Failure mode and effects analysis or FMEA is a tool used to identify possible failure modes of a process, product or design.  FMEA also helps determine the overall impact of the failures on sub-items.  The FMEA process establishes a measurement risk priority number that is often used in continuous improvement initiatives.  

  External Failure Costs are one of four types of failures measured within COPQ. They are any costs that are incurred to fix, remedy or mitigate defects that pass through the organization and are discovered by those external of the organization such as a customer.  To learn more about External Failure Costs enroll in our Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Course by clicking on the link below.

  Benchmarking is the practice of comparing one's own Organization or individual self against the performance of others that are best in class.  The objective of benchmarking is to improve areas of performance, build relationships and share best practices.  In general there are seven different types of benchmarking: competitive benchmarking, financial benchmarking, functional benchmarking, performance benchmarking, process benchmarking, product benchmarking and strategic benchmarking.

  Weibull distribution is a flexible continuous probability distribution.  The graph is used with reliability in various engineering applications.  Parameters are often tailored or molded to fit product characteristics throughout a product life cycle.  A very good read for more information on the Weibull analysis is Weibull Analysis by Bryan Dodson.

  Upstream is a term used to refer to any given process step that occurs before the current step.  Looking upstream often can be a valuable technique used to find the actual causes of an initial effect.  You will hear this term used in reference to value streams or process maps.

  Quality is the standard by which something is measured and how well it meets those measurements. It is also a speciffic characteristic or attribute of an item or service.  When Quality is measured it is typically in terms of how well a product, process or service is meeting the expectations set forth by a customer. 

  The 3P's represent people, process and product.  The 3P's are the focus of the continuous improvement strategy TQM or Total Quality Management.

1. People - Ensure expectations and satisfaction of both internal and external customers are met to the best of your ability.  

2. Process - Continually strive to get better in all processes.

3. Product - Conform to specifications and requirements of all product characteristics.

  Critical to Quality or CTQ are the measurable characteristics that have to be met in order to satisfy and meet your customer's specifications and requirements.  The CTQ measurements can be based on both internal and external customer definitions.  The CTQ measures are often mapped on a CTQ tree.  

  The voice of the customer is a process that is often used in business to collect requirements, needs, wants, expectations and feedback from customers.  The voice of the customer is both internal and external.  The voice of the customer allows organizations and individuals to be proactive in understanding the customer allowing them to be innovative and make the proper changes to meet customer expectations.  A great resource when using the voice of the customer in Lean or Six Sigma is a book entitled Voice of the Customer: Capture and analysis.

  Lean Six Sigma is a designation given to a continuous improvement focused organization which combines the two strategies Lean and Six Sigma.  Both strategies focus on the improvement of business processes.  Combining the focus of eliminating all forms of waste with the use of Lean and reducing variation through the use of Six Sigma often yields improved efficiency, use of resources and more predictable process outcomes.