Category: DMAIC
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Measure the Immeasurable: The World of Smell and Taste
Published:In many industries, improvement projects quickly face an obstacle: The lack of easy to get and reliable data. This is especially true when the critical-to-quality elements (CTQs) of the project are “soft attributes” such as taste, smell or texture. Facing such a problem in the food and drink industries is obvious. While in a Kano […]
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Activities vs. Performance: The Procedure/Audit Dilemma
Published:This article, a second in a series exploring how to organize activities, determines their value add, and leverages them for performance, examines the characteristics, impacts and organizational traits related to procedures and audits. Part 1, Activities vs. Performance Improvement, Common Sense, discussed the nature and attributes of organizational culture and behaviors when evolving from a […]
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Continuous Improvement Should Apply to DMAIC Itself
Published:All practitioners of Six Sigma – even those new to the methodology – are aware of the basic DMAIC roadmap. The starting point for every Six Sigma program is to explain the acronym and to teach the common principles of DMAIC. “Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control” becomes the mantra for new Green Belts and […]
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To Use DMEDI or to Use DMAIC? That Is the Question
Published:As the acceptance of Six Sigma grows and penetrates deeper into business culture, organizations begin to question when a process will benefit from a Six Sigma methodology that provides improvement (DMAIC) versus one that offers a new design (DMEDI). While the answer is clear to veteran Six Sigma practitioners, it is not so clear to […]
Read more ยป![People Complexity](https://www.isixsigma.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/People-Complexity.jpg)
People Complexity Can Require a Special Roadmap
Published:The DMAIC toolkit is excellent for solving technical complexity problems. However, you may have noticed that Lean Six Sigma is not as adept at helping solve people problems. The solution is an integrated DMIAC/change management roadmap.
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Reducing Door-to-inflation Time for the AMI Patient
Published:Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and more than 900,000 people annually are diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have identified AMI as one of the early priority focus areas for hospital […]
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Reducing Admitting Delays by Improving Bed Management
Published:When confronted by concerns of some physicians about frequent lengthy delays that they experienced admitting patients, Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas, assembled a cross-functional Six Sigma team to identify and address any underlying issues that might be causing the delays. The business case for pursuing the project was clear. Improving bed management and […]
Read more ยป![Using Six Sigma DMAIC for Creating Business Strategy](https://www.isixsigma.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/DMAIC-Strategy.jpg)
Using Six Sigma DMAIC for Creating Business Strategy
Published:The Six Sigma DMAIC roadmap can provide a disciplined process for creating and executing successful business strategies.
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Attention Six Sigma, You’re Wanted in Surgery
Published:With the demand for surgical services growing, especially with ambulatory and cosmetic procedures, hospitals continue learning that Six Sigma is a useful tool.
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Applying Six Sigma to Improve Diagnostic Imaging
Published:Since the discovery of X-rays in 1895, the field of diagnostic imaging has undergone dramatic changes. Within a year after its introduction, the application of X-rays to diagnosis and therapy had already become an established part of medicine. The decades to follow produced a steadily increasing stream of innovation โ including the advent of nuclear […]
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Combining the Power of DMAIC with Testing Processes
Published:Companies today make great financial investments in testing their processes and systems to ensure that they will meet customer expectations. The companies go through all the right steps to test as thoroughly as possible; but โ in many casesย โ the end results are less than desired for the effort, time and dollars expended. Customer experiences […]
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A Six Sigma Case Study – Tutorial for IT Call Center – Part 1 of 6
Published:Part 1 of this combination โcase study and tutorialโ tracks the inception of a Six Sigma DMAIC project by an IT support business. The project is aimed at helping the company become more competitive and profitable. Each part follows the project team as it works through another stage of the DMAIC methodology. Click to read […]
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A Six Sigma Case Study – Tutorial for IT Call Center – Part 3 of 6
Published:This combination โcase study and tutorialโ tracks the inception of a Six Sigma DMAIC project by an IT support business. The project is aimed at helping the company become more competitive and profitable. Each part follows the project team as it works through another stage of the DMAIC methodology. Click to read the rest of […]
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A Six Sigma Case Study – Tutorial for IT Call Center – Part 4 of 6
Published:This combination โcase study and tutorialโ tracks the inception of a Six Sigma DMAIC project by an IT support business. The project is aimed at helping the company become more competitive and profitable. Each part follows the project team as it works through another stage of the DMAIC methodology. Click to read the rest of […]
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A Six Sigma Case Study – Tutorial for IT Call Center – Part 5 of 6
Published:This combination โcase study and tutorialโ tracks the inception of a Six Sigma DMAIC project by an IT support business. The project is aimed at helping the company become more competitive and profitable. Each part follows the project team as it works through another stage of the DMAIC methodology. Click to read the rest of […]
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A Six Sigma Case Study – Tutorial for IT Call Center – Part 6 of 6
Published:This combination โcase study and tutorialโ tracks the inception of a Six Sigma DMAIC project by an IT support business. The project is aimed at helping the company become more competitive and profitable. Each part follows the project team as it works through another stage of the DMAIC methodology. Click to read the rest of […]
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Case Study: Salvaging a Call Center’s Big Software Investment
Published:Software can be a helpful tool but it is not a magic wand. After investing half a million dollars in tracking software for its call center and still seeing a high volume of complaints, one company used DMAIC to turn a disaster into a success.
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Streamlining Diagnostic Testing at Northwestern Memorial
Published:The diagnostic testing center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago is an outpatient laboratory that is kept perennially busy serving the needs of the community. Thousands of walk-in patients are seen each year, primarily for blood tests (phlebotomy) and electrocardiograms (EKGs). Although Northwestern receives acclaim for its patient care, some complaints had begun to surface […]
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Process Redesign to Reduce Cycle Time: A Case Study
Published:A power distribution company in India, serving domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural users, was not meeting the country’s performance standard regulations for metering and billing. A Six Sigma project was initiated to reduce cycle time.
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Improving ED Wait Times at North Shore University Hospital
Published:The Emergency Department (ED) increasingly is becoming the sole source of medical care for many individuals. It also is often called the “gateway” to the hospital since it is the first encounter many patients have with the hospital. Thus it is the place where positive or negative perceptions of the hospital initially may be formed. […]
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Moms Know . . . All About Clear Operational Definitions
Published:Six Sigma practitioners know that operational definitions are definitions to do business with. An operational definition can be defined as a clear and understandable description of what is to be observed and measured, such that different people collecting, using and interpreting data will do so consistently. An operational definition is a concept to guide what […]
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Six Sigma Catapults Hospitals to Next Level of Quality
Published:The quality and variability of care delivered by hospitals is highly profiled in the media today. Pick up a newspaper, turn on the television or open a healthcare trade journal and chances are there will be an article detailing the real or possible occurrence of medical errors, allegations of a hospital’s failure to comply with […]
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Building a Business Case for Software Defect Reduction
Published:For a software company to make a case for process improvement, reliable measurement data is needed. Unfortunately, that data normally comes from an improvement project. Learn how to address this chicken-and-egg dilemma.
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Implementing Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) in Europe
Published:“Why bother about process improvement? Let’s do it right the first time. We don’t need process improvement. We have to implement DFSS!” This is a common theme from engineering people in Six Sigma deployments. A common response from practitioners is that DMAIC should be implemented first; experience with the methodology should come before the introduction […]
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