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The Individuals-Moving Range (I-MR) Chart is one of the most widely-used control charts in statistics and the standard for most situations where data was collected in individual data points. It allows such a process to be assessed for stability both in terms of central tendency as well as variation.

NORMSINV is an Excel function that provides the INVERSE of the cumulative standard normal distribution. Let’s learn how it works.

You need to know more about how to know more about your company. Good analytical practices shape your strategic thinking, which determines your entire future.

Lean business operations don’t happen without defining expectations, collecting data and monitoring results. Statistical limits serve your streamlining goals through efficiency quality control and loss prevention.

In a fiercely competitive market reacting swiftly to product or process failures, determining the true root cause and implementing change limits financial and reputational damage. Utilising root cause and failure analysis methodology is your gold standard for robustly preventing future failures.

The null hypothesis, written as Ho is a subset of the larger topic of Hypothesis Testing. The null hypothesis is a statement about a specific condition of your data and allows you to draw important conclusions about that data.

Many people use the terms verification and validation interchangeably without realizing the difference between the two. Not understanding that difference can lead to many models that do not truly represent a real-world process and lead to errors in forecasting or predicting the outcomes. In this article, we will explore the meaning, importance, differences, […]

Not all your data will have a normal distribution. Sometimes, the curve is taller or shorter than a theoretical  normal distribution. Does that mean you have a problem? We can answer that question by learning a little bit more about kurtosis and the platykurtic distribution.

When it comes to variance, there are two main types to consider. These are common cause and special cause. Common cause variations usually do not pose much of a problem. Special case variations are another story.

The concept of a confidence band is usually associated with regression analysis. We will also explain why a confidence band is not the same as a confidence interval.

Are you hearing voices? If it’s in a business context, then there is nothing to worry about — and it might even be a good thing. Let’s listen in to the voice of the process and hear what it has to say.

With your business, sometimes a need arises to address an issue swiftly and with all hands on deck. A Kaizen Event is meant for these kinds of times.

While you hope everything goes smoothly and as planned, sometimes you have to make a change in your existing product or product design. The engineering change request is the form you use to initiate the changes.

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. 

Background Company X (fictional name) is a multi-billion-dollar retail giant, known for offering an expansive range of Do It Yourself (DIY) goods and services. With hundreds of retail outlets scattered across the country, the company’s retail division was the backbone of its operations, responsible for generating a significant portion of its revenue. However, in recent […]

Problems are going to arise in business, but the companies that succeed in the long term are those that find the true causes of those problems and find ways to keep them from happening again. When an issue occurs, the inclination is to stop it quickly. While this is fine, it is important […]

You may think turnaround time has decreased from your baseline as a result of a process improvement. But has it really? The t statistic is one way to find the answer to that question.

What is PDSA? PDSA stands for Plan, Do, Study, and Act. It is a method that is used to test a change that is being implemented or has been implemented. Working through these four steps guides thinking into breaking down a task into sections and then evaluating the result, making improvements, and then […]

“So much to do, and so little time to do it” might be a good way to describe multi-generational product planning, or MGPP. Sometimes it makes sense to stage your improvements over a longer period of time.

The economical method of setting the control limits of a process to a specific level is known as natural tolerance. Natural tolerances work well for typical desired levels of control and are useful for reviewing the practicality of the specification limits.

In manufacturing, production may have to halt due to an issue somewhere in the process. Once the issue is addressed, it is important to know just where the clean point is.

What AI-powered tools are transforming the way businesses work? The cork is out of the bottle, so to speak, and AI has arrived in a big way. That said, you might be left in the lurch when it comes to integrating artificial intelligence in your workplace. You don’t have to worry, though, we’re […]

Z bench is not where Zorro rested after saving another town. There are a number of Six Sigma terms associated with the letter Z, such as Z score, Z bench long term, Z bench short term, and Z shift. Let’s explore the A to Zs about Z.

When doing Design of Experiments (DOE), replicates become an important consideration for improving the accuracy of your experiment. Let’s learn a little more about replicates. In Design of Experiments (DOE), a replicate is a single repetition or run of an experiment, with all conditions and factors kept constant except for the treatment being […]

The run chart is a powerful, simple, and easy-to-use process improvement tool. Often, the run chart is shortchanged as the statistical tests that can be used with run charts are overlooked. This article takes the reader through the benefits of a run chart as well as how to correctly create and analyze one. […]

How much improvement do you expect from your projects? Is 5% ok? How about 15%? Breakthrough improvement will be 70% or more. Let’s see how breakthrough improvement works. 

What is data-driven decision-making? Chances are you’re used to seeing data-driven being bandied about, considering this you’re on our site. However, that isn’t the full approach we’re discussing today. Six Sigma is a methodology driven by data, but it isn’t the whole picture for this new set of tools coming about in the […]

In today’s fast-paced, customer-driven environment, businesses must continually strive to enhance quality while reducing inefficiencies. Quality management is not merely about ensuring product reliability but involves a holistic approach to improve all aspects of an organization. To help organizations manage quality effectively, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) outlines seven key principles of […]

With its DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) roadmap, the Six Sigma methodology provides a structured and systematic approach to solving business and process problems. The related toolkit is a selection of proven tools and methods that– correctly applied – help to determine, analyze, and improve a problem. All is well and good, however, […]

As the name implies, capability analysis is an analysis of the ability of your process to meet your customer’s expectations and requirements. There are a number of calculated metrics which can be used to help you do your capability analysis. 

Kappa is the common measurement for judging how your measurement system works for attribute data. It is also described as the primary output from an Attribute Agreement Analysis.

“Prevention is better than cure” applies to defects in the software development life cycle as well as illnesses in medical science. Defects, as defined by software developers, are variances from a desired attribute. These attributes include complete and correct requirements and specifications as drawn from the desires of potential customers. Thus, defects cause […]

Correlation allows you to determine whether sets of data have some sort of relationship. Goodman-Kruskal Gamma looks at pairs of data and determines a correlation. Let’s see how.

When an organization begins a Lean Six Sigma deployment, what is the first step that the leadership team should take? Should they start executing Kaizen events to demonstrate the impact of quick process improvement? Or should they kick off with Six Sigma projects, using the DMAIC or DFSS roadmap, with a deep dive […]

Is random variation a good thing or a bad thing? Should I worry about the statistical implications or the practical ones? Let’s find out.

The Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology can be thought of as a roadmap for problem-solving and product/process improvement. Most companies begin implementing Six Sigma using the DMAIC methodology and later add the DFSS (Design for Six Sigma, also known as DMADV or IDDOV) methodologies when the organizational culture and […]

Your customers want to know when they can expect completion of their orders. Little’s Law, or Process Lead Time (PLT), is a simple way to calculate how long an order will take to complete.

Visual Management Boards played a critical role in enabling this company to link and visually display critical metrics, KPIs, and actions simply and consistently. So, what are Visual Management Boards? Today, we’re exploring how these visualization tools can let your company reach new heights. While the company is fictional, the results speak for […]

What are the differences between PDCA and DMAIC? There is no shortage of jargon and acronyms to keep track of within the Six Sigma methodology. However, the two methods we’re looking at today blur the lines substantially. So, let’s jump in and see exactly how these approaches differentiate themselves. What is PDCA? Plan […]

Process stability is a critical need before trying to improve that process, and control charts are used to assess it. The lower control limit is one of the three fundamental lines on a control chart for identifying a lack of stability.

The ability of a process improvement initiative to invoke sustainable change within an organization depends on the support of stakeholders who will execute the proposed changes.

So, you’ve decided to tackle a key process improvement project. You have your problem statement and scope set up, and now you need to determine who will be assigned to the core project team. Who needs to be on the team to maximize your probability of success? There’s a term for those individuals: […]

Have you ever heard your customer ask, “Why does my job take 10 days when there is only 5 days of actual work?” It may be because the Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) is low, and there is a lot of waste in the process. PCE will help define how much that waste is.

For purposes of learning, using, or teaching a design of experiments (DOE), one can argue that an eight-run array is the most practical and universally applicable array that can be chosen. There are several forms of and names given to the various types of these eight-run arrays (e.g., 2^3 Full Factorial, Taguchi L8, […]

Learn the benefits of standard work, including how it is used to reduce variability within processes, assists faster training timeframes, and provides a starting point for process improvement projects.

Heijunka (pronounced hi-JUNE-kuh) is a Japanese word that means “leveling.” When implemented correctly, heijunka elegantly – and without haste – helps organizations meet demand while reducing while reducing waste in production and interpersonal processes. According to many Lean experts, heijunka is better achieved as a later-stage implementation in a Lean organization, long after value […]

Learn how defects per unit is used to understand the quality levels regarding defects, how DPU compares to other yield metrics, and the benefits of regularly measuring the metric.

When testing if the means of greater than 2 groups are statistically different you could use a 1-way ANOVA. But, if you have multiple treatment groups, then you can use Dunnett’s 1-way ANOVA.  ANOVA stands for Analysis of Variance. ANOVA is a statistical method used to compare the means of two or more […]

ISO 9000 is a set of international standards that ensures organizations meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while adhering to statutory and regulatory requirements related to their products and services. It primarily focuses on quality management systems (QMS) and is designed to help organizations ensure they consistently meet customer requirements and […]

Learn more about the lower specification limit — in other words, the lowest limit that a measurement or reading can reach and still be acceptable to the customer. We’ll look at the benefits of monitoring LSL as well as some best practices and frequently asked questions.