I Have 47 CTQ's-Too Many?

Mike,

If the data is available, I always advocate looking at the data based off a sigma-level basis.  This could help identify the largest drain on the overall processes Sigma value.  Based off of some of the other information that you've provided I have one more recommendation.  Look at the CTQs that came back based off of the reponder.  Remember that there are big Cs (ultimate customer) and little Cs (next impacted person/department/etc).  Stratify the CTQs based on this and then rank their relative importance.  Pick a representative sample of cutomers from each group and look to associate scores of importance (multi-voting and/or Pugh matrix could help here).  You could then list your process steps and then create a Prioritization Matrix of the process to VOC.  I have a template that could help with this if you desire.  You could then look at a Venn-diagram type analysis.  Is there overlap between the process steps highlighted as most important, or are they largely independent of each other?  Remember, it's all about establishing the Y=f(x).  We need to know what inputs are driving the outputs from our process/service.  Keep driving for the x's.

Regards,

Erik