Six Sigma Tool Navigator: The Master Guide for Teams

The Tools

Tools do not solve problems, people do. Just as a team facilitator makes it easier for a team of people to problem solve, so does the application of appropriate tools facilitate the process of problem solving.

This handbook represents the largest collection of tools to date; it is compiled and published as a master guide for team problem-solving and quality/process-improvement activities.

In order to make sense of this tool inventory and effectively use this extensive resource, the following features of this handbook should be considered:

• A classification of tools suggests the tool's particular process application.

• A category or work discipline in which the tool is most actively used or applied is given.

• Each tool is marked as applicable in one or more of six suggested problem-solving phases.

• Suggested links to before-and-after tools are given.

• All 222 tools are accounted for in a set of Six Sigma tool-strings that sequence and link the appropriate tools in order of completion for a particular team activity. Please refer to Six Sigma Tool-Strings Examples.

• A format has been used to describe and explain step-by-step how each tool is used by a team. Realistic source data or a problem/opportunity has been used to produce an expected output in a form of a matrix, sketch, flowchart, diagram, graph, table, map, list, or whatever a particular tool produces. The 11 components are as follows:

  1. tool number, name, and acronym

  2. tool also-known-as (aka)

  3. tool process category

  4. tool description

  5. typical application

  6. typically used by

  7. problem-solving phase

How to Use

This sample two-page spread details the components of each tool and its intended use.

8. probable linkage with other tools (before and after)

9. notes and key points

10. step-by-step procedure

11. example of tool application (the output or result)