A six sigma Project

1. LODHRAN AREA

2. Phase Completion Date:
April 15, 2012
Problem Statement:
Sunflower is an important oil seed crop and has a lot of potential of zarkhez sales owing to its K
responsiveness and exhaustive nature. In the last three years (2009-2011), we did not conduct any
market development activity on sunflower crop due to minimal acreages. This resulted in almost
zero sales of zarkhez green on this crop in Lodhran area. In the year 2012, sunflower is emerging as
a best alternate for wheat crop due to better crop economics and farmers are growing this crop on
an area of 5000 acres in Lodhran area. So seeing this opportunity, we are planning extensive market
development campaign of zarkhez green including agrogram/literature development on this crop
which will result in 100 tons zarkhez sales through 20% acreage conversion.
Project Goal Statement:
1) Develop sunflower agrogram / literature (there is no literature available on this crop)
2) Sale of 100 tons Zarkhez green through 20% conversion of sunflower acreage
3) Develop farmer data bank of sunflower crop (No data is already available)
Business Case:
In the last three years (2009-2011), we did not sell any zarkhez green on sunflower due to minimal
acreage of this crop and less focus of market development activities and sales team. This year,
sunflower is replacing wheat acreage due to more profitability and cultivating on an area of 5000
acres in Lodhran area. So seeing this new opening, we are focusing first time on this zarkhez
potential crop. In this way, we are working on the development of agrogram / literature of sunflower
and conducing extensive market development campaign on this crop. As a result, we will be able to
achieve direct sale of around 100 tons of zarkhez green i.e. net benefit of around 0.4 million
Customer
Internal: Lodhran area
External: Dealers, Farmers
CTQ’s:
•Development of Sunflower agrogram / literature
• Development of farmer data bank of sunflower crop
• Sale of 100 tons of zarkhez green through 20% conversion of sunflower acreage
Team
NdI,UG,ARA,SG, MFQ
Scope
Lodhran Area
Exclude:
Projected Benefits:
- Net benefit of around 0.4 million
-Development of Sunflower
agrogram/ literature
- Development of farmer databank
-Increase farmer reach
-Increase dealer profitability
Project Start Date:
Jan 15th, 2012

3. Project Y:
Sale of 100 tons Zarkhez green through 20% conversion
of sunflower acreage
Upper Specification Limit 20% increment over 100 tons
Lower Specification Limit 20% reduction over 100 tons
Project Y Operational Definition:
Initiate zarkhez green sale for the first time on Sunflower
crop
Project Y Selection Explanation:
Quantify the aggressive zarkhez campaign on sunflower
in terms of increased zarkhez sale
Measurement System Analysis on Y:
Calculate zarkhez green through zarkhez tracking sheet
in the first week of April
Tool Usage: Notes/Graphs:
Fishbone Analysis
Process Mapping
Measure
Phase Completion Date:

4. CUSTOMER
Initiate zarkhez green on the
newly emerging sunflower
crop
Zarkhez awareness (X)
Traditional fertilizer
application in the area
(X)
MARKET
DEVELOPMENT
MERCHANDISING CHANNEL
Ease in application (X)
Zarkhez Under dosing (X)
Sunflower literature /
agrogram development
(X)
Farmer Databank (X)
Zarkhez Tracking (X)
MD Campaign (X)
Dealer’s interest (X)
Dealer’s Profitability (X)
Product placement (X)
Zarkhez dumping (N)
Product display at
dealer’s shops (X)
POS display at
dealer’s shops (X)
Timely POS and
literature printing (X)
Merchandising in MD
campaign (X)
Crop prices (N)

5. *
*Most important Critical X’s are
Sunflower agrogram / literature development
Sunflower farmer databank development
Customer awareness
Market development campaign (2 Farmer
meetings, 4 Group Discussions, 70 Farm Visits
and 10 Soil Samples)
Dealer’s interest and profitability

6. ProcessMapping
S C
O
P
I
Area Team
Product
placement
MD compaign
Zarkhez sales
Farmer
databank
Area team
Dealers
Farmers
Agrogram/
Literature
development
MD Activities
and
Merchandising

7. • Achieved Zarkhez green sale of 101.6 tons
(Zarkhez tracking sheet attached)
• Net Benefit of 0.4 million rupees
• Developed Sunflower agrogram/literature
• Developed farmer databank of sunflower crop
Results

8. • Followings are the answers of your queries;
1) Can 100% of this sale be attributed as Conversion? Or did any of the farmers use Zarkhez last year as well but was not tracked and hence
retained?
• Ans) Yes. Because last year sunflower acreage was minimal owing to negligible usage of phosphate on this crop. As per our record, no farmer
used zarkhez on sunflower in last year. So 100% of this sales is attributed as conversion.
2) Can ZMDO Multan confirm that the tracked farmers did use Zarkhez?
•
Ans) Of course ZMDO can confirm any time.
3) The agrogram states that the dosage is 3 bags / acre whereas all farmers have used only 02 – Not even 2.5 as mentioned in the literature –
Will this have an impact on the yield?
• Ans) Farmers did a bit under-dosing of zarkhez due to weaker crop economics and limited cash flow. But that will not impact sunflower yield so
significantly as almost all farmers had applied zarkhez @ 2 bags/acre (equivalent to 1 bag DAP and almost 1/2 bag SOP).
•
4) Is the farmers list complete or only those farmers which were targeted? The conversion % as per this list is over 25%!
• Ans) This is complete farmer list (not contact farmers) compiled with the effort of our field staff and Govt Agri-Extension Department. Sunflower
acreage was scattered all across Lodhran Area so it was difficult to target all the farmers at once. Only a limited group of progressive growers were
contacted through this list. So the conversion % age of 25% is not correct as this list does not represent the targeted farmers. This is only farmer
databank
5) How much sales can be attributed to each activity that was done e.g Break up of 101.6 MT sale by activity e.g Farmer meeting, literature etc.
• Ans) As sunflower acreage was scattered all across Lodhran area, so major focus was on Farm Visits (one to one contact) as this is the best tool to
generate zarkhez sales. So,
• Sales though Farm Visits = 86.6 tons
• Sales through Farmer Meeting = 15 tons
•
6) Was any activity done for the dealers? How was Zarkhez profitable for them during the 1st Qtr?
• Ans) Yes. Sales and Market Development Team had conducted one to one session with all those relevant dealers and trained them on all aspects
of zarkhez usage on sunflower crop, displayed POS material on their shops and invited them in sunflower market development campaign
7) Any additional Zingro sale because of this activity? That can also be included in the benefit.
• Ans) Our main focus was on zarkhez. Therefore no data collected for zingro usage. However we had emphasized the importance and usage of
zingro on sunflower crop in our MD campaign.