Six Sigma Lessons – Lesson 6

Six tools every Six Sigma Black Belt loves

(1)    Quality Function Deployment:

QFD helps Six Sigma Black Belts drive customer-focused development across the design process.

QFD is a system and set of procedures to identify, communicate, and prioritize customer requirements.

Did you know?

With QFD, Six Sigma teams can more effectively focus on the activities that mean the most to the customer, beat the competition, and align with the mission of the organization.

QFD concepts originated in Japanese ship building and automobile industries in the late 1960s.

Drs. Yoji Akao and Shigeru Mizuno first documented QFD in their book, Facilitating and Training in Quality Function Deployment (1978).

QFD was first used in the U.S. in the auto industry in 1983.

QFD is particularly great for enabling us to prioritize customer requirements, telling us how we are doing compared to our competitors, and then directing us to optimize those features that will bring the greatest competitive advantage.

An important side benefit of the QFD process is that it forces teams to think creatively about how to solve various system design problems and which metrics will be most effective measures of their progress.

(2)    Cause and Effect (C&E) Matrix

The C&E Matrix helps Six Sigma project leaders facilitate team decision-making.

The C&E Matrix is a tool that helps Six Sigma teams select, prioritize, and analyze the data they collect over the course of a project to identify problems in that process.

Six Sigma teams typically use the C&E Matrix in the Measure phase of the DMAIC methodology.

The C&E Matrix is particularly great for obtaining team consensus on the potential relationships between factors that affect a process and the output of that process.

(3)    Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

FMEA helps Six Sigma teams to identify and address weaknesses in a product or process, before they occur.

Before implementing new products, processes, or services, Six Sigma teams use FMEA to identify ways their new introductions might fail, and then to develop preventative measures targeted at the failure scenarios.

Did you know?

An effective FMEA identifies corrective actions required to prevent failures from reaching the customer and will improve performance, quality, and reliability.

FMEA was first documented in Military Procedure MIL-P-1629, titled Procedures for Performing a Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis, dated November 9, 1949.

FMEA is also great for identifying any risks of implementing a process or product change.

FMEA was encouraged in the 1960s for space product development and served well for getting a man on the moon.

Ford Motor Company reintroduced FMEA in the 1970s for safety and regulatory consideration after the disastrous “Pinto” affair.

(4)    T-Test

The t-test helps Six Sigma teams validate test results using small sample sizes.

The t-test is used to determine the statistical difference between two groups, not just a difference due to random chance. Six Sigma teams might use it to determine if a plan for a comparative analysis of patient blood pressures, before and after they receive a drug, is likely to provide reliable results.

Did you know?

Guinness Brewery is the work environment that led to W.S. Gossett’s creation of the t-test. While an executive at the brewery in Dublin, Gossett created the t-test to help select the best barley for Guinness beer.

(5)    Control Charts

Six Sigma teams use Control Charts to assess process stability.

Control Charts are a simple but highly effective tool for monitoring and improving process performance over time because they help Six Sigma teams to observe and analyze variation.

The three basic components of any control chart are a centerline, upper and lower statistically determined control limits, and performance data plotted over time.

Control charts are to a process as a heart monitor is to cardiac health, an annual company budget is to company finances, a thermostat is to room temperature, parental guidance is to children’s behaviors, homeland security is to security threats.

(6)    Design Of Experiments (DOE)

DOE helps Six Sigma Black Belts make the most of valuable resources.

DOE is a statistical technique that encompasses the planning, design, data collection, analysis and interpretation strategy used by Six Sigma professionals.

Did you know?

Six Sigma teams use DOE to determine the relationship between factors (Xs) affecting a process and the output of that process (Y).

Sir Ronald A. Fisher introduced DOE when he described how to test the hypothesis that a certain lady could distinguish by flavor alone whether milk or tea was first placed in the cup.

DOE was based on work from the 1920s by Sir Ronald A. Fisher who designed the technique to use in field trials comparing fertilizers and seed varieties, among other things.

Typical applications of DOE include the development of new products and processes, optimizing the quality and performance of an existing product, and optimizing existing processes.

DOE is particularly great for maximizing information gained while minimizing resources required.