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Quiz Session - Attempts With Random Questions

ASQ CSSBB Exam Questions

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21.

When should Lean Six Sigma be used for continuous improvement?

  • Anywhere that variation and waste exist

  • Only when top management approves the project

  • Only when there is a potential cost savings worth more than $500,000

  • Only when there are sufficient resources to staff a project team to do the work

Correct answer: Anywhere that variation and waste exist

The other considerations, such as top management support, project staffing, and financial gain, are components of a project selection process, but by themselves do not govern the selection of a particular methodology.

22.

ISO quality standards are developed by which of the following?

  • Specialized international agency

  • United Nations (UN)

  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)

  • National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Correct answer: Specialized international agency

The agency is known as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The other agencies listed may have adopted ISO standards, but do not by themselves establish these standards.

23.

In Lean Six Sigma methodology, how are Greek letters typically used?

  • Population parameters

  • Statistics

  • Lean terminology

  • Metrology

Correct answer: Population parameters

Common letters include μ (mu) for the mean and ρ (rho) for proportion.

Latin letters are typically used for statistics such as x-bar for median and n for population. Lean generally uses pictures or Japanese words. Metrology, or the science of measurement, utilizes population and statistical symbols.

24.

Harold, a business manager, has just made the decision to cancel production of an under-performing product. This action will necessitate, among other things, reassignment of resources and moving manufacturing of several products from the line that will be shut down to other lines. He sends an email to his Six Sigma Champion with priority instructions. What are those instructions likely to contain?

  • Review all existing control plans in the business and update as needed

  • Prepare termination letters for the Champion's staff

  • Prepare a customer notification letter regarding the product cancellation.

  • Rebalance the production plan across all remaining lines at the factory

Correct answer: Review all existing control plans in the business and update as needed

Control plans are living documents and may need to be adjusted when business changes from external and/or internal events occur. As the leader is seeking to reassign staff, termination letters are not needed. The Six Sigma Champion oversees continuous improvement activities within the business and does not get involved in sales contracts or supply chain planning.

25.

When considering Key Performance indicators (KPIs), which component of the SMART criteria is a reference to specific linkage to the strategic goals of the enterprise?

  • Relevant

  • Specific

  • Time-bounded

  • Measurable

Correct answer: Relevant

Any KPI must be specifically linked to the strategic goals of the enterprise. A KPI must be specific insofar as it is highly focused on the measurement objective. Being measurable asks whether or not a real world measurement can be created. Time-bounded means that the KPI must make sense in the time frame that the team has been given to work within. 

26.

Why would making a product that is consistently at the mid-point between the lower and higher specification limits be extremely difficult?

  • The cost of limiting noise increases exponentially, limiting the benefits.

  • Customers do not expect perfection.

  • Perfection cannot be detected in customer processes.

  • Trying to eliminate noise is non-valued added.

Correct answer: The cost of limiting noise increases with decreasing benefits.  

Consider any regression analysis, which may detect any number of independent inputs that have rapidly diminishing effects on the process. To attempt to control every single component of noise, in many cases, would be cost prohibitive for a business to attempt to achieve.

Many customers expect perfection, but the nuance here is that their definition of perfection may in fact be a product meeting specification limits, and a product` that meets a tighter specification is therefore not wanted. Perfection can indeed be detected, if the discrimination of analytical instruments is sufficient. It may well be value-added to eliminate some sources of noise, but not all.

27.

Christof, a manufacturing manager, learns in a weekly production meeting that a new product is having a difficult time finding a testing slot on the machine where it is being qualified for commercial introduction. What DFX methodology should be employed in this situation?

  • Design for Producibility (DFP)

  • Design for Maintainability (DFM)

  • Design to Cost (DTC)

  • Design for Test (DFT)

Correct answer: Design for Producibility (DFP)

Designing this product for production on multiple machines would greatly improve business agility if market demand quickly ramps up.

DFM, DTC, and DFT are subordinate considerations in this circumstance. 

28.

Silvia is reviewing her company's customer billing procedures in preparation to fully automate them. She wants to build an FMEA in order to isolate all risks associated with the automation step to insure all customers are billed accurately. What FMEA should she use?

  • Process FMEA

  • Systems FMEA

  • Design FMEA

  • Service FMEA

Correct answer: Process FMEA

This type of FMEA is designed to identify and evaluate relative risks associated with a process design, in this case the proper information, decision flow and billing procedures of her company's customer billing system.  

A Systems FMEA looks specifically at a system or subsystem of a complete engineering design. A Design FMEA looks specifically at the hardware design as a whole. A Service FMEA looks at how a specific service uses a process or processes to maximize performance and productivity. 

29.

Dr. Gibson wants Sherry to try his recommended diet to control her high A1C blood measurement, an indicator of Type II diabetes.  He wants her to adopt the diet immediately, whereupon he will take periodic A1C measurements over the next nine months to measure the overall benefit of the new diet. What is Dr. Gibson's best choice for a chart to plot this data?

  • Moving Average and the Moving Range (MAMR) chart

  • c-Chart

  • np-Chart

  • DNOM Chart

Correct answer: Moving Average and the Moving Range (MAMR) chart

A MAMR chart is most useful for collecting data periodically or when it takes time to produce a single item.

Both the c-Chart and np-Chart are used for attribute data only. The DNOM chart would be useful if Dr. Gibson were conducting a group study on his diet and looking at a group A1C moving average.

30.

A 'Six Sigma' performing process relates to what level of precision?

  • A defect level of 3.4 defects per million

  • A defect level of 1.2 defects per million

  • A defect level of 6.8 defects per million

  • Achieving the highest level of perfection possible

Correct answer:  A defect level of 3.4 defects per million

31.

In the FMEA of the James Webb Space Telescope design, one failure mode that became real for technicians during the testing phase was the unrolling of the 5 0.05 mm thick Kapton sunshield layers, which ripped during testing. Calculate the RPN for this failure mode, given the event that actually happened.

  • 1000

  • 100

  • 10

  • 1

Correct answer: RPN = 1000

In this instance, because an anticipated failure mode was actually experienced, the SEV, OCC, and DET are all equal to ten. Severity is extreme (10), as this is a mission-ending failure. Occurrence is highly likely (10), as it in fact, occurred during testing. Detection was not possible (10), as the technicians were unable to detect that the failure was going to happen during the unfurling step, and could not have acted to prevent damage to the sunshield. 

Since RPN = SEV*OCC*DET, the value is 1000.

32.

Paul has just been instructed by his Vice President to benchmark operations with their main competitor.  "You did a great job on the last one," he remarks.  "Let's use the same code of conduct rules again. I don't want to go to jail."  What is the Vice President likely referring to?

  • A comprehensive clause on issues of legality to avoid any actions that could be construed as illegal 

  • A clause that allows for one-sided benchmarking

  • A mutual indemnification clause for price fixing

  • A vague description of commercial use restrictions of any technology shared 

Correct answer: A comprehensive clause on issues of legality to avoid any actions that could be construed as illegal

Having a clear understanding of what is required of each company during the benchmarking work is essential in avoiding even the perception of illegal behavior. One-sided benchmarking that does not provide mutual benefits, any clause such as price fixing indemnification that implies illegal behavior, or contract language vagueness intended to give too much latitude to one company's subsequent marketing actions, are all derailers to an effective benchmarking exercise.

33.

An underwater camera is rated for guaranteed water resistance to 100 meters in depth. What DFX variable was considered in the design of the camera?

  • Robustness

  • Maintainability

  • Cost

  • Test

Correct answer: Robustness

The camera was designed to be operable at depths typically visited by recreational Class I scuba divers.

Maintainability, Cost, and Test are subordinate considerations in the design of this product.

34.

The team sponsor is putting pressure on the project team to capture savings as quickly as possible, and the sooner the better. What is the most critical issue that the sponsor is jeopardizing?

  • In the rush to capture savings, the team may miss key root causes.

  • In the rush to capture savings, conflict may erupt within the team.

  • In the rush to capture savings, the team may digress too far from its objectives.

  • In the rush to capture savings, the team may not seek out dissenting views.

Correct answer: In the rush to capture savings, the team may miss key root causes.

All the events listed are valid, including team conflict, losing sight of objectives, and failing to develop a well-rounded approach. The most critical issue is missing key root causes, which could lead the team to make faulty, and possibly disastrous, conclusions.

35.

A new rocket manufacturer is attempting to create a fully reusable, orbital-class space vehicle. The initial design indicated that carbon fiber was the lightest and most heat-resilient material to use. However, it is quite expensive and difficult to manufacture. 

What DFX methodology should be employed to help identify the best material for this situation?

  • Design for Producibility (DFP)

  • Design for Maintainability (DFM)

  • Design to Cost (DTC)

  • Design for Test (DFT)

Correct answer: Design for Producibility (DFP)

Designing the new spacecraft with a material that is less expensive and easier to manufacture would be a big production victory. 

DFM, DTC, and DFT are subordinate considerations in this circumstance. 

36.

Too many forklift hours spent moving pallets on the warehouse floor is an example of which type of waste?

  • Transportation

  • Inventory

  • Overproduction

  • People

Correct answer: Transportation

This type of waste represents too much equipment time spent moving parts and materials on the factory floor.

Inventory is squandered working capital in the form of excess supplies or products. Overproduction is the action to produce sooner or greater than demand requirements. People is under-utilization of an employee's potential. 

37.

Consider the following project goal statement:

"Employ new marketing programs to increase margin by 30% from the current level of $5.5M per month by year end."  

Which SMART element is missing in this statement?

  • Achievable

  • Relevant

  • Time-based

  • Measurable

Correct answer: Achievable

The statement is too broad in its stated goal, hence it is likely too ambitious.

It is not clear how a marketing program will increase margin, which is determined not merely by revenue, but by business cost factors. The goal is certainly relevant, as margin is a critical financial metric. The goal statement is also time-based, as the end of the year is the stated goal. Margin is also readily measurable; the statement does include a baseline reference of $5.5M/mo.

38.

Heinrich is designing a new, military-grade laser rifle for the Army, based on a high-output sapphire crystal doped with Technetium-99 (Tc-99). He has designed an experimental test of three different thicknesses of this isotope at constant power input and will measure output (Kw) over three firings, each one second apart. 

What type of experimental design is Henrich employing? 

  • Latin square

  • Randomized complete block design

  • One-way ANOVA

  • Two-level full factorial

Correct answer: Latin square 

Latin square design applies when a single factor is being examined over several treatment levels, while the variability of other factors is held constant to isolate variability in the one studied factor. Henrich is examining three Tc-99 layer thicknesses over three separate firings, making this a 3x3 Latin square design. 

Randomized complete block design would split the three experimental units into groups, or blocks, of equal size, and then assign a treatment to each group randomly. One-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) would be a completely randomized design that would analyze only one Tc-99 layer thickness. A two-level full factorial design would be a good choice if Heinrich wanted to vary another factor with Tc-99 thickness, such as input power. However, that is not the case in this design.

39.

Which choice is not a likely outcome of a Tollgate Review?

  • Kurt's project is suspended because he didn't have all the appropriate documentation ready for the review.

  • Jason's project was canceled because the 6σ process capability was shown to be an order of magnitude higher capitalization expense to achieve than budgeted.

  • Mindy's project progress is well received and allowed to proceed to the next phase.

  • Judy, the project champion, reverted Pavan's project from Measure to Define because of an unexpected product requirement change.

Correct answer: Kurt's project is suspended because he didn't have all the appropriate documentation ready for the review.

It is the project leader's responsibility to arrange for all proper documentation and visuals to be ready for the Tollgate Review. Unforeseen circumstances, such as an unplanned process shutdown or team member illness, may necessitate a rescheduling of the review. There is not enough information provided to determine if Kurt has been perennially derelict in his duty to prepare adequately for his Tollgate Reviews, a situation that may lead to project suspension. Investment expense thresholds and product redesigns are quite legitimate reasons to either cancel or revert a project.

40.

Consider the following project goal statement:

"Improve organizational satisfaction by 15% over the next 2 months."  

Which SMART element is missing in this statement?

  • Measurable

  • Relevant

  • Time-based

  • Achievable

Correct answer: Measurable

Organizational satisfaction is not a metric and, therefore, can't be measured.  

While it may be possible to identify surrogate metrics in a critical-to-quality (CTQ) flow down that point to organizational satisfaction, those metrics are not included in this statement. The goal is certainly relevant, as a lack of organizational satisfaction might lead to high levels of personnel turnover; in fact, this might be a good surrogate metric. The goal statement is also time-based and is to be completed over the next two months. Depending on which metric is worked on, the goal may be achievable. 

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