Six Sigma Flashcards

Flashcards covering key concepts from Six Sigma Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control phases.

Project Selection – Top Management Directive

Top management may target areas for improvement such as cycle time reduction, cost reduction, improving risk effectiveness, improving quality, or improving customer satisfaction.

Project Scoping

A tool used to determine what will be included and what will be excluded in the scope of the project.

Affinity Diagram

A tool used to determine project scope, especially when the scope is large and teams are cross-functional.

SIPOC

Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer. A tool to document key elements of a process.

Process Map

Provides a common understanding of the process, visual representation, highlights redundancies, and defines boundaries.

Project Charter

Identifies project goals, aligns with organizational priorities, keeps the team focused, and transfers project ownership.

Key Elements of a Project Charter

Opportunity Statement, Project Scope, Team Composition, Business Case, Goal Statement, and Project Timeline.

SMART Charter

Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timebound

DMAIC Process

Define opportunities, Measure performance, Analyze opportunity, Improve performance, Control performance.

Quality Function Deployment.

A process to understand customer needs, define value, focus on features, and select CTQs.

House of Quality

Translates customer needs (“what you need”) to technical specifications (“how to achieve it”).

Standard, Benchmark

A reference point for performance measurement, such as a government regulation, industry benchmark, or past performance.

Defect

When performance falls short of a given standard or desired benchmark.

DPMO

(D / (N x O)) x 1,000,000

DPU

Total number of defects / Total number of product units

First Pass Yield (FPY)

Probability that a unit goes through a process step defect-free without rework.

Rolled Throughput Yield (RTY)

Product of the yields of individual process steps. RTY = YieldStep1 * YieldStep2 * … * Yield_StepN

Gage R&R

Repeatability and Reproducibility. Evaluates measurement system variation.

Operational Definition

A precise definition of a characteristic and how it is measured.

Measurement System

The combination of instruments, procedures, personnel, and environment involved in obtaining measurements.

Bias

Difference between the average of observed measurements and a standard value.

Linearity

Shift of bias over operating range.

Resolution

Ability of gage to measure to a given level of detail.

Stability

Shift of bias over time.

Reproducibility

Variation resulting from different operators, setups, parts, or environmental conditions.

Repeatability

Variation in measurements when one operator repeatedly measures the same characteristic.

Root Cause Analysis

Identification of key factors causing a problem.

Root Cause

Most basic reason a problem occurs or could occur.

5 Whys

Ask “why” three to five times to progressively reveal more substantive root causes.

Pareto Rule

Approximately 80% of the problems result from 20% of the causes.

Fishbone Diagram

Organizes causes into categories to display relationships between an effect and possible causes.

Cause and Effect Matrix

Quantifies cause-effect relationships to prioritize the vital few Xs when no data exists.

Run Chart

Tracks processes over time to display trends and changes.

Scatter Plot

Studies possible relationships between variables to visually check if they are related.

Box and Whisker Plot

Visualizes data distribution, showing median, quartiles, and outliers.

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. (FMEA)

A structured approach to identify potential failure modes, their effects, and causes.

Risk Priority Number (RPN)

Severity x Occurrence x Detection

Hypothesis

A tentative explanation of patterns observed in nature that needs to be tested.

Null Hypothesis

States the default belief that is presumed to be true unless there is contrary evidence and includes an equality sign.

Alternative Hypothesis

Opposite of the null hypothesis and includes an inequality sign.

Significance Level (α)

Defines unlikely values of sample statistic if the null hypothesis is true; the maximum probability of rejecting a true null hypothesis.

p < .05

Reject null hypothesis; results are statistically significant.

p > .05

Cannot reject null hypothesis; results are not significant.

Type I Error

Rejecting a true null hypothesis.

Type II Error

Failing to reject a false null hypothesis.

Correlation Coefficient (R)

Expresses the strength of the relationship between two variables, ranging from -1 to +1.

Improve Performance Objectives

Identify, evaluate, and select the right improvement solutions; pilot test; plan and execute full-scale implementation; manage change.

Mind Mapping

Create more and better ideas, clarify thoughts, and summarize information.

Force Field Analysis

Evaluate and test ideas, maximize strengths, minimize weaknesses. List driving forces and restraining forces.

Solution Selection Matrix

Replace opinions with data by evaluating solutions against critical business/process factors and assigning weights.

Pilot Plan

Trial implementation of the identified solution on a reduced scale to validate the design intentions and help plan for further implementation

Twelve Key Drivers of Successful Change

Identify roles, goals, and measures; learn from successful and unsuccessful actions; influence stakeholders; communicate technical and organizational compelling need and vision.

Control Performance Objectives

Implement a plan to maintain results, deploy from pilot to full scale, understand and disseminate lessons learned, and identify replication opportunities.

Control Plan

A documented plan that tells us how to monitor performance, gather data, analyze it, and what to do if performance is out of control.

Acceptance Sampling

Inspection of products after completion of the production process.

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Designing quality into the process to fix abnormalities at the source.

Control (Stability)

Measure of the predictability of a process.

Capability

Measure of ability of a process to meet customer needs.

Control Chart

Chronological plot of output metrics used to monitor a process.

Common Cause Variation

Inherent in the process and results from many minor factors.

Special Cause Variation

Can be traced to a specific cause and is not inherent to the process.

Rational Subgroup

Composed of items produced under essentially the same conditions; formed by using consecutive units.

X-bar Chart (Mean Chart)

Shows the mean of a continuous variable.

R Chart (Range Chart)

Shows the range of the measurements in the sample.

Run

A time-ordered sequence of observations with a certain pattern.

Closure and Recognition

Ensuring lessons learned are documented, recognizing team accomplishments, and driving a quality improvement culture.

DMAIC

Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control

DMADV

Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify

Customer

Anyone who receives a product or service from your work activities.

VOC

Input from the customer.

Critical to Quality (CTQ)

A product feature or process step that must be controlled to guarantee delivery of what the customer wants.

Voice of Customer (VOC)

External, not under company control, leads to specification limits.

Voice of Process (VOP)

Internal, controllable, leads to control limits.