DMAIC Process

Improvement Methodologies: PM, Six Sigma, DFSS, Lean – Choosing the Right One

  Organizations have a variety of tools and methods available to improve their products, services, and processes.  Deciding on which methodology to use can often become confusing because management does not understand how these methodologies are separated or used.  In this article, I’ll try to alleviate some of this confusion by providing you some examples of when it is appropriate...

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Determining Which Tool or Technique to Use Gets Easier With Experience

Deciding which tool or technique to use is sometimes challenging, but usually becomes less of a problem with experience.  As an MBB I have certain favorite tools and techniques I use more often because I am more familiar with them and am more comfortable using them. I personally like tools that are graphical in nature, tools such as Pareto charts, box plots, run charts, control charts, VSM,...

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The Analyze Phase Is Similar To Putting A Puzzle Together

By the analyze phase, you and your team should have the project well defined, smart goals and objectives identified, the scope of your project narrowed, a project metric established, and pertinent data collected.  You’re now ready to determine which of the x’s is causing the variation in your product, process, or service.  Hopefully, the team has spent considerable time at Gemba...

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The DMAIC Measure Phase Requires Diligence and Patience

The measure phase is important for a number of reasons.  It is in this phase that the team gets into the nitty-gritty of the project.  Because of this there are a number of things that can go wrong for an inexperienced team.  Here are some of the more common pitfalls that can occur: Failure to go to gemba.  I’ve never seen a problem or issue that’s been resolved in a conference...

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