Six Sigma – Part 4: DMAIC: Improving and Controlling

In Six Sigma - Part 4: DMAIC: Improving and Controlling, you'll learn ...

• The science of making predictions about future performance
• How to design, conduct, and analyze powerful experiments
• Ways to make newly achieved improvements permanent
• Statistical process control

Overview

Six Sigma is the single most effective problem-solving methodology for improving business and organizational performance. There’s not a business, technical, or process challenge that Six Sigma can’t improve. The world’s top corporations have used it to increase their profits collectively by more than $100 billion over the past ten years. In certain corporations, indicating Six Sigma proficiency on your résumé is now a prerequisite to moving into a position in management.

Simply stated, Six Sigma is about applying a structured, scientific method to improve any aspect of a business, organization, process, or person. It’s about engaging in disciplined data collection and analysis to determine the best possible ways of meeting your customers’ needs while satisfying yours and minimizing wasted resources and maximizing profit in the process.

This course is Part 4 of a 5-part series based on the popular book Six Sigma for Dummies, 2nd Edition¹. Despite its astounding effectiveness, few outside of the community of Six Sigma practitioners know what Six Sigma is all about. Six Sigma for Dummies provides a fast and easy way to understand and implement Six Sigma. In fact, Six Sigma For Dummies is the most straightforward, non-intimidating guide available.

This course, Part 4 of the series, covers the Improving and Controlling phase of Six Sigma’s DMAIC problem-solving road map. The intent of the Improve and Control phases is to synthesize an improvement and then lock in the gains that you’ve achieved.

Module 1 introduces the science of making predictions about future performance, and Module 2 gives you the lowdown on how to design, conduct, and analyze powerful experiments. In Module 3, we show you ways to make newly achieved improvements permanent. Module 4 covers the important topic of statistical process control.

This course series provides more than an overview or survey of Six Sigma. It provides a comprehensive, actionable description of the methods and tools of Six Sigma. Yes, Six Sigma is rigorous, technical, and analytical. But this course series takes on this difficult subject and makes it understandable through examples, simple explanations, and visual aids.

This course is applicable to engineers of all disciplines working in any industry. Six Sigma is applicable everywhere — not only in large and complex corporations but also in the less complex and more intimate worlds of professional performance and personal accomplishment.

 

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• Quantifying relationships between variables
• Calculating and interpreting the correlation coefficient
• Checking the validity of fitted prediction curves
• Looking at the advantages of planned experimentation
• Examining experimental considerations and terminology
• Exploring the 2k full factorial experiments
• Getting long-term results with control planning
• 5S-ing for sustained improvement
• Mistake-proofing for the future with Poka-Yoke
• Using FMEA to establish the right level of control
• Setting up and following standards to make your awesome new process last
• Understanding statistical process control
• Selecting the right control chart for your situation
• Analyzing and interpreting control charts
• Creating control charts for continuous and attribute data

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 20 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.