Does your company have difficulty forecasting the financial impact of potential projects? Does your Lean Six Sigma deployment have a system in place to pinpoint the risks that can delay or derail critical projects? Simulation and optimization are techniques traditionally used in the Analyze and Improve phases to identify the critical X's and process flow inhibitors and evaluate the impact of proposed process improvement prior to implementation. But did you know that the very same techniques can be equally effective when applied early in the Define phase to reduce the risk and uncertainty around project success?

This session, designed for both the beginner and the advanced practitioner, will focus on the many uses of these analytical methods during the Define phase. Whether your organization is a developing Six Sigma implementation looking to minimize risk or a mature deployment looking to maximize project impact after exhausting the high-return, "low hanging fruit," simulation and optimization can dramatically improve how you assess and select proposed projects. Practical examples will include the use of simulation to estimate the financial impact of projects with uncertain customer demand and sales projections, and project management techniques that address variation in schedule and resource utilization.