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Have you ever wondered why your doctor may keep you waiting in the waiting room or why you have to fast before doing a blood test? Let’s see if Lean Six Sigma can give you an answer.

In Six Sigma, process stability is extremely important to efficiency and productivity. With a stable process, you have predictability, and quotas can be met.

It is well established that there exist eight dimensions of quality: Each dimension can be explicitly defined and is self-exclusive from the other dimensions of quality. A customer may rate your service or product high in conformance, but low in reliability. Or they may view two dimensions to work in conjunction with each […]

One of the important statistical descriptors of your data is its central tendency. Central tendency can be described using the mean, median and mode of the data. The mean is described as the mathematical center of your data. The median is the physical center of your data, and the mode is the most frequently occurring value in your data.

What Is PDCA? The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) method is a framework used to achieve continuous improvement in a particular organization or process. It’s also known by several other names, including the Deming wheel, the Shewhart cycle, and the control circle. Even though the method was originally rooted in quality control, it has since been […]

Six Sigma professionals should be familiar with normally distributed processes: the characteristic bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical about the mean, with tails approaching plus and minus infinity (Figure 1). When data fits a normal distribution, practitioners can make statements about the population using common analytical techniques, including control charts and capability indices (such […]

ARMI stands for Approver, Resource, Member, and Interested Party (IP). Find out more about these Lean Six Sigma expertise classifications.

As anyone involved in Six Sigma knows, selecting the right project is a critical component of project success. If practitioners do not put enough effort into selecting the right opportunity for improvement, a project can end in disaster, or create unnecessary work and complexity for the project team. Selecting projects with just a […]

When comparing the average of two or more groups with the help of hypothesis tests, the assumption is that the data is a sample from a normally distributed population. That is why hypothesis tests such as the t-test, paired t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are also called parametric tests. Nonparametric tests do […]

A flowchart is a diagram of a process, using standard symbols to represent a variety of process activities over a specified timeline.

What is Continuous? Continuous data refers to numerical data with any value within a certain range. The values have infinite possibilities, but they all fall within a range. These can be whole numbers or decimals measured using data analysis like skews and line graphs. This kind of data can change over time and […]

While some Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practitioners consider 5S a tool, it is more than that. 5S, abbreviated from the Japanese words seiri, seito, seiso, seiketsu, shitsuke, is not just a methodology, it is a culture that has to be built into any organization that aims for spontaneous and continuous improvement of working […]

Steps in Constructing an X-Bar and R Control Chart: This document contains the step-by-step instructions to construct an X-bar and R control chart. First the R chart is constructed. If the R chart validates that the process variation is in statistical control, the XBAR chart is constructed.

Understanding process entitlement is essential to Lean Six Sigma practitioners and organization leaders because process entitlement quantifies the best case or optimum process performance without changes to the process.

A thought process map, sometimes referred to as a TMAP or TPM, not only helps you begin an improvement project with a comprehensive view, but ensures you stay on track all the way through completion. Learn how to use this powerful visual tool.

As the Chinese proverb says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The multi-vari chart is such a picture. In a single graph, you will be able to understand the variation of your process. Let’s learn more. 

When faced with multiple decision criteria, how do you prioritize them? Do you flip a coin or use something more structured? You might want to consider using the Analytic Hierarchy Process as a structured format for prioritizing your decisions.

Does Going to Gemba sound like a nice trip to an exotic locale? While not a fancy foreign destination, Gemba is going to where the work is done to learn more about the process. Let’s take a deeper look into what Gemba is about. 

The Harada method helps individuals achieve self-reliance which in turn facilitates a company’s process improvement journey. This week’s article provides an overview of the method and its genesis. Part Two of this article presents five templates to use to plan a goal, measure the goal’s progress, and assess success. No matter its size, an organization is […]

AI (Artificial Intelligence) involves creating systems and algorithms capable of mimicking human intelligence to perform tasks like decision-making, problem-solving, and pattern recognition. It leverages techniques such as machine learning and neural networks to improve through experience. Continuous improvement focuses on systematically enhancing processes, products, or services through incremental changes, using methods like Lean […]

Quality management is the process of ensuring that products and services meet consistent standards of excellence. It encompasses various strategies, tools, and techniques that aim to enhance organizational performance, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce waste. Many businesses around the world have effectively utilized quality management principles to drive significant improvements. Over the years […]

You need to be SMART when writing the goals for your project charter: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Here’s how the SMART framework can help you write better goal statements.

Fractional factorial DOE is a cost- and time-effective designed experimentation statistical tool for understanding the impact of your process inputs on your process outputs. 

What does your process look like from 25,000 feet up in the air? Your extended process view can be described using SIPOC, or supplier, input, process, output, and customer. Let’s get in our plane and go up. 

A company with a Six Sigma deployment identifies a process improvement area within the business. It is easy to figure out what comes next – just define the problem, set the goal, select the project team, pick the team leader, and get out of the way, right? Well, sort of…but before deployment leaders get […]

The use of center points in your designed experiments can be valuable in determining the actual relationship between your input factors and your response variable. Let’s explain this in a little more detail. 

Benchmarking is a way of discovering what is the best performance being achieved – whether in a particular company, by a competitor, or by an entirely different industry. This information can then be used to identify gaps in an organization’s processes to achieve a competitive advantage. Thus it is important for Six Sigma practitioners […]

The Bartlett Test is named after the English statistician, Maurice Stevenson Bartlett. The test is also known as the Bartlett’s test for homogeneity of variances. It is most used in doing a 1-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). ANOVA is used to determine whether there is any statistical difference between the means of three […]

Understanding what quality targets are and how to center product uniformity around them is a helpful step in overall process improvement, ultimately leading to increased profits and customer satisfaction rates.

If you have a non-conforming or defective product coming off your production line, what do you do with it? Utilizing a strategy of containment might be the way to go. Let’s learn more about this. Containment of non-conforming products refers to the actions you take to prevent the distribution or use of products […]

Understanding and determining the upper and lower statistical limits are the key to determining tolerance range (TR). Find out more about this LSS concept.

Corrective action is the process, known as a corrective action plan (CAP), of taking the appropriate steps to identify the root cause of a problem and implementing a solution that corrects the root cause to prevent its recurrence. The aim is to improve the processes in place within an organization so that problems […]

A radar chart, also known as a spider chart, is a great tool to graphically compare multiple outcomes for specific characteristics and criteria. 

Getting to grips with the many different causes of defects and quality issues is key to ensuring business success and avoiding customer dissatisfaction. The cause and effect diagram is a clear, visual representation of all possible causes and keeps the team focused upon quality improvement.

Is the variation in your process data to be expected, or has something special occurred? A control chart will give you the answer. The X-bar and R chart will give you the details.

Fisher’s 1-way ANOVA is a classic analysis of variance utilized in statistics to determine if there are statistical differences between the means of two or more unrelated groups.

What is a Subject Matter Expert? Subject matter experts (SMEs) are people who have a significant amount of knowledge or experience regarding a specific subject. They can specialize in any kind of academic discipline, profession, or practice. Even though their area of expertise is relatively narrow compared to general consultants, there is still […]

There are several statistical tests which assume that independent data sets have equal, similar or equivalent variances. Violating this assumption could render any statistical conclusions invalid. 

With Six Sigma, customer satisfaction comes first. We’ve talked at length in the past about the various nomenclature, techniques, and so forth that drive Six Sigma. As a comprehensive discipline, it is a transformative means of making your organization the best it can be. However, it is a methodology and approach that takes […]

Six Sigma is all about what can be quantified and measured. So it is not surprising that organizations that utilize Six Sigma often prefer to measure success in terms of hard savings or dollars to the bottom line now. They are subsequently less impressed with soft savings, or the possibility of dollars to […]

Lean Six Sigma is a system that measures how well a process operates, with “six sigma” being the level of perfection in which processes operate at or below 3.4 defects per million units produced. In order to achieve this, companies must eliminate all but the most critical process steps and then re-engineer those remaining steps to be more efficient and effective.

It is important in business to have a sampling system in place to determine when to dump a pack of units dumped due to an unacceptable amount being defective. LTPD is part of this sampling system.

When things go wrong in the process, how do you know? And how do you know what to do?

Complex products and processes can often yield significant variation in output, with resultant poor customer satisfaction, especially when process inputs are not well controlled. By understanding and controlling our key process input variables, we have the perfect approach to keep output variation in check.  

Financial project metrics can be cumbersome to use and jargon-heavy. We demystify and simplify project return on investment, making the concept accessible to all and giving you the confidence to use it in your project management operations.

A major dilemma companies face today is the pressure to deliver short-term improvements and benefits while still contributing to longer-term breakthrough objectives. The 3-6-12-24 planning tool helps practitioners find a way out of this predicament.

When it comes to Six Sigma, data is your lifeblood. The ability to interpret what the data is saying is how you know whether you are on the right path. Further, it shows how you’re achieving your goals and objectives and avoiding roadblocks on your journey toward success. Accurately collected and analyzed data […]

Understanding discrete data will give you yet another tool for understanding your process measure or outcome. This article will explain the tips and traps of using discrete data in process improvement.

If you have a new machine or equipment, you need to be able to determine if it is going to have the potential to make the cut. That is where Cmk comes in.

Quality management should be a holistic approach. Process, product, and people are the three key elements of a company’s quality system and all of them need to be focused on for an overall improvement in performance. Why It Matters So, why consider this approach for your quality management? While there are many approaches […]