Page 174 - The Six Sigma Project Planner

Chapter 6

Control

The scientific principle of entropy states that, left to themselves, things tend to move
from an orderly state to a more disorderly state. This is certainly true for project plans
and for business systems. Unless we pay attention to the plans we’ve developed so
carefully and institutionalize the process improvements we worked so hard to
accomplish, entropy will set in and things will deteriorate. In this section of the Six
Sigma Project Planner we will develop controls to ensure that we keep our hard-won
gains. This is the “C” in the Six Sigma DMAIC performance improvement cycle.

Control Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

FMEA was used earlier, in the Define phase, to identify problems with the current
process or product (p. 100). It is now conducted to help develop control plans that
prevent problems with the new process. The procedure is the same as used in the earlier
analysis, only now you will consider the new process or product.

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