Integrating Project Management Into A Six Sigma System

For achieving organizational objectives, more andsubstantially.
more businesses are now implementing qualityHow DMAIC Helps In Project Management
improvement methodologies such as Total QualityDMAIC helps because it follows a scientific approach
Management, Total Quality Control and Six Sigmafor making the required changes and relies heavily on
across all functional departments inside theirstatistical tools and techniques that automatically
organizations.reduce the probability of human errors or oversights.
All these methodologies do have their benefits, butFor ensuring effective project management,
the one that offers the most benefits is certainly Sixbusinesses first need to define and quantify problems
Sigma because it is based on the concept ofthat are already there or those that might occur in
continuous quality improvements; and as such, it isfuture (Define Phase). After this, they need to collect
not limited to achieving just the preset quality levels.data related to the specified problem and "Measure"
Six-Sigma And Project Managementthe extent of damage that the problem can cause to
Six Sigma may have become the buzzword in thethe project.
business world, but that does not mean thatIn the "Analyze" phase, the specified problem is
businesses can ignore the importance of following theanalyzed in detail and efforts are made to devise
necessary guidelines while implementing Six Sigma. Sixeffective solutions that will help in neutralizing the
Sigma certainly helps in reducing the number ofdefined problem. Next comes the "Improve" phase, in
defects and improving overall quality, but that iswhich the suggested improvement measures are
possible only when businesses follow the standardfinally implemented. In the last phase, "Control",
process of implementation.specially designed control systems are put in place so
The one area where businesses need to be especiallyas to measure the effectiveness of the changes that
careful is project management -because even a smallhave been implemented and also to ensure that the
oversight or calculation error can easily undermine theproblem does not repeat itself.
success of the project. In order to ensure thatThe chances of errors are automatically reduced in
maximum benefits are realized, businesses need toDMAIC because only foolproof statistical tools and
integrate Project Management with Six Sigma usingtechniques are used such as fishbone diagram,
the standard DMAIC process, which stands forIshikawa diagram, Design of experiments (DOE),
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), process
When DMAIC is used for Project Management, theflow diagram and gage repeatability, and
probability of failures and redundancies is reducedreproducibility (R&R) studies.