Most Recent Articles

The Kano Analysis: Customer Needs Are Ever Changing

How does a company analyze customer needs? How can it easily determine what delights customers or what their basic needs are? A powerful technique to address these questions was developed by Noriaki Kano and colleagues. It is called Kano analysis.

12 Tips for a More Motivated Team and Better Results

Follow these tips to incorporate motivation at all phases of an improvement project in order to ensure passionate teams and management buy-in, along with better business results.

Developing an Agile Planning and Tracking Scorecard

Agile changes the nature of planning and tracking. In agile, the available development capacity in resources and schedule is assessed and considered fixed at the outset. That assessment guides the scope of features promised for a delivery cycle.

Case Study: Sime Darby Adds $250M with Lean Six Sigma

In 2013, Sime Darby recorded less than $4 million in savings from Lean Six Sigma. After an overhaul to focus on revenue growth, the program earned $250 million in benefits during the next five years.

Integrating Project Management into a Six Sigma System

The integration of the Six Sigma methodology with the tools and techniques of project management holds significant promise for organizations that want to get the most from their continuous improvement efforts.

Eight Steps for Operational Excellence in the Office

The principles and guidelines of operational excellence enable a business to design the way an office functions so information flows from activity to activity along fixed pathways at preset, predefined times.

Nonparametric: Distribution-Free, Not Assumption-Free

Nonparametric analysis methods are essential tools in the Black Belt's analytic toolbox. When appropriately applied, nonparametric methods are often more powerful than parametric methods if the assumptions for the parametric model cannot be met.

Resource Page: Value Stream Mapping

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a flowchart method to track a product or service as it makes its way to the customer. iSixSigma has gathered its best resources on VSM here.

Making SCOR Model More Effective with Lean Six Sigma

Many Six Sigma practitioners have asked how the Supply-Chain Operations Reference model, or SCOR®, relate to Six Sigma and Lean. However, perhaps the more appropriate question should be, "How can Six Sigma and Lean make a SCOR model more effective?"

The Fastest Way to Achieve Zero Defects

Resource Page: Plan, Do, Check, Act or PDCA

The PDCA cycle is a four-step management model for continuous improvement and learning: plan, do, check and act. iSixSigma has gathered its best resources on PDCA here.

Case Study: Building a Business Case for Software Defect Reduction

For a software company to make a case for process improvement, reliable measurement data is needed. Unfortunately, that data normally comes from an improvement project. Learn how to address this chicken-and-egg dilemma.

5 Service-based Business Process Mapping Tips

Here are five tips to help you better use business process mapping in your service-based business.

RACI Diagrams for Managing Six Sigma Information

As Black Belts go about leading a project, too often little effort is made in deciding who gets what in regard to information that is collected, measured and analyzed. This is where a RACI diagram can be a big help to a team leader.

Case Study: Use Category Resolution to Assess Gage R&R Results

The fictional Liberty Weights Company undertook gage R&R studies at two facilities. Both produced misleading results because of inaccurate part selection. Category resolution was the solution.

Tree Diagrams for Six Sigma: Plain and Simple?

With the complexity of many of the tools in the Six Sigma kit, it is easy to look at tree diagrams as simple and routine. Experience shows, though, that there are pitfalls and frequently missed benefits. Follow these tips to make the most of four types of tree diagrams.

Case Study: Optimizing Processes in Louisville, Kentucky

After a review showed the city's process improvement team could increase its effectiveness, the team forged a new focus on strategic projects.

What CIOs and CTOs Need to Know About Lean Six Sigma

Most of the common excuses for not engaging in Lean Six Sigma rely on traditional views and conventional wisdom, and are not fact-based. CIOs, CTOs and others can benefit from knowing the practical ways Lean Six Sigma really works.

The Secret to Leadership? Enable Joy

W. Edwards Deming said that a leader's job is to enable joy. Learn what that means and the three steps that will help you successfully lead a team - even if you aren't the boss.

Are You Sure Your Data Is Normal?

Most processes are not normally distributed. Most Six Sigma tools, however, assume normality. Choose the right tool for your next process analysis.

Root Cause Analysis, Ishikawa Diagrams and the 5 Whys

Root cause analysis (RCA) may be limited to brainstorming and not fully thought-through ideas. Incorporate Ishikawa diagrams along with the 5 Whys in order to maximize your RCA efforts.

Design for Six Sigma – IDOV Methodology

IDOV is one popular methodology for designing products and services to meet Six Sigma standards.

Learning to Think Lean: Six Steps with Review Points

Organizations can profit from learning to think in terms of Lean, a philosophy that aims to eliminate waste. Lean thinking can be outlined in six steps, and confirmed with review.

Business Belt: Integrating Six Sigma and Business Sense

The Black Belt as an individual contributor applying Six Sigma tools and techniques is insufficient to provide the change leadership businesses require. A successful Black Belt must inspire people to adopt Six Sigma tools into daily business operations.

Aligning Call Center Agent Goals with Customer Desires

Within online banking call centers, there may be no bigger improvement opportunity than the agent call-handling process.

10 Challenges to Overcome when Deploying Lean Six Sigma in Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing

It is important for practitioners to understand claims of "We're different!" so that they can blend traditional and special techniques to make Lean Six Sigma work in pharmaceutical marketing and sales.

A Solution Template to Help in Hypothesis Testing

A difficult topic for those learning statistics is hypothesis testing. Solving several problems will convince new Six Sigma practitioners of the importance of this tool. And a solution template can ease the difficulties of the learning process.

Theory of Constraints Helps Set Project Priorities

This article offers examples of how TOC and its focus on throughput can lead to faster process improvements.

Check Imaging Improvements with Lean Six Sigma

In this case study, Lean Six Sigma was used by a bank as the method for reduced costs and happier customers via its check imaging process, while avoiding any legal liabilities.

Business Intelligence Adds to Process Reengineering

Information about a business, known as business intelligence, should be part of any business process reengineering effort. It is a driving force for determining an organization's efficiency gains and final specs, and helps in making key decisions.

Six Keys to a Successful Six Sigma Deployment

The benefits of Six Sigma can include breakthrough improvements, cost savings, defect reduction and greater customer satisfaction. To reap these benefits, organizations must pay close attention to six key factors that can make or break a deployment.

Case Study: DFSS Used to Improve Account Setup Process

The bank in the following case study had been encountering problems with new customer accounts. The bank’s senior management decided to execute a Design for Six Sigma project to improve the information-gathering process for account setup. The project team followed the Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify (DMADV) roadmap.

Six Sigma and Work-out Reduce Ambulance Diversions

The number of ambulance diversions at Providence Health System in Alaska had become a concern. Despite some temporary improvements, the hospital decided to resolve the reoccurring problem more permanently with CAP and Work-out.

A Lean Approach to Improving Service Call Center Performance

By using Lean tools, service call centers can transform themselves from a cost center into a profit center, as well as increase market share and enhance the customer experience in a competitive global economy.

Mining for Lost Gold in the Transactional Environment

Transactional projects in Six Sigma often focus on eliminating process chaos – that is, time or money being lost in long wait times, missed deadlines and expensive firefighting. The best way to restore order is via a repetitive cycle of measurement and analysis.

1-2-3 Model for Successful Six Sigma Project Selection

A key success factor for Six Sigma is establishing good project starting points through appropriate problem definitions. It is critical that improvement initiatives start at the top and flow downward, and that everyone understands their roles.

Implementing a Customer Satisfaction Metric

Organizations evaluate themselves by measuring customer satisfaction with their products or services. The Servqual survey framework and a voice-of-the-customer matrix can help in the implementation of a customer-satisfaction metric.

Guidelines and Matrices for Picking Six Sigma Candidates

Finding Green Belt and Black Belt candidates with the right personal and professional traits is a proven method for building a successful Six Sigma program. Use a Pugh matrix to help in the critical candidate selection process.

To Save Cost, Set Product Warranties Based on Quality

By reviewing quality assurance concepts – reliability, failure rate and product life history – that can be used in DMAIC and DMADV, practitioners can provide sound input to the establishment of appropriate product warranties.

Six Sigma and Innovation Need Not Be Exclusive

Six Sigma's systemic approach can be seen by some as a threat to creativity. TRIZ – the theory of inventive problem solving – is one technique for eliminating conflict between Six Sigma and innovation.

Making Sense of Time Series Forecasting

Practitioners can benefit from understanding the logic behind the linear and quadratic trend models used in forecasting.

Start Now with 10 Keys to Successful Transformation

Here are 10 keys to successful transformation that have been embraced by highly successful healthcare organizations.

Be Consistent in Metric Selection for Six Sigma Projects

Inconsistent use of metrics can lead to lost opportunities and rework after a project ends. Using them consistently brings enormous clarity to the impact and benefit of a Six Sigma project and helps keep the focus on enhancing business capabilities.

Finding Black Belt Talent: The Buy-Make-Rent Dilemma

Should companies hire ready-to-go Black Belts, develop them internally or use a Black Belt from a consulting company? There is a way to resolve this dilemma, which many companies face during the early stages of Six Sigma deployment.

Controlling Change in IT Departments Using DMAIC

For IT departments, following a DMAIC roadmap for a process change request – such as the upgrading of databases and server hardware – can provide organizations with the necessary framework to ensure that all changes are made in the most efficient manner possible.

Using Six Sigma to Reduce Pressure Ulcers at a Hospital

A medical center used Six Sigma to reduce nosocomial pressure ulcers by 60 percent, improving patient care and resulting in an annual cost avoidance of $300,000.

Six Sigma Proves Its Value in Funds Management

Six Sigma is a systematic data-driven approach that works across most processes, products and industries. Still, some organizations think Six Sigma cannot work for them. One company's funds management department proves that it can.

Integrating SPC and SQC to Overcome Weaknesses in Each

SQC and SPC are two powerful tools, which have different goals and requirements for successful application. By using a methodology that combines the strengths of both approaches, it is possible to overcome the individual weaknesses of each one.

Course Correction? Tips for Doing a Deployment Review

Sometimes the results from a Lean Six Sigma deployment do not meet a company's hopes or expectations. A formal deployment review, much like a tollgate review on an individual project, may help.

Better Project Management Performance with Six Sigma

By applying Lean Six Sigma in a multi-generational model, a strong project management process can be developed. The DMEDI framework can help.

Software Vendor Partnership Cost Reduction with Six Sigma

A multibillion-dollar software manufacturer used Six Sigma; a five-day project saved more than $12 million.

Done in One: The Importance of First-call Resolution

One method of measurement can be a standard question that agents ask the customer at the close of a call: "Is there anything else I can do?" or "Is this what you wanted?"

Effective Use of Special Purpose KJ Language Processing

A "hidden" power of KJ analysis – a method of developing insight into themes and relationships among issues – is its ability to adapt to special uses.

How to Explain Six Sigma by Using the Profit Triangle

The profit triangle, often used in marketing theory, can help people understand Six Sigma's role within the organization and focuses on both continuous business improvement and financial savings.

Change Issues Facing Leaders: Sponsorship

When instituting change, choosing the right sponsor – organizationally speaking – determines whether that change will succeed or fail.

Interpreting Anomalies Correctly Can Help Avoid Waste

Without the benefit of extensive project experience and strong statistical interpretive skills, a Green Belt or even Black Belt may improperly diagnose data anomalies, leading to poor decisions. Learning some quick analysis techniques can help.

Building the Foundation for Successful Change

After decades of initiatives being unleashed on unprepared organizations, good managers have learned that the correct foundation must be built to allow successful change.

5 Lean Tools and Principles to Integrate into Six Sigma

Integrating Lean into an existing process-improvement framework can result in more high-impact, quick-hit projects. As this experience from one business shows, it's possible to bring in Lean tools without creating ripples in the Six Sigma structure.

Enhanced VOC Data Collection Can Jump Start Projects

With enhanced VOC collection, a company really sees who their customers are, what their real problems are, how the product will really be used by them. This insight leads to better Lean Six Sigma project execution.

A Parallel Process View for Information Technology

IT practitioners must see their world from two different perspectives - how the business uses their services and how IT provides services to the business. Both views distill to one concept - the value stream - applied in two different ways.

Developing E-Learning the Six Sigma Way

In this real-world Six Sigma case study, a DMAIC project team reduces e-learning development time by 50% and saves almost $300,000 per year.

Creating a More Accurate IT Availability Definition

Although IT reported values for application availability might be numerically correct, they may not be a true representation of the situation. For more accurate predictions, use outside-in and rolled-throughput approaches.

Case Study: Why a Team Cannot Afford to Overlook the C in DMAIC

The initial results of a new quality improvement effort at a Midwest lockbox operation were disappointing. When the Six Sigma team got to the Control phase it found the problem.

Reducing Door-to-inflation Time for the AMI Patient

At Deaconess Health System a Six Sigma team undertakes a door-to-inflation project to improve the throughput process for patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Actionable Information from Soft Data

Teams often work with "hard" data – discrete data that can be counted and legitimately expressed as ratios. But what about "soft" data, like opinions, attitudes and satisfaction?

(Human) Resource Planning Is a Key for DFSS Projects

While a DFSS project can fail for many reasons, successful project execution often depends on adequate and timely management of human resources.

HMO Formulary Standardization Six Sigma Breakthrough

A healthcare provider used Six Sigma to see if evidence-based medicine could promote a more standardized formulary.

Bringing the Balanced Scorecard Back to Life

Behind every effective scorecard implementation, there is a commitment from leadership and there is buy-in from organizational business units and individuals.

Simulation Modeling Best Addition to Analysis Toolkit

Irrespective of the quality program they use, many companies in India have found limitations in some of the quality improvement tools they use while also discovering the advantages of using simulation modeling and analysis.

Start with Leaner Tools to Ease Non-Belts into Six Sigma

Leaner versions of FMEA, analytic hierarchy process and quality function deployment tools can be used to ease process owners into Six Sigma.

Tips and Suggestions for Six Sigma Project Success

This list of tips, tools and suggestions for Six Sigma practitioners can help avoid many pitfalls of project management.

Common Success Factors, Uncommon Success in Europe

Whether implementing Six Sigma in Munich or Manhattan, Paris or Prague, there are certain common factors that are critical for success.

A Leadership Roadmap for Managing with Metrics

Nine practical steps that focus on facts and data can provide a roadmap for business leaders at all levels on how to use Six Sigma to drive strategy implementation.

How to Revive Your Lean Six Sigma Deployment

There are some simple steps Belts can take to reinvigorate a wilting deployment in less than a year.

Becoming a Master Black Belt in Healthcare

This article identifies the specific role and tasks of a healthcare Master Black Belt, as well as the required skills, desires and behaviors.

Better Project Management Through Beta Distribution

By combining the beta distribution, or three-point estimation technique, with basic statistics, Belts can get a better estimate of the time required to complete projects.

Discriminant Analysis Can Minimize Returned Products

It is cheaper to scrap production inside the facility than to be charged for a complete assembly found defective by the customer. Use discriminant analysis to separate those units that are likely to fail as soon as they come off the production line.

Help for Practitioners Trying to Understand ANOVA Table

Using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure for a Six Sigma project requires assessing results from an ANOVA table, which is not always straightforward. There is an easy way for practitioners to understand the ANOVA procedure.

Improving Debt Collection Rate, or How to Gain $865,000

A collection agency was able not only to retain a complaining client's business thanks to a Lean Six Sigma project, but also to use the capability improvements it gained from the project as a selling point with both current and prospective clients.

Quick, Quality Decision-Making Using Six Sigma Tools

Six Sigma has tools that promote good decision making, which leads to performance improvements that reduce rework and drive benefits to the bottom line faster.

Is This a Six Sigma, Lean or Kaizen Project?

Executives who develop a working knowledge of Six Sigma, Lean and Kaizen are much better prepared to build the right infrastructure and lead their organizations to both financial and human success.

Middle-out Change Is Difficult – But Doable

When top-down support is not available, mid-level executives who know the power of Six Sigma must take deployment into their own hands. With the right approach, training and leadership, middle-out adoption is possible.

A Lean Approach to Staffing Brings Optimal Performance

By completing a Lean assessment in tandem with capacity modeling, an organization can optimize its staff and avoid gaps or surpluses.

DFSS Study: Develop Software to Track Drug Side Effects

In association with the launch of a new drug, DFSS was used to develop a new pharmacovigilance system to capture and analyze observed drug side effects.

Customer Winback Concept Begs for Use of Six Sigma

"Customer winback," a common business marketing/sales program aimed at winning back disgruntled customers and then retaining them, is a process that begs for the adoption of Six Sigma practices and techniques.

A Simple Model of a Variance Stable Process

Most descriptions of equipment and/or process lifetimes assume that failure rates follow a three-period curve pattern where failures/errors decrease during the improvement period, remain relatively constant and at their lowest levels during the normal operating period, and increase during the wearout period.

QFD Can Help to Create a Robust Request for Proposals

To be a successful vendor manager, a company must select the right vendor. The house of quality can help make the right choice.

Deployment Focus: Certifications or Project Benefits?

Which is more important in a Six Sigma deployment –- training or benefits? Six Sigma training, which leads to certifications, is a means to an end. Certifications are the Xs, or the causes, and benefits are the big Y, or the effect.

Attention Six Sigma, You’re Wanted in Surgery

With the demand for surgical services growing, especially with ambulatory and cosmetic procedures, hospitals continue learning that Six Sigma is a useful tool.

Using DFLSS to Evaluate a New Loan Referral Process

A bank saves resources by evaluating the feasibility of an idea early on, using Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS).

Design of Experiments/Conjoint Analysis in Marketing

DOE, known in marketing as conjoint analysis, is a powerful statistical technique for seeing connections between a customer's decision-making process and a product or service.

Black Belt as Mobilizer: Key to Six Sigma Effectiveness

To be effective, Black Belts must be able not only to use Six Sigma tools effectively, but also to motivate the right people at the right time in the right way.

DMAIC Helps Agency Craft Green Electronics Plan

In an effort to reduce its environmental footprint, P&R IM implemented an electronics stewardship plan with Lean Six Sigma's DMAIC methodology.

Assessing Forecast Accuracy: Be Prepared, Rain or Shine

Practitioners can assess the accuracy of forecasts using control charting and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Screening a corporation's forecasts with these two tools will reveal the evolution of forecast bias and consistency over time.

What Makes a Training Program Effective?

By analyzing and learning from previous efforts, an organization was able to fine-tune the methods used for training new employees.

Turning Judgment Calls into Reliable Data with Gage R&R

An often-overlooked tool in the Lean Six Sigma toolbox, Gage R&R can be of immeasurable help in improving data reliability when improving transactional processes.

Causal Loop Diagrams: An Orientation in Software Context

Cause-and-effect diagrams help identify factors (x's) that drive changes in the results variable (Y). But when that tool is not enough, causal loop diagrams can convey causal interconnections that better reflect the way things are.

Ways to Shorten the Trip Through the ‘Valley of Despair’

Recognizing the inevitable ups and downs of completing a Six Sigma project will help a Black Belt move more quickly through the "valley of despair," leading to more projects closed on time and with the expected business results.

Six Sigma Project Charter as a Vital Control Document

The project charter is the first step and one of the most important parts of any Six Sigma project. It should contain the 11 elements described here.

Get a Feel for Lean: Explore Application Opportunities

Lean is intuitive, flexible and can be executed quickly. As a result, almost any business or organizational process can benefit from the application of Lean. To gain a better understanding of the method, test its tools on an everyday process.

10 Criteria to Use for Evaluating Six Sigma Projects

A 10-point checklist can be used for ongoing project evaluation at specific milestones as well as be part of a lessons-learned exercise after project completion.

Outpatient Imaging Reports TAT Cut from 64 to 9 Hours

With the help of Six Sigma, an outpatient imaging center identifies the root cause of slow report turnaround times and improves performance to a better-than-industry standard.

Applying Six Sigma to Software Implementation Projects

Two project scenarios demonstrate how Six Sigma can address common pain points in software implementation – defining customer requirements and making accurate estimates.

Make Better Use of Survey Data with Kano Analysis

One way to make use of customer satisfaction survey data is through Kano analysis, a model for classifying customer responses. Here, an appliance company analyzes customer data related to dishwashers.

Beyond Tools and Training: Adopting a Systems Approach

Adopting process improvement tools and providing employee training is only part of a winning strategy. Success also requires a combination of committed leadership, unbridled innovation and a comprehensive systems approach.

Combining the Power of DMAIC with Testing Processes

To meet customer expectations, a company should bring its testing processes under the DMAIC method of Six Sigma.

Importance of Tolerance Design in Six Sigma Projects

How tolerances are determined affect process or product performance, and thus DPMO. This article presents two methods for determining tolerance specifications.

Capturing Financial Benefits from Lean Manufacturing

What often gets lost in the excitement of deploying Lean manufacturing is the discipline involved in tying improvement activities to clearly defined and auditable financial results. Follow these 5 tips for better results.

Using Weighted-DPMO to Calculate an Overall Sigma Level

It can be difficult to assess an overall sigma level because some critical processes are more important than others. One approach is to weight each of the critical processes when calculating overall sigma level.

Displaying Project Storyboards Reenergizes Effort

Focus employee opinion on the benefits of Lean Six Sigma by highlighting process improvement successes through project storyboard displays.

FMEA: Preventing a Failure Before Any Harm Is Done

When designing a safe healthcare environment, a proactive approach is far preferable to a reactive approach. FMEA can help eliminate concerns early in the development of a process by prospectively analyzing for potential failure points.

Delight Customers: Reduce Defects in Service Delivery

A VOC survey revealed that a company's telephone operator response was poor and customer satisfaction was low. The resulting improvement efforts show how a service process can be turned around using Six Sigma.

Creating a Recruiting Process: DFSS for Process Design

A pharmaceutical company applied selected DFSS tools to develop a new process for recruiting sales representatives using the IDOV (Identify, Design, Optimize, Verify) roadmap.

Achieving Breakthroughs by Using Policy Deployment

How can a company properly plan and execute a strategy? Today's best model is Hoshin Kanri, also known as policy deployment, which helps align a company's resources to its most critical tasks.

How a Company Can Involve Its Suppliers in Six Sigma

As companies concentrate on design and outsource more of the order fulfillment process, including manufacturing, their quality image is dependent on supplier performance. When is the right time to involve suppliers in a quality improvement initiative?

DMAIC Model Helps to Establish a Preventive Maintenance Program

A provider of medical equipment, such as EKG machines, used Six Sigma to better detect potential errors in the equipment and prevent them from occurring.

Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) – Getting Oriented

The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) allows for better prioritization by simplifying customer assessments and making their results more meaningfully measurable. It can also be used for gaining group consensus.

Work-out: The Most Powerful Process Improvement Tool

Work-out is powerful by design as it engages the best thinking of the those in the organization who are closest to the processes and who invariably have a lot of ideas for improvement. Learn the phases and roles in the Work-out framework.

Before Deployment: Minding Your Ps to Get Your Q

Answering two fundamental questions can help an organization honestly assess its readiness for adopting a Lean Six Sigma culture.

A Method for Picking Up the SLACK in a Team Project

To obtain the benefits of a corrective and preventive action system but without dedicating resources to a full deployment, pick up the SLACK.

5S as a Tool for Gaining Buy-in

Starting an implementation with a 5S event can show employees how Lean Six Sigma works, and what its use will mean for them.

Bank Deposits: A Black Belt Case Study

A Black Belt used Six Sigma to improve a transactional bank deposit process, resulting in yearly savings of $4 million.

Reducing Costs by Controlling Raw Material Consumption

Product manufacturers are pushed to produce quality products without exceeding budget. A textile processing mill followed the DMAIC approach for more effective resource management and thus to reduce expenditures.

Using Taguchi’s Loss Function to Estimate Project Benefits

A financial evaluation method should be easy to communicate to the project teams that will use it and should provide plausible estimations for decision making. Taguchi's Loss Function fits the bill.

Screening Tools Can Speed Up Six Sigma Projects

Although they are not part of the typical DMAIC approach, these tools can decrease the time needed to find solutions.

Using Six Sigma to Fix a Deployment In Progress

In this case study, a company measures the impact a Six Sigma program has had on the business after one year. After sub-optimal results, the company creates a Six Sigma project to improve its Six Sigma program.

Applying Six Sigma to Improve Diagnostic Imaging

Six Sigma can help the traditional workflow of diagnostic imaging keep pace with the science delivering better equipment and information systems.

Zero Defects: What Does It Achieve? What Does It Mean?

The use of slogans such as "zero defects" to spur quality can be counterproductive, detracting attention from the tried-and-true tools and culture associated with successful Six Sigma programs.

Using a Criteria-Based Matrix to Prioritize IT Projects

A common challenge for an information technology department is how to prioritize projects for the biggest benefit. Follow these eight steps to build a criteria-based matrix that provides effective prioritization for any organization.

What You May Not Know About Adding Variances

Six Sigma instructors tell their students add variances, not standard deviations. What students may not have learned is that this additive property relies on the linearity of the transfer function.

When Does a Difference Matter? Using ANOVA to Tell

Much of the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology is concerned with finding differences. But often it ends up being more important to learn "does the difference really matter?" ANOVA is an hypothesis testing tool that can help answer that question.

Carefully Planned Kaizens Can Lead to Immediate Change

Organizations considering Kaizen events must be ready to make a commitment to change management by properly preparing attendees for the goals of the event, executing the event smoothly and implementing solutions in a timely and effective manner.

Seeing Red: Integrating Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma

The balanced scorecard enables an organization to maintain the perspective of various stakeholders while providing a complete assessment of organizational progress. It can help improve the performance in one area without harming another.

Linear Regression: Making Sense of a Six Sigma Tool

Linear regression is often considered difficult or confusing by those practitioners just beginning to delve into the Six Sigma toolkit. Making sense of it starts at a basic level.

A System for Colleague Consulting Among Black Belts

Black Belts have a counseling resource that is often ignored or underutilized – the knowledge and experience of their peers. Formalize knowledge sharing with a structured approach to collegial problem solving.

Debunking IT Isolation in Search of Quality and Savings

Six Sigma is used effectively in manufacturing, service, financial and educational settings to improve processes and achieve time and cost benefits by eliminating waste and inefficiencies. With a little adaptation, Six Sigma can do the same for IT departments.

Three Rules for Data Analysis: Plot the Data, Plot the Data, Plot the Data

Using graphical tools, a refrigerator manufacturer analyzed supplier data to identify the best sources for parts. This case study illustrates how these simple yet powerful tools can be applied to any industry or process.

Building Cultural Acceptance Key to Lean Transformation

When it comes to Lean, the difference between success and failure is in cultural acceptance and the ability of an organization to accept change -- not just Lean change, but change in general.

Analyzing Experiments with Ordered Categorical Data

Six Sigma projects often deal with experiments whose outcomes are ordered categorical data, rather than continuous. It is important to know the right analysis methods for these cases, such as Jeng and Guos weighted probability-scoring scheme (WPSS).

What Belts Should Know About the Cost of Poor Quality

With a firm understanding of COPQ – both what it includes and what it does not – Belts can determine and justify projects, and gain buy-in for efforts based on financial findings.

5 Six Sigma Deployment Mistakes – And How to Avoid Them

Years of Six Sigma deployments have created a wealth of both success stories and lessons about process challenges -- learn to steer clear of others' mistakes.

Helping the Help Desk Satisfy Customers More Quickly: An iSixSigma Case Study

A company in India implemented Lean Six Sigma to achieve dramatic improvements in its help desk operations.

Leveraging Kano and QFD for Requirements Management

Used in combination, the Kano survey and QFD tools provide companies with the ability to maximize customer satisfaction.

TOC Tools Help Find the Right Lean Six Sigma Projects

Two tools within the theory of constraints method -- bottleneck analysis and current reality tree -- can help identify the real pain ailing an organization and lead to the selection of relevant LSS improvement projects.

An Accelerated Project Approach Can Build Support for Six Sigma

Using an accelerated approach, projects can take as little as one week to complete. This requires good planning, participation by the key stakeholders and a commitment to rapidly working through the DMAIC logic to make sustainable improvements to process performance.

Manage Control Limits When Implementing Statistical Process Control