Page 70 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

Six Sigma and Lean Fundamentals 47

TABLE 2.2 Commonly Used Flowchart Symbols

Symbol Name Activity Represented
Identifies the beginning or end of a
Boundary
(start/end) process. “Start” or “End” can be
written inside
Identifies an activity or task in the
process that changes input.
Activity or task
Usually, the name of activity is
written inside.

Movement or Indicates movements of outputs
transportation between locations

Identifies that the flow has stopped
in order to evaluate the quality of
Inspection
the output or to obtain an approval
to proceed
Identifies when something must
Delay wait or is placed in temporary
storage

Identifies when an output is in
Storage
storage waiting for a customer

Identifies a decision or branch
Decision
point in the process

Identifies when the output of an
Document
activity is recorded

Identifies when the output of an
Database
activity is electronically stored

Indicates that an output from this
Connector flowchart will be input to another
flow chart

Indicates the sequence and
direction of flow within the process
Arrow
and usually transfer an output of
one activity to the next activity