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About this lesson

A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt will often chair the stage gate review meetings for Lean Six Sigma projects. In those meetings, the Black Belt needs to ensure the work of the phase was done and the tools were used effectively. This lesson reviews the normal deliverables due at the Improve stage gate review. It also includes hints and tips for identifying problems to be avoided during that phase.

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Improve Stage Deliverables.docx
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Quick reference

Improve Stage Deliverables

The Improve Stage is the fourth stage of a Lean Six Sigma project. The deliverables from this should demonstrate a viable solution to the problem in preparation of implementation of that solution.

When to use

The Improve Stage deliverables should be reviewed and approved at the Improve stage gate review meeting.

Instructions

Throughout the Improve stage, the team is developing a solution strategy. Often, the solution will be a combination of several changes to address both special causes and common causes. The ultimate goal of the work in this stage is to create a solution and demonstrate that it corrects the problem and addresses the customer CTQs. The solution strategy often includes process changes which are captured in the To-Be process map.

The effort in this stage includes demonstrating that the change is effective. This often means that a demonstration run must be conducted and the results compared back to the baseline data that was collected in the Measure stage. The solution should include more than a working prototype, it should include draft procedures or other process and system changes that are needed to implement the solution strategy. In addition, it should have a tentative cost and schedule for the implementation activities. That is what is actually being approved at this gate. If the stakeholders approve the solution strategy and cost and schedule, that is the authority to move into the Control stage and fully implement the solution.

A major challenge can arise in this stage when attempting to demonstrate the solution is effective. The team needs to be able to reference back to the baseline performance to show the change. If the solution is not effective, the team must re-evaluate whether they have identified the true root causes. Questions you often must work through with the stakeholders during the gate review are:

  • What other solutions were considered? Be prepared to give a high level description and why they were rejected. Solution selection matrix is an excellent tool for facilitating this discussion.
  • What has been the result of testing the solution? You will definitely need to show actual test or performance data that demonstrates that the solution addresses the problem.
  • How would this solution impact the rest of the business, customers and suppliers? The stakeholders will want to understand the level of disruption that will occur when the solution is implemented.

Hints & tips

  • Make sure you have done a good job brainstorming possible solutions and didn’t just jump at the first idea. Use the Pugh matrix to create a solution strategy.
  • Rely on data to demonstrate efficacy. Where possible, use prototypes and do actual runs. In some cases you will need to do simulations. Try to calibrate your simulation approach with a baseline to show percentage improvement with the solution strategy. Watch out for the Hawthorne effect giving you a better solution performance than what will normally be achieved. 
  • Occasionally, a DOE will be needed because of the complexity of the process or problem. When that happens, you need to actively coach the process. One slight mistake can invalidate the entire statistical analysis of the DOE.
  • Don’t be upset if the solution does not make it all the way to the target. Go for improvement with this solution and then, in the spirit of continuous improvement, let the organization charter another team to make even more improvement.
  • In addition to measuring your improved performance against the baseline performance, also check it against the expectations of the customer CTQ. That is what the stakeholders will be most concerned about.
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  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I wanna summarize this section by discussing the Improve stage deliverables,
  • 00:10 and some of the challenges that you may encounter while they are being developed.
  • 00:16 Let's start by looking at the gate reviews, and
  • 00:18 what is required to get through that meeting?
  • 00:21 The focus of this phase has been to create a viable solution,
  • 00:24 one that addresses the primary causes that are identified in the Analyze phase.
  • 00:29 So the focus of the review is to demonstrate that that has been achieved.
  • 00:33 The solution works and creates an improved process performance.
  • 00:38 That is the critical take-away from this meeting,
  • 00:40 the understanding that implementing this solution solves the problem.
  • 00:44 The decision that occurs at this gate is pretty obvious, that is,
  • 00:48 approval to implement the solution.
  • 00:50 And of course, the biggest risk for this phase is also obvious, and
  • 00:54 that is that the solution does not really solve the problem.
  • 00:57 If the true root causes were identified in the Analyze stage, and
  • 01:00 the solution strategy addresses those root causes, that risk should be minimal.
  • 01:05 As you're preparing for the gate review,
  • 01:07 you can expect questions to focus on this area of risk.
  • 01:11 The stakeholders want to be sure that the solution solves the problem.
  • 01:15 The questions they're likely to ask will include what other solutions were
  • 01:19 considered, do you have a complete solution strategy, and
  • 01:22 what has been the result of testing?
  • 01:25 Show us the data that demonstrates that this solution will solve this problem.
  • 01:29 I suggest that you go back to the customer CTQs when addressing this question.
  • 01:34 And finally, how would this solution impact the rest of the business, our
  • 01:39 customers and our suppliers.
  • 01:40 Have you thought through what it would take to implement the solution,
  • 01:44 what is the time and money required to do this?
  • 01:47 Of course, you don't want to hold a gate review if you're not ready.
  • 01:50 So let's look at the typical criteria for what is needed for successful gate review.
  • 01:55 I'll start with the obvious, you need to be able to show that you have successfully
  • 01:59 addressed any and all special causes of the problem.
  • 02:02 And you may also want to demonstrate that your solution addresses some of the common
  • 02:07 causes, if there are no special causes, this is your focus.
  • 02:11 If the problem really was a special cause problem,
  • 02:13 you may not need to do anything with respect to common causes,
  • 02:17 it all depends upon the root causes found in the Analyze stage.
  • 02:21 We've mentioned several times,
  • 02:23 the visualizations are helpful in these gate reviews.
  • 02:26 One great visualization is to share the difference between the original as-is,
  • 02:30 process performance baseline, and the new to-be process performance.
  • 02:35 Show the removal or change of steps and the impact on cycle time and
  • 02:39 roll throughput yield.
  • 02:40 Of course you will need to show the test data that demonstrates the improvement due
  • 02:45 to the solution strategy.
  • 02:46 And if you're changing a process, you should be ready to talk about the process
  • 02:50 change and have the new process design and procedures prepared so that
  • 02:53 the stakeholders know that the procedure has been developed and is ready to go.
  • 02:58 The approval of this review is to implement the solution strategy,
  • 03:02 so be certain to have that laid out.
  • 03:04 Then the stakeholders know what they are approving.
  • 03:07 This includes the scope of the improvement,
  • 03:09 which is your solution strategy, a proposed cost and schedule to do the improvement,
  • 03:14 and the impact of all the different parts of the business.
  • 03:17 It's quite common for a solution strategy to require support systems or
  • 03:21 processes to change.
  • 03:22 These organizations need to be aware of what is coming their way as part of
  • 03:26 the solution and part of their decision.
  • 03:28 Let's finish this up by providing a few tips and hints to help you get through
  • 03:33 this stage and have a successful stage review meeting.
  • 03:36 Brainstorm multiple solutions before deciding what to do,
  • 03:39 don't just jump to the first idea.
  • 03:41 It may be a good one but after brainstorming other ideas
  • 03:44 you may be able to enhance it to make it an even better one.
  • 03:48 This is one of the things that the Pugh matrix does for you,
  • 03:52 don't trust a solution will work - demonstrate it.
  • 03:55 Get data, it could be from prototype or simulation, but
  • 03:59 get data to demonstrate the improvement.
  • 04:02 One caution when collecting the data, is to watch out for the Hawthorne effect.
  • 04:06 Try to get multiple data points so that you can see what happens
  • 04:10 once a solution becomes routine, and is not quite so special.
  • 04:14 If you need to do a design of experiments, and most of the time you won't,
  • 04:18 it will require close monitoring and special coaching.
  • 04:22 The nature of the experiment will mean that some of the test will likely fail and
  • 04:26 I've seen test operators change the experiment because well,
  • 04:29 they know it's gonna fail.
  • 04:31 And not realizing that we really need that data point for
  • 04:34 the statistical analysis, so watch that work closely.
  • 04:37 It can be long and expensive and
  • 04:39 one little screw up invalidates the whole study.
  • 04:43 Don't fall into the trap of thinking that the solution must be 100% perfect,
  • 04:47 as long as you have made significant progress, you can claim victory.
  • 04:51 If the business wants even more, well,
  • 04:53 that's what continuous improvement is all about.
  • 04:56 We'll take advantage of this improvement and we'll go back and
  • 04:59 do another project to get even more.
  • 05:01 Finally, sometimes we're so focused on the improvement with respect to the process
  • 05:05 baseline and performance, that we forget to go back and look at the customer CTQ.
  • 05:09 Make sure you've addressed the CTQ at the gate review because this
  • 05:14 is what the customers have viewed as the real problem.
  • 05:18 As a Lean Six Sigma black belt, it's your job to make sure that the solution created
  • 05:23 in the Improve stage is effective.
  • 05:25 So don't hesitate to dig into the data and
  • 05:28 make sure that you can demonstrate it works, and you're ready to implement.

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