By Scott Burgmeyer
DMAIC (pronounced duh-MAY-ick) is the five-step process of Six Sigma that stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. There are many variations of the Six Sigma platform that include Six Sigma, Lean Sigma, and blends of other continuous improvement
methodologies. While the traditional Six Sigma practitioners have emphasized reducing variation, some recent focus has been to improve processes and be a central foundation of an organization’s continuous improvement journey.
As you peel back the layers of DMAIC, we focus on:
- Define: What specifically is the problem?
- Measure: How big is the problem?
- Analyze: What is causing the problem?
- Improve: What are we going to do to fix the problem?
- Control: How do we ensure the problem doesn’t come back?
IQC has multiple belt levels (Yellow, Green and Black) where individuals and teams can learn the five steps for improvement. Committing to the key elements of DMAIC is how you internalize the thinking process of improvement through the five steps.
