Six Sigma DMAIC…

DMAIC : which step is most critical? well every step is most critical here. What Sean and Carol are saying seems to me their reflection of what they have accomlished in their 6 sigma projects.

Sean : data collection si defintely very important and there is always a risk of data not representing the actual system, and that is why the statistical analysis depends on 2 types of error : whihc are refered as ALPHA and BETA error or in otehr words TYPE-I and TYPE-II error. These errors reflects the possibility of accepting a hypothesis while it si false and rejecting a hypothesis while it is true.

This philospohy has to be considered even when we collect data and analyse for a system.

Carol: control is again very critical, and I agree with u that, if we can;t sustain the improvements gained, then its of no use. But a control process works properly, only if the data being collected is fairly accurate. If the data is not correct then improvements can;t be sustained.

Come on….standard way….differ significantly. Certainly there are difference from Black Belt project to BB Project, but the process is pretty standard. There is never a way to know for sure that the data is a “true” reflection of the process, but we knew that going in…there is varition in everything! So we do what we can. Test the variability of the measurement system. Write good operational definitions. Gather data in rational subgroups and measure the variation over time. The data analysis within DMAIC is important, but so it the process analysis. Working together they allow us to collect data and use statistical tools to look for statistically significant differences. We take our finding and process to Improve to apply a creative solution that will allow us to reduce or eliminate this difference. Oh the fun and joy of it all!