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    The ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt Pocket Guide
    The ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt Pocket Guide
    The ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt Pocket Guide
    Ebook245 pages1 hour

    The ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt Pocket Guide

    By T.M. Kubiak

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    About this ebook

    Unlike other pocket guides, this guide is designed specifically to address topics that the author has found to cause problems, issues, and concerns for most Black Belts over the years. As such, its primary purpose is to serve as a useful reference guide for the Black Belt throughout his or her busy day, and particularly in meetings. Though not intended to be a tool guide like other pocket guides or a preparation guide for the ASQ certifications, it will nonetheless serve as a useful reference guide for both the ASQ Black Belt and Master Black Belt certification examinations.

    Black belts will enjoy reading this pocket guide and find it invaluable in their daily work.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherASQ Quality Press
    Release dateJul 24, 2013
    ISBN9781953079848
    The ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt Pocket Guide

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      Book preview

      The ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt Pocket Guide - T.M. Kubiak

      List of Figures and Tables

      Figure 2.1 DMAIC in a dream world.

      Figure 2.2 DMAIC in the real world.

      Figure 3.1 The DFSS family of methodologies.

      Table 3.1 Comparing DMAIC and DFSS methodologies.

      Table 3.2 Common tools used in DFSS.

      Figure 4.1 Selecting the proper project methodology.

      Figure 5.1 A basic form of a charter document.

      Figure 5.2 Example of a project charter document.

      Figure 5.3 Example of project scoping using the functional method—Y = f(X) format.

      Figure 5.4 Example of project scoping using the dimensional method—process mapping decomposition format.

      Figure 6.1 Determining hard dollar versus soft dollar cost savings.

      Figure 6.2 Expanding the definition of cost avoidance to include efficiency savings.

      Figure 6.3 Expanding the definition of cost savings to include revenue growth.

      Figure 6.4 Expanding the definition of cost savings to include working capital.

      Table 6.1 Examples of savings by category.

      Table 7.1 Common tools used in define phase.

      Table 7.2 Common tools used in measure phase.

      Table 7.3 Common tools used in analyze phase.

      Table 7.4 Common tools used in improve phase.

      Table 7.5 Common tools used in control phase.

      Table 7.6 Common tools used in Lean.

      Figure 8.1 Dimensions of management support.

      Figure 8.2 Cross-functional business processes.

      Figure 8.3 A common governance structure within a single organizational unit.

      Figure 8.4 Nested governance structures within a complex organizational unit.

      Figure 8.5 The many roles of a Lean Six Sigma Quality Council.

      Table 9.1 A simple form for completing a stakeholder analysis.

      Figure 9.1 Alternate example of a stakeholder analysis.

      Table 9.2 Example of an influence–importance stakeholder table.

      Table 9.3 Example of an impact–cooperation stakeholder table.

      Table 9.4 Constructing a communications plan.

      Table 9.5 Example of a RACI matrix.

      Table 10.1 A brief summary of the tollgate process.

      Table 10.2 Additional questions to be asked by the champion during tollgate reviews.

      Figure 12.1 Demonstrating the Y = f(X) concept.

      Table 12.1 The six M’s: useful categories when thinking about input variables.

      Table 12.2 Classifying input variables.

      Figure 12.2 Analyzing inputs and outputs.

      Table 12.3 Identifying potential issues with inputs and outputs.

      Figure 13.1 Examples of common listening posts.

      Figure 13.2 Examples of media used for listening posts.

      Table 13.1 Sources of customer data.

      Table 13.2 Common causes of poor data accuracy.

      Table 13.3 Useful data collection techniques.

      Table 13.4 Common data collection points (DCPs).

      Table 13.5 A summary of data collection strategies.

      Table 13.6 Advantages and disadvantages of the data collection strategies.

      Figure 14.1 A force-field analysis diagram.

      Figure 14.2 An example of many-to-one forces.

      Figure 14.3 A force-field analysis diagram for Example 14.1.

      Table 14.1 Accuracy versus precision.

      Figure 14.4 The structure of a typical control chart.

      Figure 14.5 Selecting a variables control chart based on the subgroup size.

      Table 14.2 Characteristics of attributes charts.

      Table 14.3 Formulas for calculating the centerline and control limits for variables charts.

      Table 14.4 Formulas for calculating the centerline and control limits for attributes charts.

      Table 14.5 Team obstacles and solutions.

      Preface

      I am pleased to provide our readers with the first edition of The ASQ Pocket Guide for the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

      As you read this book, you may wonder why I have chosen to use Lean Six Sigma in place of Six Sigma in most instances. The answer is simple: both the Black Belt and Master Black Belt bodies of knowledge discuss Lean, and the reality is that a practitioner must be competent in both. Further, the terminology also reflects the integrated nature of these tools and techniques.

      This pocket guide assumes the reader has the necessary background and experience in quality and Lean Six Sigma, is already an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, and has access to The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook, Second Edition. Ideally, the reader also has access to The Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Handbook. Consequently, it has been written at a high level to keep its size small and to retain its pocket guide status.

      Unlike other pocket guides, this guide is designed specifically to address topics that I have found to cause problems, issues, and concerns for most Black Belts over the years. As such, its primary purpose is to serve as a useful reference guide for the Black Belt throughout his or her busy day, and particularly in meetings. See Chapter 1. It is not intended to be a tool guide like other pocket guides, or a preparation guide for the ASQ Black Belt examination.

      That said, I have no doubt that it will nonetheless serve as a useful reference guide for both the ASQ Black Belt and Master Black Belt during certification examinations.

      The Glossary for this pocket guide has intentionally been kept to a minimum and reflects mostly the terms used in the guide. A more detailed glossary is provided in either The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook, Second Edition or The Certified Master Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook.

      A second Glossary has been included. This short glossary is limited to the most common Japanese terms used by quality and Lean Six Sigma professionals.

      Additional glossary elements including statistical tables have been included so that they are readily at your fingertips. Unfortunately, some tables had to be excluded due to their size. Fortunately, you can find them in either of the above handbooks.

      Suggestions for improving this pocket guide may be sent to authors@asq.org.

      I hope you find this pocket guide a useful aid in your daily work.

      —T. M. Kubiak

      Acknowledgments

      This was a particularly difficult project, and I could not have completed it successfully without much-needed support. The difficulty lay with determining criteria for selecting material to include such that this pocket guide is unique from all of the others on the market.

      First, there was my wife, Darlene. Darlene served as my proofreader for the entire project. I am deeply appreciative of her patience and of her keen eyes. Of course, there was always a smile on her face as she eagerly pointed out my mistakes.

      Second, special thanks go to Roderick Munro for his generous support, numerous suggestions, and encouragement while writing this pocket guide. His input brought clarity to me and helped me to determine how to craft the structure of this guide.

      Third, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Minitab Inc. for providing me with the Quality Companion 3 software and for permission to use several examples from this software, which was instrumental in creating several of the examples used throughout the book.

      Last, I would like to thank the ASQ Quality Press management staff for their outstanding support and exceptional patience while I completed this project.

      —T. M. Kubiak

      Chapter 1: Introduction

      This pocket guide assumes the reader has the necessary background and experience in quality and Lean Six Sigma, and has access to The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook, Second Edition. Ideally, the reader has access to The Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Handbook as well. Consequently, it has been written at a high level to keep its size small and to retain its pocket guide status.

      Unlike other pocket guides, this guide is designed specifically to address topics that I have found to cause problems, issues, and concerns for most Black Belts over the years, based on my experience training them, as well as from many observations derived from user groups and online communities. As such, it is not intended to be a tool guide or a preparation guide for the ASQ Black Belt certification examination.

      However, it is intended to serve as a useful reference tool for the Black Belt throughout his or her busy day. In addition, I expect it will be particularly useful in meetings by helping settle discussions and keeping the meetings moving.

      As you read this book, you may wonder why I have chosen to use Lean Six Sigma in place of Six Sigma in most instances. The answer is simple: both the Black Belt and Master Black Belt bodies of knowledge discuss Lean, and the reality is that a practitioner must be competent in both. Further, the terminology also reflects the integrated nature of these tools and techniques.

      Chapter Content

      Although there is an overall order to the chapter sequence and some relatively minor cross-referencing between chapters, this pocket guide has been designed so that each chapter is essentially independent of every other chapter. Therefore, you may feel comfortable starting at the beginning of any chapter you desire. Below is a brief synopsis of each.

      Chapter 2 provides a detailed explanation of the DMAIC methodology and defines the purpose of each phase. A detailed flowchart of the DMAIC methodology is provided that includes the tollgates and illustrates how a failure at each tollgate can send the project backward one or more phases.

      Chapter 3 identifies the various tools and techniques commonly used in Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). Also included is a discussion of various DFSS methodologies and a side-by-side comparison of each by

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