Today we'll discuss the final stage of DMAIC: the Control Phase.
[Intro Video]
Hi, this is Mike Negami, Lean Sigma, Black Belt.
I haven't talked about DMAIC for a long time, so in review, DMAIC is a framework for process
improvement projects with Lean Sigma.
I made a video explaining the whole picture of DMAIC.
Please click the link above for the video.
By the way, if you're using an Internet browser in your mobile device now, you may not see
any link above.
You’ll find the same link in this video’s description below.
Today's theme is the last letter of DMAIC: “C”- Control Phase.
First of all, what's the purpose of this Control Phase?
In the Improve Phase, which is the phase before the Control Phase, the project team improves
the target process and completely hands the new process to the process owner, then the
project team will be dissolved.
However, after that, if that improvement level decreased, that's not good.
Therefore, the biggest purpose of the Control Phase is to create a system that will maintain
the improvement or make even better.
Now, what do you actually do in the Control Phase?
In the Improve Phase, it's essential to embed the PDCA Cycle into the target process.
This is the scope of Quality Control aka QC.
QC is an activity that maintains or enhances quality within each process.
During the Control Phase, you'll confirm that the PDCA Cycle in the target process is functioning
effectively.
Furthermore, you'll confirm that that quality is maintained until the customer finishes
using your product or service.
This is Quality Assurance aka QA.
Generally speaking, QA is the work of a little higher department, and they identify which
processes affect the quality of your products and services the most and maintain or enhance
those processes’ quality from outside.
To put it plainly, QC is to improve the quality by creating a PDCA Cycle, and QA is to check
from the outside whether the PDCA Cycle is effectively rotating.
The next important thing is to organize and document the results of improvement and the
materials you have made.
If you save them in SharePoint or other data storage and make them available to other project
teams as a template for future projects, the future project management speed will be greatly
increased.
We call it 'Lessons learned’.
In addition, make and organize the target process's process map and SOP (Standard Operating
Procedure), internal policies, and ISO standard materials etc.
If operations of the target process's employees have changed, you should update their job
descriptions.
If you're in the manufacturing industry, you would make a ‘Control Plan’.
This document is very similar to FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), which I made a
video about it.
The Control Plan shows how to measure CTQ (Critical To Quality) and what to do when
variances occur.
I'll talk about this in another video.
We are supposed to have trained the current workers for the new process at the Improve
Phase.
The important thing to consider here is that when a new worker comes in, if you rely on
only the current worker to train the new worker, the quality of the work will be reduced each
time the new ones take over.
Therefore, you should make a plan for who will do what and how when a new worker comes
in.
Lastly, review the project charter you made at the Define Phase and confirm whether you've
solved all the issues of the project by number.
By including those numbers in your final report and reporting that to all stakeholders, you
can nurture a Kaizen culture within the company.
Also, make sure to congratulate the project team on their success and efforts individually.
Continually doing this will raise the morale of the entire company.
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