Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Examination

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1. Which statement correctly captures the meaning of non-value-adding?

We implemented a proposal to increase revenue, but it didn’t work.

This staff member consistently receives poor performance evaluations.

There is a feasible future state in which we could deliver this product or service without having to do this activity.

Our top management team is incapable of making good decisions.

2. Workers are doing too much turning, bending over, and walking from one place to another. Which letters of DOWNTIME best capture problems like these?

O and T

O and I

T and I

T and M

3. Which improvement strategy will have the greater impact?

Optimizing the value-adding portions of the workflow.

Reducing the non-value-adding portions of the workflow.

Firing employees with consistently poor performance.

Promoting employees with consistently good performance.

4. What is a value stream?

A live video you can watch on the Internet.

A steady flow of orders for your products or services

A department specializing in one particular step in a manufacturing or service process.

The set and sequence of all activities required to produce and/or deliver a specified family of products or services to customers.

5. Kaizen events are sometimes used in the LSS projects. Which of these is NOT a characteristic of Kaizen Events?

They place more emphasis on “tribal knowledge” or “wisdom of the organization,” less emphasis on data analysis.

They address intermittently occurring defects related to the behavior of equipment and/or materials.

They address problems for which causes and solutions are easy to identify.

They produce solutions posing little or no implementation risk.

6. Which of these is NOT part of the preparation for a typical Kaizen Event?

Current state process maps completed.

Data collected, project metrics calculated, goals set.

Solutions to the problem have been developed.

Event logistics have been arranged.

7. Which of these is a common pitfall of typical Kaizen Events?

Getting front line workers involved in identifying causes of problems.

Not putting a control plan in place to sustain the gains after the event.

Getting front line workers involved in developing solutions.

Having managers attend the project report-out.

8. A workflow consists of three main steps. The yields for each of these steps are 99%, 98%, and 97%. Which of the following values is closest to the overall quality level (rolled throughput yield)?

99%

98%

97%

94%

9. Which of these following statements is NOT true?

Your customers are more concerned with your DPMO than your DPPM.

Your customers are more concerned with your DPPM than your DPMO.

DPMO will signal process deterioration sooner than DPPM.

DPMO responds more rapidly to process improvements than DPPM.

10. A company wants to use DPMO to track product quality. Which of the following issues would make that impossible?

Their customers are not familiar with DPMO.

Their products do not have a discrete number of opportunities for defect.

Calculating DPMO is more difficult than calculating DPPM.

DPMO requires more detailed data collection than DPPM.

11. What is the primary responsibility of a LSS Champion?

Providing resources and removing organizational barriers for LSS project teams.

Leading LSS project teams.

Analyzing data collected by LSS project teams.

Interviewing front line workers within the project scope.

12. Which of these is NOT a reason to combine Lean and Six Sigma as a single improvement infrastructure?

They have common belief systems.

They have common strategies.

They are different names for the same thing.

They have complementary tool sets.

13. Which of these is NOT an essential element of LSS?

Signs posted throughout the company declaring the company’s commitment to LSS.

A culture of continuous improvement.

Teamwork within and across departments.

Front line workers participating in LSS projects.

14. Which of these initiatives has the LEAST overlap with Lean Six Sigma?

Voice of the customer.

Succession planning.

ISO 9001.

Balanced scorecard.

15. Which of these is NOT an important Top Management role in LSS deployment?

Leading LSS project teams.

Defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Identifying candidate projects.

Prioritizing candidate projects.

16. Which of the following is NOT a good reason to limit the number of LSS projects in process?

Results in manageable workloads for Green and Black Belts.

Results in reduced project cycle times.

Green and Black Belts who do not want to work on projects don’t have to.

Results in more rapid accrual of project benefits.

17. Which of the following is NOT a deliverable of the Measure phase of DMAIC?

Observe and map the current state.

Collect data on the current state.

Calculate project metrics for the current state.

Determine root causes.

18. Which of these is NOT a deliverable of the Improve phase of DMAIC?

Monitor the future state after it is implemented.

Develop the future state.

Review the proposed future state with stakeholders.

Pilot the future state.

19. Which of the following is NOT a deliverable of the Control phase of DMAIC?

Implement the future state within the project scope.

Implement the future state in out-of-scope replication areas.

Develop a control plan.

Monitor the future state after it is implemented.

20. Which of these is NOT a requirement for all LSS projects?

Clearly defined scope and boundaries.

Combination of process observation and data analysis.

Root causes are identified and solutions are implemented in a 3-5 day kaizen event.

Use of statistical monitoring to sustain gains.

21. Which of these is NOT a LSS project?

Reduce machine setup time.

Reduce cosmetic defects.

Reduce dimensional nonconformance.

Purchase a new machine.

22. Which project is MOST likely to benefit from Lean concepts and methods?

Reduce machine setup time.

Reduce cosmetic defects.

Reduce dimensional nonconformance.

Purchase a new machine.

23. Which of these statements about cost-of-waste analysis is NOT true?

It contributes to project selection and scoping.

It is needed to establish project baselines.

It is needed to determine project benefits.

It is the same as cost-of-poor-quality analysis.

24. What is the recommended team process for prioritizing a list of candidate LSS projects?

Cast votes for each project.

Do an impact-feasibility analysis based on KPIs and feasibility metrics.

Rank the projects by degree of relevance to the most recent crisis.

Use Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.

25. Which of these elements does NOT belong in a project charter?

In-scope products, materials, services, and/or customers.

Boundaries of the in-scope workflow.

Discussion of particular stakeholders and how they feel about the project.

Statement of what the project metrics are.

26. Which of these elements does NOT belong in a project charter?

A description of the solution that will be implemented.

An objective description of the problem the project will try to solve.

Team members, resources, and stakeholders.

Project milestones with anticipated completion dates.

27. Which of the following is NOT an acceptable project metric? (RMA is a Return Material Authorization.)

The number of RMAs last year that took more than two days to process.

The average time to process an RMA.

The percentage of RMAs that have missing information.

The percentage of RMAs that contain incorrect information.

28. You have quantitative measurements on N parts or transactions. Which of these statistics is NOT an acceptable project metric?

Average of the N measurements.

Percent of the N measurements that are smaller than a specified value.

Largest of the N measurements.

Percent of the N measurements that are larger than a specified value.

29. A stakeholder is any person or organization who:

Is affected by the project and its outcome.

Is very supportive of the project.

Wishes the project would just go away.

Has no position relative to the project.

30. Which of these is NOT a deliverable of SIPOC?

Identifying the main steps of the in-scope workflow.

Identifying the outputs and customers of the in-scope workflow.

Identifying the inputs and suppliers of the in-scope workflow.

Identifying the goals of the project with respect to the in-scope workflow.

31. Which of these is NOT a purpose of observing the current state?

Identifying locations and types of waste.

Catching people making mistakes.

Identifying possible causes of problems.

Identifying opportunities for improvement.

32. Basic process mapping (flowcharting) is MOST useful for:

Showing the sequence of activities and decision points in the in-scope workflow.

Showing WIP and cycle times for the main steps in the in-scope workflow.

Showing touch times for the main steps in the in-scope workflow.

Identifying responsibility for each step in the in-scope workflow.

33. Cross-functional (“swimlane”) process mapping is LEAST useful for:

Showing hand-offs in the in-scope workflow.

Showing do-overs in the in-scope workflow.

Identifying responsibility for each step in the in-scope workflow.

Showing WIP and cycle times for the main steps in the in-scope workflow.

34. Which of these cycle times represents the fastest rate of production?

1 minute.

2 minutes.

3 minutes.

4 minutes.

35. Suppose a manufacturing process has a cycle time of 1.5 minutes. How many parts are produced each hour?

36. The purpose of value stream and process mapping is to:

Show what should happen.

Show what actually happens.

Show what we think happens.

Document the process for ISO auditors.

37. Value stream mapping is MOST useful for:

Showing hand-offs in the in-scope workflow.

Showing do-overs in the in-scope workflow.

Identifying responsibility for each step in the in-scope workflow.

Showing WIP and cycle times for the main steps in the in-scope workflow.

38. The average WIP in a workflow is 50 items. 5 items are completed each day. What is the average lead time?

250 days

5 days

10 days

0.2 days

39. We want to do an analysis to determine whether getting a customer order from a quote is more likely or less likely depending on which account manager submitted the request for quote to the customer, which business unit created the quote, and the turnaround time. What is the Y variable for this analysis?

Which account manager

Turnaround time

Whether or not we got a customer order

Which business unit

40. We want to do another analysis using all four variables listed below. Which of these choices, (a, b, c or d) would be the Y variable, i.e., the one that could be dependent on the other three?

Whether or not review by Legal was required

Whether or not the quote was submitted on time to the customer

Whether or not review by Finance was required

Whether or not review by Service was required

41. Suppose that a population of interest can be divided into several homogeneous sub-populations of equal size. Which sample will be most representative of the population?

A random sample from the sub-population for which the data can be obtained most quickly.

A random sample from the sub-population for which the data can be obtained most inexpensively.

Random samples of the same size from each sub-population.

A random sample from the whole population.

42. Which of these statements about random sampling is always true?

The sample data looks random when you plot it.

A random number generator is used to select the items in the sample.

The items in the sample are equally spaced in time or location.

It gives a smaller margin of error than other sampling methods.

43. We want to collect data to estimate a population mean. We think the sample standard deviation will be about 20, and we want a margin of error equal to 5. Like almost everyone else who does this sort of thing, we will use the 95% confidence level. What is the required sample size?

44. We want to collect data to estimate a population percent defective. Our guess for the percent defective is 20. We want an upper margin of error equal to 5 percentage points, equivalent to an upper bound of 25 on the population percent defective. We will use the 95% confidence level. What is the required sample size?

613

811

415

217

45. Which of these is NOT a description of the standard data matrix format?

Columns are fields, rows are records.

Columns are records, rows are fields.

It is the format required by Pivot Tables.

Each data variable must appear in only one column.

46. Which of these variables is a quantitative measurement?

The order entry time.

Whether or not an order is complete

Whether or not an order is accurate.

Who enters the order

47. Which of these variables is a categorical classification?

The order quantity

The product that is being ordered

The dollar value of an order

The order processing time

48. We have a quantitative variable that follows a Normal distribution with mean 50 and standard deviation 5. What percentage of future observations will exceed 60?

5.00

2.28

1.96

97.72

49. Which of the following statistics is a measure of process variation?

Standard deviation

Standard error

Sum

Minimum

50. Suppose we have a quantitative measurement system for which standards are NOT available. What is the primary objective of measurement system analysis in this case?

Determine the bias of the measurement system.

Determine the percentage of good items that are failed.

Determine the standard deviation attributable to the measurement system.

Determine the percentage of bad items that are passed.

51. Suppose we have a quantitative MSA involving 5 items, 9 appraisers, and 2 sessions. What is the number of degrees for freedom for repeatability?

52. For the MSA in the previous question, what is the number of degrees for freedom for reproducibility?

53. Which of these is NOT a result of measurement system variation?

Making process capability look worse than it really is.

Making process capability look better than it really is.

Passing bad items.

Failing good items.

54. Which Excel tool is needed for a quantitative measurement system analysis involving multiple parts and multiple appraisers?

Data Analysis → Anova: Single Factor.

Data Analysis → Descriptive Statistics.

Data Analysis → Regression.

Data Analysis→ Anova: Two-Factor with Replication

55. We have a quantitative measurement system for which there are 10 appraisers. Which is the better design for a measurement system analysis?

10 items, 3 appraisers, 3 sessions.

5 items, 9 appraisers, 2 sessions.

9 items, 10 appraisers, 1 session.

1 item, 10 appraisers, 9 sessions.

56. Suppose we have a categorical measurement system for which standards ARE available. What is the primary objective of measurement system analysis in this case?

Determine the standard deviation attributable to the measurement system.

Determine the bias of the measurement system.

Determine the percent agreement with standard.

Determine the percent agreement of appraisers with themselves and each other.

57. Suppose we have a categorical measurement system for which standards are available. Which quantity will you NOT be able to determine in a measurement system analysis?

The percentage of tolerance consumed by measurement system variation.

The percentage of inspections of good items that give the wrong answer (fail).

The percentage of inspections of bad items that give the wrong answer (pass).

The percentage of all inspections that give the right answer.

58. Based on the file proto builds in the LSSV1 data sets folder, find the overall percent failing in the data and the upper 95% confidence bound on the population percent failing. Which of the following pairs (formatted as ‘overall % failing’ and ‘upper 95% confidence bound’) gives the correct numbers?

31% and 77%.

23% and 69%.

69% and 77%.

23% and 31%.

59. A Pareto chart is used to:

Identify the highest priority problems or problem areas.

Generate a large number of ideas.

Determine a cause-effect relationship between one or more variables.

Organize root cause observations or improvement ideas into a smaller number of groupings defined by similarity or cause-and-effect relationships.

60. If we have failure reasons in a column in Excel, what is the recommended way to determine the number of occurrences for each failure reason?

Sort the data matrix by failure reason, count how many times each occurs

Use a Pivot Table

Use Data Analysis --> Descriptive Statistics

Use the function =COUNTIF

61. In a binding operation, the average numbers of defects per book are given (by category) as follows: 7 (Emulsion), 65.4 (Folds), 43.6 (Grease), 54.5 (Sewing). In what order, from left to right, would the categories be listed on a Pareto chart?

Emulsion, Grease, Sewing, Folds

Folds, Sewing, Grease, Emulsion

Emulsion, Sewing, Grease, Folds

Sewing, Grease, Emulsion, Folds

62. The standard elements of a basic statistical summary for quantitative data are:

Mean, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, sample size.

Mean, standard error, skewness, kurtosis, sample size

Mean, standard deviation, minimum value, maximum value, sample size.

Mean, standard error, minimum value, maximum value, sample size.

63. What is the recommended way (in Excel) to produce a basic statistical summary for quantitative data?

Data Analysis ® Descriptive Statistics.

Pivot Table.

Use functions like =SUM, =COUNT, =SQRT, = SUMSQ, etc.

Data Analysis --> ANOVA: Single Factor.

64. What is the traditional graphic for displaying variation in quantitative data without plotting it over time?

Pie.

Line.

Bar.

Histogram.

65. We have data on a quantitative Y variable in column A. We want column B to say “Pass” if Y is less than or equal to 50, and “Fail” if Y is greater than 50. Which is the correct Excel formula for defining column B, starting with data in row 2 of the Excel worksheet?

=IF(A2<50, “Pass”, “Fail”)

=IF(A2>50, “Fail”, “Pass”)

=IF(A2>50, “Pass”, “Fail”)

66. Which of the following is NOT true about the process capability indices C_p and C_pk?

The process must be in statistical control for the indices to be valid.

The indices are assumed to be measures of the short-term capability of the process.

The process data must be Normally distributed for the indices to be valid.

The indices quantify how well a process is able to meet customer requirements.

67. Which of the following is NOT true about C_p?

C_p compares the natural tolerance of the process to the width of the spec limits.

The natural tolerance of the process is estimated by 6σ in the calculation.

When the spec limits are exactly at +3σ and -3σ from the mean, C_p = 1.0.

When C_p = 1.0, the process is considered a Six Sigma process and “world class.”

68. For a process with C_p = 1.33 and C_pk= 0.9, which of the following is NOT true?

The width of the spec limits is greater than the natural tolerance of the process.

The process is considered to be “marginally capable.”

C_puand C_pl are not equal for this process.

Re-centering this process would improve its capability.

69. Which question involves a comparison of populations?

Does the future state pilot indicate a significant improvement over the current state?

Does the future state pilot show that we have achieved our project objectives?

What is the percent defective in the current state?

Can we accurately estimate the number of sheets in a ream of paper based on its weight?

70. Which question involves correlating variables?

Does the future state pilot indicate a significant improvement over the current state?

Does the future state pilot show that we have achieved our project objectives?

What is the percent defective in the current state?

Can we accurately estimate the number of sheets in a ream of paper based on its weight?

71. Which chart type is recommended for showing the correlation between two quantitative variables?

Column

Bar

Pie

Scatter

72. For a quantitative Y variable, what is the correct Excel tool for comparing populations?

Data Analysis → Descriptive Statistics.

Data Analysis → Anova: Single Factor.

Data Analysis → Regression.

Pivot table → chi square test.

73. Based on the file proto builds in the LSSV1 data sets folder, test for a difference in percent failing between lots 1 and 2. What is the P value?

0.0092

0.2690

0.0269

0.0962

74. What is the correct conclusion from the analysis in the previous question?

There is very strong evidence that the processes are different.

There is strong evidence that the processes are different.

There is some evidence that the processes are different.

There is no evidence that the processes are different.

75. Which is the correct Excel tool for correlating variables?

Data Analysis → Descriptive Statistics.

Data Analysis → ANOVA: Single Factor.

Data Analysis→ Regression.

Pivot table → chi square test.

76. The P value from a before-after comparison is 0.0375. What is the correct conclusion?

There is very strong evidence that the processes are different.

There is strong evidence that the processes are different.

There is some evidence that the processes are different.

There is no evidence that the processes are different.

77. The P value from a correlation analysis is 0.7350. What is the correct conclusion?

There is very strong evidence that the two variables are correlated.

There is strong evidence that the two variables are correlated.

There is some evidence that the two variables are correlated.

There is no evidence that the two variables are correlated.

78. What is the appropriate follow-up if a stratification analysis results in a P value of 0.7350?

Identify worst practice and initiate disciplinary action.

Identify best practice and make it the standard.

No follow-up is called for.

Change some of the data values and run the analysis again.

79. What is the appropriate follow-up if a correlation analysis of X and Y variables results in a P value of 0.0375?

Investigate ways to control the X variable within a desirable range.

Find out who is responsible for the X variation and initiate disciplinary action.

No follow-up is called for.

Collect more data.

80. Which of these tools or techniques is NOT used in validating root causes or critical x’s?

Correlation/Regression

Multi-level Pareto Charts

Multi-voting

ANOVA

81. Which chart type is most often associated with root cause analysis?

Line.

Scatter.

Fishbone

Pie.

82. At the end of the Analyze Phase, to determine which root causes or critical x’s to address in the Improve Phase, the team must __________.

Cast votes for each root cause.

Review all analyses completed and identify which have been validated as significant contributors to poor performance in the Y metric.

Rank causes by frequency of occurrence, severity of impact on Y variables, and ability to detect when they occur.

Write the causes on small pieces of paper, put them in a bowl, then randomly draw three to five of them

83. Brainstorming is a team process used to:

Organize a large number of root cause observations or improvement ideas into a smaller number of groupings defined by similarity or common themes.

Generate a large number of root cause observations or improvement ideas.

Determine a cause-effect relationship between two quantitative variables.

Identify the highest priority problems or problem areas.

84. Which of these is NOT a source of improvement ideas?

Obvious once the root cause is found.

Best practices revealed by stratification analysis of current-state data.

Best practices from Lean.

SIPOC.

85. What is the recommended team process for prioritizing improvement ideas?

Cast votes for each idea.

Write the ideas on small pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. Randomly draw one of them from the bowl. Repeat until the bowl is empty.

Rank them by impact on root causes and feasibility metrics.

Do an impact-feasibility analysis based on KPIs and feasibility metrics.

86. Which benefit is associated with larger batch sizes?

Fewer changeovers.

Shorter cycle time.

Lower cost of waste.

Less work in process.

87. Which statement correctly captures the meaning of pull system?

Work is performed prior to actual demand from internal or external customers, on the basis of anticipated demand.

A system of pulleys for safe retrieval of heavy containers stored on high shelves.

Work is performed only in response to actual demand from internal or external customers.

A way of moving equipment from one location to another.

88. A workflow consists of three consecutive operations A, B, and C, one operator per operation. The touch time for Operation A is 10 minutes. The touch time for Operation B is 15 minutes. The touch time for Operation C is 5 minutes. What is the capacity cycle time of the workflow?

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

15 minutes.

30 minutes

89. In the previous question, which is the better way to reduce the capacity cycle time?

Add a second operator to operation A.

Cross train the current A and B operators, have both of them do A + B.

Add a second operator to operation B.

Cross train the current B and C operators, have both of them do B + C.

90. Which of these is NOT a purpose of FMEA in a LSS project?

To identify potential problems in the proposed future state.

To take appropriate corrective actions prior to piloting the proposed future state.

To strengthen the control plan for the proposed future state.

To convince stakeholders that their concerns with the proposed future state are groundless.

91. The term severity in FMEA refers to the:

Difficulty of filling out the FMEA form.

Degree of impact a failure mode will have if it happens.

Probability that a failure mode will happen.

Difficulty of knowing if a failure mode has happened.

92. The term occurrence in FMEA refers to the:

Number of errors made in filling out the FMEA form.

Degree of impact a failure mode will have if it happens.

Probability that a failure mode will happen.

Difficulty of knowing if a failure mode has happened.

93. The term detection in FMEA refers to the:

Difficulty of finding errors made in filling out the FMEA form.

Degree of impact a failure mode will have if it happens.

Probability that a failure mode will happen.

Difficulty of knowing if a failure mode has happened.

94. Which of these is NOT good practice for piloting the future state?

Scope should be limited.

Only the core project team should be involved.

Time period should be relatively short.

Should be closely observed.

95. Which of these is NOT true of the data collected while piloting the future state?

Y variables must be the same as in the current state data.

Measurement systems may or may not be the same as in the current state data.

Project metrics must be the same as in the project charter.

The sample size for the pilot must equal the sample size for the current state data.

96. Which of these is NOT a characteristic of assignable-cause variation?

Is statistically predictable.

Consists of mistakes, malfunctions, miscommunications, external factors, etc.

Consists of relatively few large fluctuations.

Causes of individual fluctuations can be determined.

97. Which of these is NOT a characteristic of statistical control limits?

Are valid only if the quantity being plotted has a Normal distribution

Are usually three-sigma limits calculated from process data

Operationally define the range of common-cause variation

Are an economic compromise between false alarms and missed signals

98. What is a response plan?

A defined process for deciding what to do with parts or transactions that do not meet customer requirements or expectations.

b) A defined process that only front line workers are involved in.

A defined process for diagnosing assignable causes when they occur and taking corrective actions to prevent future occurrences.

A defined process that only department managers are involved in.

99. Every four hours, a sample of 50 customer invoices are to be evaluated for accuracy. The percent with errors will be plotted on a control chart. What is the appropriate control chart to use in this case?

p chart

X̄R Chart

Individual and Moving Range chart

Any of the above charts could be used.

100. The critical dimension of the process to be monitored is weight. Every part is automatically measured and each measurement is to be plotted on a control chart. What is the appropriate control chart in this case?

p chart

X̄R chart

Individual and Moving Range chart

Another, more advanced control chart, that was not covered in this course.