What is DMAIC Methodology?

DMAIC is a statistically-driven, quality-improvement strategy used for improving and optimizing the business processes. The DMAIC approach is followed in Six Sigma quality control program. In DMAIC, the D stands for define, M stands for measure, A stands for analyze, I for Improve and C for control. In DMAIC methodology these five steps are followed to achieve improvement. These steps are needed to be followed in the following order.

What Does DMAIC Stand For?

• Define - The first step is to define the problems, goals, scope of improvement and deliverables of the project. A team is formed, and they define a faulty process which needs attention by analyzing the companys goal and requirements. Three main things are to be defined in this stage, a problem, the customers, voice of the customers and critical to quality.
• Measure - It is one of the most important steps in DMAIC. In this step, the team develops a data collection plan and collect the required data from various sources. This forms the process performance baseline. This baseline is compared to the performance metric after the completion of the process to find out whether any significant improvement has been made. The team decides which data to be collected and how to collect it. The team needs to be engaged in an in-depth research before deciding upon the data as the data is crucial for DMAIC method.
• Analyze - In this step, the root causes of the defect and poor performance are identified by analyzing the data. A large number of potential root causes are identified, then top three or four of them are selected either by using multi-voting or by any other consensus tool for further validation. The data are collected and analyzed for finding the valid root causes and the process is repeated until determining valid root causes.
• Improve - In this step, improvements are made by eliminating the root causes. Innovative and creative solutions are developed using technology and discipline. Six Thinking Hats, Random words or simply brainstorming sessions can be used for developing the solution. It is important to select the most simple and obvious solutions. Then the potential solutions are tested using the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. After getting the result the team tries to anticipate if there are any avoidable risks associated with the improvement process. This is done by Failure mode and effects analysis. Then the improvement plan is implemented to see results.
• Control - This is the final stage for institutionalizing the improvement to ensure that it does not lose the track and become faulty once again.

DMAIC is used by the companies to solve the problems which seem unsolvable.