Exploiting Lean Six-Sigma Quality Tools to Improve Test and Other Processes

The many activities that fall in the domain of test can be modeled as processes and thus can benefit from the discipline of process improvement. Process improvement is itself a process that helps organizations deliver better product, more quickly, at a competitive price. The methods of process improvement are themselves evolving. Two major schools of process improvement of the 1990s, six-sigma and lean manufacturing, are merging to a unified methodology to gain the advantages of each school. This paper overviews concepts and tools from each school. This paper also contains methods and tools from the training-within-industry (TWI) service training program, which provides a training foundation for present day lean six-sigma process improvement.