Glossary of Terms (sidebar)

Black Belts are full-time positions.

Green Belt: Similar to Black Belt but not a full-time position.

Kano Analysis: Quality measurement tool used to prioritize customer requirements based on their impact to customer satisfaction.

Pugh Matrix: A matrix that helps determine which items or potential solutions are more important than others.

Six Sigma: A vision of quality that equates with only 3.4 defects per million opportunities for each product or service transaction.

Sipoc: The acronym for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customer. It enables an “at-a-glance,” high-level view of a process.

See the story that goes with this sidebar: Getting the Big Returns