What is the difference between DMAIC and PDCA?

Both are improvement cycles. PDCA is short and repeats often, which suits small changes and daily kaizen. DMAIC adds a measurement and analysis phase with tollgates, which suits larger projects where the cause is not obvious and has to be proven with data.

What goes in each column?

Define holds the problem, goal, scope and team. Measure holds the baseline data. Analyze holds the causes tested and proven. Improve holds the changes and the result. Control holds the new standard and who checks it. If a column is empty, that phase is not finished.

Do we need Six Sigma belts to use it?

No. The storyboard is a way of laying out a project. Belt training helps with the statistics in Measure and Analyze, but a team can run DMAIC with plain charts and a clear baseline.

DMAIC or A3: which should we use?

An A3 is one page and suits a problem one owner can work through in weeks. DMAIC adds tollgates and a measurement phase and suits a project that needs proof, several people and a sponsor over months. Many plants write up a DMAIC project's story as an A3 at the end.

How long does a DMAIC project take?

Typically three to six months, with Measure taking longer than teams expect because a baseline needs enough data to be trusted. A project running past six months is usually two projects.

Who owns the storyboard?

The project lead updates it; the sponsor reads it at each tollgate. The team should be able to point to their own stickies on it.

Lean Studio board · Problem solving

DMAIC Storyboard

In one sentence

A DMAIC storyboard is a one-board summary of a Six Sigma improvement project in its five phases, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, so the project's story can be read from left to right.

A DMAIC storyboard tells the story of a Six Sigma or lean improvement project on one board, in the five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. Each column holds that phase's outputs, so a sponsor can read the project in five minutes and the team can see which phase it is in.

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When to use it

When to use the DMAIC Storyboard

For an improvement project that will run for weeks and needs a tollgate review at each phase.
When a project has data behind it: a baseline, a measured cause and a measured result.
To report a project to a steering group without writing a slide deck.
As the record that stays on the wall after the project closes.

What is on the board

1
Define
The problem statement, the goal, the scope and the team.
2
Measure
The baseline: what is measured, how, and the current numbers.
3
Analyze
The causes tested and the ones proven, with the data.
4
Improve
The changes made and the result against the baseline.
5
Control
The new standard, the control chart and who checks it.

Running it

How to run a DMAIC Storyboard session

1
Define, in week one: the project lead and sponsor agree the problem statement with a number, the goal, the scope and the team, and write them in the first column. Nothing else goes on the board until the sponsor signs this off.
2
Measure: collect the baseline over enough time to be trusted, typically several weeks, and post the number, the measurement method and the top defect or loss category.
3
Analyze: list the causes the team suspects, then the ones it tested and how. Only causes proven with data move on; the rest stay on the board as ruled out.
4
Improve: describe each change, who made it and when, and the result against the baseline, ideally on the same chart.
5
Control: write the new standard, who checks it, how often and where the KPI will be watched.
6
Hold a tollgate review with the sponsor at the end of each phase, standing at the board; the storyboard is the agenda. The board is finished when Control has run for the agreed period and the result has held.

Worked example · sample data

Worked example

The sample storyboard follows a first-pass-yield project on a coating line. Define: yield is 91% against a target of 97%, with a team from quality, coating and maintenance. Measure: eight weeks of data put the baseline at 91.2%, and orange peel accounted for 62% of rejects, so the project narrowed to one defect. Analyze: booth humidity was above 65% on reject days, and gun distance varied from operator to operator; both were tested against the reject records. Improve: a dehumidifier interlock that holds the booth under 60%, and a gun-distance jig for all shifts. Control: booth humidity goes on the tier 1 board every day and the jig is audited weekly for eight weeks. The team's next step was the Control tollgate, once eight weeks of yield data had confirmed the gain.

The board shown at the top of this page, read through. Invented data, not a customer.

Common mistakes

Skipping Measure because 'everyone knows' the problem. The baseline is what makes Improve provable.
A Define column that changes every week. Scope creep shows up as a storyboard that never gets past column two.
Analyzing in a meeting room. Causes are proven on the floor, with data.
Improve before Analyze: a solution the team already had in mind, dressed in DMAIC columns.
An empty Control column. Without a standard and a check, yield drifts back within months.
Turning the storyboard into a slide deck. It should be readable in five minutes standing in front of it.

How it works in Lean Studio

1
Start from the DMAIC Storyboard template: five columns, one per phase, with a header row for the project name and team.
2
Add stickies and text in each column as the phase produces them; drag a sticky from Analyze to Improve when a cause becomes a change.
3
Put a Column Graph or Line Graph widget in Measure and Improve so the baseline and the result are drawn from the same data.
4
Save the finished board to My templates so the next team starts from your version.

Lean Studio boards are drawn with stickies, text, shapes (rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, diamond), arrows and charts, and any board can carry the 15 data widgets, from a scorecard to a kanban. See all widgets and boards.

Also in LeanSuite

Where it goes next in LeanSuite

LeanSuite's Kaizen module runs improvement events and projects with owners, due dates and tracked savings.

DMAIC is a ready-made five-phase methodology in Kaizen & Projects: each phase holds its sections, due dates come from the methodology, and hard and soft savings are tracked against plant targets. Kaizen & Projects
The Measure and Improve numbers can be KPIs with targets and RAG ranges, so the dashboard shows whether the gain held after Control. KPI Dashboards
Control checks such as the weekly jig audit can be built and scheduled in Audit Management, with missed audits shown in red. Audit Management

See Kaizen & Projects

Open this board in LeanSuite

DMAIC Storyboard is one of the 30 ready-made boards in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard. Try the interactive demo in your browser with sample data, or pilot LeanSuite on your own lines for 90 days, with the setup done by our team.

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DMAIC Storyboard

When to use the DMAIC Storyboard

What is on the board

Define

Measure

Analyze

Improve

Control