Lean Six Sigma cost, speed and quality leaps are achieved

by applying the right tools. Following the DMAIC

improvement model of Lean Six Sigma, we will see a series of

tools for each phase.

The defining phase

Purpose of Define:

This phase of Lean Six Sigma implementation identifies the

improvement opportunities and customer deliverables and defines a

scope. At the end of the definition phase, we should have a project

statute, clearly identified stakeholders, a project team,

estimation of business implications, a customer assessment

requirements, a high-level process map, and project management and

communication plans.

Tools to define:

Stakeholder analysis:

The various stakeholders (customers, shareholders, employees) are

listed and the potential impact of the improvement project on each assessed as substantial, average, low, or none.

SIPOC diagram:

Of the tools applied in this stage of the improvement project,

perhaps the most widely used is the SIPOC diagram. SIPOC Supports

for Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs and Customers. The diagram

provides a visual answer to the questions needed to understand

the process: who are the main stakeholders in this process? What

value it creates? Who owns the process? Which are the

inputs and who provides them? What resources are consumed by the

process? What process steps create value?

The steps involved in creating the SIPOC diagram and the

participation of team members in brainstorming and idea generation

sessions are as important as the resulting diagram.

VOC – Voice of the Customer:

Critical to a proper definition of the improvement project is the

availability of data that represents the views of customers and

requirements. These are collected using VOC tools such as interviews,

surveys, focus groups, comment cards, suggestion/complaint boxes

etc. The definition of customer here includes internal and external

customers.

The use of Kano analysis covers raw quantitative and qualitative data

obtained from the above in clearer expressions of the value

Customers value the various features of the products and services you offer.

The development of critical requirements for quality converts the customer

statements, which may be imprecise, to precise requirements (assessed

from the customer’s perspective) for your product or service.

The measurement phase

Purpose of the Measure:

This phase quantifies the current state of the process with respect to

at cost, speed and quality and gives an idea of ​​the gaps to be

full. At the end of this phase, we have a detailed map of the

process, data on key input and output variables, an analysis of the

process capability, refined project charter and plans where

justified by new information and recommended actions to choose under

hanging fruit.

Tools to measure:

Operational definition: several measures are defined so that all

team members apply the same definitions when collecting data for the

improvement project

Process map, value stream map, complexity value stream map:

This produces a more detailed representation of the process than

the SIPOC diagram and includes information such as waiting times,

processing time, resource

consumption, process operator, etc.

Cause and effect matrix:

This tabulates the causes against the effects and calculates the scores that

are used to classify causes. as a measure

tool, this array is used to select which inputs to focus on

due to its significant impact on the results of the process.

Preliminary FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis):

This tool is similar in function to the cause and effect matrix.

All possible input failures are considered, and then

weighted according to

probability of occurrence, severity of the impact on the products and

detection difficulty. This evaluation also helps determine

which inputs the project team should focus on.

Data collection plan:

This includes decisions about what data (balanced between input and output)

output) to collect, identification of

stratification factors (these help determine patterns in the data),

determination of sample size, identification of data sources,

preparation of data collection sheets and data transfer

Collection duties between team members.

Pareto charts:

This is one more tool to focus the team’s efforts on the most

important problems A Pareto chart is a bar

graph where the horizontal axis represents the categories. About him

vertical axis we can plot in descending order, the frequency of

occurrence, or cost, speed, or impact on quality of each category.

Where there is a clear Pareto effect, only some of the categories

(typically 20% or less) are responsible for most of the effects

(80% or more).

Analysis of measurement systems:

The process of obtaining measurements undergoes standard analysis to ensure reliability, repeatability and reproducibility. Other attributes of

measurement system are stability, bias, and discrimination.

Control charts:

A control chart is a sequence of quantitative data run charts with

three horizontal lines showing a middle centered and top and bottom

control limits. Control charts help assess the nature of

process variation. Processes under control are expected

produce data points randomly distributed around the mean but within

the calculated control limits.

Process evaluation capacity:

This tool measures process capability and assesses the capability of a

process to meet functional requirements.

There are various measures of capacity. They are all compare the

process standard deviation to the allowable range of variation as

specified by the customer.