|
In this paper we are talking about the Monitor and Control phase of the project which comes before project closure and the application of Six Sigma.
Maintaining Gains
If your project has successfully entered the Monitor and control phase you have to make sure that you maintain this stability, here are some suggested ways to protect your hard won gains.
· Policy Changes – Which corporate policies should be changed as a result of the project – have some policies become obsolete are new policies needed
· New Standards- Did the project bring the organization into compliance with a standard. if so having the company adopt the standard might prevent backsliding, there are standards like ISO, ANSI, ASTM etc. from which you can take your pick.
· Modify procedures-procedures describe the way things are supposed to be done , since the project produced better results we can find the best suited procedure which has resulted in better modification or change.
· Change Manufacturing Planning-An organizations manufacturing plan describe in detail how a product is to be processed and produced. Often the Six Sigma team will discover better way of doing things.
· Modify training-personnel need to become familiar with the new way of doing things. Be sure all employees are retrained. Evaluate the existing training materials and revise them as necessary.
Tools and techniques useful for Control Planning
· Project Planning-Many of the six sigma tools and techniques used during the define, measure, analyse and improve phases can also be used to develop a control plan.
· Failure Mode and Effect Analysis use FMEA in the improve phase, please refer my earlier articles on FMEA.
· Force Field diagram- A force Field diagram can be very useful at this point. Show the Forces that will push to undo the changes and create counterforces that will maintain them.
Preparing the Process Control Plan
Process Control plan should be prepared for each key process. The plans should be prepared by teams of people who understand the process. The team should begin with creating a flow chart of the process using the process elements. The flow chart will show how the process elements relate to each other which will help in the selection of control point. It will also show the point of delivery to the customer which is usually a important control point.
Process Audits
The requirement for all processes should be documented. A process audit check list should be prepared and used to determine the condition of the process prior to production. Please refer to my article titled as “Audit report in ABC Company “for further details.
Finally to Conclude in the Monitor and Control Phase we can apply Six Sigma Concepts and also Project Management Methodologies as Defined in PMBOK but it is ideally better to apply Six Sigma Concepts to Control/Verify Phase if we are focussing on quality assurance of the end product and we have aboard a team of Six Sigma Certified personnel who are committed to the quality of the software or a manufactured item the scenario holds good in a software company or a say steel manufacturing Company, Garment manufacturing Company etc.
The Author Suresh V. Menon is a Subject Matter expert on ERP and has worked in various capacities as Project Manager, Principal Consultant and Test Manager and is also a Business Process Consultant for Conglomerates. For Comments and queries the author can be contacted at testconsultants@outlook.com or suresh@digitalstream.in.
