six sigma problem solving steps

The Easy Guide to Solving Problems with Six Sigma DMAIC Method

The most commonly used methodology in Six Sigma is the DMAIC process. Many use it to solve problems and identify and fix errors in business and manufacturing processes.

In this post, we will look at how to use the DMAIC process to solve problems. You will also find useful and editable templates that you can use right away when implementing DMAIC problem-solving in your organization.

• What are 5 the Steps of Six Sigma

DMAIC Process and Problem-Solving

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DMAIC is one of the core methodologies used within the Six Sigma framework. It is a data-driven method used to systematically improve the process. The approach aims to increase the quality of a product or service by focusing on optimizing the process that produces the output. This way DMAIC seeks to provide permanent solutions when it comes to process improvement.

It provides a structured problem-solving framework to identify, analyze, and improve existing processes. DMAIC guides practitioners through a series of steps to identify the root causes of process issues, implement solutions, and sustain the improvements over time.

Following we have listed down the 5 phases of the DMAIC process along with the steps you need to take when using it to solve problems. Different tools for each phase is provided with editable templates.

Step 1: Define the Problem

So there’s a problem that affects your customer or your company processes. In this first step of the DMAIC problem solving method , you need to focus on what the problem is and how it has affected you as a company.

There are a few steps you need to follow in this phase.

• Create a problem statement which should include a definition of the problem in quantifiable terms and the severity of the problem.

•  Make sure necessary resources such as a team leader and competent team members, and funds etc. are available at hand.

•  Develop a goal statement based on your problem statement. It should be a measurable and time-bound target to achieve.

•  Create a SIPOC diagram which will provide the team with a high-level overview of the process (along with its inputs, outputs, suppliers, and customers) that is being analyzed. You can also use a value stream map to do the same job.

•  Try to understand the process in more in-depth detail by creating a process map that outlines all process steps. Involve the process owners when identifying the process steps and developing the map. You can add swimlanes to represent different departments and actors responsible.

Step 2: Measure the Problem

In this step, you should measure the extent of the problem. To do so you need to examine the process in its current state to see how it performs. The detailed process map you created in the ‘Define’ phase can help you with this.

The baseline measurements you will need to look into in this phase, are process duration, the number of defects, costs and other relevant metrics.

These baseline measurements will be used as the standards against which the team will measure their success in the ‘Improve’ phase.

Step 3: Analyze the Problem

The analyze phase of the DMAIC process is about identifying the root cause that is causing the problem.

•  Referring to the process maps and value stream maps you have created, further, analyze the process to identify the problem areas.

•  Visualize the data you have collected (both in the ‘Measure’ phase and the analyze phase) to identify signs of problems in the processes.

•  Use Pareto charts, histograms, run charts etc. to represent numerical data. Study them with team leaders and process owners to identify patterns.

•  With the results of your process analysis and your data analysis, start brainstorming the root causes of the problem. Use a cause and effect diagram/ fishbone diagram to capture the knowledge of the process participants during the session.

 •  Using a 5 whys diagram, narrow down your findings to the last few causes of the problem in your process.

Step 4: Improve (Solve the Problem)

In this phase, the focus is on mitigating the root cause identified and brainstorming and implementing solutions. The team will also collect data to measure their improvement against the data collected during the ‘Measure’ phase.

•  You may generate several effective solutions to the root cause, but implementing them all would not be practical. Therefore, you will have to select the most practical solutions.

To do this you can use an impact effort matrix . It will help you determine which solution has the best impact and the least effort/ cost.

 • Based on different solutions, you should develop new maps that will reflect the status of the process once the solution has been applied. This map is known as the to-be map or the future-state map. It will provide guidance for the team as they implement changes.

•  Explore the different solutions using the PDCA cycle and select the best one to implement.  The cycle allows you to systematically study the possible solutions, evaluate the results and select the ones that have a higher chance of success.

Step 5: Control (Sustain the Improvements)

In the final phase of the DMAIC method , the focus falls on maintaining the improvements you have gained by implementing the solutions. Here you should continue to measure the success and create a plan to monitor the improvements (a Monitoring plan).

You should also create a Response plan which includes steps to take if there’s a drop in the process performance. With new process maps and other documentation, you should then proceed to document the improved processes.

Hand these documents along with the Monitoring plan and the response plan to the process owners for their reference.

Insufficiently defining the problem can lead to a lack of clarity regarding the problem statement, objectives, and scope. Take the time to clearly define the problem, understand the desired outcomes, and align stakeholders' expectations.

Failing to engage key stakeholders throughout the DMAIC process can result in limited buy-in and resistance to change. Ensure that stakeholders are involved from the beginning, seeking their input, addressing concerns, and keeping them informed about progress and outcomes.

Collecting insufficient or inaccurate data can lead to flawed analysis and incorrect conclusions. Take the time to gather relevant data using appropriate measurement systems, ensure data accuracy and reliability, and apply appropriate statistical analysis techniques to derive meaningful insights.

Getting caught up in analysis paralysis without taking action is a common pitfall. While analysis is crucial, it’s equally important to translate insights into concrete improvement actions. Strive for a balance between analysis and implementation to drive real change.

Failing to test potential solutions before implementation can lead to unintended consequences. Utilize methods such as pilot studies, simulation, or small-scale experiments to validate and refine proposed solutions before full-scale implementation.

Successful process improvement is not just about making initial changes ; it’s about sustaining those improvements over the long term. Develop robust control plans, standard operating procedures, and monitoring mechanisms to ensure the gains achieved are maintained and deviations are identified and corrected.

Applying DMAIC in a one-size-fits-all manner without considering the organization’s unique culture, context, and capabilities can hinder success. Tailor the approach to fit the specific needs, capabilities, and culture of the organization to enhance acceptance and implementation.

In the project management context, the Define phase involves clearly defining the project objectives, scope, deliverables, and success criteria. It entails identifying project stakeholders, understanding their expectations, and establishing a project charter or a similar document that outlines the project’s purpose and key parameters.

The Measure phase focuses on collecting data and metrics to assess the project’s progress, performance, and adherence to schedule and budget. Key project metrics such as schedule variance, cost variance, and resource utilization are tracked and analyzed. This phase provides insights into the project’s current state and helps identify areas that require improvement.

The Analyze phase involves analyzing the project data and identifying root causes of any performance gaps or issues. It aims to understand why certain project aspects are not meeting expectations. Techniques such as root cause analysis, Pareto charts, or fishbone diagrams can be used to identify factors impacting project performance.

In the Improve phase, potential solutions and actions are developed and implemented to address the identified issues. This may involve making adjustments to the project plan, reallocating resources, refining processes, or implementing corrective measures. The goal is to optimize project performance and achieve desired outcomes.

The Control phase focuses on monitoring and controlling project activities to sustain the improvements made. It involves implementing project control mechanisms, establishing performance metrics, and conducting regular reviews to ensure that the project remains on track. Control measures help prevent deviations from the plan and enable timely corrective actions.

What are Your Thoughts on DMAIC Problem Solving Method?

Here we have covered the 5 phases of  Six Sigma DMAIC and the tools that you can use in each stage. You can use them to identify problem areas in your organizational processes, generate practical solutions and implement them effectively.

Have you used DMAIC process to improve processes and solve problems in your organization? Share your experience with the tool with us in the comment section below.

Also, check our post on Process Improvement Methodologies to learn about more Six Sigma and Lean tools to streamline your processes.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

FAQs about Six Sigma and DMAIC Approaches

DMAIC and DMADV are two methodologies used in Six Sigma. DMAIC is employed to enhance existing processes by addressing issues and improving efficiency, while DMADV is utilized for creating new processes or products that meet specific customer needs by following a structured design and verification process.

• Used for improving existing processes
• Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control
• Identifies problem areas and implements solutions
• Focuses on reducing process variation and enhancing efficiency
• Used for developing new products, services, or processes
• Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify
• Emphasizes meeting customer requirements and creating innovative solutions
• Involves detailed design and verification through testing

Problem identification : When a process is not meeting desired outcomes or experiencing defects, DMAIC can be used to identify and address the root causes of the problem.

Process optimization : DMAIC provides a systematic approach to analyze and make improvements to processes by reducing waste, improving cycle time, or enhancing overall efficiency.

Continuous improvement : DMAIC is often used as part of ongoing quality management efforts. It helps organizations maintain a culture of continuous improvement by systematically identifying and addressing process issues, reducing variation, and striving for better performance.

Data-driven decision making : DMAIC relies on data collection, measurement, and analysis. It is suitable when there is sufficient data available to evaluate process performance and identify areas for improvement.

Quality control and defect reduction : DMAIC is particularly useful when the primary objective is to reduce defects, minimize errors, and enhance product or service quality. By analyzing the root causes of defects, improvements can be made to prevent their occurrence.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

DMAIC: The Complete Guide to Lean Six Sigma in 5 Key Steps

One of the core techniques behind any process improvement, particularly in Six Sigma, is DMAIC.

This handy approach, pronounced duh-may-ik, is the key to employing Six Sigma and beginning your journey to being a process hero. We’re going to cover each step in the process and detail how to effectively enact every section.

This guide will lead you through from start to finish and get you ready to start employing lean Six Sigma within your business!

What is DMAIC?

DMAIC stands for:

DMAIC is a data driven improvement cycle designed to be applied to business processes to find flaws or inefficiencies – particularly resulting in output defects – and to combat them. The goal of employing DMAIC is to improve, optimize, or stabilize existing processes.

The development of the DMAIC methodology is credited to Motorola , but is largely a further expansion of systems developed by Toyota. You can read more about how Toyota has employed their process improvement techniques in our article  How Toyota Saved Children’s Lives with Process Implementation .

What we’re going to do is look at each stage of the process and consider what needs to be explored and what kinds of tools and methodologies you might use throughout.

Before you dive in, consider reading this DMAIC Case Study to give yourself an overview of the process from start to finish with handy graphs. This case study should help you be able to visualize each step we undertake throughout the article within a broader context.

When do we use DMAIC?

Though we’re not formally recognizing that step within this article, it would be remiss to not appreciate the importance of this addition.

DMAIC cannot be used in all situations. It pertains to specific opportunities for process improvement.

So what are these specific conditions?

There are three main things worth considering when assessing a situation for whether DMAIC would fit:

• There is an obvious problem of some form with an existing process or set of processes.
• The potential is there to reduce variables like lead times or defects while improving variables like cost savings or productivity.
• The situation is quantifiable; the process itself involves measurable data and the results can be appropriately understood through quantifiable means.

Once you’ve recognized whether or not your process is a good fit for DMAIC, you can get started!

Define: Map the project and understand your aims

The Define stage is essentially the planning part of the exercise.

It consists of 7 key sections:

Define Customers and Requirements

How you carry out this stage depends on who your customers are. There are two subsections of customers, either internal customers or external customers .

Internal customers are levels of management within your organization or other departments who are reliant on the output of the particular process you are attempting to improve.

External customers would be the end users of your product or services. These would normally be your business clients but could also be the company’s shareholders.

We tend to divide the expectations of these customers into two related categories: needs and requirements. Needs refer to the end goals of a product: someone buys an air-conditioning unit because they want to keep a room cold. Requirements refer to features or aspects of a product: an air-conditioning unit needs to have a thermostat of some description in order to deliver the cold room the customer needs.

When judging the output of a process, we analyze who the customers are, what their needs are, and what the requirements are to fulfill these needs.

Develop Problem Statement, Goals and Benefits

The next step is to bring that customer information into actionable steps.

We want to develop a clear Problem Statement in order to communicate the purpose of the process and to help us understand how our actions will relate directly to the end results. This should not look to define the solution, but instead focus on the following aspects :

• What is the pain point?
• Where is it hurting?
• When has it been hurting? Is it long term or short?
• What is the extent of the pain?

The Six Sigma Institute provide the following example problem statement:

“In the last 3 months (when), 12% of our customers are late, by over 45 days in paying their bills (what) . This represents 20% (magnitude) of our outstanding receivables & negatively affects our operating cash flow (consequence) .”

In doing so, we should clearly define what our ultimate goals will be from the process improvement work we undertake. This might be identifying something simple like a need to increase output per hour from 100 units to 200 units. Or it might be improving clearly measurable rates of customer satisfaction or other similar quantifiable variables. In a pure Six Sigma approach, your goal would be to improve your Sigma baseline and reduce whatever your defined defects are – but we’ll come to all that later.

The goal statement should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound.

The Six Sigma Institute example:

To reduce the percentage of late payments to 15% in next 3 months, and give tangible savings of 500K USD/ year.

Identify Champion, Process Owner and Team

In order for us to implement this process improvement, we need to determine the roles of different employees in bringing the project to completion. Different companies will put differing emphasis on roles, so take the following as an example as much as a definition.

If you’re familiar with lean methodologies like Scrum, this will quickly make sense to you.

The Process Owner is the person who is responsible for the process improvement project. This is the hands on position where the person involves themselves with each team involved in the process, analyzes and tracks data and output, and looks to manage the process from above from the first step to the last. The Process Owner’s primary function is to provide the planning and overview to allow everyone else to flourish.

The Process Champion is an individual within the organization who has the power to make key decisions and facilitate the work of the Process Owner. This would likely be an executive who can help allocate resources to serve the needs of the Process Owner. The Champion aims to remove barriers which the Process Owner is facing and help facilitate the process improvement project from another step above.

The team in this context are the employees who will be putting the desired changes into action and helping monitor the effects of these changes. The main person in this team is the Black Belt; the project manager for the team. The other employees who focus on the Six Sigma process might be referred to as Green Belts (at this point it starts to feel a little like a karate kid cosplay).

Define Resources

In order to undertake this process improvement project, we need to know what resources are available for the Process Owner to utilize.

This might include a budget for contracting external services, purchasing additional tools, or travel expenditures. It might also refer to how many staff will be needed in order to make this change effectively; do staff need to be brought in from other departments, or will new staff need to be hired?

The amount of resources required will be defined by the problem and goal statements. You don’t want to spend $1 million to save the company half a million. We need to understand what resources are needed to tackle the project and what resources are reasonably available.

Evaluate Key Organizational Support

Now you know what resources you need to begin the project, you need to know what support you can gather from other actors within your organization.

The Process Champion will be in charge of attempting to mobilize this support from other areas of the company. In order to do this, the Process Champion will likely try to create a Business Case.

The purpose of a Business Case is to demonstrate the importance of this process to the broader operations of the company. The Six Sigma Institute give us an example of 7 questions which a Business Case should answer:

• Why is the project worth doing? Justify the resources necessary to engage in the project.
• Why is it important to customers?
• Why is it important to the business?
• Why is it important to employees?
• Why is it important to do it now?
• What are the consequences of not doing the project now?
• How does it fit with the operational initiatives and targets?

The Institute also provides us with an example Business Case:

By reducing the average transaction length, the queue would be able to enhance the Speed of Resolution and assist the end-users in fastest possible manner. This will not only help in achieving client targets but also increase end-user satisfaction score by offering lesser turn-around time.

… although a full Business Case should include more detail and more clearly address each of the above questions.

Develop Project Plan and Milestones

We should now be in a position where we understand the different requirements, the available resources, and role allocation.

At this point, we can begin to develop a detailed project plan with attainable and realistic milestones.

The first step of our project planning is to develop our project scope. In doing so, it is useful to use both longitudinal and lateral scoping. Longitudinal scoping relates to the length of the process, whereas lateral scoping refers to the breadth.

For example, if I was to analyze the process I use to write articles, the longitudinal scope would stretch from having the idea for the article to the moment the article goes live. That’s the scope of the process I would be investigating; with a clear start and end date.

The lateral scope would be the scope of my investigation. Am I going to analyze only the process of writing this article? Am I going to analyze the process repeatedly over a period of 6 weeks? Am I going to analyze my process and the same longitudinal process of my colleagues over that period too?

Think of it as the scope of the process vs the scope of the investigation.

Once we have this in place, we can look to lay out milestones for when different key moments in the DMAIC process will be achieved. What date will we begin the first step of the Measure stage? What date will we commence the Improve stage? When will we complete the DMAIC process?

It is recommended to set aggressive milestones as efficiency savings benefit from being brought in sooner rather than later, naturally. However, setting milestones which are too aggressive can result in what’s called “band-aid” solutions; where quality is sacrificed in order to reach arbitrary targets.

Develop High Level Process Map

This will serve to demonstrate to each individual player where they fit within the process and how their role relates to the next.

You can use tools like LucidChart to help you create process maps and diagrams simply and effectively.

If you want to read more about process mapping and other in-depth process overview techniques you can read this article of ours:  BPMN Tutorial: Quick-Start Guide to Business Process Model and Notation

Measure: Gather the data to understand performance

In the next few subsections we’re going to look at some key Six Sigma terms to understand what we’re measuring, then we’ll develop a research methodology and put it into practice.

This step is all about gathering our data!

Define Defect, Opportunity, Unit and Metrics

At the beginning of the Measure stage, we need to first define what we should be measuring.

To do this, we’ll need to understand a couple of key terms :

• Unit in the Six Sigma context refers to a single item of the product. This is our smallest indivisible point of reference.
• Defect refers to a problem with the product which has arisen from an issue in the process.
• Opportunity refers to the potential points within a process where the possibility for a defect occurring is present.

Once we understand these terms, we can see how they start to fit together to help us make decisions:

• Defects per unit (DPU) : number of defects / total number of units
• Defects per opportunity (DPO) : number of defects / (number of units x number of defect opportunities per unit)
• Proportion defective (p) : number of defective units / total number of units

Work out all the possible opportunities for problems and then begin to filter that list to remove extremely rare events, or to group problems with related causes together. This should give you a workable estimation for your Opportunity.

Develop Data Collection Plan

In order for us to make the necessary calculations, we need to gather our data about the process.

To do so we will create a data collection plan which will outline our approach and help us clarify our methods.

This analysis will focus on the minutiae of what exactly we want to measure, how the data will be collected, and the methodology by which we want to handle the data, including:

• How many observations are needed
• What time interval should be part of the study
• Whether past, present, and future data will be collected

If this process improvement project is geared toward internal processes then your  customer – another department, for example – might also be gathering this data. This is useful to check because it gives you a control against which you can verify your data once it has been collected, provided any variables are taken into consideration.

The difficulty of this data collection could lie in translating the outcomes into numerical values. For a manufacturing process it is fairly straightforward to understand the process and its outcomes in numerical terms, but less grounded processes can prove trickier. This is why it is important to plan carefully at this stage.

It’s also important to note that while historical data can be used in this analysis, it will likely not have been collected via the same structures and methodologies as you’re creating in this step. This presents a problem as it de-standardizes the data; use historical data with caution.

Having a standardized data collection process gives better data and ultimately better results.

Research 101.

Validate the Measurement System

Well done, you have a research methodology!

But don’t get too excited – we’re not quite ready yet.

Like any piece of research, it is vital to test the methodology – or measurement system – before releasing it into the wild. As a researcher might conduct a pilot study, so too must we test our research methods and review them on a couple of key areas.

There are 4 specific things we want to test before we launch our data gathering project in full:

• Repeatability : If the same operator reaches pretty much the same outcome multiple times on the same item with the same equipment, we can see an adequate level of repeatability.
• Reproducibility : This becomes reproducible if multiple operators measuring the same items with the same equipment end up with the same outcomes.
• Accuracy : It’s a little trickier to be certain on accuracy, but we can broadly say that this can be seen in the difference between an observed average measurement and the associated known standard value.
• Stability : The level of stability is, in a sense, a further extension of repeatability and reproducibility. Stability can be seen by what extent the same operator gets the same outcomes from measuring the same item with the same equipment over a longer period of time. One of the things this stability check is looking for is whether there are external variables which can impact reproducibility over time.

The best way to test your measurement system is to undertake a Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility Study (GR&R), which you can read more about here in this mini library of GR&R materials from iSixSigma .

Once we’re sure that our methodology is clearly defined and we’ve validated our measurement system, we can begin to collect our data!

Collect the Data

Not too much needs to be written about the actual data collection as all the previous steps have been building up to this point.

The key thing to remember is simply to stick to your plan as you defined it and to adhere stringently to the research practices and methods which you validated.

The Black Belt should be the primary point of command in this data collection process, making sure that all procedures are adhered to. The Black Belt needs to take responsibility for all the Green Belts understanding the necessary steps, definitions, and goals.

Begin Developing Y=f(x) Relationship

This is where things will start to sound a little technical. But don’t worry, we’ll walk through it.

Think of Y as representing the output of a process. It doesn’t technically refer to Yield at this point, but we’ll come to that later on.

So, Y is the output of a process and X is the input. The f represents the function of the variable X.

Y is the output we care about and X can be multiple different variables which impact on Y. Here’s an example from iSixSigma :

For example, if you call your major department store to ask a question, the ability to have your question answered (Y) is a function (f) of the wait time, the number of people answering the phones, the time it takes to talk with the representative, the representative’s knowledge, etc. All of these X’s can be defined, measured and improved.

At this point, you don’t need to work out the Y=f(x) relationship in full, but you can start bearing it in mind. It is considered best practice to keep work oriented around the Y=f(x) formula.

Estimate the Sigma Baseline

Again, we can prepare ourselves for the future stages by running a quick calculation.

To work out your Sigma, you can calculate your Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO) and run it through a handy conversion chart.

You calculate your DPMO by simply multiplying your DPO by a million.

To make it all easier, just use this straightforward Sigma Calculator .

Analyze: Understand where the problems in your process lie

The analysis step is where we have to dig in deep into the existing processes and work out the root causes of the problems.

Finding these causes should allow us to tackle them in our Improve stage. It’s all about finding the pertinent Xs for the Y=f(x) formula we mentioned above.

Define Performance Objectives

Having measured the process in the previous steps, we should be in a position where we roughly know what it is we want to improve.

Before we begin analyzing in depth, we should lay out what our objectives are so that these goals can guide us. Think through the process and the data you have to calculate what the key performance objectives would be.

These objectives can prove slightly flexible as your analysis moves forward but it is always better to start with clear goals.

Develop a Detailed Business Process Map

We’ve already mentioned in this article how you can use strategies like BPMN to map business processes, but it isn’t the only approach. A very similar approach might be to use an As Is Process Map, which can incorporate BPMN elements but is not defined by it.

This business process map can help show us the granular make up of the company process we are analyzing and reveal factors like which process steps are value added and which are non-value added. Identifying non-value added steps at this stage opens up the potential for us to eliminate waste in our process improvements.

This process map should be analyzed for potential areas of variation. These variations, or potentials for variation, will likely lead us to the root causes behind our Opportunities (for defects).

Determine Root Cause(s)

There are many different techniques you can utilize in order to attempt to dig down into what the root causes of a variation are, and we’re going to look at three specific examples of methods you can use:

The 5 Whys Analysis

The Fishbone Diagram

• The Pareto Chart

This is a fairly simple technique to start you off. The idea is that you ask “why?” five times to dig deep into the root of a problem. The logic behind it is that in the first few questions you will find one of the causes of the problem, and by the 5th question you will see the process failure behind that problem. This example from Wikipedia does an excellent job of conveying it:

The vehicle will not start. (the problem) Why?  – The battery is dead. (First why) Why?  – The alternator is not functioning. (Second why) Why?  – The alternator belt has broken. (Third why) Why?  – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced. (Fourth why) Why?  – The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (Fifth why, a root cause)

This approach takes 6 different variable categories and feeds the information together to help you visualize what factors within the business operations are contributing collectively to the same problem. One of the advantages of this method is that it forces us to view the problem holistically, rather than the potentially blinkered approach of the 5 Whys.

According to the Six Sigma Institute , the 6 key variables are:

Machine : This category groups root causes related to tools used to execute the process. Material : This category groups root causes related to information and forms needed to execute the process. Nature : This category groups root causes related to our work environment, market conditions, and regulatory issues. Measure : This category groups root causes related to the process measurement. Method : This category groups root causes related to procedures, hand-offs, input-output issues. People : This category groups root causes related people and organizations.

You might already be familiar with the Pareto Chart. The purpose of the Pareto approach for us is to understand which variations have the highest impact on our output; it helps us determine the Vital Few.

If the other techniques assist in finding variations and identifying potential root causes, the Pareto Chart allows us to prioritize which root causes to target first to have the greatest impact on improvement in relation to our stated objectives.

Determine the Y=f(x) Relationship

Once we’ve identified the Vital Few, we’re able to return to our Y=f(x) formula.

Remember, Y is simply a variable which is defined by the relationship between our Xs and their functions. So, if we want to improve Y then we should identify which X has the biggest impact on the Y value and improve that X.

Our ultimate aim is to better understand the relationship represented by this formula and to round out errors from it. For example, there may be an X which has a major impact on Y but is not due to a process problem but simply a natural or unchangeable element of the manufacturing process. In which case, we need to identify that this particular X, while important, is not one we can tackle as part of our process improvement.

Our job isn’t just to find the Xs which contribute to Y, but to find the right Xs.

Improve: Work out how defects could be reduced

The improve section of the DMAIC process is where we take advantage of all the preparatory work we’ve done so far.

Our goal here is to highlight our Xs and look to maximize the performance of those inputs. The key element of the Six Sigma approach is the importance of doing this through mathematical and scientific means.

Perform Design of Experiments

Our Design of Experiments (DOE) is probably the key step to getting this right and achieving the improvements we want to make.

This DOE approach highlights the relationships between different Xs and the output (Y). Factorial experiments are one of the crucial methods to show how different Xs can relate to each other.

Controllable input factors .

These are your Xs. These are variables within the process which we can experiment with and change. In baking a cake this might include the number of eggs or the amount of flour.

Uncontrollable input factors .

These are variables which may have arisen earlier in the investigation but we can’t act upon. In a baking scenario it might refer to the resting temperature of the kitchen. Or, to make an infrastructural analogy, the capacity of the oven – a factory might produce more goods if it was bigger, but increasing its size might be prohibitively expensive, for example.

Responses .

This is the extent to which the output services the customer needs and wants. In baking this could refer to a simple taste test. This factor, like the others, would need to be quantified. “Good or bad” is not enough; a score out of 10 from the customer averaged out as a final percentage figure from all testing would be a more effective approach.

Hypothesis testing .

In a hypothesis test there are two potential outcomes: null and alternative. A hypothesis test focuses the accuracy of a hypothesis with each test. The null hypothesis is valid if the status quo is true. The alternative hypothesis is true if the status quo is not valid. We get our results by analyzing significance which means results are based on probabilities – so get your p-values at the ready!

In baking, we might have a brand name cake mix which declares that it takes on average 30 minutes to bake. You might classify this as your hypothesis. The null hypothesis would be that the average amount of time it takes to bake this particular cake is in fact 30 minutes. But you can’t have a null hypothesis without an alternative hypothesis. You should select your alternative hypothesis in advance in order to construct the experiment properly. We have 3 choices of alternative hypotheses to choose from:

• The average time to bake the cake is not 30 minutes (not equal)
• The average time to bake the cake is more than 30 minutes (greater than)
• The average time to bake the cake is less than 30 minutes (less than)

The formula for checking whether the average baking time is 30 minutes or not would be:

Ho:μ=30  versus  Ha:μ≠30

Blocking and Replication .

Blocking and replication are fortunately much simpler concepts. Blocking is just about making sure the conditions for each experiment are the same; use the same stirrer and tray to bake the cakes with. And replication is simply the principle of running the experiment multiple times to gain more accurate results – a great excuse to bake extra cakes.

Interaction .

This refers to a situation where an experiment has three or more variables and the simultaneous influence of two of the variables on the third is not additive. Sadly, my knowledge of baking has let the analogy down on this one. My bad.

Two-Level Factorial Design

This experiment will be constructed to look at 3 variables where each can be tested at a low or high level. This kind of structure gives us the ability to investigate deeper into a process yet is still simple enough for us to see how the experiment works.

Consider our process to be baking a cake. Our three variables are the Vital Few we identified in our Analysis stage. They are:

• Brand of flour
• The temperature of baking
• The baking time

Taste-testing will be a score out of 10 with the average multiplied by 10 to give a percentage result. The crust-formation will be measured by weight with lighter crusts being the goal.

The simplest overview of ANOVA tables can be found here , and it gives us this handy summary:

It doesn’t look at the differences between pairs of group means; instead, it looks at how the entire collection of group means is spread out and compares that to how much you might expect those means to spread out if all the groups were sampled from the same population (that is, if there were no true differences between the groups).

Which means roughly that our ANOVA table on taste testing will look at how all the results impact on taste to see how each group should impact on taste and then tells us how each group performs relative to that expected impact; higher or lower impact.

All this is conveyed through the F Ratio which tells us about the levels of variance between the groups relative to the variance within the groups.

If the null hypothesis is true, then F should be close to 1. The further F is from 1 the more it suggests the alternative hypothesis to be true. In the case of our experiments, the higher F is the more important an input factor is on output.

Develop Potential Solutions

With a strong working knowledge of your business processes and systems, you’re now able to develop solutions which can tackle the key issues hindering output within the business.

The results of the DOE tests can also assist in that optimization process as the visual graph above shows. This data gathered from varying iterations of your key potential Xs, provides a series of potential avenues to explore.

When constructing the different options for solutions make sure to propose enough to test and evaluate.

These solutions should be rooted in the deep analysis you’ve undertaken.

Assess Failure Modes of Potential Solutions

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis is a method which can identify risk ahead of time. This quasi-predictive process analysis tool can help you evaluate the details of your proposed business process solutions.

You can read more about FMEA in a previous article of mine:  FMEA: The Analysis Method to Prevent the £100m British Airways Catastrophe .

Validate Potential Improvement by Pilot Studies

Lastly, to complete the Improve section of our DMAIC process, it’s important to test out the solutions which have made it to this point.

The few solutions you’re left with can be part-deployed live in controlled conditions as part of a pilot study to gage their relative effectiveness.

The Process Owner can map out the design for these pilots and the Black Belt can manage the pilots in practice.

The performance of the proposed solutions should leave you with an overall best performing process improvement solution based on output. To measure these proposed solutions effectively, try to calculate the Sigma Baseline as before.

Control: Plan out how you will implement your solutions

The Control section is all about putting processes and procedures in place to make sure the implementation of the new solution runs smoothly and can be tracked and optimized over time.

Ultimately, the rest of the DMAIC process prior to this stage was dedicated to the Xs whereas the Control stage is devoted to the Y; the output.

Standardize and Document Processes

This is the most obvious step and echoes what we always discuss in our articles on Process Street .

To implement a new process, you need to make sure each step is documented thoroughly and it is mapped out in a way which is actionable and provides space for measurement.

These processes should be consistent at all times and this can be achieved through simply standardizing approaches across teams.

Prepare Implementation Plan

This task may be planned by the Process Owner and implemented by the Black Belt, though different companies might look to do it in different ways.

The important factors here concern how the new process can be effectively integrated into the company workflow .

• What teams within the company need to adapt to suite the new process?
• Does this change need to be simultaneous or can it be rolled out iteratively?
• Do we require multiple Six Sigma advocates to embed into each team for implementation?
• What budget or resources does the Champion need to secure to ensure effective rollout?
• When does implementation begin?
• What is the target date for complete implementation of the new process?

All of these questions should be answered in the drafting of a report so that the company can act upon our DMAIC work.

Additionally, it is important to create a Response Plan which tackles the what ifs of managing the process. This would come under the realm of risk management as it looks at putting processes and procedures in place for if problems occur within the process or are seen in the output.

Implement Statistical Process Control

Once your process is standardized and documented, implementation must undergo monitoring. One industry standard approach to process monitoring is Statistical Process Control.

Statistical Process Control (SPC) was originally developed in 1924 by Walter Shewhart. It is used to monitor and control the output parameters of a process.

A short definition is given to us by InfinityQS :

Quality data in the form of Product or Process measurements are obtained in real-time during manufacturing. This data is then plotted on a graph with pre-determined control limits. Control limits are determined by the capability of the process, whereas specification limits are determined by the client’s needs.

This basically means that we gather quantifiable data about the process and look at the size of the output vs the quality of the output.

On the graph you make, you’ll set control limits. These define an acceptable range which your process should operate within. When data points start appearing outside of this range, this acts as a red flag to show us that variations are occurring.

If done properly, these red flags should catch variations before variations result in defects; allowing us to tackle process problems before they result in output or product problems.

Use DMAIC to help you reach your Six Sigma goals

Once you’ve successfully undertaken your DMAIC project, you might think your job is done.

A crucial part of any lean Six Sigma process is to keep the principle of continuous improvement in mind. Within lean philosophies we might refer to this as Kaizen. In Japanese this translates to “change for better”, but within the world of process improvement it has come to reflect a continuous iterative model for gradual change.

Once one Six Sigma project is done, it is likely time to move onto the next.

If you can reach your goal of Six Sigma then your processes will be functioning at the highest industry standards and your business will be in the best position it can be.

It’s up to you to make sure the rest of the business runs as effectively as your best processes!

Are you a Six Sigma enthusiast? Have you employed DMAIC in your business before? Let me know in the comments your experiences, tips, and tricks!

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Adam Henshall

I manage the content for Process Street and dabble in other projects inc language exchange app Idyoma on the side. Living in Sevilla in the south of Spain, my current hobby is learning Spanish! @adam_h_h on Twitter. Subscribe to my email newsletter here on Substack: Trust The Process . Or come join the conversation on Reddit at r/ProcessManagement .

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DMAIC Model | The 5 Phase DMAIC Process to Problem-Solving

• 5 mins to read
• July 1, 2020
• By Reagan Pannell

Summary: An Introduction to DMAIC

Dmaic – the dmaic model.

The 6 Sigma DMAIC model remains the core roadmap for almost all Lean Six Sigma problem-solving approaches that drive quality improvement projects. It is used to ensure a robust problem-solving process is followed to give the best chance of the best solution being found.

A note about the structure and the approach used in this article.

Our approach to DMAIC follows Quentin Brook’s book “Lean Six Sigma & Minitab” which for anyone wishing to study Lean Six Sigma is a must for the  Green Belt Course  and the  Black Belt Course .

What is the dmaic model.

DMAIC is short for: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. These are the key phases that each project must go through to find the right solution. This flow is the concept behind DMAIC Analysis of an issue and its the DMAIC cycle all projects must go through.

As you can quickly see from the 5 DMAIC phases they follow a logical sequence as we will go through in more detail below. But they also make sure you do not try to jump to implementing a solution before you have properly, defined and measured what you are going to be an improvement.

We all love to jump to solutions, but the DMAIC problem-solving structure helps us have a more rigorous approach so that we do not short cut the process and perhaps miss the best solution or perhaps implement the wrong solution as well. It can help companies better structure their problem-solving approaches and be more robust in their approach. 

DMAIC – The 5 DMAIC Process Phases

The phases throughout the DMAIC model have and can be broken down in many different ways. One of the best approaches we have found is from Opex Resources which shows how to examine the existing processes, and with a project team, and the sigma improvement process, we can solve complex issues.

DMAIC Define Phase

The purpose of the Define phase is ultimately to describe the problems that need to be solved and for the key business decision-makers to be aligned on the goal of the project. Its about creating and agreeing the project charter .

All too often, teams have identified solutions without actually defining what it is they will actually be trying to do or perhaps not do. This can lead to internal confusion and often solutions which completely miss the business requirements and needs.

• Define the Business Case
• Understand the Consumer
• Define The Process
• Manage the Project
• Gain Project Approval

DMAIC Measure Phase

In the measure phase, the goal is to collect the relevant information to baseline the current performance of the product or the process. In this stage, we want to identify the level of “defects” or the errors that go wrong and use the baseline to measure our progress throughout the project.

The key goal of this phase is to have a very strong and clear measure/baseline of how things are performing today so that we can always monitor our progress towards our goals. We need to understand our cycle times , process times, quality metrics.

Many projects are delivered without clear benefits being shown because the team never fully baseline the current status before making changes.

The Measure phase can be broken down into 5 key areas:

• Develop Process Measures
• Collect Process Data
• Check the Data Quality
• Understand Process Behaviour
• Baseline Process Capability and Potential

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DMAIC Analyse Phase

The goal of the DMAIC Analyse phase with the lean six sigma improvement process is to identify which process inputs or parameters have the most critical effect on the outputs. In other words, we want to identify the root cause(s) so that we know what critical elements we need to fix.

During this phase, the teams need to explore all potential root causes using both analytical approaches, statistical approaches or even graphical tools such as VSM’s and Process maps to uncover the most important elements which need to be changed/fixed.

The Analyse phase can be broken down into:

• Analyse the Process
• Develop Theories and Ideas
• Analyse the Data
• and finally, Verify Root Causes 

DMAIC Improve Phase

The goal of the improvement phase is to identify a wide range of potential solutions before identifying the critical solutions which will give us the maximum return for our investment and directly fix the root cause we identified.

During this phase, the team brainstorm, pilot, test and validate potential improvement ideas before finally implementing the right solutions. With each pilot, the team can validate how well it improves the key measures they identified back in Define and Measure. When the team finally roll out the solution, the results should be seen if the right solution has been found and implemented correctly.

The Improve phase can be broken down into:

• Generate Potential Solutions
• Select the Best Solution
• Assess the Risks
• Pilot and Implement

DMAIC Control Phase

The final part of the DMAIC Model is the Control phase where we need to ensure that the new changes become business as normal and we do not revert to the same way of working as before.

During this phase, we want to ensure that we close the project off by validating the project savings and ensuring the new process is correctly documented. We also need to make sure that new measures and process KPI’s are in place and, finally that we get the business champion to sign off on both the project and the savings. We may need to redesign the workplace following the 5S principles .

The Control phase can be broken down into:

• Implement Ongoing Measurements
• Standardise Solutions
• Quantify the Improvement
• Close The Project

The key closing documents of the Control Phase is a Control Plan that documents all the changes and process steps with key risks, standard work instructions and the Project Close-Out document signed by the business owners to accept the change and the validated benefits.

The DMAIC Model vs. A3 Management vs. 8D Problem Solving

The DMAIC model is not the only project management roadmap. Two others which are important is the A3 format which originally comes from Toyota and is very Lean focused and the 8D which draws more of the DMAIC structure but with the 1-page idea of the A3.

Everyone has their own preference but each method is interchangeable. The DMAIC Structure lends its self naturally to a multi-slide Powerpoint presentation. Whereas the A3 is a single-page document which is perfect for internal communication and adding into War Rooms and Control Towers.

What’s important is that every problem-solving approach follows the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Act) Scientific Problem Solving format. The reset is just a preference or using the right tool in the right circumstances.

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Reagan Pannell is a highly accomplished professional with 15 years of experience in building lean management programs for corporate companies. With his expertise in strategy execution, he has established himself as a trusted advisor for numerous organisations seeking to improve their operational efficiency.

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Five Phases of Lean Six Sigma: A Complete Guide

• Written by Contributing Writer
• Updated on March 21, 2023

Customer expectations and behavior are constantly changing. Competition in nearly every industry seems to be intensifying. Profitability and growth now depend in large part on the efficiency of products and services and their speed to market.

Six Sigma is a process that organizations employ to optimize business processes for the most efficient and cost-effective approach while producing continuous product improvements.

In this article, we’ll explain the Six Sigma methodology, explore its benefits and challenges, and detail the five phases of Lean Six Sigma with examples.

What is the Six Sigma Methodology?

The Six Sigma methodology identifies defects and roadblocks that hinder performance, enabling companies to use strategies to streamline processes, decrease production variation, and improve the quality of products and services.

Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to establishing a culture committed to continuous process improvement. When implemented effectively and consistently, Six Sigma provides a framework for repeatable and systematic problem-solving.

Also Read: Six Sigma Methodologies for Process Improvement

What Is the Difference Between Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma?

Six Sigma focuses on creating rigid consistency to reduce process variation and enhance process control. Lean Six Sigma eliminates processes that do not add value to promote more streamlined workflows.

In short, Six Sigma emphasizes reduction in variation using processes such as:

• Statistical data analysis
• Design of experiments
• Hypothesis testing

Lean Six Sigma focuses on reductions in waste using processes such as:

• Workplace organization
• Visual controls

In most cases, organizations today incorporate both methodologies into their Six Sigma quality management practices.

What Are the Benefits of Six Sigma?

The benefits of Six Sigma and the DMAIC process include:

Improvements in Quality

By focusing on identifying and eliminating defects and wasted steps in processes, organizations can improve the quality of operations and products or services.

Increases in Efficiency

Six Sigma identifies roadblocks and inefficiencies in systems. Efficiency and productivity gains provide significant results in many cases. In manufacturing, for example, these efficiencies can improve quality, turnaround times, and cycle times for equipment.

More Efficient Decision Making

By putting quantifiable data at the heart of decisions, organizations can reduce making decisions based on intuition or assumptions. Instead, decisions are made based on facts and evidence and are measured against baselines for continuous improvement.

Improved Customer or End-User Satisfaction

When organizations can streamline processes to produce faster or higher-quality results, it improves customer satisfaction. This, in turn, can generate more loyal customers and higher customer retention levels.

Cost Savings

There can be significant financial benefits from implementing a Six Sigma methodology. Increased efficiency reduces waste and defects, creates efficiencies and streamlines processes, and produces better customer satisfaction.

Competitive Advantage

Organizations that utilize the five phases of Lean Six Sigma methodology can gain a competitive advantage in several ways, including delivering higher-quality products or services more efficiently and cost-effectively than their competitors.

Employee Engagement

Not to be overlooked in the five phases of Six Sigma are the benefits to employee engagement. Project teams typically include employees from various disciplines. Working together to understand problems and develop solutions encourages teamwork and is fundamental to creating a culture of continuous improvement.

Involving team members in the process also creates buy-in since team members have a stake in the success of the Six Sigma process.

Also Read: Six Sigma Principles: A Comprehensive Guide to Implementing and Optimizing Your Processes

What is DMAIC?

DMAIC is an acronym for the five phases of Six Sigma.

The DMAIC phases are an iterative process used to seek quality improvement by focusing on the process to create more efficient and permanent solutions. DMAIC provides the structure to the process, enabling project teams to use specific tools and deliverables that lead to process improvements. While most teams work through DMAIC in a linear fashion, it isn’t mandatory to do it this way. The process itself encourages team members to backtrack to previous steps, especially when additional information or insight is needed.

The Five Phases of Lean Six Sigma

Each of the five phases of Six Sigma is data-driven and focuses on standardizing an organization’s approach to problem-solving. So, let’s dig deeper into the DMAIC phases.

Phase 1: Define

In the define stage, team members work together to identify the information they’ll need to break down components of a problem or process and create smaller actionable terms. Rather than focusing on abstract goals, it seeks quantifiable and qualifiable data to clearly identify the objective of the project.

Teams will identify the Critical to Quality (CTQ) attributes as determined by the end-user or customer — called the voice of the customer (VOC) — and create a process map, including process inputs and process outputs.

For example, a manufacturing company has identified a problem somewhere in their production process that is leading to product defects outside of acceptable ranges but doesn’t know where or why these defects occur. In the define phase, they would design the project scope and establish objectives, such as reducing the number of acceptable defects in the production process to a specific number.

Phase 2: Measure

The measure step of the DMAIC phases of the Six Sigma process assesses current processes and capabilities. While the goal is to make process improvements, teams need a clear understanding of the current conditions to judge the effectiveness of any future changes. Without a baseline, it’s hard to measure if you’ve made any progress.

In this phase, team members will measure the current process and create a baseline for future comparison.

For example, this phase would identify the frequency of the defects and information about potential causes, such as production line speed or equipment breakdowns, deviations in material or suppliers, or other mitigating factors.

Phase 3: Analyze

The analysis phase of the Six Sigma methodology takes a deep dive into the data that’s been gathered to isolate root causes of inefficiencies and identify defects. Teams in this phase often create detailed subprocess maps for every step with the goal of eliminating and streamlining steps to improve performance and quality.

Teams might deploy several analysis tools, such as Pareto charts or fishbone diagrams, to analyze the root causes of the high defect rate.

Teams also analyze the performance and financial benefits of solving a problem or improving a process.

Phase 4: Improve

After identifying the root cause of any issues, this phase focuses on finding the solution or improvement. Common methods include deploying a design of experiment model to isolate variables and test hypotheses until obstacles are uncovered.

Once process improvements are identified, teams create a proposed solution and then implement pilot programs to test, ensuring solutions meet project objectives and are financially viable.

As an outcome of analyzing the data, teams might redesign the production process, recommend upgrading equipment or maintenance procedures, or provide additional training to operators.

Phase 5: Control

The final step of the five phases of Lean Six Sigma involves documentation of the solutions created for process owners. This includes actionable steps, timelines, and milestones for implementation. In this phase, the control plan details the daily workflow.

The project team then monitors the project for a prescribed period to make sure the process meets performance expectations in real-world environments before turning it over to process owners.

In the control phase, organizations might implement control charts to tightly monitor production output and defect rates, the impact of operator training, and any other solutions deployed.

Each of the five phases of Six Sigma works together to create a repeatable template for improving business processes. When fully integrated into an organization’s culture, it enables teams to innovate new solutions, measure effectiveness and efficiency, and create quantifiable process improvements.

Also Read: Six Sigma vs. Lean Six Sigma: Which Methodology Is Right for Your Business?

Challenges with Implementing Six Sigma

Even though Six Sigma can help your team become more efficient and cost-effective, there are implementation challenges when it comes to DMAIC phases.

The five phases of Lean Six Sigma examine increasingly minute details and micro-steps in every aspect of task completion. This can be challenging for team members to accomplish without experienced project managers that are trained in Six Sigma methodologies. Organizations need team members that understand statistical training and quantifying data points effectively in order to successfully implement this methodology — it’s not something you can pick up on the fly.

Implementing Six Sigma Tools

There’s also a learning curve for the diverse set of tools required to uncover root causes and validate potential solutions. Throughout the DMAIC process, teams may need to be proficient in using tools such as:

• Pareto charts
• Gage R&R
• Process capability upper and lower bounds
• Attribute agreement analysis
• ANOVA statistical modeling
• Regression equations
• Control charts
• Statistical process control (SPC)
• Value stream mapping

Other tools may also be needed depending on industry and functionality. As you can see, some of these tools are incredibly specific and scientific, so it can be tricky to implement if someone on your team isn’t familiar enough with them while going through the five phases of Lean Six Sigma

Organizational Commitment

Effective Six Sigma implementation required buy-in across the wider organization, starting at the very top. Without proper funding, resources, and continued support, the process can be ineffective. In some cases, this leads to incomplete solutions, lack of follow-through, or failure to embrace workplace changes.

To be successful, Six Sigma needs to be embraced and become part of the company culture.

Also Read: Value Stream Mapping in Six Sigma

Fast Track Your Career in Quality Management

Efficiently deploying Six Sigma methodologies and DMAIC phases requires training and expertise. Professionally-trained and certified Six Sigma professionals can make substantive contributions to organizational improvement and earn a lucrative career as a Six Sigma expert.

If you are looking to fast-track your career in Quality Management, an accredited Six Sigma course can help. You can get hands-on experience and mentoring as you solve real-world business processes and learn about:

• Agile management
• Lean management
• Six Sigma Green Belt
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
• Quality management
• Digital transformation

Become a Lean Six Sigma Expert with the post graduate program delivered by Simplilearn in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts. Download the program brochure to learn more about the Lean Six Sigma course. This program is accredited by the International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC) and has professors who can share real-world experiences to help bring these complicated concepts to life.

You might also like to read:

The Top 24 Lean Six Sigma Interview Questions for 2023

Six Sigma Methodologies for Process Improvement

Ultimate Guide to Six Sigma Control Charts

Process Mapping in Six Sigma: Here’s All You Need to Know

What Are the Elements of a Six Sigma Project Charter?

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DMAIC Overview

Posted by Ted Hessing

DMAIC is Six Sigma’s signature framework for process improvement. It provides a structured way of improving a process.

Key Attributes

A DMAIC improvement process:

• Is data-driven.
• Is followed in a strict sequence.
• Uses all five steps.

The Five DMAIC Stages

The five stages we use are:

• Define : Collate what we already know about the existing process.
• Measure : Collect further data about the existing process.
• Analyze : Identify the core problems that we’ll address.
• Improve : Plan, test, and implement solutions.
• Control : Set up supports to ensure that successful solutions are sustainable.

Note how this is reminiscent of the Deming wheel or Shewhart Wheel: Plan-Do-Study-Act ).

History of DMAIC

Michel Harry & Bill Smith created “MAIC” – the methodology that evolved to become DMAIC.

Harry includes the following strategy elements in the traditional approach to Six Sigma:

• (R) Recognize the true state of your business
• (S) Standardize the systems that prove to be best-in-class
• (I) Integrate best-in-class systems into the strategic planning framework.

What’s the difference between Six Sigma and DMAIC?

Six Sigma and DMAIC are closely related, as DMAIC is the problem-solving methodology used in Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to process improvement that aims to minimize defects and variability in products and services. It uses statistical analysis and other tools to identify and eliminate the root causes of defects, and ultimately improve business performance.

DMAIC, on the other hand, is the acronym that describes the five-step problem-solving process used in Six Sigma projects. It stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. DMAIC provides a structured and disciplined approach to problem-solving that enables organizations to achieve Six Sigma levels of quality and efficiency.

Can you use DMAIC outside of Six Sigma?

Absolutely! DMAIC can be used for non-Six Sigma purposes as well.

DMAIC is a structured and disciplined problem-solving methodology that can be applied to a wide range of industries and situations beyond just Six Sigma. The five steps of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) provide a framework for identifying and eliminating problems, improving processes, and achieving better outcomes.

For example, DMAIC can be used in healthcare to improve patient care processes, reduce medical errors, and increase patient satisfaction. In the software industry, DMAIC can be used to identify and fix software bugs, improve user experience, and optimize software development processes. In construction, DMAIC can be used to improve safety practices, reduce waste, and increase productivity.

The key benefit of using DMAIC outside of Six Sigma is that it provides a standardized and data-driven approach to problem-solving that can be applied in any industry or situation. By using DMAIC, organizations can identify and address the root causes of problems, improve processes, and achieve better outcomes, regardless of whether they are formally practicing Six Sigma or not.

The DMAIC Phases

Define phase.

In the Define phase, you collate a lot of information you already have available. You’ll:

• Understand the project, including its purpose and scope.
• Map the current process.
• Determine whether the process is a good candidate for DMAIC.
• Detail customer expectations.
• Estimate timelines and costs.

Should you use DMAIC?

Some projects aren’t suitable for this process. For example:

• It’s already very clear what the problem is and how to solve it.
• There’s no or little available data on the process to be improved.
• Managers and leaders do not support improvements to this process.
• The process does not directly impact key performance indicators.
• Measuring process improvements would be difficult or impossible.

Further information about the Define phase

For more information about the Define phase, the steps to go through, and the tools to use, see Define Phase (DMAIC) .

Measure Phase

You’ve mapped the existing process, understood the project, and decided that this is a good DMAIC candidate. You’ve listed customer expectations and estimated the times and costs involved.

Your next phase involves a lot of measurements. You need to have baseline figures to assess progress accurately in later phases.

During this phase, you will:

• Identify the data that you need to collect.
• Decide what measurements to use.
• Figure out what methods to use to collect your measurements.
• Determine the level of variation that you’ll be dealing with.
• Collect the data as per previous points.

Further information about the Measure phase

For more information about the Measure phase, the steps to go through, and the tools to use, see Measure Phase (DMAIC) .

Analyze Phase

In the Analyze phase, you work with the data that you collected in the Measure phase. You’ll:

• Identify defect causes.
• Analyze these to pinpoint the root cause.

Further information about the Analyze phase

For more information about the Analyze phase, the steps to go through, and the tools to use, see Analyze Phase (DMAIC) .

Improve Phase

You’ve identified the root cause of your issue in the Analyze phase. Now you need to come up with a solution. You’ll:

• Pull in people who perform or oversee the process.
• Brainstorm potential solutions.
• Determine criteria for selecting a solution.
• Weigh potential solutions against the criteria.
• Pick a solution.
• Test the chosen solution.
• Measure the results and compare them to the Measure phase data.

Further information about the Improve phase

For more information about the Improve phase, the steps to go through, and the tools to use, see Improve Phase (DMAIC) .

Control Phase

Once you’re happy that the chosen solution will improve the process, it’s time to implement the Control phase. This is where you actually implement the said solution, but there are some other tasks too:

• Document the solution.
• Collect data about how the solution is working in production.
• Put supports in place to ensure the solution is permanent, not temporary.
• Set up a plan to deal with any issues that might arise.
• Plan handover to the operations personnel.

Further information about the Control phase

For more information about the Control phase, the steps to go through, and the tools to use, see Control Phase (DMAIC) .

DMAIC Tollgate Reviews

You’ll typically review progress regularly with your sponsors. This kind of review, especially when ending one phase and moving on to the next, is called a Tollgate review.

Learn more about DMAIC tollgate reviews here.

Comments (8)

Is there suppose to be a “what makes a good DMAIC project” video attached?

There will be soon. We’re currently reconstructing this page to have a different organization and more details.

Can DMAIC tools or methodology can be used in FOCUS PDCA project? what tools are relevant? What tools are not relevant?

I hadn’t heard of FOCUS so thank you for mentioning it so I could look it up.

DMAIC is an offshoot of the PDCA process (As is Agile and many other frameworks) so I’m inclined to say yes, it is.

Here’s how I would see it stacking up:

Plan -> D: Define, M: Measure, A: Analyze Do – > I: Implement. Check -> C: Control. Act -> C: Control (specifically Control Plans which could be a simple process, return to Implement and do a new thing, or even return to Define / Measure / Analyze)

Thanks for the great question!

Hi, could DMAIC be used as a root cause analysis method, specifically for the resolution of failures/problems/deviations not necessarily generated in a project but by normal operations within a process?

Hi Jennifer,

DMAIC is an acronym for the framework (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). Root cause analysis is one step inside the Analysis phase.

I just wanted to let you know that while studying for my Green Belt in Six Sigma I have found this an invaluable resource that has demystified the whole concept of lean and DMAIC! I work in the intellectual disability sector where it is not the norm to apply lean / DMAIC to quality improvement, but where it absolutely can be applied to great effect. Thanks and kind regards, Emer

Thank you so much for the kind words, Emer! We work hard to make these concepts clear and it’s gratifying to know it’s helpful!

I don’t want to presuppose, but you might be interested in a few articles that Jamie Garret contributed about how he applied Lean Six Sigma teaching – another field where Six Sigma is not traditionally applied.

• How Lean Six Sigma Saved my Teaching Career
• How Control Charts Made Me a Better Teacher
• How Advanced Control Charts Can Save Our Schools

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What Is Six Sigma?

Understanding six sigma, the 5 steps of six sigma.

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What Is Six Sigma? Concept, Steps, Examples, and Certification

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Investopedia / Zoe Hansen

Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools used to improve business processes. It was introduced in 1986 by engineer Bill Smith while working at Motorola. Six Sigma practitioners use statistics, financial analysis, and project management to identify and reduce defects and errors, minimize variation, and increase quality and efficiency.

The five phases of the Six Sigma method, known as DMAIC, are defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling.

Key Takeaways

• Six Sigma is a quality-control methodology that businesses use to significantly reduce defects and improve processes.
• The model was developed by a scientist at Motorola in the 1980s.
• Companies often use the Six Sigma model to increase efficiency and boost profits.
• Six Sigma practitioners can earn certifications modeled on the color belts used in martial arts.

Six Sigma is based on the idea that all business processes can be measured and optimized.

The term Six Sigma originated in manufacturing as a means of quality control. Six Sigma quality is achieved when long-term defect levels are below 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). 

Six Sigma has since evolved into a more general business concept, focusing on meeting customer requirements, improving customer retention, and improving and sustaining business products and services. Among its best-known proponents was the longtime General Electric CEO Jack Welch .

Six Sigma certification programs confer belt rankings similar to those in the martial arts, ranging from white belt to black belt.

The Six Sigma method uses a step-by-step approach called DMAIC, an acronym that stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. According to Six Sigma adherents, a business may solve any seemingly unsolvable problem by following these five steps.

A team of people, led by a Six Sigma expert, chooses a process to focus on and defines the problem it wishes to solve.

The team measures the initial performance of the process, creating a benchmark, and pinpoints a list of inputs that may be hindering performance.

Next the team analyzes the process by isolating each input, or potential reason for any failures, and testing it as the possible root of the problem.

The team works from there to implement changes that will improve system performance.

The group adds controls to the process to ensure it does not regress and become ineffective once again.

What Is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a team-focused managerial approach that seeks to improve performance by eliminating waste and defects while boosting the standardization of work. It combines Six Sigma methods and tools and the lean manufacturing/ lean enterprise  philosophy, striving to reduce the waste of physical resources, time, effort, and talent while assuring quality in production and organizational processes. Any use of resources that does not create  value  for the end customer is considered a waste and should be eliminated.

Six Sigma Certification and Belt Rankings

Individuals can obtain Six Sigma certification to attest to their understanding of the process and their skills in implementing it. These certifications are awarded through a belt system similar to karate training. The belt levels are:

• White belt : Individuals with a white belt have received some instruction in the basics of Six Sigma, but have not yet gone through any formal training or certification program. This gives them enough knowledge to become team members.
• Yellow belt : This level can be attained after several training sessions, and equips participants with the knowledge to lead small projects and assist managers who hold more advanced belts.
• Green belt : To achieve this level, individuals take a more comprehensive course that prepares them to become project leaders.
• Black belt : After reaching the green belt level, participants can move on to black belt certification, preparing them for leadership roles in larger and more complex projects.

People with black belts can become masters and champions. Someone with a master black belt is considered an expert and strong leader with excellent problem-solving skills. A champion is a lean Six Sigma leader trained in maximizing profits through the elimination of waste and defects.

These certifications, and the courses required to obtain them, are offered by a variety of companies and educational institutions and can differ from one to another.

Real-World Examples of Six Sigma

Six Sigma is used by many companies, local governments, and other institutions. Here are two examples of how Six Sigma improved operational efficiency, saved money, and increased customer satisfaction.

Microsoft (MSFT) is one of the largest software producers in the world. It used Six Sigma to help eradicate defects in its systems and data centers and systematically reduce IT infrastructure failures.

The company first established standards for all of its hardware and software to create a baseline measurement for detecting defects. It then used root-cause analysis, including collecting data from past high-priority incidents, server failures, and recommendations from product group members and customers, to pinpoint potential problem areas.

Large amounts of data were collected on a daily and weekly basis from various servers. The incidents were prioritized based on how severely the defects affected the business and the company's underlying services. Data analysis and reporting identified the specific defects, after which remediation steps for each defect were established.

As a result of Six Sigma, Microsoft says it improved the availability of its servers, boosted productivity, and increased customer satisfaction.

Ventura County, California, Government

Ventura County, California, credited the use of Lean Six Sigma for a savings of $33 million. The county government began to use the program in 2008 and has trained more than 5,000 employees in the methodology. The county says the savings are due in part to the introduction of more efficient new systems and the elimination of unnecessary, but time-consuming, steps from its prior processes.

For example, the VC Star newspaper reported in 2019 that the county saved "$51,000 with an appointments system that reduced labor costs and rates for maintenance of county vehicles [and] almost $400,000 annually by implementing a new system to track employee leaves of absence."

How Can You Get Six Sigma Certification?

You can receive Six Sigma certification through private companies, associations, and some colleges. Keep in mind, though, that there is no single governing body that standardizes the curriculum. This means that courses can vary based on where you take them.

Can You Get Six Sigma Certification Online?

Yes, many of the universities and organizations that offer Six Sigma certification have both classroom and online offerings.

What Is the Basic Difference Between Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma uses the Six Sigma methodology (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) with the specific goal of eliminating waste in a company's, or other organization's, processes or use or materials—that is, making it "leaner." It derives in part from the principles of lean manufacturing.

Six Sigma has become a widely used quality-improvement methodology in both the private and public sectors. Anyone who wishes to learn it can take courses that lead to various levels of certification.

ASQ. " What Is Six Sigma? "

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VC Star . " Efficiency Program Rooted in Car Business Drives $33 Million in Government Savings ."

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Six Sigma DMAIC Roadmap

Published: March 12, 2010 by iSixSigma-Editorial

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 experience level permits. You can read the main differences between DMAIC and DMADV , but we’ll focus on the DMAIC in this article.

While the DMAIC methodology presented above in the graphic and below in the listing may appear linear and explicitly defined, it should be noted that an iterative approach may be necessary – especially for Black Belts and Green Belts that are new to the tools and techniques that make up DMAIC. For instance, you may find that upon analyzing your data (Analyze phase) you did not gather enough data to isolate the root cause of the problem. At this point, you may iterate back to the Measure phase.

In addition, prior knowledge of the tools and techniques is necessary in determining which tools are useful in each phase. Remember, the appropriate application of tools becomes more critical for effectiveness than correctness, and you don’t need to use all the tools all the time.

As you can see, the power of the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology lies in the structure and the rigor. Of the hundreds of TQM tools that have been developed over the years, the most important ones (described above) are taught in detail by consultants to Black Belts and Master Black Belts.

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• Six Sigma: All you need to know about t ...

Six Sigma: All you need to know about the lean methodology

Six Sigma is a process improvement method that helps organizations improve their business processes. The end goal of Six Sigma is to reduce the amount of variations in a process as much as possible in order to prevent defects within your product. While this methodology is often used to optimize manufacturing processes, it can also be applied to other industries—including tech companies who produce digital products rather than physical ones.

Imagine your development team is in the process of putting the final touches together for a big product launch. When the product gets to the testing stage, the team catches several unanticipated bugs in the code. How can your team prevent this from happening in the future?

One way to do this is to implement an old manufacturing tool: the Six Sigma methodology.

What is Six Sigma?

The main philosophy of Six Sigma is that all processes can be defined, measured, analyzed, improved, and controlled (commonly referred to as the DMAIC method).

According to Six Sigma, all processes require inputs and outputs. Inputs are the actions that your team performs, and the outputs are the effects of those actions. The main idea is that if you can control as many inputs (or actions) as possible, you also control the outputs. 

Where does Six Sigma come from?

In 1809 , German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss first used the famous bell curve to explain measurement errors. In the 1920s , Walter Shewhart found that three sigma from the mean is the precise point where a process needs to be corrected. 

But it wasn’t until 1986 that the engineer and developer Bill Smith created the Six Sigma methodology for Motorola that we know today. Motorola used the methodology to identify the maturity of a process by its “sigma” rating, which indicates the percentage of products that are defect-free.

By definition, a Six Sigma process is one in which fewer than 3.4 defects per million opportunities occur. In other words, 99.9997% of opportunities are statistically expected to be free of defects.

Six Sigma is still commonly used in lean manufacturing and production because the process can be helpful in preventing and eliminating defects. However, this methodology can also be used in the service industry and with software engineering teams.

Lean Six Sigma

In general, the goal of a lean methodology is to drive out waste or anything that doesn’t add value to a product or process. The Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology values defect prevention over defect detection. This means that the goal of LSS is not to identify where the defect is, but to prevent defects from happening in the first place. 

The 5 key principles of Six Sigma

The Six Sigma methodology has five key principles you can use when analyzing your processes.

1. Focus on the customer

In Six Sigma, the goal is to ensure you can provide your customers with as much value as possible. This means your team should spend a lot of time identifying who your customers are, what their needs are, and what drives their behavior to purchase products. This principle works well for SaaS companies since they often focus on recurring revenue streams.

Identifying your customer’s wants and needs can help your team better understand how to retain customers and keep them coming back to your product.

This requires your team to understand the quality of product your customers would find acceptable, so you can meet or even exceed their expectations. Once you understand that level of quality, you can use it as a benchmark for production. 

2. Use data to find where variation occurs

Outline all of the steps of your current production process. Once you’ve done this, analyze and gather data on the current process to see if there are certain areas that can be optimized or areas that are causing a bottleneck in your workflow.

For example, consider how you share information with your team. Is everyone on your team getting the same information, or are they referencing outdated documents? Establishing a centralized location for all pertinent project information can help minimize the amount of time spent searching for the right documents.

Sometimes it can be challenging to decide what metrics you need to analyze. An easy way to figure this out is by working backward. Identify a goal you want to achieve and work back from there. For example, if your goal is to shorten production time, analyze how long each step in the production process takes.

3. Continuously improve your process

While you’re looking at your production process, consider any steps that don’t add value for your team or your end customers. Use tools such as value stream mapping to identify where you can streamline processes and decrease the amount of bottlenecks. 

The idea of making small improvements to your processes over time is known as kaizen , or continuous improvement. The philosophy behind continuous improvement is that if you’re making small changes over a long period of time, it can lead to major positive changes in the long run.

4. Get everyone involved

Six Sigma is a methodology that allows everyone on the team to contribute. However, this does require everyone on the team to have some training on the Six Sigma process to reduce the risk of creating more blockers instead of getting rid of them. 

Six Sigma works especially well when cross-functional teams are involved, because it provides a holistic view of how a process can affect all parts of your business. When you include representatives from all teams involved in a process, you give everyone insight into the improvements you’re making and how those changes might impact their teams.

We’ll dive into the different types of Six Sigma trainings and certifications later in this article.

5. Ensure a flexible and responsive ecosystem

Six Sigma is all about creating positive change for your customers. This means you should consistently look for ways to improve your processes, and your entire team should stay flexible so they can pivot without much disturbance.

This also means that processes need to be easily interchangeable. An easy way to do this is to break out processes into steps. If there’s an issue with just one step, then only that step needs to be fixed, as opposed to the entire process. 

The two main Six Sigma methodologies

There are two common processes within Six Sigma and they’re each used in different situations.

In general, the DMAIC method is the standard method to optimize existing processes. Alternatively, use the DMADV method when a process is not yet established and you need to create one.

DMAIC is an acronym, meaning each letter represents a step in the process. DMAIC stands for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control.

Define the system. Identify your ideal customer profile, including your customers’ wants and needs. During this stage you also want to identify the goals of your entire project as a whole.

Measure key aspects of current processes. Using the goals you established in the “define” stage, benchmark your current processes and use that data to inform how you want to optimize your project.

Analyze the process. Determine any root causes of problems and identify how variations are formed.

Improve or optimize your process. Based on the analysis from the previous step, create a new future state process. This means you should create a sample of the improved process and test it in a separate environment to see how it performs.

Control the future state process. If the results in the “improve” stage are up to your team’s standards, implement this new process into your current workflow. When doing this, it’s important to try and control as many variables as possible. This is often done using statistical process control or continuous monitoring.

DMAIC example

Your product team notices that the customer churn rate (the rate at which customers stop doing business with you) is increasing. To prevent this problem from getting worse, you can use the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to identify the issue and develop a solution. 

Define: The customer churn rate has increased from 3% to 7% in the last six months.

Measure: Your team has a lot of information about how prospective customers convert into actual customers, but there’s not much information about what happens after someone becomes a customer. You decide to analyze and measure user behavior after they purchase the product.

Analyze: After looking at the behavior of users after they become customers, your team notices that newer customers are having a harder time getting used to the new product UI than existing customers.

Improve: Your team decides to implement a “new customer onboarding” workflow that helps customers identify key parts of the product and how to use it. Your team works with the customer success team to help set best practices and create trainings. This gives the customer success team all the information they need to train new customers effectively and ensure customer satisfaction. 

Control: Your team monitors both the churn rate and how customers are behaving now that the changes have been implemented. After a few months, you notice the churn rate beginning to decrease again, so you choose to keep the new changes to the process.

The DMADV method is sometimes referred to as Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). DMADV stands for define, measure, analyze, design, and verify. Here’s what to do during each phase:

Define your goals. When defining goals for the new process you’re establishing, it’s important to consider both business goals and the goals of your ideal customer profile. 

Measure and identify CTQs. CTQ stands for “critical to quality.” These are the characteristics that define your perfect product. During this step you will identify how your new process can help achieve these CTQs and any potential risks that could impact quality.

Analyze to develop and design multiple options. When you’re designing a new production process, it’s important to have multiple options. Take a look at the different options you create and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each one. 

Design the chosen option. Based on the analysis in the previous step, take the next step and implement the option that best fits your needs. 

Verify the design and set up pilot runs. Once you finish implementing your process, it’s time to hand it over to process owners and measure how the process works. Once the process is up and running, then your team can optimize it using the DMAIC method. 

Six Sigma certification

Six Sigma is a multi-level training program . Much like in martial arts, each ranking is a different belt color that indicates a different body of knowledge and years of experience. The Six Sigma certification program breaks down into six different rankings—from white belt to champion:

White Belt : If you’re brand-new to the Six Sigma method, you’ll start out in this stage. Someone with a Six Sigma White Belt doesn’t need to have any formal training or certification in Six Sigma, but they understand the basic framework and guidelines. This means they can participate in waste reduction and quality control projects. 

Yellow Belt : This level requires some formal training and you can receive an official Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification. With a Yellow Belt you can help contribute to strategy more than you could with a White Belt. You can now assist higher-ups with problem solving and analysis.

Green Belt : With a Six Sigma Green Belt certification, you can start strategizing and implementing smaller process improvement techniques on your own.

Black Belt : Once you receive the Black Belt certification, you will be able to break down processes and handle more complex projects than any previous belts. In this training, you’re taught how to manage large-scale changes that can impact a business’s bottom line.

Master Black Belt : The Six Sigma Master Black Belt is an additional course that helps you enhance your current skills by deepening your understanding of Lean Six Sigma. You’ll learn more about statistical tools and cultivate a greater appreciation for the DMAIC method.

Champion : You can become a Six Sigma Champion with a final training that is typically helpful for senior managers and executives who want to become proficient in guiding project teams and leaders through the different DMAIC phases. 

While there is no unified standard for certification, the courses are designed to teach the essentials of the process and how to apply Six Sigma tools to your day-to-day work situations.

Track and improve workflows with Six Sigma

Improving your business processes ultimately helps reduce waste. As you brainstorm and analyze workflows, take time to pinpoint and address bottlenecks . Visualize each step in your production process so you can assign them to specific owners.

If you’re looking to improve your team’s workflows , it’s best to use software that helps connect your team and manage goals. Asana workflows can help you manage and automate how work is completed. Plus, you can easily alert other team members of workflow changes, make real-time adjustments, and create a single source of truth for your entire team.

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The Six Sigma Strategy's DMAIC Problem-Solving Method

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Six Sigma is a business management strategy that was initially developed by Motorola in the 1980s and is used by many Fortune 500 companies today. It is primarily used to identify and rectify errors in a manufacturing or business process.

The Six Sigma system uses a number of quality methods and tools that are used by Six Sigma trained professionals within the organization. The DMAIC problem-solving method can be used to help with any issue that arises, usually by professionals in the organization who have reached the "green belt" level.

The DMAIC Method

The DMAIC problem-solving method is a roadmap that can be used for any projects or quality improvements that need to be made. The term DMAIC stands for the five main steps in the process: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

• Define: It is important in Six Sigma to define the problem or project goals. The more specific the problem is defined, the greater the chance of obtaining measurements and then successfully completing the project or solving the problem. The definition should describe the issue accurately with numeric representation. For example, “damaged finished goods from the production line have increased 17 percent in the last three months." The definition of the problem or project should not be vague, such as, “quality has fallen.” As part of the definition stage, the scope of the project or issue should be defined, as well as the business processes involved.
• Measure: When the project or problem has been defined, decisions should then be made about additional measurements required to quantify the problem. For example, if the definition of the problem is “damaged finished goods from the production line have increased 17 percent in the last three months,” then additional measurements might need to be looked at. This includes what finished goods are being damaged, when they are being damaged, and the level of damage.
• Analyze: Once the measuring stage has defined the additional measurements, the data is then collected and analyzed. At this point, it is possible to determine whether the problem is valid or whether it is a random event that does not have a specific cause that can be corrected. The data that has been collected can be used as a base level to compare against measurements after the project has been completed to ascertain the success of the project.
• Improve: After measurements have been taken and analyzed, possible solutions can then be developed. Test data can be created and pilot studies launched to find which of the solutions offers the best improvements to the issue. The team should also look at the results to ensure that there are no unanticipated consequences to the selected solution. When the most appropriate solution is selected, then the team can develop an implementation plan and a timeline for the completion of the project.
• Control: After the implementation of the solution or project, a number of controls must be put in place so that measurements can be taken to confirm that the solution is still valid and to prevent a recurrence. The control measurements can be scheduled for specific dates, e.g., monthly, daily, and yearly. The solution should also be well documented and any other related process documentation updated.

The DMAIC problem-solving method can produce significant improvements for an organization that is using the Six Sigma methodology and tools. The method offers a five-step plan that gives organizations a roadmap to follow so that issues can be resolved using a structured methodology.

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Table of Contents

What is six sigma, what is lean six sigma, the 5 key principles of six sigma, the six sigma methodology, the six sigma process of business transformation, six sigma techniques, the six sigma tools, six sigma levels, what are the six sigma career choices and salary prospects, six sigma learning resources, what is six sigma: everything you need to know about it.

Reviewed and fact-checked by Sayantoni Das

The term "Six Sigma" refers to a statistical measure of how far a process deviates from perfection. A process that operates at six sigma has a failure rate of only 0.00034%, which means it produces virtually no defects. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola in the 1980s, and it has since been adopted by many other companies around the world, including General Electric, Toyota, and Amazon. It is used in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and service industries to improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and increase profits.

Check out this video to know more about Six Sigma:

Six Sigma is a set of methodologies and tools used to improve business processes by reducing defects and errors, minimizing variation, and increasing quality and efficiency. The goal of Six Sigma is to achieve a level of quality that is nearly perfect, with only 3.4 defects per million opportunities. This is achieved by using a structured approach called DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) to identify and eliminate causes of variation and improve processes.

Six Sigma is a disciplined and data-driven approach widely used in project management to achieve process improvement and minimize defects. It provides a systematic framework to identify and eliminate variations that can impact project performance.

The etymology is based on the Greek symbol "sigma" or "σ," a statistical term for measuring process deviation from the process mean or target. "Six Sigma" comes from the bell curve used in statistics, where one Sigma symbolizes a single standard deviation from the mean. If the process has six Sigmas, three above and three below the mean, the defect rate is classified as "extremely low." 

The graph of the normal distribution below underscores the statistical assumptions of the Six Sigma model . The higher the standard deviation, the higher is the spread of values encountered. So, processes, where the mean is minimum 6σ away from the closest specification limit, are aimed at Six Sigma.

Credit: Cmglee , via Wiki Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

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Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that combines two powerful process improvement techniques: Lean and Six Sigma.

Lean focuses on minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency by identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities. This involves streamlining processes, reducing defects, improving quality, and optimizing resources to deliver more value with less effort.

On the other hand, Six Sigma is a statistical approach to process improvement that aims to reduce variation and defects by using data-driven decision making. It involves defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling processes to achieve consistent and predictable results.

By combining the strengths of these two methodologies, Lean Six Sigma provides a comprehensive approach to process improvement that can be applied to any industry or sector. It is widely used in manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and service industries to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance customer satisfaction.

The concept of Six Sigma has a simple goal – delivering near-perfect goods and services for business transformation for optimal customer satisfaction (CX).

Goals are achieved through a two-pronged approach:

Six Sigma has its foundations in five key principles:

Focus on the Customer

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The two main Six Sigma methodologies are DMAIC and DMADV. Each has its own set of recommended procedures to be implemented for business transformation.

DMAIC is a data-driven method used to improve existing products or services for better customer satisfaction. It is the acronym for the five phases: D – Define, M – Measure, A – Analyse, I – Improve, C – Control. DMAIC is applied in the manufacturing of a product or delivery of a service.

DMADV is a part of the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) process used to design or re-design different processes of product manufacturing or service delivery. The five phases of DMADV are: D – Define, M – Measure, A – Analyse, D – Design, V – Validate. DMADV is employed when existing processes do not meet customer conditions, even after optimization, or when it is required to develop new methods. It is executed by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts and under the supervision of Six Sigma Master Black Belts. We'll get to the belts later.

The two methodologies are used in different business settings, and professionals seeking to master these methods and application scenarios would do well to take an online certificate program taught by industry experts.

Operations Manager or Auditor? Your Choice

Although what is Six Sigma uses various methods to discover deviations and solve problems, the DMAIC is the standard methodology used by Six Sigma practitioners. Six Sigma uses a data-driven management process used for optimizing and improving business processes. The underlying framework is a strong customer focus and robust use of data and statistics to conclude.  

The Six Sigma Process of the DMAIC method has five phases:

Each of the above phases of business transformation has several steps:

The Six Sigma methodology also uses a mix of statistical and data analysis tools such as process mapping and design and proven qualitative and quantitative techniques, to achieve the desired outcome.

Fig: Key Six Sigma Techniques in use

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is the key process of any problem-solving method and is often utilized in the "improve" phase of the DMAIC methodology. It is a necessary process before anyone starts using any tools. Brainstorming involves bouncing ideas and generating creative ways to approach a problem through intensive freewheeling group discussions. A facilitator, who is typically the lead Black Belt or Green Belt, moderates the open session among a group of participants.

Root Cause Analysis/The 5 Whys

This technique helps to get to the root cause of the problems under consideration and is used in the "analyze" phase of the DMAIC cycle.

In the 5 Whys technique, the question "why" is asked, again and again, finally leading up to the core issue. Although "five" is a rule of thumb, the actual number of questions can be greater or fewer, whatever it takes to gain clarity.

Voice of the Customer

This is the process used to capture the "voice of the customer" or customer feedback by either internal or external means. The technique is aimed at giving the customer the best products and services. It captures the changing needs of the customer through direct and indirect methods. The voice of the customer technique is used in the "define' phase of the DMAIC method, usually to further define the problem to be addressed.

The 5S System

This technique has its roots in the Japanese principle of workplace energies. The 5S System is aimed at removing waste and eliminating bottlenecks from inefficient tools, equipment, or resources in the workplace. The five steps used are Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set In Order), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize), and Shitsuke (Sustain).

Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)

The Kaizen technique is a powerful strategy that powers a continuous engine for business improvement. It is the practice continuously monitoring, identifying, and executing improvements. This is a particularly useful practice for the manufacturing sector. Collective and ongoing improvements ensure a reduction in waste, as well as immediate change whenever the smallest inefficiency is observed.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the technique that employs a set standard of measurement. It involves making comparisons with other businesses to gain an independent appraisal of the given situation. Benchmarking may involve comparing important processes or departments within a business (internal benchmarking), comparing similar work areas or functions with industry leaders (functional benchmarking), or comparing similar products and services with that of competitors (competitive benchmarking).

Poka-yoke (Mistake Proofing)

This technique's name comes from the Japanese phrase meaning "to avoid errors," and entails preventing the chance of mistakes from occurring. In the poka-yoke technique, employees spot and remove inefficiencies and human errors during the manufacturing process.

Value Stream Mapping

The value stream mapping technique charts the current flow of materials and information to design a future project. The objective is to remove waste and inefficiencies in the value stream and create leaner operations. It identifies seven different types of waste and three types of waste removal operations.

• Cause and Effect Analysis
• Pareto Chart
• Check Sheet
• Scatter Plot
• Control Chart

The Six Sigma training levels conform to specified training requirements, education criteria, job standards, and eligibility.

This is the simplest stage, where:

• Any newcomer can join.
• People work with teams on problem-solving projects.
• The participant is required to understand the basic Six Sigma concepts.

Yellow Belt

Here, the participant:

• Takes part as a project team member.
• Reviews process improvements.
• Gains understanding of the various methodologies, and DMAIC.

Green level

This level of expertise requires the following criteria:

• Minimum of three years of full-time employment.
• Understand the tools and methodologies used for problem-solving.
• Hands-on experience on projects involving some level of business transformation.
• Guidance for Black Belt projects in data collection and analysis.
• Lead Green Belt projects or teams.

Black Level

This level includes the following:

• Minimum of three years of full-time employment
• Work experience in a core knowledge area
• Proof of completion of a minimum  of two Six Sigma projects
• Demonstration of expertise at applying multivariate metrics to diverse business change settings
• Leading diverse teams in problem-solving projects.
• Training and coaching project teams.

Master Black Belt

To reach this level, a candidate must:

• Be in possession of a Black Belt certification
• Have a minimum of five years of full-time employment, or Proof of completion of a minimum of 10 Six Sigma projects
• A proven work portfolio, with individual specific requirements, as given here , for instance.
• Have coached and trained Green Belts and Black Belts.
• Develop key metrics and strategies.
• Have worked as an organization's Six Sigma technologist and internal business transformation advisor.

Fig: The five-tiered levels of Six Sigma Certification

Six Sigma is widely adopted by many industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and retail, and offers a range of career opportunities with attractive salary prospects. Here are some career choices and salary prospects in Six Sigma:

• Six Sigma Consultant: A Six Sigma consultant advises organizations on process improvements, identifies areas for cost savings, and develops strategies for implementation. The average salary for a Six Sigma consultant is around $96,000 per year.
• Six Sigma Project Manager: A Six Sigma project manager oversees Six Sigma projects, manages project teams, and ensures successful implementation of process improvements. The average salary for a Six Sigma project manager is around $107,000 per year.
• Six Sigma Black Belt : A Six Sigma Black Belt is responsible for leading Six Sigma projects, training team members, and ensuring sustained process improvements. The average salary is around $110,000 per year.
• Six Sigma Master Black Belt: It is the highest level of Six Sigma certification and is responsible for leading organizational Six Sigma initiatives, coaching and mentoring Six Sigma Black Belts and Green Belts, and driving business transformation. The average salary for a Six Sigma Master Black Belt is around $140,000 per year.
• Quality Manager: A Quality Manager ensures that an organization's products or services meet customer expectations, industry standards, and regulatory requirements. Six Sigma certification can be valuable for this role, and the average salary for a Quality Manager is around $91,000 per year.

Overall, Six Sigma offers various career opportunities with competitive salary prospects. Individuals with Six Sigma certification can expect higher salaries and better job prospects than those without certification.

So whether you are a graduate in any stream, an engineer, or an MBA professional, if you want to enhance your career prospects and salary gains, then make sure to get certified in Six Sigma courses. Begin with a Green Belt and climb your way up to Master Black belt to command your salary. As a fresher, you can start learning Six Sigma principles by enrolling into Simplilearn's Green Belt certificate program , and then avail the higher certificate levels as you gain work and project experience.

1. How Can You Get Six Sigma Certification?

Understanding the Management Philosophy of Your Organization, selecting between Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma, determining which Level Suits You, learning about the Tests Associated with it, Enrolling in a Training Course, and obtaining Your Certification are the steps to obtaining Six Sigma Certification.

2. What Does Six Sigma Mean?

Six Sigma is a quality improvement methodology for businesses that counts the number of flaws in a process and aims to systematically fix them. Businesses utilize it to get rid of flaws and enhance any of their procedures in an effort to increase earnings.

3. What Is the Difference Between Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma?

Lean and Six Sigma vary primarily in that Lean frequently affects all aspects of an organization rather than being solely focused on production. These two strategies are combined by Lean Six Sigma to produce a potent toolkit for dealing with waste reduction.

4. What Are the Steps of Six Sigma?

Six Sigma's five steps adhere to a methodology known to business insiders as DMAIC. The words "define, measure, analyze, enhance, and control" are all spelled out in this acronym.

5. What is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a method for improving performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation that relies on a collaborative team effort. Increased performance and decreased process variation contribute to defect reduction and improvements in profits, employee morale, and product or service quality.

6. What is continuous improvement?

Continuous improvement (also known as "rapid improvement") is a Lean improvement technique that aids in workflow optimization. The Lean method of working allows for efficient workflows that save time and money, allowing you to cut down on wasted time and effort.

7. What is Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt?

A Certified Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt from the Council for Six Sigma Certification (CSSC) is someone who has a basic understanding of Six Sigma but does not lead projects on their own. They are frequently in charge of creating process maps to support Six Sigma projects.

8. What is Lean Six Sigma Green Belt?

Six Sigma Green Belt is a certification course that provides you with hands-on experience with over 100 tools and techniques. These techniques are required for participation in DMAIC improvement projects. DMAIC is an acronym that stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

9. What is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt?

A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt has a thorough understanding of all aspects of the Lean Six Sigma Method, including a high level of competence in the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) phases as defined by the IASSC.

10. What are the Five Key Six Sigma Principles?

The success of Six Sigma relies on five fundamental principles:Customer Focus, Data-Driven Analysis, Proactive Improvement, Cross-Functional Collaboration, and Thoroughness and Flexibility.

11. What are Six Sigma steps?

The Six Sigma Methodology consists of five stages driven by data — Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC).

12. What is Six Sigma with an example?

Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology used to improve processes by minimizing defects and variations. For example, a manufacturing company may use Six Sigma to reduce the number of defective products produced by optimizing their production process.

13. What are Six Sigma tools?

14. what is the six sigma formula.

Utilizing the equation Y = f(x) aids in identifying cause and effect relationships within a project, enabling performance measurement and the discovery of areas for enhancement. 

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• The Art of Effective Problem Solving: A Step-by-Step Guide
• Learn Lean Sigma
• Problem Solving

Whether we realise it or not, problem solving skills are an important part of our daily lives. From resolving a minor annoyance at home to tackling complex business challenges at work, our ability to solve problems has a significant impact on our success and happiness. However, not everyone is naturally gifted at problem-solving, and even those who are can always improve their skills. In this blog post, we will go over the art of effective problem-solving step by step.

You will learn how to define a problem, gather information, assess alternatives, and implement a solution, all while honing your critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. Whether you’re a seasoned problem solver or just getting started, this guide will arm you with the knowledge and tools you need to face any challenge with confidence. So let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Problem solving methodologies.

Individuals and organisations can use a variety of problem-solving methodologies to address complex challenges. 8D and A3 problem solving techniques are two popular methodologies in the Lean Six Sigma framework.

Methodology of 8D (Eight Discipline) Problem Solving:

The 8D problem solving methodology is a systematic, team-based approach to problem solving. It is a method that guides a team through eight distinct steps to solve a problem in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

The 8D process consists of the following steps:

• Form a team: Assemble a group of people who have the necessary expertise to work on the problem.
• Define the issue: Clearly identify and define the problem, including the root cause and the customer impact.
• Create a temporary containment plan: Put in place a plan to lessen the impact of the problem until a permanent solution can be found.
• Identify the root cause: To identify the underlying causes of the problem, use root cause analysis techniques such as Fishbone diagrams and Pareto charts.
• Create and test long-term corrective actions: Create and test a long-term solution to eliminate the root cause of the problem.
• Implement and validate the permanent solution: Implement and validate the permanent solution’s effectiveness.
• Prevent recurrence: Put in place measures to keep the problem from recurring.
• Recognize and reward the team: Recognize and reward the team for its efforts.

Download the 8D Problem Solving Template

A3 Problem Solving Method:

The A3 problem solving technique is a visual, team-based problem-solving approach that is frequently used in Lean Six Sigma projects. The A3 report is a one-page document that clearly and concisely outlines the problem, root cause analysis, and proposed solution.

The A3 problem-solving procedure consists of the following steps:

• Determine the issue: Define the issue clearly, including its impact on the customer.
• Perform root cause analysis: Identify the underlying causes of the problem using root cause analysis techniques.
• Create and implement a solution: Create and implement a solution that addresses the problem’s root cause.
• Monitor and improve the solution: Keep an eye on the solution’s effectiveness and make any necessary changes.

Subsequently, in the Lean Six Sigma framework, the 8D and A3 problem solving methodologies are two popular approaches to problem solving. Both methodologies provide a structured, team-based problem-solving approach that guides individuals through a comprehensive and systematic process of identifying, analysing, and resolving problems in an effective and efficient manner.

Step 1 – Define the Problem

The definition of the problem is the first step in effective problem solving. This may appear to be a simple task, but it is actually quite difficult. This is because problems are frequently complex and multi-layered, making it easy to confuse symptoms with the underlying cause. To avoid this pitfall, it is critical to thoroughly understand the problem.

To begin, ask yourself some clarifying questions:

• What exactly is the issue?
• What are the problem’s symptoms or consequences?
• Who or what is impacted by the issue?
• When and where does the issue arise?

Answering these questions will assist you in determining the scope of the problem. However, simply describing the problem is not always sufficient; you must also identify the root cause. The root cause is the underlying cause of the problem and is usually the key to resolving it permanently.

Try asking “why” questions to find the root cause:

• What causes the problem?
• Why does it continue?
• Why does it have the effects that it does?

By repeatedly asking “ why ,” you’ll eventually get to the bottom of the problem. This is an important step in the problem-solving process because it ensures that you’re dealing with the root cause rather than just the symptoms.

Once you have a firm grasp on the issue, it is time to divide it into smaller, more manageable chunks. This makes tackling the problem easier and reduces the risk of becoming overwhelmed. For example, if you’re attempting to solve a complex business problem, you might divide it into smaller components like market research, product development, and sales strategies.

To summarise step 1, defining the problem is an important first step in effective problem-solving. You will be able to identify the root cause and break it down into manageable parts if you take the time to thoroughly understand the problem. This will prepare you for the next step in the problem-solving process, which is gathering information and brainstorming ideas.

Step 2 – Gather Information and Brainstorm Ideas

Gathering information and brainstorming ideas is the next step in effective problem solving. This entails researching the problem and relevant information, collaborating with others, and coming up with a variety of potential solutions. This increases your chances of finding the best solution to the problem.

Begin by researching the problem and relevant information. This could include reading articles, conducting surveys, or consulting with experts. The goal is to collect as much information as possible in order to better understand the problem and possible solutions.

Next, work with others to gather a variety of perspectives. Brainstorming with others can be an excellent way to come up with new and creative ideas. Encourage everyone to share their thoughts and ideas when working in a group, and make an effort to actively listen to what others have to say. Be open to new and unconventional ideas and resist the urge to dismiss them too quickly.

Finally, use brainstorming to generate a wide range of potential solutions. This is the place where you can let your imagination run wild. At this stage, don’t worry about the feasibility or practicality of the solutions; instead, focus on generating as many ideas as possible. Write down everything that comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous or unusual it may appear. This can be done individually or in groups.

Once you’ve compiled a list of potential solutions, it’s time to assess them and select the best one. This is the next step in the problem-solving process, which we’ll go over in greater detail in the following section.

Step 3 – Evaluate Options and Choose the Best Solution

Once you’ve compiled a list of potential solutions, it’s time to assess them and select the best one. This is the third step in effective problem solving, and it entails weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, considering their feasibility and practicability, and selecting the solution that is most likely to solve the problem effectively.

To begin, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. This will assist you in determining the potential outcomes of each solution and deciding which is the best option. For example, a quick and easy solution may not be the most effective in the long run, whereas a more complex and time-consuming solution may be more effective in solving the problem in the long run.

Consider each solution’s feasibility and practicability. Consider the following:

• Can the solution be implemented within the available resources, time, and budget?
• What are the possible barriers to implementing the solution?
• Is the solution feasible in today’s political, economic, and social environment?

You’ll be able to tell which solutions are likely to succeed and which aren’t by assessing their feasibility and practicability.

Finally, choose the solution that is most likely to effectively solve the problem. This solution should be based on the criteria you’ve established, such as the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, their feasibility and practicability, and your overall goals.

It is critical to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to problems. What is effective for one person or situation may not be effective for another. This is why it is critical to consider a wide range of solutions and evaluate each one based on its ability to effectively solve the problem.

Step 4 – Implement and Monitor the Solution

When you’ve decided on the best solution, it’s time to put it into action. The fourth and final step in effective problem solving is to put the solution into action, monitor its progress, and make any necessary adjustments.

To begin, implement the solution. This may entail delegating tasks, developing a strategy, and allocating resources. Ascertain that everyone involved understands their role and responsibilities in the solution’s implementation.

Next, keep an eye on the solution’s progress. This may entail scheduling regular check-ins, tracking metrics, and soliciting feedback from others. You will be able to identify any potential roadblocks and make any necessary adjustments in a timely manner if you monitor the progress of the solution.

Finally, make any necessary modifications to the solution. This could entail changing the solution, altering the plan of action, or delegating different tasks. Be willing to make changes if they will improve the solution or help it solve the problem more effectively.

It’s important to remember that problem solving is an iterative process, and there may be times when you need to start from scratch. This is especially true if the initial solution does not effectively solve the problem. In these situations, it’s critical to be adaptable and flexible and to keep trying new solutions until you find the one that works best.

To summarise, effective problem solving is a critical skill that can assist individuals and organisations in overcoming challenges and achieving their objectives. Effective problem solving consists of four key steps: defining the problem, generating potential solutions, evaluating alternatives and selecting the best solution, and implementing the solution.

You can increase your chances of success in problem solving by following these steps and considering factors such as the pros and cons of each solution, their feasibility and practicability, and making any necessary adjustments. Furthermore, keep in mind that problem solving is an iterative process, and there may be times when you need to go back to the beginning and restart. Maintain your adaptability and try new solutions until you find the one that works best for you.

• Novick, L.R. and Bassok, M., 2005.  Problem Solving . Cambridge University Press.

Daniel Croft

Daniel Croft is a seasoned continuous improvement manager with a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. With over 10 years of real-world application experience across diverse sectors, Daniel has a passion for optimizing processes and fostering a culture of efficiency. He's not just a practitioner but also an avid learner, constantly seeking to expand his knowledge. Outside of his professional life, Daniel has a keen Investing, statistics and knowledge-sharing, which led him to create the website learnleansigma.com, a platform dedicated to Lean Six Sigma and process improvement insights.

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The Seven A3 Problem Solving Steps in Detail

Step 1: Background This stage is where one makes the business case for resolving a specific issue. Once the choice is made, explain how the issue affects the company’s strategic goals in terms of clients, processes, finances, new products, and so on. Step 2: Problem Statement Describe the issue in detail. This may include the scope of the problem, the location and timing of the problem, and the effect of the problem on the company. This will help the company bring the issue to life by identifying these details on a quantitative scale. Step 3: Goal Statement Declare what they hope to achieve by starting the A3 problem-solving project in this phase. Make a list of the goals users want to accomplish and a timeline for achieving them. Step 4: Root Cause Analysis Once one has thoroughly identified the issue, perform a root cause analysis to figure out what’s causing it. Make an effort to be as informative as possible. Step 5: Countermeasures Create the countermeasure one will need to achieve the goal of solving the problem once one has identified the root causes. Create a comprehensive strategy outlining who will deploy the countermeasures and when they will be deployed. This move is made easier by following the 5WIH structure. Step 6: Effect Confirmation Examine the outcomes after applying the countermeasures. Determine if the countermeasures were effective in achieving the goal based on the results. Step 7: Follow Up Action Once one has had the results, set up the infrastructure to keep the gains going (such as standardization, audits, dashboards and reviews). Make sure to distribute the findings within the organisation, which is known as yoko-narabi-tenkai in Japanese, which translates to “lateral deployment of findings to other communities.”

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