DMAIC is the structured Six Sigma approach for process improvement:  Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.

The DMAIC process can be applied to any situation where a process, be it physical (i.e. manufacturing) or transactional, is producing measurable results. Examples of measurable results are endless, and just about anything worth measuring can be measured, if the management team really wants to measure it. Focus is imperative, because no organization has the capacity to measure everything. As Stephen Covey states in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “The enemy of the best is the good.”

There are countless “good” things to measure and work on, but there are a vital-few “best”  metrics that will drive profits and customer loyalty.

This is why the Define phase comes first in Six Sigma.  A well-intentioned management team that does not understand the Pareto Principle will dilute an organization’s focus and turn Six Sigma into a token effort that the organization will ultimately reject (making the next management initiative, whatever it may be, all the more difficult to implement).  Always use the vital-few business metrics (and a genuine desire to improve those metrics) as the foundation for a Six Sigma initiative, and implementing the DMAIC process will have a positive effect on the results and on the team itself.

The “D” (Define) in the DMAIC process focuses on selecting high-impact projects and understanding which underlying metric(s) will reflect project success.  Six Sigma projects create additional work, and the management team must be convinced that the projects identified in the Define phase are clearly worth the additional work required to deliver breakthrough results.  Of course, the DMAIC process does deliver those results when properly deployed.

The M-A-I-C steps in DMAIC comprise a number of tools aimed at understanding and controlling root causes.  Many organizations will follow the process outlined in Implementing Six Sigma, which accomplishes most (but not all)  improvement activities with basic DMAIC tools deployed throughout the organization.  There are a number of debates around how technical a Six Sigma program should be:  should basic tools be deployed throughout the organization, or should more advanced tools be deployed by a select-few Six Sigma black belts? The answer is that no model fits all situations.  Some organizations have highly technical processes that are not easily changed, and for these organizations a focused Six Sigma initiative using advanced tools (i.e. designed experiments, extensive error proofing, etc.) is most effective.  In other organizations there is a lot of room for continuous improvement in each functional area, and employees have freedom to improve their work processes – in these cases a broader Six Sigma implementation around a set of business metrics will make the most sense.

This site focuses on the most useful DMAIC tools, and is constantly being updated with new content.