Usha S

NO - For an improvement manager role, completion of a full-fledged DMAIC or DMADV project should not be an essential hiring criterion. Any professional with rich quality background and good understanding of lean six sigma concepts combined with sound project handling experience should be able to successfully deliver projects impacting the QCD parameters critical to the business.

8D is an 8-Step PDCA with focus on fast/immediate action and DMAIC is a five-step PDCA intended for improvements that are necessary but do not require immediate action. Both the structures are in many ways identical and serve the same purpose of problem solving as shown in the below picture. However, the differences that separate the structures are 1. Interim containment actions - 8D has a separte step while in DMAIC no actions related to interim containement are mentioned, 2. Tools offered in each phase - 8D only offer a structure and DMAIC offers a mix of concepts and statistical tools apart from the stucture. 3. International Standards - 8D is not covered by any standards and DMAIC is supported by international standards such as ISO13053-1 and ISO13053-2. When deciding which structure to use, the table below can be used as a guideline, depending on the company’s requirements. Scope 8D DMAIC Provides project structure Yes Yes Provides containment action evaluation Yes No Provides concepts and tools No Yes Data driven No Yes ISO standards available No Yes Whie DMAIC structure provides a wider scope combining the tools and data driven mindset, at times, 8D will be preferred, especially when the customer is already affected by the problem, is bleeding, and has a serious business problem. At such time, we need to adopt band-aid approach to address the problem rather than address the root cause. However, it is important to complete the rest of the 8D process and remove the “band-aid” once the root cause is found and addressed or initiate six sigma projects when the issue is difficult to solve.

While there are needs and wants of two parties to adhere to, it’s extremely important to synergize both the concepts with the company's strategy, considering the below conflicts between the two concepts. While Business’ need is sustenance, revenue, and growth, customers’ need is best/wow products for cheapest price, which can cause a Business bankruptcy. While VOB is derived from financial and market data analysis, VOC is derived from surveys, interviews, feedback form and meetings. While VOB is from process partners , VOC is from end users. While VOB has target lines (profitability, revenue, growth and market leadership), VOC has specification limits (release evaluations, product delivery timelines, customer satisfaction scores, and net promoter Score).

Lean six sigma professionals with their experience and expertise may chose the process maps/sequence based on the complexity and intended objective on what works best given the organization culture and management support with respect to time and resources. The experts have the choice to use a blended approach that works well. While SIPOC is said to be a high-level process map, we have drawn up very detailed SIPOCs, given the time constraints, which has helped garner all outcomes which each of the process maps may offer. As long as we follow the concepts, not necessarily to the book, but make a visually strong process map to achieve the intended efficiency and effectiveness, we are good.