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Books and Articles by Stephen R. Covey
Articles & Books From Stephen R. Covey
Article / Updated 09-16-2022
You don’t have to wait until your multi-vari data are collected to start creating the multi-vari chart for Six Sigma. Instead, you can build the chart, incrementally, adding more to it as you collect more data.Multi-vari charts can be drawn by hand; in fact, the process operators themselves can create them, providing those folks with a critical opportunity to invest themselves in the discovery of the root cause and the development of the solution.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-14-2022
To apply Six Sigma to your business and produce the best results, you need to understand what Six Sigma is, the principles of Six Sigma, and the DMAIC problem-solving method. The correct tools and use of the Six Sigma scale and methods will keep your data dependable and reusable.What is Six Sigma?Generally, Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools that help businesses improve their processes.
Article / Updated 03-07-2017
In Six Sigma, you make progress the old-fashioned way — one project at a time. In essence, projects are the unit of change; they define the collective effort by which most Six Sigma progress is accomplished. Projects represent — and in fact are — the level of granularity expressed to manage Six Sigma change, from a single process improvement to a large-scale business improvement effort.
Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016
A cause-and-effect matrix — sometimes called a C&E matrix for short — helps you discover which factors affect the outcomes of your Six Sigma initiative. It provides a way of mapping out how value is transmitted from the input factors of your system (the Xs) to the process or product outputs (the Ys). With these relationships visible and quantified, you can readily discover the most-influential factors contributing to value.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The primary Statistical Process Control (SPC) tool for Six Sigma initiatives is the control chart — a graphical tracking of a process input or an output over time. In the control chart, these tracked measurements are visually compared to decision limits calculated from probabilities of the actual process performance.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
From a quality perspective, Six Sigma is defined as 3.4 defects per million opportunities. This figure is called a Six Sigma level of quality. Sigma scores are thrown about so much that you definitely need to be comfortable understanding what they are and how they’re calculated. Basically, a sigma score tells you how many standard deviations can fit between the mean and specification limit of any process or specification.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Solving problems the Six Sigma way requires varying degrees of skill in applied statistics. Solving complex problems requires considerable statistical expertise, but dealing with moderate problems or routine work takes less skill.
In Six Sigma, the highest level of statistical skill is called Black Belt, the medium skill level is Green Belt, and the everyday level is Yellow Belt.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
FMEA can be very valuable for identifying failure modes in a Six Sigma Initiative. After scoring the severity of the possible effects, your cross-functional FMEA team brainstorms potential causes of the identified failure mode.
Think of causes for the failure mode, not for the effect. In the pizza example, you need to think of causes for why the phone is answered on or after the fifth ring, not causes for why a customer hangs up or why a customer becomes disgruntled.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
A Six Sigma initiative is a continuous series of projects — managing projects of various sizes and shapes cascading together predictably to create an unending stream of breakthrough improvements in business performance. These improvements occur one project at a time, and each project is an encapsulated world of Six Sigma activity unto itself.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
You must collect data for control charts for Six Sigma projects in a way that avoids a distorted or inaccurate view of the process performance — whether overly optimistic or too bleak. Using rational subgroups is a common way to assure that this distortion doesn’t happen.
A rational subgroup is a small set of measurements in which all the items in the subgroup are produced under as similar conditions as possible, typically within a relatively short time period — short enough that special causes are unlikely to occur within the subgroup.
