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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Performance Management · Performance improvement models and techniques

Brandt Electronics uses the Six Sigma DMAIC cycle to tackle high rates of faulty circuit boards. The team has defined the problem, set up data collection and measured the current defect rate at 4.2%. It has now analysed the data and found that soldering temperature variation causes most defects. Which stage comes next, and what happens in it?

Improve comes next. DMAIC runs Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control. Once analysis has identified soldering temperature variation as the root cause, the team develops and pilots solutions to remove it. Control, which embeds monitoring to sustain gains, only follows after improvements have been implemented and tested.

  1. AImprove: develop and pilot changes to control soldering temperatureCorrect
  2. BControl: install monitoring so the gains are sustained over time
  3. CDefine: confirm customer requirements and the project scope
  4. DMeasure: collect further baseline data on the defect rate

Explanation

DMAIC runs Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control. After Analyse identifies root causes, the Improve stage designs and tests solutions. Control follows Improve, so choosing it skips a stage.

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