Facilitated Thinking Technology

Need: Six-sigma is a methodology and set of tools used to improve quality to near perfection (less than 3.4 defects/problems per million). Six Sigma generally follows a DMAIC process. Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.

Lean Six Sigma Professional

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DEFINE PHASE

Prepare a Project Charter that DEFINES the business process, project boundaries, customers, their product and service requirements and expectations.

DEFINE Thinking Tasks

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Task 1: Identify improvement opportunities.

· Problem Statement

· Treatment Alternatives

· Identify Improvement Opportunities

· SWOT Analysis

· SWOT Jump Start

· Individual Work Observation & Improvement

Task 2: Select the best business process opportunity to work on.

· Multi-voting List Reduction

· Opportunity Selection Matrix

Task 3: Define process boundaries, customer requirements & goals.

· SIPOC Diagram

· Voice of Customer CTQ Requirements

· Goal Statement Development

Task 4: Develop the business case and prepare a project charter.

· Project Charter (Business Case, Opportunity Statement, Deliverables, Project Milestone, Cost/Benefit)

MEASURE PHASE

MEASURE the business process to determine current performance. Collect data from many sources to determine data/metrics and compare to customer requirements and expectations. Establish new measurement goals as needed.

Agenda Thinking Tasks

Recommended Tools

Task 1: Identify Measurements and prepare a data collection strategy.

· Balanced Scorecard: Dashboard

· Data Gathering Strategy

· Data Relevancy Analysis

Task 2: Gather baseline information and measure current performance.

· Pareto

· Input-Task-Output Chart

· Interaction & Relationship Worksheet

· Value Stream Map

ANALYZE PHASE

ANALYZE the data collected to determine root causes of defects/problems and identify gaps between current performance and new goal performance

Agenda Thinking Tasks

Recommended Tools

TaskTask 1: Identify the obstacles that are preventing this process from improving.

· Metrics Analysis

· Deviation Analysis

Task 2: Analyze the root causes of existing defects and problems.

· Why/Because Causal Chain Analysis

· Cause & Effect Fishbone Diagram

· Root Cause Analysis Questions

IMPROVE PHASE IMPROVE the business process by designing (and implementing) creative solutions to eliminate defects/problems or achieve desired performance levels.
Agenda Thinking Task	Recommended Tools
Task 1: Generate lots of improvement ideas.	· STOP · Generate Improvement Ideas · Attribute Brainstorming
Task 2: Synthesize ideas into an implement-able solution.	· Affinity Diagram · Practical Solution Pros & Cons
Task 3: Pick the solution to implement.	· Decision Making Strategies · Evaluation Criteria Checklist · Prioritization Matrix
Task 4: Design, test and implement solution.	· Design the Solution · FMEA · Test the Solution

CONTROL PHASE CONTROL the improvements to ensure they are functioning and develop processes to maintain “new performance” levels and prevent reverting back to “old performance”.
Agenda Thinking Tasks	Recommended Tools
Task 1: Develop control and feedback to maintain and promote continuous improvement.	· Systems Feedback · Histogram and Frequency Charts · Run control · Scatter Diagram
Task 2: Perform a post implementation review to determine if improvement goals have been met and to document lessons learned.	· Lessons Learned – Facilitator questions · Project Summary

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