IMPROVEWelcome to the 4th phase of a DMAIC Project
The IMPROVE phase requires understanding the KPIV's that are causing the effect. This phase will help determine the relationships and amounts of these key variables to the project "Y" and lead to optimal improvement ideas. All the hard work done previously lacks merit unless there is implementation. This is the phase of the project where all the team's work gets put into action, the rubber meets the road for hard driving. The solutions have been identified and the implementations to reduce variation in improve target performance are executed in IMPROVE. It may be necessary to once again conduct a Stakeholder Analysis to ensure the team is ready to speak and promote the change, drive the change, and walk the talk. The portion of implementations will shock the culture and the ability to achieve cultural change will dominate the technical ability requirements in this phase.
As much waste should be removed as possible. Solid education and analysis has identified these areas of opportunity in earlier phases. A relentless drive to not only remove waste to increase the value-added time but to increase the value of the value-added processes. As improvements are made, more will come to the surface. The team will need a timeline such as a Gantt Chart to track assignments and timeliness of their completion. Pilot runs will be taken at the end of the IMPROVE phase and data collecting to begin the BEFORE and AFTER performance will start. The outputs of the IMPROVE phase are needed to begin the CONTROL phase. Some of the tools commonly used in the IMPROVE phase are shown below. Mistake Proofing (Poka Yoke) Designing Workcells / Cellular Flow SMED: Single Minute Exchange of Dies
Proceed to final DMAIC Phase, the CONTROL Phase Return to DMAIC Return to Six-Sigma-Material Home Page from IMPROVE |