SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers)

In process improvement, a SIPOC (sometimes COPIS) is a tool that summarizes the inputs and outputs of one or more processes in table form.

It was in use at least as early as the Total Quality Management programs of the late 1980s  and continues to be used today in Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, and business process management.

To emphasise putting the needs of the customer foremost, the tool is sometimes called COPIS and the process information is filled in starting with the customer and working upstream to the supplier.

The SIPOC is often presented at the outset of process improvement efforts such as Kaizen events or during the “define” phase of the DMAIC process.

It has three typical uses depending on the audience:

1. To give people who are unfamiliar with a process a high-level overview.
2. To reacquaint people whose familiarity with a process has faded or become out-of-date due to process changes.
3. To help people in defining a new process.

Several aspects of the SIPOC that may not be readily apparent are:

• Suppliers and customers may be internal or external to the organization that performs the process.
• Inputs and outputs may be materials, services, or information.
• The focus is on capturing the set of inputs and outputs rather than the individual steps in the process.

PDCA

PDCA Cycle / PDSA Cycle

Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is a methodology for improving quality. Also known as a Deming Cycle, Shewhard cycle, or Plan-Do-Study-Act, the PDCA cycle is quite helpful in simplifying the stages of any quality improvement project. Whether your company is undertaking a quality improvement project, or your company simply likes the simplicity of the PDCA cycle, you may find the use of a PDCA Template to be helpful.

The Planning Phase

When you are planning a PDCA project, you will need to be sure that you account for a variety of factors.

First, you and your stakeholders need to be clear about the background of the project:

• You will see that the first section of the template includes a section for you to type in the project’s background, scope, etc.
• You can think of project scope as the boundaries that separate the project from other types of work in your company.
• Your project’s scope statement will be only what your project covers and nothing else.

The Doing Phase

The doing phase is covered in the template by your insertion of your project schedule. That’s it. Your employees and team members will implement your plan on a trial basis.

The Checking Phase

In your template, you will notice a section called “metrics” and a section called “evaluation.”

During your planning phase, you’re going to want to establish metrics for measuring your efforts.

There are many quality improvement tools that can help you establish a system of measurement for your quality improvement project.

During the checking phase, you will be collecting data through the pre-established metrics and evaluating data to ensure that you’re on track.

In the evaluation section of the template you will record how you plan to analyze the data involved in your project.

Should your initial implementation not work, what’s the next step? Be sure you delineate every aspect of the project during the planning phase, so that when you come to the checking phase, you will be able to know exactly what the next course of action will be based upon the collected data.

The Acting Phase

Finally, like the “doing phase” the acting phase requires that your team members take action should your checking phase find that the doing phase did not provide desired results.

If the test implementation did work, then you will implement the plan on a larger scale, check, and then adjust again.

Remember that PDCA is a cycle. This means that even if everything goes as planned, you will begin again, either on a grander scale or with a different quality improvement project.

The Define Measure Analyze Improve Control (DMAIC) Process

DMAIC is a data-driven quality strategy used to improve processes. It is an integral part of a Six Sigma initiative, but in general can be implemented as a standalone quality improvement procedure or as part of other process improvement initiatives such as lean.

Define the problem, improvement activity, opportunity for improvement, the project goals, and customer (internal and external) requirements.

Measure process performance.

Analyse the process to determine root causes of variation, poor performance (defects).

Improve process performance by addressing and eliminating the root causes.

Control the improved process and future process performance.