FOCUS TOPIC
LEAN SIX SIGMA IN A WORLD OF BIG DATA \\ What is the added value?
I was attending a conference called “Up Your Strategy!” organised by Local Group Porto in October. A very good question was asked there: ”Will Big Data replace traditional quality tools?” The answer was very simple: ”No!”
Jukka-Matti Turtiainen Local Group Lappeenranta, Helsinki
Martijn Buijvoets Local Group Eindhoven
What is big data? The
amount
of
Control chart of Applicant based on Factor 1 growing
Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. In these
tremendously. 90% of the world’s data were produced in
information
stored
is
different phases, qualitative and quantitative tools are used
the last two years. Most of the big data tools are looking
to get an understanding of the process and problem. After
for relationships and patterns within very large data sets,
understanding the problem and finding a root cause for it,
which can contain information from many different kind
your solution will tackle the problem at the core.
of sources. The amount of unstructured data has been increasing tremendously. A big challenge is how do we get
Correlation does not mean causation
value out of those tools.
(Big) Data can show that there is a correlation between factors. In order to determine whether there is a causation
There is always need for problem solving
between those factors, there needs to be an experiment
One stereotype for an Industrial Engineering and
with the factor being active and inactive. How much data
Management student could be, a person who doesn’t like
do we need in order to make a judgement could be the
bad processes. Have you ever been in a queue and thought:
next question. In order to answer this question, you should
“why haven’t they designed this better?” Those could be
first ask yourself what change would a practical difference
good thoughts at least when thinking about the skills needed
make. Knowing the process helps when trying to answer
in working life in the future. In 2016, the World Economic
that question. By doing a Green Belt project, you will get to
Forum stated in its annual report that complex problem
know the process and understand its dynamics.
solving is the top-one competence needed in 2020. A good place to learn a structured approach to problem solving is
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
by attending the ESTIEM Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course.
The logic of Exploratory Data Analysis can be used
Lean Six Sigma has a DMAIC project management method,
through DMAIC. In the ESTIEM Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
which is used when there is an unknown root cause of a
course we use the Minitab software for this purpose. The
problem and an unknown solution to it. DMAIC stands for
best quote about Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) is from
14 ESTIEM Magazine | 54th issue - 4th industrial revolution