DMAIC
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

DMAIC
• A Continuous
Improvement Methodology
Common in Manufacturing
Environments
• An Empirical Process
Driven by Data

DMAIC STEPS
Define
Measure
AnalyzeImprove
Control

DEFINE
•Define Your Business Problem
•What Do You Currently Know?
•Who or What is Impacted By The Problem?

MEASURE
•Collect data to establish a baseline of the
current state
•Avoid non-quantifiable terms such as
“High” or “Low” without having
established items of comparison

ANALYZE
•Create process maps to help visualize the flow
•Investigate and learn the details surrounding
the problem area
•Question the people who perform the work
•List out possible causes to the defined problem

IMPROVE
• Plan your improvement - how are you
going to achieve the preferred result?
• Put the plan into action - ideally one
change at a time
• Verify that the change is working as
expected
• If the change is not working as expected,
adjust the change or implement a different
solution

CONTROL
•Put controls in place to ensure
improvements can be and will be
followed
•Monitor for the reoccurrence of the
original problem

WHEN IT COMES TO
IMPROVEMENT
• Difficult to follow changes probably will
not be followed
• Lack of tools or training may result in
improvements failing
• Frequent or erratic changes without
explanation may turn the workforce
against the changes
• Always remember – somebody else likely
has to deal with your improvements

DMAIC
Joshua Render
https://agile-mercurial.com