In an earlier article I wrote about DMAIC as the roadmap to a successful Six Sigma projects[i]. I implied that DMAIC was “the” method for Six Sigma, but it is not and does not have to be. Over the years I have seen adaptation of the DMAIC process to fit a companies culture. But a good proven method or approach is needed to be successful. In “6 Sigma’s Five Key Elements to Success”[ii] I talked about to have success you need an established method.
“An Established Method to improve. Many time people are told to go fix something and sometimes that works, but when the solution is not obvious you need a method to develop and implement a workable solution. In our case Six Sigma IS that method. A five step method (process) based on facts and data focused on your customer’s value to solve the need and grow your business. What happens if you don’t have a method? You will have false starts. Put another way, have you ever been in a meeting where once again an issue comes up that was suppose to be solved last week, last month or last year? Those are fixes that were done with no method to the solution. When you see this during your project step back and look at your six sigma methodology and see if you have to refocus the team. An Example of this is trying to fix the problem from what was learned during or at the end of the Measure step. This leads to skipping analysis were we do a “Deep Dive” for the real root cause of what we see.”
Thomas Pyzdek said it this way, Six Sigma‘s …”focus is on doing. But how do we know what we are doing is correct?”[iii] He goes on to say that we know from gaining the knowledge through learning. DMAIC is one good method for learning and if you do not have one it is an excellent starting point. Remember that Six Sigma is focused on continuous process improvement. In a company I worked for they took the DMAIC process and expanded it to six steps instead of five. They did this to put more emphasis on some steps and less on others. Why change it? Because their culture understood how to do some of the steps of DMAIC very well but they felt that some steps needed extra attention to insure everyone did it right the first time.
By the way DMAIC was not the first learning approach used in the quality arena were Six Sigma roots are from. I believe Shewhart came up with what is know as PDCA or Plan, Do, Check, Act. Deming refers to PDCA as the PDSA or Plan, Do, Study, Act. I believe that DMAIC’s root come from these. Can you see the progression?
VCPCIA is another companies adaptation of DMAIC. In the Design arena we have DMADV or Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify.
Well there you have it. DMAIC is not cast in stone but it is a good starting point. Don’t leave anything out but adjust and clarify to make it work for you and then follow it! If you have comments or questions you can post them here or contact me.
Bersbach Consulting
Peter Bersbach
Six Sigma Master Black Belt
http://sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com
peter@bersbach.com
1.520.829.0090
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[i] The Roadmap to a Successful 6 Sigma Project, By Peter Bersbach, Oct. 8th 2009, http://www.sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com/uncategorized/the-roadmap-to-a-successful-six-sigma-project/
[ii] 6 Sigma Five Key elements to success, by Peter Bersbach, May 14th 2009, http://www.sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com/leading-six-sigma/6-sigma-five-key-elements-to-project-success/
[iii] Thomas Pyzdek, The Six Sigma Handbook (New York 2003), pg241
