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Sample of Previous Highlights from the 2005 16th Annual QualPro Leadership Symposium Retail Catalog and Care Center Effectiveness Improved Williams-Sonoma Williams-Sonoma used the MVT® process to identify modifications in its catalog cover and content, as well as increased consumer response and sales through care center and internet channels. Six months of strong direct sales performance, since implementation of the findings, underlines the effectiveness of this MVT® work in the catalog. This workshop was a great opportunity to hear about the behind-the-scenes direct sales efforts of a well known brand. Direct Mail Channel Optimization Efforts Increase Response Rate by 110% Citigroup In the past, Citi Cards' cross-sell organization has enjoyed significant success with credit card related financial products. Eroding response rates, however, still posed a problem. The team turned to the MVT® process to respond to this challenge and find some quick solutions. As a result, Citi Cards realized an astonishing 110% increase in response rate in comparison to the control group, along with an approximately 8% increase in balances and significantly increased revenue. Partial institutionalization of just two statistically significant factors has already demonstrated up to a 40% increase in response rate. Optimizing Chemical Process Saves $2.5 Million per Year BASF After a new reaction system was installed at BASF's Freeport, Texas chemical plant, an optimization project was initiated to increase its yield. Using the MVT® process, reaction yield was optimized, resulting in a savings of $2.5 million per year. The MVT® project achieved quality improvements leading to a longer run-time between tower washes, an additional cost savings on top of the first $2.5 million. This is an excellent example of how MVT® can improve a chemical manufacturing process. Designing and Pre-market Testing a New Consumer Card Deluxe As Deluxe moved toward the launch of a new stored value card product, it was critical to learn about consumer preferences for the array of potential product features. In an innovative use of the MVT® process, Deluxe combined testing of potential product variations with the use of a consumer survey. This powerful combination resulted in strong early market performance and led to a considerable expansion in the following year. Reducing Chemical Treatment Costs While Improving Quality and Consistency Olin Olin's Niagara, New York plant spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on soda ash to treat the brine, a critical raw material in its chlorine manufacturing process. Using the MVT® process, they are learning to substantially reduce that cost. By involving their operators throughout their MVT® project, they reduced process overadjustment and saved $66, 000 in soda ash usage before MVT® experimentation even began. The really good news at Niagara is that they are improving the quality and consistency of the brine at the same time that they are lowering the cost of treating it. Breaking a Few Eggs -- The Largest Efficiency Improvement in Plant History MFNA, Pactiv MFNA, Pactiv's Macon Plant uses recycled paper to make egg cartons to handle about 27 million productive clucking chickens per day. Their first screening MVT® had 20 factors which came from the technical and local work force. Each recipe was run across five different machines for one 24-hour day. The screening MVT® showed that long held ideas were wrong. In fact, during the refining MVT® of 10 factors, many factors needed to be moved in the opposite direction than people had anticipated before screening. In the end, nearly identical lines required very different recipes to increase their efficiency. The Macon group persevered, however, overcoming major obstacles including an unrelated oven explosion, departure of key technical experts, organizational changes, and market changes to produce the largest single efficiency improvement in plant history. Hundreds of MVT® Successes . . . But Will It Work In Your Business? Exide Technologies Larry White has used QualPro's MVT® process for over 20 years, in many different companies on three continents. He has run over 200 MVT® experiments in Taiwan alone. He has executed MVT® projects in chemical, electronics, assembly, and other industries. He has performed MVT® experiments on continuous processes where products sold for as little as .10 ¢ each as well as batch processes, where the batch was $100,000+ a copy. He has deployed the MVT® process to accelerate new product development, to eliminate chronic process problems, and to profitably extend the life of products and processes that were slated for elimination. He has completed MVT® projects in times as short as one work shift and as great as a few months. Larry will first explain how the MVT® process has produced tens of millions of dollars worth of breakthrough results in all these settings. He will then explain how the executives involved in these breakthroughs overcame the obstacles that had made many of them incorrectly think that MVT® would not work in their businesses. TeleSales Acquisition MVT® Targets 25% Sales Growth Monster. com Monster. com was very interested in increasing its ability to acquire new business through its TeleSales Acquisition channel. Using the MVT® process, Monster identified actions to be implemented across its acquisition sales force. MVT® results indicate that the three "best practices " can target an increase in excess of 25% sales growth. This session offered an excellent opportunity to see the MVT® process applied to the unique Monster. com business model. Seeking to Increase "Comp " Sales and Profitability Through the Use of MVT® Saks Saks Inc. set out to increase "comp " sales and bottom line profit in 140+ stores in an extremely competitive department store retail environment. With each percentage point increase in "comp" sales translating into several million dollars of potential bottom-line profit, Saks used the MVT® process to test over 30 quality ideas that had previously been languishing as "potential future initiatives." The MVT® project focused senior management's attention on several projects with potentially strong financial returns. The successful ideas were implemented within a very short period of time after the project's inception. Of special interest in this session is the Saks finance team's work with QualPro to confirm implementation "success" in a volatile market with many other market and management influences in play. Production Line Changeover Time Reduced 18% to 68% Valspar Reduce down-time associated with product changeovers! That was the charter set out by management for Valspar's three powder coatings manufacturing plants. MVT® experiments were used to test 12 different variables at the three locations. The MVT® resulted in the identification of actions that reduced down-time associated with product changes by 18% to 68% . This improvement led not only to an increase in capacity, but also a substantial reduction in inventory. A bonus benefit was the identification of variables that had little or no impact on results, allowing plant operations to focus only on what was important. Eating the Whole Elephant -- Company-wide MVT® Improves Manufacturing Performance Hexacomb People who believe that the environment must be created before powerful MVT® tools can be used have it all wrong. In a business built from five different corporations -- none with a culture of process improvement -- covering eight plants, 17 major machines in two countries, a 32-run MVT® was run in 32 days creating improvement in nearly every machine's performance. Improvements were achieved in all key measures -- waste, setup time, throughput. Waste was reduced by nearly 10% and productivity increased 8% saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. The MVT® project also set the stage of excitement and strategy for refining MVT® on these machines and related vertically integrated machines. It helped move this division from on budget performance to confidently exceeding projections in this conglomerate and becoming the best performing division as recognized by the financial community and investors. Increasing Customer Loyalty Through Managing Customer Communications Visa Visa had a strong desire to increase small business debit card usage among cardholders enrolled in its innovative Visa Extras loyalty program. Using the MVT® process, they tested a variety of communication options and identified the most effective communication stream (content, timing, and channel) based on a variety of cardholder characteristics and responses. The result was a 21% increase in cardholder spending. This project represents a clear demonstration of the value of testing many ideas to develop an effective customer communication strategy. Results Need Not Wait -- Using MVT® with a Full Spectrum of PI Tools Hexacomb With 17 machines in eight plants in two countries and a very successful company- wide MVT® under the organization's belt, Hexacomb's new Director of Operations took the reigns on the improvement effort immediately. He didn't wait six months to "get his feet on the ground." He didn't wait six days. Using previous MVT® learnings, additional MVT® experiments, and the full spectrum of process improvement tools, every process is being driven. Changes are being made daily. The result? Control charts across the company are moving in the right direction, and the improvement in Hexacomb's financial performance continues to pick up speed. Recycle Yield Increased 37% GAF Maximizing the amount of recycled scrap that can be used in manufacturing roofing materials was a critical objective at industry leader GAF's Mt. Vernon, Indiana plant. The highly motivated and trained workforce at this small plant used the MVT® process to increase yield by 37%, a cost reduction of over $110,000. This is an excellent demonstration of the fact that MVT® can achieve big results in small operations as well as large ones. Continuing Expansion of Checks in the Age of Electronic Banking Deluxe Deluxe call centers in Arizona and New York take inbound calls from consumers who are reordering new checkbooks. With hundreds of reps working with customers to define their needs for checkbooks and related products, there is not a shortage of test ideas. Deluxe used the MVT® process to explore more than 20 ideas to better serve customer needs, with the initial breakthrough achieving a 10% increase in revenue per order. After applying knowledge gained in multiple MVT® refining experiments, the sales increase was raised to 20%...and all this was accomplished in a declining industry.  |
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Since 1982, QualPro has used Multivariable Testing (MVT®) with 1000+ companies to test 100,000+ improvement ideas. MVT® tests between 20 and 40 ideas simultaneously, accurately predicting the bottom-line impact of potential process changes in weeks. Take existing process initiatives, like Six Sigma, to a whole new level. All process improvement tools and approaches (TQM, DOE, Six Sigma, Re-Engineering, SPC) can be enhanced through the use of Multivariable Testing by QualPro.
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