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Overview: What Is Big ‘Q’? It is a strategic approach to quality improvement that focuses on the entire business rather than only seeking to improve the product itself. This management method asks every level of management to focus on exceeding customer expectations to produce global changes in how it meets market needs. Conversely, little ‘q’ […]

Process and measurement variations should be kept to a minimum. When looking at these variations and how they are impacting your work, there is a way to group them together.

It takes a lot of testing and evaluation in order to get software ready for the marketplace. Early on in software development, clearly defined methods were put in place to ensure high-quality products that were bug-free.

There are several ways that companies conduct inspections of their software. One such method is Fagan Style Software Inspection.

In modern manufacturing, it is likely that once operations reach a certain level of growth, they will be spread out over multiple locations and a standard of quality will be more difficult to maintain.

If you have a project goal, it can be tempting to forge full steam ahead without looking at any potential fallout. This is, of course, a mistake. It is always important to look at what issues might come up on the way towards reaching a project target. When working on the primary metric, other metrics should be kept aware of.

Sometimes, as companies make efforts to limit costs by improving their processes, they incur costs related to an increased level of inspection. This can prove to be even more costly than the initial issues.

If you are going to get something done, it is best to usually have a plan. If there are steps that need to be taken towards reaching a goal, those steps likely need to have a sensible order to them.

You have retrofitted your major production machine to make it run faster. Did the retrofit really improve machine speed? A 2-Sample t-Test can be used to answer that question. 

When you collect data from your process, the values will vary. This dispersion or variation of data around the central tendency can be measured. Let’s explore the different ways to measure dispersion.  

Randomness and independence are two required characteristics for understanding and analyzing process variation. The Runs Test allows you to check for the randomness of a set of sequentially collected data. 

The word gating is often used in the context of Six Sigma and DMAIC and is usually referred to as tollgate reviews. The purpose is to evaluate your progress, and make sure you’re still heading in the right direction. 

ANOVA is a powerful statistical method for comparing several samples (3 or more) to each other to see if the populations that the means came from are statistically different.

In production, some events are hard to predict, but most things can be prepared for with proper planning.

If you ever find yourself, solving the same problems week after week with nary a long-term impact, it could be worth creating a current reality tree to identify the root causes.

In the context of marketing, segmentation is the process of dividing a target market into groups with similar needs and behaviors. This allows you to develop unique strategies to meet specific wants and needs. 

With your company, you need to be able to have your customers believe in you, deliver products on-time, and understand your processes as well as how they can be improved. This can all be accomplished with a quality assurance schedule.

Delivering quality and value for your company and your customers is a basic building block of business success and growth. With Total Value Management (TVM) we will show you a system that is straightforward to deploy, delivers real and tangible results, locking in value for you and your customers alike.

Now wait a minute, we already have a Quality Management System and a Quality Manual, I don’t have time for this Total Quality Management fad, right? Think again, this is no fad. With successful deployment and adoption of TQM you can elevate your business to new quality highs and both your customers and employees will reap the benefits.

If your manufacturing process produces multiple products or SKUs in short runs, how many control charts will you need to monitor those different products? With short-run SPC, you might only need one. 

Does your organization use a pull or push system to allow your manufacturing function to meet your customers’ demand for your products? Let’s learn why a pull system might be a better approach for optimizing your organization.

In engineering and manufacturing, there are situations where measuring in degrees is not the best option. For these metrics, you will find that radian is a better fit.

When managing any organization, there are four voices you should be listening to; Voice of the Customer, Voice of the Process, Voice of the Business and Voice of the Employee. Let’s focus on learning more about the Voice of the Employee or VOE. 

If you need a control chart that is quick and easy to set up in order to track defects, an F-chart is worth knowing about.

Addressing the challenges posed by capacity constraint resources determines how much and how quickly businesses can grow beyond their status quo.

We know that many hypothesis tests have an underlying assumption of normality. But, what if your data is not normal? Let’s see how the 1-sample sign test can help. 

If you have ever seen a polygon web-shaped chart with points all over it connected by various colors, you may have wondered how it works. It is a web chart and it is not as complicated as it looks.

If you have your three laboratory technicians measure the same samples using the same equipment and measurement process will they give you the same answers? Let’s learn more about the concept of reproducibility.

When you talk about Design of Experiments, you can discuss the 3 Big R’s; Randomization, Repetition and Replication. Let’s learn more about Replication and contrast that with the other R’s. 

The correlation coefficient (r) answers the question of how strong and in what direction is the relationship between two continuous variables. Let’s explore this statistical descriptor and what it tells you about your data.

Short description: With the increasing demand for Lean Six Sigma to address the rising costs of product and service quality, the “Probability of Defect” concept is still very relevant in today’s environment of process improvement.

Embarking on projects without any formalized, thought-out process involved can be fine when you are keeping it small or routine. This sort of fly-by-night approach is not recommended when there is anything major actually at stake.

It is inevitable that change happens, whether it be temporary or permanent. Whether you are on the supply side or the manufacturing side of engineering, for permanent changes it is likely you are going to encounter an SREA.

The Glenday Sieve approach can help companies improve business processes, boost profits and eliminate waste and underperformance.

There are some common everyday terms that can mean one thing, but that can be a bit more nuanced when it comes to Six Sigma. One of these terms is “opportunity”. Read on to find out what it means when it comes to Six Sigma.

The ability to find and create opportunities is of paramount importance in terms of innovation and growth for your business. Being able to find opportunities is one thing, but can opportunities be created?

Will having a Master Black Belt help your organization beat up your competitors? Yes. By having a skilled and experienced Master Black Belt, your organization will have the capabilities to improve all that they do and gain competitive advantage. Let’s see how.

Can your process meet the expectations and specifications of your customer? The Process Capability Index is a simple way of answering that question. Let’s see how.

What is the most efficient way for an employee to complete a task? Could the way they are getting the job done improve? Could it be safer? Predetermined motion time systems help to answer these questions.

It is important to be able to see your processes, projects, and services from every conceivable viewpoint. Putting together FAST diagrams can achieve this while doing it in a collaborative and potentially even fun way.

The Lean Six Sigma inspection plan is a very useful tool for creating a quality control program that achieves high-quality results and customer satisfaction. If you are looking for a way to streamline your organization’s quality assurance goals, you will greatly benefit from this comprehensive guide.

In business, the durability and longevity of machines utilized in operations are integral for optimal production. This can be planned for using the Kaplan-Meier estimator.

When dealing with data and statistics, there is no certainty. As the researcher, you get to choose the level of confidence you need to make your decisions.

Short description: Before you can improve anything, you’ve got to be able to identify the areas that you can improve. This is what the Lean Six Sigma principle of muda is all about: identifying where waste is happening and eliminating it.

The power of data can be harnessed by understanding the benefits, best practices, and proper use of process indicators. Quantifying process performance allows for clear analysis of operations.

Your data has failed the assumption of normality needed for a parametric test of hypotheses. If you have two or more groups you want to analyze, what do you do? Maybe the Mood’s Median Test will help. 

To answer the question of how strong and in what direction is the relationship between two continuous variables you would use the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Let’s learn more about this statistical descriptor and what it tells you about your data.

Sometimes you are interested in analyzing data that is not measurable. Nominal data consists of unordered categories which can be counted but not measured.  

When you hear the phrase Mallows’ Statistic (Cp) think of multiple regression analysis. The question you want to answer is which combination of predictor variables will give you the best prediction model. Let’s learn a little more. 

What is an independent variable and why is it important to understand? And how is it different from a dependent variable? Let’s answer those questions for you.