Companion by Minitab® (Desktop)
The Comprehensive Project Management Solution in Quality Improvement
Companion by Minitab (Desktop) is a dynamic project management solution, combining essential software tools for a quality improvement process in an integrated and customizable software environment. Companion was developed to fulfil tasks concerning the planning, organizing, realizing, and reporting of general development projects, quality improvement projects as well as Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma projects. With its customizable project procedures, the Companion is adjustable to any company standard. Likewise, a company standard can be defined during the running of a project.
Application Areas
- quality improvement processes
- any structured project management
- Six Sigma projects
- Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) projects
- Lean Six Sigma projects
- Kaizen projects
- TRIZ projects
- continuous improvement projects
Project Management with a Central Theme, the Roadmap
Projects can be structured by so-called roadmaps, acting as a central theme in a project. The workflow of every project can be determined and adapted or predefined to any company-specific standards. Some of these predefined roadmaps already exist (all customizable), e.g., for the DMAIC cycle, which is used in Six Sigma quality strategies. Data entered in one tool is available throughout the entire project. This enables fast working with consistent data and few errors. Most of the tools can be customized, thus creating individual templates.
Project Management as Team Project
Companion enables the efficient exchange of information among project team members as well as the standardization of project procedures and the corresponding documentation, simplifying the whole process. The software tools are used consistently and communicate with each other. To make team communication a coordinated process, roles and rights can be assigned so that components will be edited only by the respective person responsible for them.
Project Management as Master Plan
Process visualisation, generation of form sheets, or organization of meetings - to name just a few tasks – all follow a master plan, which every company can define for itself. All elements and data associated with the project are stored in a project file. This approach saves time when administrating and organizing the improvement process.
Lean in Application - simplifying one's own project work and administration
All tools used in Companion store essential information in the project centrally. In this manner, changes are quickly made using just one activity. Information that has been entered once is then accessible from another place. Accordingly, it is possible, for example, to foward results from a flow chart or brainstorming directly to a FMEA. Related documents and files can be saved in the project directly or be linked to it.
A platform to map all possible methods of solution
Regardless what kind of project you're working on - a Six Sigma, Design For Six Sigma (DFSS), Lean, Kaizen, 8D, TRIZ, continuous improvement (KVP), or a simple "Just Do It" project - the roadmap included in Companion allows projects to be divided into phases in such a way that they follow the respective philosophy. In addition to numerous presettings, you can customize the roadmap according to the company's philosophy as well as provide it as a template. This allows Companion to cover all possible methods of solution.
More Details on Lean Six Sigma, Design For Six Sigma, Lean
Over 100 of the most common project tools with customization
When installing Companion, all typical project tools of the different solution methods become available. These can be used in the context of any project as well as for themselves. Results from all tools can be exported directly as PDF.
Furthermore, it is easily possible to create your own tools. Existing tools can be adapted to extend, to streamline, or to adjust them to a corporate identity. All new developments can be saved directly as a template and be made centrally available for certain users.
| Value Stream Mapping | Monte Carlo Simulation | FMEA |
|---|---|---|
| Visualize the flow of materials and information through your organization. Streamline processes to add value that meets customer expectations. | Use Monte Carlo simulation to help you characterize, understand, and optimize a product or process. | Identify the potential causes for a product or process failure, anticipate the resulting effects, and prioritize the actions needed to mitigate them. |
| Quality Function Deployment | Brainstorming Tools | Process Mapping |
| Use the fully-integrated Pairwise Comparison Matrix, Houses of Quality, and Design Scorecards to ensure effortless requirements flow-down. | Use fishbone diagrams and idea maps to identify every relevant element of your process and refine the scope of complex projects. | Construct high-level or detailed flow charts to help you understand and communicate all the activities in a process. |
Monte Carlo Simulation
The Monte Carlo simulation in Companion is a powerful tool for product and process improvement. You can create realistic models easily or adopt them from Minitab (from regression, ANOVA or DoE). Simulation results are clearly depicted. The integrated parameter optimization makes it easy to find the optimal settings for input parameters. The sensitivity analysis has an intelligent, interactive design and can be used to study the effect of input variability on output variability. This way models can be optimized directly based on the waste. Also, specification limits can be set (statistical tolerance design).
Connectivity to Minitab
By combining Minitab (the statistical analysis software) and Companion, team members (e.g. Black Belts, Green Belts ...) of improvement projects obtain a complete solution to perform their projects with maximal efficiency, since all essential data are stored in one standard, multi-user-abled environment. Projects can be started by using tools from Companion. You can maintain the overview, Minitab can be specifically applied to analyze critical points, and Gage R&R, Process Capability analyses as well as DoE (Design of Experiments) can be performed. Both software packages together optimize any quality initiative.
