DMAIC (Define / Measure / Analyze / Improve / Control)
DMAIC (Define ‒ Measure ‒ Analyze ‒ Improve ‒ Control) represent the stages of a process management. DMAIC is the core process of quality management and Six Sigma; is used in order to develop such processes, to ensure a stable Six Sigma performance level. DMAIC is used for improvement of existing products..
Define
who are your customers of the process ("customer" is a general description) and what are the needs of your customers, which your process has to accomplish. The performance of your process is critical to fulfil your customer expectation.
Measure
is the stage where methods and tools are needed for gathering data about the current status of the observed features. Using methods and tools, like: Data Plan, Data Sheets, Control Charts, Histograms, GRR, SPC, Pareto diagrams, Priority Matrix, FMEA or Process Sigma, will provide data on the functionality of the observed process.
Analyze
is the stage to establish the causes of deviation from the defined performance targets. The result of this phase shall leads to description of the problem, changes on the process or product; or changes of whole project framework. Methods and tools that shall be implemented: Cause-Effect Diagram, Brainstorming, Control Charts, Data Collection Form / Error Collection Card, DoE (Design of Experiments), Flow Charts, Scatter Plot, Hypothesis Testing, Frequency Charts.
Improve
is the phase where the possible solutions, out of analyze stage, are identified according to the addressed problem. Because there are maybe several solutions, criteria to assess the effective solution shall be implemented, like: Brainstorming, FMEA, DoE (Design of Experiments), Flow Charts.
Control
if the recent improvements and new procedures in the daily operation have been secured. It is important here, the responsibility for the process to be addressed specific to the process owner. The process shall be continuously monitored for further developing of optimization procedures. For the identified or expected deviations of the process, appropriate corrective action shall be established. Methods and tools to be implemented: Control Charts, Flow Charts, Pareto Analysis, Frequency Charts, Standardization, Process Flow Diagrams.