Six Sigma is a system of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects which are defined as units that are not members of the intended population.  Six Sigma has two key methodologies: DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC is used to improve an existing business process. DMADV is used to create new product designs or process designs in such a way that it results in a more predictable, mature and defect-free performance.  This document will focus on DMAIC.

The combination of BPM and Six Sigma is the next stage in the evolution of process improvement.  Six Sigma drives improvement methodically and analytically.   The challenge of Six Sigma lies in the difficulty of integrating the key methodologies into actual process operations.  The Six Sigma process, while widely recognized as valuable, is often viewed as time consuming and resource intensive and usually produces more improvement opportunities than improvement results. 

In the next few months we will be creating a Process Improvement Portal.  We will connect to Enterprise Portfolio Management; this will help to select the best improvement opportunities based on Business objectives.  We will provide full support for DMAIC, DFSS and DMADV as K2 process templates that will guide you through the Project life cycle.  I will also provide advanced capabilities in a Process Improvement Portal.  This will be directed at the process owner and help enable continuous value focused improvement.  With K2 BlackPeal’s Dynamic Application capabilities, we can connect your improvement efforts directly with your current process.  We can enable you to map the Voice of the Customer to the Voice of the process.  We can enable you to define your Key measurements of outputs, inputs and process activities.  We can allow you to define your data collection methods and help you to manage them.  We help you create and manage your supply chain by allowing you to define and refine SIPOC for your process.

Managing DMAIC with K2 allows organizations to connect process improvement effort with process driven applications. Some forward-thinking companies will embrace the K2 Six Sigma model to drive new levels of achievement and efficiency.

We welcome your involvement as we energetically seek to help you drive value out of your process improvement projects.