In a retail store that sells office furniture, the financial report at the end of the year 2016 showed that the company has been losing market share.

Preliminary analysis suggested that this lost is due to poor customer satisfaction during the product ordering process. As a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, you have just been assigned a project to improve the process of quoting price and delivery for new office furniture to customers in this company.

Answer the following questions: (lean six sigma)

a) What is the most important primary metric (e.g. key process output variable) for this process?

b) Study the following options and select the best among them which you think should be used to determine the possible sources of waste in this process. You are expected to very briefly discuss the value of each method first before selecting the best approach.

A DOE study to determine sources of variation at the factory.

A value stream map of the quoting process.

A 2-sample t-test on process time before and after improvements.

A comparison between what has been done in the past when sales have fallen and

repeat those actions.

A meeting with the owner to discuss what he/she thinks.

c) Based on the brief description provided, create a process map of the ordering/quoting process, and identify the NVA and VA steps. Comment on which could be eliminated or reduced.