Page 178 - Lean six sigma demystified

Chapter 5 Redu C ing d efe C t S with Six Sigm a 157

In 2006, over 15 years later, a Rocky Mountain News article reported that
some of the downtown hotels experience 100 to 300 false fire alarms a year.
Could cell phones be the culprits? Faulty detectors? I informed the article’s
author.

Six Sigma’s Problem-Solving Process

As you can see from this case study, measures, counts, and data about defects
and their origins drive Six Sigma’s defect reduction process. Without data
about defects or variation, Six Sigma just won’t work. The standard Six Sigma
improvement method is called DMAIC—Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve,
and Control. I’m going to suggest that for your first few projects you skip over
the Define and Measure steps and start with some data you have already col-
lected about defects in some aspect of your business. Most teams get stuck in
this Define and Measure stages and never get on to Analyze and Improve
stages. Start with a real problem about which you have some real data and
you’re half of the way to success. Then you can leap in to Analyze, Improve,
and Control stages.

The Six Sigma Problem-Solving Process

While I still think of improvement as following the FISH process: Focus,
Improve, Sustain, and Honor, the Six Sigma problem-solving process, DMAIC
(duh-maic), which stands for
1. Define the problem

2. Measure the problem (defects or variations)
3. Analyze the root causes of the problem
4. Improve the process (i.e., implement some countermeasures and analyze
the results)
5. Control the process (i.e., measure and monitor to sustain the new level of
improvement)
I lump Six Sigma’s Define and Measure steps into Focus. If you don’t laser
focus your improvement efforts using real data about defects or deviation,
you aren’t doing Six Sigma; you’re just doing some version of gut-feel, trial-
and-error, knee-jerk problem solving. Or you’re trying to retrofit your old way
of doing things to look like you’re doing Six Sigma. Far too many people start