Ken Feldman

Lean Six Sigma professionals, much like every other professional, love to talk in acronyms. The acronym of the day is DPMO. Let’s check out what it means.

If you stretch a rubber band and let it go, it will snap back to its original position. The same is true of your any process improvements you make. The control plan is intended to help you maintain the gains you have achieved. 

What does your process look like from 30,000 feet? Your extended process view can be described using COPIS, or customer, output, process, input, and supplier. Let’s get in our balloon and go up. 

Unfortunately, sometimes your process produces unacceptable output. These are usually referred to as defects or defectives. Let’s examine what a defective item is and contrast it with a defect. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a defective as: having a defect or flaw or imperfect in form, structure, or function. Simply put, a defect is a flaw […]

If you look at the dashboard of your car, you will see a display of the current real-time status of important metrics. You can do the same thing with your business metrics.

When doing hypothesis testing, there is a risk of making two types of errors. One of them is the consumer’s risk, which is when the null hypothesis is rejected when it shouldn’t have been. 

There are several metrics you can use to measure how well your process is performing. Let’s look at three of them and discuss how they are calculated and related. The three are DPMO, Sigma Level and Cpk. Convert DPMO/Sigma to Cpk  Before discussing how you can convert DPMO (defects per million opportunities) to sigma level […]

Would you expect the average of a sample to be the same as the average of the population from which it came? No. Why not? Because of randomness and sampling error. How should we handle that? Let’s find out.

Cp is one of the metrics calculated for determining whether your process is capable of meeting customer specifications or requirements. It is useful in comparing different functions and their ability to meet their unique specifications.

Often organizations do a root cause analysis after a problem has occurred. Is there something you can do as a preventive action prior to something happening. Let’s learn more about CAPA. Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) is a systematic approach used in various industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, and quality management, to identify and address the […]

Does your organization have a centralized department or function that monitors and tracks the performance of your operations relative to your customers? If you do, let’s see what it might be doing. The term “Customer Operations Performance Center” is not a widely recognized or standardized term, so its exact meaning may vary depending on the […]

No two snowflakes are alike, goes the old saying. Variation is everywhere. But, is some variation predictable and due to the variation in your process, while some is not? Common cause variation is a part of every process. Let’s learn more about it. 

C-level has a vastly different definition than sea level. One refers to the levels of senior management in an organization and the other is a measure of elevation. Let’s explore this in a little more detail. When walking through the halls of your organization’s offices, have you heard someone say, “Hey Chief”? Does that mean […]

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

Organizations love to talk in terms of averages. They talk about average sales, average units produced, or the average time to complete an invoice. But, is that adequate? Let’s explore other measures of central tendency and answer that question.

This is what I want! This is what I need! This is how I want it to perform! You need to embark upon a process to take your customers’ qualitative wants and needs and translate them into specific customer requirements. 

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

If you look at the dashboard of your car, you will see information related to the car’s performance and the progress of your journey. When you look at your business dashboard, you can see examples of similar information.  

Is there a relationship between wearing your seatbelt and whether or not you survive an auto accident? Is there a relationship between studying and whether you pass an exam? These are the types of questions a Chi-Square Test can answer.

Is Chaku Chaku a real word or the sound of machines loading and unloading parts? It turns out that Chaku Chaku is Japanese for load load and a system of loading and unloading parts from a machine. Let’s explore this a little deeper.

Do you feel that implementing change in your organization is going too slowly? So did Jack Welch of GE, which is why GE developed the Change Acceleration Process (CAP). Let’s explore how the concepts of CAP might help your organization.

Similar to the way a Black Belt denotes a certain competency in martial arts, the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt indicates someone who has demonstrated competence in techniques and principles of Six Sigma.

Data collection doesn’t always have to be a complex process. A simple check sheet can allow you to capture relevant data in a graphical format for initial interpretation of your process or for in-depth analysis later.

During the Six Sigma Improvement Stage of DMAIC, you will need to develop strategies and ideas for improving your process. There are three steps to coming up with viable improvement solutions. These steps are idea generation, organization, and assessment.  Brainstorming can be defined as a structured method of generating unconstrained ideas/ solutions and gaining engagement/involvement […]