Six Sigma

Is the Six Sigma Control Phase Anti-Lean?

By Ron Pereira Published on August 15th, 2007

Here is a question for you. Do you feel the Six Sigma “control” phase, the last in the DMAIC roadmap, is anti-lean in any manner? I will share my thoughts soon but am interested in hearing what others think first.

Ron Pereira

Ron has more than 20 years of experience in various manufacturing, supply chain, and senior leadership roles. Ron has held the titles of process engineer, engineering manager, master black belt, and director of manufacturing & continuous improvement. In 2002 Ron was the first American to win the Nokia Global Six Sigma and Overall Quality award in Helsinki, Finland. Ron holds a bachelor's degree in automated manufacturing and an MBA in technology management.

Jon Miller
August 15, 2007 - 10:24 pm
Reply

Standardize and yokoten (horizontal deployment) are part of the Check step of PDCA in Lean terms.

Many of the things that happen during the phase including documentation, standardization, integrating the improvements and knowledge are Lean fundamentals.

Depending on how the response systems, monitoring and transfer of project is done, a lot of waste could be created.

I’m looking at it from a Lean point of view, and assuming that the “transfer to” people are involved heavily in the training and kaizen, it should be less of a hand off than a shift to daily management and improvement of a stable and improved process.

In other words hopefully the Check phase is no the phase where the BBs and MBBs “Check out”.

Curiously absent, but perhaps implied, is the last step in PDCA which is going from A back to P, in Six Sigma terms this is to return to the Define phase.

Just a few musings from a Master White Belt.
Ron Pereira
August 16, 2007 - 9:24 pm
Reply

Thanks for the comments Jon.