Category: Concepts

When you hear the word efficient, you probably think of the words waste, productivity, inputs, and outputs. An efficient process will allow you to provide your customers more and better products for less effort. 

In 1979, Philip B. Crosby wrote what came to be seen as a landmark in quality management theory. The book, “Quality With” focuses on a managerial style that focuses on delivering quality in business, often in ways that are of little to no cost. One of the 14 steps listed on the way to quality […]

The empirical rule is a simple way to understand the distribution of your data values if they come from a normal distribution. 

Keeping one step ahead of the competition whilst consistently meeting customer requirements makes a lot of business sense. Using gap analysis, we have a methodology that helps to understand and achieve full business potential whilst driving continuous improvement.

With most major corporations, in order to get their products into your hands inexpensively, the work does not all happen in one place. More often than not, various aspects involved in the manufacturing process occur across more than one country. This would be very difficult to achieve if not for the advancement of globalization.Globalization plays […]

When something goes wrong in your organization, it is important to know what the cause of the issue is in order to prevent it from happening again. Luckily, there are several failure analysis tools available, one of which is the Fenwick-vanKoesveld Test.This test is relatively simple and serves to find the true reason for a […]

It is necessary to have data organized in a systematic and uniform manner. This keeps information tidy and easy to interpret. One part of keeping data together in this way is by using an established form/format system. Can you imagine doing a major business deal and just being handed a blank sheet of paper to […]

Overview: What is FMEA? When it comes to risk assessment in Lean Six Sigma, one of the most useful tools you can use is FMEA. FMEA stands for Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. It’s a tool used to identify and prioritize potential failures of a product or process through a systematic approach that involves identifying […]

You finally found the perfect spot to anchor your boat and catch all the best fish. But, the tide is strong and your boat starts to drift away from where you need it to be. The same can happen to your process. 

Design risk assessment is a risk assessment framework that identifies, analyzes, and documents risks during a design project. When performing a design risk assessment, the team will assess all risks associated with the project including the design process. 

DMEDI stands for: Define, Measure, Explore, Develop, and Implement. This differs from the basic Six Sigma methodology of DMAIC which stands for: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. Both methodologies are designed to improve your processes and products. Whereas, DMAIC is designed for incremental improvements of existing processes, DMEDI focuses on more robust improvements for […]

Never-ending improvement is the heart of any continuous improvement effort.  The Deming Cycle, or PDCA, is one of the first formalized approaches to utilize an iterative approach to improving processes, and it still serves as a fundamental tool today for continuous improvement.  This article will describe the stages of the Deming Cycle, the benefits of […]

When there is a need for changes that will improve end products or components, it is necessary to have proper documentation so that there is a paper trail and to ensure the correct modifications occur. An engineer change order is an important part of making sure that necessary changes to products are handled in a […]

Directives are an important tool for organizations that seek to align employees with their goals, increase efficiency, and promote a culture of continuous improvement. Understanding Directives: Benefits, Best Practices, and Common Questions Directives are a critical tool for organizations seeking to improve their performance and achieve their goals. By providing clear guidance and expectations, directives […]

In today’s fast-paced and competitive business landscape, organizations strive to enhance their operations, deliver superior quality, and meet customer expectations. To achieve these objectives, many organizations turn to DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), a structured problem-solving methodology widely employed in Six Sigma. DMAIC provides organizations with a systematic approach to identifying process inefficiencies, reducing […]

The DMAIC methodology of Six Sigma is a well-known tool for improving existing products and processes. But, what if our existing process or product can’t be improved enough to meet expectations? What if we are developing a process that hasn’t existed before?

A design of experiments (DOE) is a set of powerful designed experimentation statistical tools for understanding the impact that varying your process inputs will have on the outputs of your process. 

During the design or prototype stage of product development, there is a system of checks in place that can help make sure the product is successful in moving into the next stages. The products that are released into the mass market have gone through many stages of development so that they can be trusted by […]

DOE (Design of Experiments) can be defined as a set of statistical tools that deal with the planning, executing, analyzing, and interpretation of controlled tests to determine if there is a casual relationship between your process factors or variables and your process output. Overview: What is DOE?  Two common approaches to DOE are a full […]

Documentation can feel like a drag, but it is an important part of making sure your organization is successful. Without proper documentation, there is no record of how to reliably implement processes, and a complete lack of consistency could occur. Documentation is also necessary for important guidelines and policies to be referenced once they are […]

Wouldn’t it be great if your production process ran smoother? Maybe Heijunka is the solution. Let’s find out more about it.

How much can you learn about your process sitting in your office? According to Genchi Gembutsu, you can’t learn much. In Japanese, genchi means “actual place,” and gembutsu means “actual thing.” In the Toyota Production System (TPS), this concept is interpreted as “to go and see.” Let’s explore this a little further. 

It is more important than ever for businesses to look at the needs and desires of their customers as indicators for how to operate. Since a business does not exist without customers, having an understanding of what they are looking for in the companies they support is imperative for success. More and more companies are […]

If you are curious as to whether the means of greater than 2 groups are statistically different or not you could use a 1-way ANOVA. But, if you have multiple treatment groups and want to compare the means to a control group, then you can use Dunnett’s 1-way ANOVA.  ANOVA stands for Analysis of Variance. […]