TABLE OF CONTENTS The selection of confirmed key system input (KIV) settings is the main outcome of a six sigma project. The term " optimization problem" refers to the selection of settings to derive to formally maximize or minimize a quantitative objective. Chapter 6 described how formal optimization methods are sometimes applied in the assumption phase of projects to develop recommended settings to be evaluated in the control or verify phases.
Even if the decision-making approach used in practice is informal, it still can be useful (particularly for theorists) to imagine a quantitative optimization problem underlying the associated project. This imagined optimization problem could conceivably offer the opportunity to quantitatively evaluate whether the project results were the best possible or the project could be viewed as a lost opportunity to push the system to its true potential. The phrase " project decision problem" refers to the optimization problem underlying a given six sigma project.
In this part of the book, " strategy" refers to decision-making about a project including the selection of methods to be used in the different phases. The strategic question of whether to use the six sigma method or "adopt" six sigma on a companywide basis is briefly discussed in Chapter 21, but the focus is on project decision problems. Therefore, strategy here is qualitatively different than design of systems that are not methods. A second optimization problem...
