All Posts Tagged With: "dmaic"
One Team’s Systematic Approach to Improvement
A recent case study published by ASQ tells the story of how FirstSource Solutions used tools and processes that are common among Baldrige Award winners to tackle a single problem—reducing the turnaround time (TAT) to approve applications for a retail mortgage client—with impressive results.
The client was in the United Kingdom. Here’s a synopsis of how Firstsource tackled the problem:
- It used data to define the problem: Over a nine-week period, the client offered mortgage loans in 14 days or less 69% of the time, well short of the 75% target.
- A financial benefit estimation exercise determined that improving performance on TAT to 80% would increase revenue by six million pounds annually, create a more efficient process, and provide faster service to applicants.
- Firstsource formed a team to improve TAT. The team received training on the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology and quality tools.
- The team started with a supplier-inputs-process-outputs-customer (SIPOC) exercise to create a high-level process map and identify stakeholders.
- The team produced a three-stage analysis road map to assess the current situation and identify possible root causes and improvement activities. It used the road map to agree on five causes of the longer TAT.
- The team brainstormed possible solutions and then assigned a relative rating for…
The Power of Process
Cargill Corn Milling (CCM) North America received a Baldrige site visit in October 2008, four months after the Cedar River crested at 20 feet above flood stage and caused an estimated $100 million in damage to its facilities.
It was ready. Despite having to remove and recondition 600 motors, 500 pumps, and more than 100 blowers, CCM was up and running in September and operating at full capacity in November—the same month it learned that it had received the Baldrige Award.
In “Watershed Moment” (Quality Progress, August 2009), CCM President Alan Willits credits his organization’s fast recovery to its process-oriented business culture. “We didn’t need to go back and ask how we were going to manage this project,” said Willits.” We had all the processes in place. We were simply able to use them to react to a very significant and difficult event.”
In the summary of its award-winning application, CCM describes how it uses its Best Practices Model to improve work processes. The model is a variation of Plan-Do-Check-Act or the DMAIC model that has four stages and nine steps:
- Plan: Identify opportunity / identify key measures / standardize measurement system / evaluate and identify best practices
- Evaluate: Document best practices / Implement best practices
- Analyze:…
Process Management: DMAIC for Everyone
If you’ve been looking for a formal approach to process improvement, consider DMAIC. A Six Sigma approach developed by W. Edwards Deming in the 1950s, DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.
The DMAIC Process
DMAIC explores the answers to basic questions about how a process works, why it’s not working as well as it needs to be, and what needs to be done to improve it. In a nutshell, you use the DMAIC process to:
- Define the problem: What problem needs to be solved? What process or processes need to be improved?
- Measure the process to figure out what it’s capable of: What is the capability of the process?
- Analyze the process to identify defects and their root causes: When, where, and why do defect occur?
- Improve the process by eliminating the defects and addressing the root causes: What actions must be taken to eliminate defects and root causes?
- Control future process performance: What controls must be implemented to sustain the improvements?
For more information about DMAIC and how to use it, check out this article, one of many online resources that can help you get started.
31Jul2009 | Steve George | 2 comments | Continued
