Business Statistics Discussion and Assignment
Place all references and citations in and below the appropriate work. Do not place them all on the same page. Times New Roman 12 and APA format
Due Wednesday January 17, 2018
Business Processes-Determine at least two (2) challenges in identifying Opportunity for Improvements (OFIs). Suggest at least one (1) strategy that business management can use to mitigate the challenges in question. Provide a rationale to support your suggestion. Search the Internet for an article that supports your position and post the link in your thread for everyone to read.
Due Wednesday January 17, 2018
Posted Discussion- Challenges in identifying OFI’s have to do with the difficulty of being able to separate them from the processes because they are often times a part of some of the processes in the workplace. In the text, page 66. In the “Analysis of Business Processes”, the “Hidden Plant” which could be the shipping dock in a manufacturing facility where parts are unboxed and put into the warehouse for use in the assembly process. These shipping containers may hold foam and or cardboard inserts that keep the parts from shifting around during shipping. All of this has to be addressed because it makes a mess when things are unboxed. Hiding in plain sight masked as a part of the processes, an OFI appears. There could be personnel on site at the time of delivery and unpack to load and carry these items off to recycling instead of tossing them into waste bins. Instead of waste, this can be turned into added-value. By paying attention to the processes and evaluating the different activities, OFI’s can be identified in almost anything, but again the difficulty lies in the fact that they are often masked by the processes themselves and have to be sifted out.
Hoerl, Roger, Ron Snee. Statistical Thinking: Improving Business Performance, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons P&T, 2012-04-09. VitalSource Bookshelf Online.
Due Wednesday January 17, 2018
The following data consists of the actual time used and potential (the best time possible for this review process) to complete each step in the review process. The actual times are based on the review of 30 projects. The potential times are subjective engineering judgment estimates.
Use the data in the table below and answer the following questions:
1. What are the sources of value-added and non-value-added work in this process?
2. Where are the main opportunities to improve the cycle time of this process, with respect to both actual time used and the potential best times? What strategy would you use?
3. Step 10: Resolve Open Issues required 104 hours (potential) versus 106 hours (actual). Is there an OFI here? Why or why not? If so, how would you attack it?
4. What do you think are the most difficult critical issues to deal with when designing a sound cycle time study such as this one?
5. I call your attention specifically to item 10. Your tendency would be to compare the potential vs. the actual hours, which is correct. However, also consider the magnitude of those amounts in relation to the other items as well and come to a conclusion as to why those numbers are so large, and what should be done about that.
Table: Basic Data Review for Construction Project Equipment Arrangement
The table is in the format of the step, description, actual, potential, and difference.
Cycle Time
(hours)
Step Description Actual Potential Difference
1Read basic data package 4 4 —-
2Write,type,proof,sign,copy,distribute cover letter 21.9 0.5 21.4
3Que 40 0 40
4Lead engineer calls key people to schedule meeting 4 0.25 3.75
5Write,type,proof,sign,copy,distribute confirmation letter 25.4 2.1 23.3
6Hold meeting; develop path forward and concerns 4 4 —-
7Project leader & specialist develop missing info 12 12 —-
8Determine plant preferred vendors 12 12 —-
9Review notes from meeting 12 12 —-
10Resolve open issues 106 104 2
11Write,type,proof,sign,copy,distribute basic data acceptance letter 26.5
Totals 267.8 151.1 116.7
Place all references and citations in and below the appropriate work. Do not place them all on the same page. Times New Roman 12 and APA format
Due Monday January 22, 2018
Statistical Engineering Frameworks-Select one (1) project from your working or educational environment in which you can apply problem-solving framework. Next, suggest at least three (3) questions that you would ask yourself in order to identify the root cause of the problem during the project that you have selected. Justify your response.
Due Monday January 22, 2018
Posted Discussion-The project I chose was from the job I worked call Draka located in Gold Rock, North Carolina. At my job we assemble elevator cables. At times there were problem solving issues that had to be resolved like wires being cut too short from employees and the products had to be either recut or sent back to the manufacturers. There were also times the supervisor would speak about cutting the wires too short to stop having wires sent back. This issue later became a problem on the organization and some employees were fired for this issue. Some key steps I suggested to stop this incident from occurring was (a) have a meeting, (b) suspension, (c) second suspension, and (d) termination. There was training for two weeks and in my opinion, if you did not understand the job in between that time you should not have had the job. This was a major issue and hazard for the company and consumers who used the elevators because people lives would be at stake even though they did test the products before consumption. However, there was test enacted but cutting the wires to short put a major bill on the company causing them to spend lots of money on wires that should not have been cut to far off. In conclusion, training is a process where you should identify the root cause of problems and resolve issues when the project that you have selected is at hand.
Due Monday January 22, 2018
Case Study 1: Statistical Thinking in Health Care Read the following case study.
Ben Davis had just completed an intensive course in Statistical Thinking for Business Improvement, which was offered to all employees of a large health maintenance organization. There was no time to celebrate, however, because he was already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as a pharmacist’s assistant in the HMO’s pharmacy, and his manager, Juan de Pacotilla, was about to be fired. Juan’s dismissal appeared to be imminent due to numerous complaints and even a few lawsuits over inaccurate prescriptions. Juan now was asking Ben for his assistance in trying to resolve the problem, preferably yesterday!
“Ben, I really need your help! If I can’t show some major improvement or at least a solid plan by next month, I’m history.” “I’ll be glad to help, Juan, but what can I do? I’m just a pharmacist’s assistant.” “I don’t care what your job title is; I think you’re just the person who can get this done. I realize I’ve been too far removed from day-to-day operations in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You’re in a much better position to find out how to fix the problem. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
“But what about the statistical consultant you hired to analyze the data on inaccurate prescriptions?” “Ben, to be honest, I’m really disappointed with that guy. He has spent two weeks trying to come up with a new modeling approach to predict weekly inaccurate prescriptions. I tried to explain to him that I don’t want to predict the mistakes, I want to eliminate them! I don’t think I got through, however, because he said we need a month of additional data to verify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read about in a journal to identify ‘change points in the time series,’ whatever that means. But get this, he will only identify the change points and send me a list; he says it’s my job to figure out what they mean and how to respond. I don’t know much about statistics — the only thing I remember from my course in college is that it was the worst course I ever took– but I’m becoming convinced that it actually doesn’t have much to offer in solving real problems. You’ve just gone through this statistical thinking course, though, so maybe you can see something I can’t. To me, statistical thinking sounds like an oxymoron. I realize it’s a long shot, but I was hoping you could use this as the project you need to officially complete the course.”
“I see your point, Juan. I felt the same way, too. This course was interesting, though, because it didn’t focus on crunching numbers. I have some ideas about how we can approach making improvements in prescription accuracy, and I think this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve it ourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of finger-pointing going on; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwriting and incomplete instructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacy assistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of the prescriptions, claiming that we are incompetent; and the assistants tend to blame the pharmacists for assuming too much about our knowledge of medical terminology, brand names, known drug interactions, and so on.” “It sounds like there’s no hope, Ben!”
“I wouldn’t say that at all, Juan. It’s just that there may be no quick fix we can do by ourselves in the pharmacy. Let me explain how I’m thinking about this and how I would propose attacking the problem using what I just learned in the statistical thinking course.”
Source: G. C. Britz, D. W. Emerling, L. B. Hare, R. W. Hoerl, & J. E. Shade. “How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking.” Quality Progress (June 1997): 67–80.
Assuming the role of Ben Davis, write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you apply the approach discussed in the textbook to this problem. You’ll have to make some assumptions about the processes used by the HMO pharmacy. Also, please use the Internet to research articles on common problems or errors that pharmacies face. Your paper should address the following points:
1. Develop a process map about the prescription filling process for HMO’s pharmacy, in which you specify the key problems that the HMO’s pharmacy might be experiencing. Next, use the supplier, input, process steps, output, and customer (SIPOC) model to analyze the HMO pharmacy’s business process.
2. Analyze the process map and SIPOC model to identify possible main root causes of the problems. Next, categorize whether the main root causes of the problem are special causes or common causes. Provide a rationale for your response.
3. Suggest the main tools that you would use and the data that you would collect in order to analyze the business process and correct the problem. Justify your response.
4. Propose one (1) solution to the HMO pharmacy’s on-going problem(s) and propose one (1) strategy to measure the aforementioned solution. Provide a rationale for your response.
5. Use at least two (2) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA format. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
• Describe how organizations use statistical thinking to be more competitive.
• Apply the basic principles of statistical thinking to business processes.
• Apply the SIPOC model to identify OFIs in business processes.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business process improvement.
• Write clearly and concisely about business process improvement using proper writing mechanics.
