isixsigma.com

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.

It is important to have a procedure in place to finalize a project. That is where a PSO (process sign off) procedure comes in.

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.

You can learn a lot about your process by monitoring its change over time. There are different trend charts which will allow you to do that. Let’s look at a few. 

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.

When defects happen in the manufacturing process, it’s important to correct them as quickly as possible and take action so they don’t occur again. Initiating a Corrective Action Report, or CAR, helps a project manager document the issue and define steps to avoid repeating 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. 

With ever more complex products, processes and services the potential for high impact failure modes increases. Risk management is crucial for business success and the calculation of Risk Priority Number with mitigation and correction actions is an industry standard methodology that helps achieve your quality goals.

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

Not all your data will have a normal distribution. Sometimes, the curve is taller or shorter than a theoretical  normal distribution. Does that mean you have a problem? We can answer that question by learning a little bit more about kurtosis and the platykurtic distribution.

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.

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.

The design, collection and analysis of experimental data takes significant time and resources. Careful consideration of the potential cause and effect relationships is key along with an understanding of variables that can influence both cause and effect. These confounding variables are ever present but their influence can be mitigated with good experimental design.

Normality of the data is an underlying assumption for the use of many statistical tools. When normality doesn’t exist, transforming the data may be necessary. Let’s see how one company did that.

Can you always believe data which is based on people’s opinions and self-reporting? The obvious answer is no. Let’s see how one company used Attribute Agreement Analysis to determine the reasons for speaker program cancellations.

Through the use of Design of Experiments (DOE), a pharmaceutical company was able to extend the shelf life for one of its life saving liquid oncology medicines. Let’s see how this saved the company money, lowered the price of the drug and helped save lives. 

R-Square adjusted is a concept that is associated with regression analysis, which is a method used to identify which variables have an impact on a topic. Learn more about this Six Sigma concept.

A predetermined motion time system can be useful for everything from estimating labor costs to balancing production lines. It is a concept worth exploring for its myriad applications.

The GRPI model was developed in the 1970s by Richard Beckhard, an American organizational theorist. Its ease of use and effectiveness keeps it in use today. Find out more about this.

In business, you need to be able to meet the needs of your customers. Your product or service has to be up to a certain standard. It needs to hold up to an agreed-upon definition of quality.

Subjective ratings and rankings can be used in a variety of applications, such as assessing job performance, gauging customer satisfaction, and monitoring the morale of your workforce. Find out more about this Six Sigma term.

If you need a quick tool for analyzing a mass of data in order to spot a likely relationship between two variables, a scatter plot is a good first step. 

There are four distinct hierarchical levels of measuring data. These are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Nominal is the most simple and ratio is the most complex. What does nominal mean, though?

It is important to regularly check if your processes are operating as optimally as they could be. If not, actions should be taken for improvement. For this to be appropriately determined, you can create a QPR.

Understanding what quality targets are and how to center product uniformity around them is a helpful step in overall process improvement, ultimately leading to increased profits and customer satisfaction rates.

With improvements made in processes, it is important to make sure that your business doesn’t fall back on old bad habits. Incorporating ratchet devices is a method of preventing this from happening.

The Lean Six Sigma profession is inherently complex because there are many ways to interpret this simple yet meaningful definition. Keep reading to learn more.

The famous poet, Alexander Pope said, “To err is human … ” Using Error Mode Effects Analysis (EMEA) will help mitigate, eliminate and prevent those human errors.

As complexity increases so does the probability of error. Scrap, rework, defects, retesting, and recalls are all expensive. With failure mode and effects analysis we’ll show you the true value of adopting this approach.

When it comes to getting a task accomplished, having an operations process greatly increases the probability of success.

In manufacturing, production may have to halt due to an issue somewhere in the process. Once the issue is addressed, it is important to know just where the clean point is.

Where should you focus your improvement efforts; the vital few or the trivial many? Let’s define these two terms so you can answer the question.

Six Sigma is a philosophy of business and a set of tools for improving all your organizational processes. There are three strategies or desired outcomes of deploying Six Sigma. Let’s explore them further.

It is important in business to have a sampling system in place to determine when to dump a pack of units dumped due to an unacceptable amount being defective. LTPD is part of this sampling system.

A machine capability index is an index that can be utilized as an effective measure of machine improvement. Therefore, it is an important term to be aware of so that you can be sure that the changes you have made to improve how the machines in your business are actually working!

Time value mapping helps to eliminate areas of waste and improve the efficiency of a work item process. Read on to learn what it is and how it works.

As the name implies, process capability is the ability of your process to meet your customer’s expectations. There are a number of calculated metrics which can be used to indicate your process capability.

An understanding of this concept is an absolute must when it comes to making your business thrive. Find out more about Price Recovery and its impact on your business.

When it comes to Lean Six Sigma, “yield” is the measure of the percentage of items produced that meet customer quality or specification requirements. Find out more about this concept.

Chi-square analysis is a powerful tool for examining the relationship between variables formatted in a table. One consumer products company used it to look at its consumers in a different way, resulting in a significant increase in sales and profitability of its product portfolio.  Traditionally, an organization’s sales and marketing department makes advertising decisions based […]

After experiencing multiple adverse medical events, one large hospital system moved from the sole use of a reactive root cause analysis approach to include a proactive Failure Modes and Effects Analysis strategy, which significantly reduced adverse medical events.  As was the strategy at the time, a large tax supported public health system relied on root […]

Stop guessing what your customers value in your product or service. Use conjoint analysis to determine what features are most important to them and have the data to support your decisions. Conjoint analysis is often described as a design of experiments (DOE) for marketing. It is a structured way to help you identify and evaluate […]

Don’t you hate it when you make a mistake? A type 1 error is a mistake you can make when erroneously interpreting your data. Let’s learn what that mistake is and how to keep from making it.

You have heard the old saying that no two grains of sand are alike. Variation is everywhere. But, some variation is predictable, some is not? Special cause variation in the non predictable type of variation. Let’s learn more about it.