Content by Steven Ouellette
Creating Measurement Acceptance CriteriaEven a complete MSA isn’t enough to prove that a gauge is acceptable for use
Thu, 04/03/2025 - 12:03
Many industries, from aerospace to medical device manufacturing, are required to show customers, auditors, or regulatory bodies that their measurement devices are acceptable for use. But how do you prove that? One of my clients needed to show the…
Galileo’s TelescopeHow to create integrated metrics and a realistic strategic plan across a business
Wed, 01/27/2021 - 12:03
What is the most important thing for your business to be working on right now? Would everyone else working there agree? Is everyone working toward the business’s goals? How do you know? Most businesses in my experience cannot answer these questions…
Bayes, Profit, and You Why 200-percent inspection is a waste of time and money
Mon, 06/11/2012 - 14:46
Why is improving quality so important? Why not spend our money on something else in the business? I know it seems a little odd to ask this, especially to readers of Quality Digest, but could those not initiated into the mysteries of the quality…
It Is What It Is—Until We Begin to Think DifferentlyWe need to change something about our collective software
Thu, 02/09/2012 - 16:24
“It is what it is.” I’m hearing that a lot now. I’m OK with it if someone is using it as a shortcut to mean something like the Serenity Prayer. But more and more, I’m hearing people use it in a way that sounds like an expression of helplessness and…
From Seemingly Unsolvable to Solved with Methodical Research How it’s done is not typically how it’s taught
Fri, 12/16/2011 - 09:49
Last article, I wrote about the importance of correctly classifying variables as part of the research design process, and discussed the benefits of the hugely useful, but oft-neglected, blocked variables. As part of my ongoing crusade against…
Blocking Out the Nuisance, Part TwoOn the practical benefits of blocking
Wed, 09/14/2011 - 11:37
Yesterday in “Blocking Out the Nuisance, Part One,” we saw the results of an experiment done by That Guy Over There that didn’t control for the environmental variable of humidity. There was a lot of variability in that experiment, so we didn’t see…
Blocking Out the Nuisance, Part One You all know what happens when you make assumptions
Tue, 09/13/2011 - 14:20
No, I am not writing about going, “Lalalalala! I can't hear you!” when someone is trying to tell you bad news. In the last couple of articles, we have been exploring how to properly perform research in industry. In this one, we will take a look at…
Planning the Research Study: Part 2How to identify, track, and measure things related to what we are working on
Tue, 08/16/2011 - 11:19
Let's face it—many industrial researchers, including Six Sigma Black Belts, do a terrible job of planning the research they need to do to perform their jobs efficiently. See that guy over there? Yeah, he is the one I am talking about, so you…
Planning the Research Study: Part 1Six Sigma practitioners are not trained, or don’t use, a process for research design. They should.
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 05:30
Last month I showed you a process to use to save money, time, and sanity when doing any type of research, including applied problem solving and quality improvement (“Don’t Design the Experiment Until You Research the Process”), However, I didn’t…
Don’t Design the Experiment Until You Research the ProcessApplied research the smart way
Tue, 06/14/2011 - 05:30
Although we may use the define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) mnemonic to help guide us through our problem solving, that doesn’t really give us a lot of specific direction (as I bemoan in my Top 10 Stupid Six Sigma Tricks No. 4). Good…