Mind Mapping

Looking for patterns and themes in data

Customer Complain Case: Excessive dust on granular product for agricultural applications

Challenge

I work for a chemical company that manufactures a variety of products, including granular product as  agricultural micronutrients. We have recently received lots of customer complains on one of the  product we sale. The product is for agricultural application and it should be a granular product with  minimum amount of dust. Unfortunately, the customer found recently that the granular product had  excessive amount of dust. Complains are becoming a big issue for the company, which can lead to  unhappy customer switching to a competitor and potential of substantial revenues losses for our  company. The source of the dust is not known and several attempts to resolve this issue have not  been successful so far. The source of the problem can be anywhere from the manufacturing process,  product conveying, packaging, transportation to international warehouses and customer handling. The  challenge was to find the source of the problem and develop a solution.

Selection

I strongly believe that Mind Mapping can be the best tool that can help us to effectively process huge  information available. There is plenty of information such as years of quality control data,  manufacturing process data, transportation and handling of the shipped product and customer  complain and testing on the product. Mind Mapping will help us process all the abundant data in an  organized and meaningful way, allowing the active participation of the stakeholders to capture their  feedback with the aim of narrowing down the most critical sources of the problem so that it can be  translated into hypothesis that can be then tested.

In reference to Darton professor, Marian Moore lecture: the steps that we will follow will be hold a yard  sale, invite shoppers, offer tours, pick up the good stuff, cluster the good stuff, identify the insights  related to each cluster/connectivity, translate into design criteria for the what if. Then we should moving  onto possible solutions.

Application

A wall in one of our meeting rooms was assigned to display the data to be collected. We started the  process by collecting all the relevant information and put them on the wall in large posters. Quality  control data for the manufacturing process and shipping/packaging have been pulled out and  processed to create charts with information about the amount of dust measured on the product. This  data was combined with customer complain data, trying to match these two based on lot numbers. In  addition, manufacturing process data was compiled and put them in chart forms. Pictures of product  sent by the customers were placed on the wall as well. Videos collected from the customer complains  were played on a computer on top of a table next to the wall. Pictures of the different sections of the  manufacturing process together with process flow diagrams were placed on the wall. Shipping and  packaging process pictures together with sampling data were also collected and displayed. Picture of  product transportation to the distributors and warehouse were also gathered and placed on the wall.

With all the information on the wall, we invited stakeholders from quality control team, manufacturing  process team including management and operators, transportation team, and finally commercial and  sales team. We have asked the stakeholders to go through the information and write down on sticky

notes their thoughts about potential factors that could be driving the dust issue on the product. All the  sticky notes were placed on the adjacent wall. Then, one member of our team, red aloud the content  of the sticky not one by one and attempted to put similar ideas into cluster. Outliers were not ignored.  Then as a group, the main idea around each cluster of sticky notes were identified. This helped us to  generate insight statements. Then there was an attempt to connect the insight statements and  generate design solutions. These possible solutions were later tested and results were analyzed. We  are currently in the iterative process and checking if the proposed solutions were critical in solving the  dusting issue.

Insight

What I have learned from this exercise working with the stakeholders from different background and  experience, that mind mapping can be a powerful tool in processing large amount of data and  systematically develop insights that can finally help to develop solution/solutions to the problem of dust  in one of our products. The important aspect I have observed is that the stakeholders were able to  share their insights and with open mind, they were able to effectively contribute to the development of  solutions. Having large posters and information in graphical form helped a lot and allowed the  stakeholders to go through the large information that was shared.

Approach

Large information available can be overwhelming, especially when trying to put them in a concise and  meaningful way while capturing the essence of the information. We received some feedback from  stakeholders and apparently, some information was not easily digestible. For our case, a team of core  people put together the information. On this respect, since this was our first time employing this  method, in some cases, the information displayed on the wall may not have been clear enough for the  stakeholders. This may have happened due to lack of communication/coordination within the core  team. Next time I would emphasize a better coordination/communication/discussion within the core  team, maybe even review the posters, etc. together, mockup presentation, etc.  Also combining Mind  Mapping with other technique such as visualization may enhance this process.


Mind Mapping Looking for patterns and themes in data Customer Complain Case : Excessive dust on granular product for agricultural applications Challenge I work for a chemical company that manufactures a variety of products , including granular product as agricultural micronutrients . We have recently received lots of customer complains on one of the product we sale . The product is for agricultural application and it should be a granular product with minimum amount of dust . Unfortunately , the customer found recently that the granular product had excessive amount of dust . Complains are becoming a big issue for the company , which can lead to unhappy customer switching to a competitor and potential of substantial revenues losses for our company . The source of the dust is not known and several attempts to resolve this issue have not been successful so far . The source of the problem can be anywhere from the manufacturing process , product conveying , packaging , transportation to international warehouses and customer handling . The challenge was to find the source of the problem and develop a solution . Selection I strongly believe that Mind Mapping can be the best tool that can help us to effectively process huge information available . There is plenty of information such as years of quality control data , manufacturing process data , transportation and handling of the shipped product and customer complain and testing on the product . Mind Mapping will help us process all the abundant data in an organized and meaningful way , allowing the active participation of the stakeholders to capture their feedback with the aim of narrowing down the most critical sources of the problem so that it can be translated into hypothesis that can be then tested . In reference to Darton professor , Marian Moore lecture : the steps that we will follow will be hold a yard sale , invite shoppers , offer tours , pick up the good stuff , cluster the good stuff , identify the insights related to each cluster / connectivity , translate into design criteria for the what if . Then we should moving onto possible solutions . Application A wall in one of our meeting rooms was assigned to display the data to be collected . We started the process by collecting all the relevant information and put them on the wall in large posters . Quality control data for the manufacturing process and shipping / packaging have been pulled out and processed to create charts with information about the amount of dust measured on the product . This data was combined with customer complain data , trying to match these two based on lot numbers . In addition , manufacturing process data was compiled and put them in chart forms . Pictures of product sent by the customers were placed on the wall as well . Videos collected from the customer complains were played on a computer on top of a table next to the wall . Pictures of the different sections of the manufacturing process together with process flow diagrams were placed on the wall . Shipping and packaging process pictures together with sampling data were also collected and displayed . Picture of product transportation to the distributors and warehouse were also gathered and placed on the wall . With all the information on the wall , we invited stakeholders from quality control team , manufacturing process team including management and operators , transportation team , and finally commercial and sales team . We have asked the stakeholders to go through the information and write down on sticky notes their thoughts about potential factors that could be driving the dust issue on the product . All the sticky notes were placed on the adjacent wall . Then , one member of our team , red aloud the content of the sticky not one by one and attempted to put similar ideas into cluster . Outliers were not ignored . Then as a group , the main idea around each cluster of sticky notes were identified . This helped us to generate insight statements . Then there was an attempt to connect the insight statements and generate design solutions . These possible solutions were later tested and results were analyzed . We are currently in the iterative process and checking if the proposed solutions were critical in solving the dusting issue . Insight What I have learned from this exercise working with the stakeholders from different background and experience , that mind mapping can be a powerful tool in processing large amount of data and systematically develop insights that can finally help to develop solution / solutions to the problem of dust in one of our products . The important aspect I have observed is that the stakeholders were able to share their insights and with open mind , they were able to effectively contribute to the development of solutions . Having large posters and information in graphical form helped a lot and allowed the stakeholders to go through the large information that was shared . Approach Large information available can be overwhelming , especially when trying to put them in a concise and meaningful way while capturing the essence of the information . We received some feedback from stakeholders and apparently , some information was not easily digestible . For our case , a team of core people put together the information . On this respect , since this was our first time employing this method , in some cases , the information displayed on the wall may not have been clear enough for the stakeholders . This may have happened due to lack of communication / coordination within the core team . Next time I would emphasize a better coordination / communication / discussion within the core team , maybe even review the posters , etc . together , mockup presentation , etc . Also combining Mind Mapping with other technique such as visualization may enhance this process .