The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Lean Six Sigma

CHAPTER 4IMPROVE

The Improve phase (see Figure 4.1) is focused on selecting the improvement ideas that were either identified by the team or determined through data analysis. It is also in this phase that the implementation plan is developed. There is only one step in this phase:

Figure 4.1 Overview of Improve Phase

Step 12: Identify the Vital Xs and Implementable Solutions

If the project goal is to reduce cycle time or improve flow, tools such as 5S, line balancing, and kaizen are appropriate. More complex projects, where the relationships between variables are not well understood, will rely on Six Sigma tools like regression.

The key deliverables ...