Good Problem Statement Tips Needed

This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 8 months ago by Chris Seider.

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May 9, 2015 at 8:13 pm #55024

Hmalfedel
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Hello there
I just started my course on Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and I’m thinking of doing it on Grocery because one of my close friend is having small business so could you please help me out with finding a good problem statement for having too many vendors or (suppliers) on that grocery store. Now he has a connection with more than 13 vendors and wants to narrow it down to 3.
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May 10, 2015 at 10:24 pm #198255

Amit Kumar Ojha
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Hi Hmalfedel,
Can you exactly state what is the problem your friend is facing with two many vendors. Try to focus on the pain area and then start quantifying it. Having two many vendors can not be a problem statement as it does not specify the real pain area.
Hope it helps !!!
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May 11, 2015 at 7:10 am #198256

Shelby Jarvis
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Your training should be providing you with the format and basics to the problem statement. This should mechanically provide you the information.
However, my personal value in a problem statement is that it provides the energy for leadership to get them to provide resources (time, people, and funding) and the energy to the team to want to work on the project.
You should be working with your friend to scope and define the real goals in a way which your friend will dedicate the resources. You should also be working with your project team for getting their buy in.
You should not be working alone. GB is never about a hero swooping in to save the day.
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May 12, 2015 at 6:03 am #198263

Amit Kumar Ojha
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Agree with Shelby’s point regarding scope finalization.
Its very important to finalize on the following points along with concurrence from your friend.
Try to think of the following points:
1. Business Problem
2. Goal
3. In scope / Out of Scope
4. Timelines
If you planning to do it phase wise than think of phase wise plan…
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May 18, 2015 at 8:08 pm #198279

Hmalfedel
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For Him having too many vendors is very difficult to deal with when ordering stuff for the store. Because this is Halal Meat Mini-Mart he brings alot of stuff from middle east and also from the US. So sometime, it takes lots of time getting stuff in time we want them. So he is trying to minimize the vendors so we dont get the grocery late
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May 18, 2015 at 10:36 pm #198280

Amit Kumar Ojha
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So in this case the real pain area is delay in getting the stuffs. Now I suggest you to quantify the problem as in how much time does it take on an average and how is it negatively affecting the business in terms of causing further delay to other activities or loss of sale etc.
Once you are done with this, we are good to go with the problem statement.
Post that we can focus on other aspects such as finalizing the CTQs etc.
Goddluck !!!!
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May 18, 2015 at 10:45 pm #198281

Amit Kumar Ojha
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One more point, please do not limit the scope of the analysis by presuming the cause as having too many vendors.
Many a times I have observed that, post thorough root cause analysis, it is found that the cause which was presumed is actually not a very significant one.
I suggest let us go step by step as per DMAIC methodology.
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May 20, 2015 at 6:00 am #198284

cfb
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Use the 4W1H model – Who is feeling the pain, what is the pain felt, when is it felt, where is it felt in the process, how is the pain being measured. And don’t confuse problem with cause with symptom….use a logic tree with the pain listed at the top and distill down into something causal.
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May 20, 2015 at 11:21 am #198285

Chris Seider
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Determine the business pain and how to measure it. State how it impacts the business and its benefits and don’t forget to document where past data comes from for a baseline so you can track further improvements.
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