries, we have realized that enabling change through Best Business Practices fails due to one or more of the following reasons

• Poor Leadership Involvement

• Relying on Champion alone

• Thinking Kaizen as a Tool

• Not Educating Employees 

• Not Engaging Employees

• Lack of Customer Focus

• Lack of Understanding 

• Conflicting Metrics

• Copying Others

• No Strategy

Our endeavor is to "enable a kaizen culture" through addressing the above reasons with our Unique methodology