Designing and Planning Experiments in Six Sigma

Course details

Six Sigma teams concluding the Analyze phase with a well-understood problem strive in the Improve phase to generate a well-designed solution. Design of experiments (DOE) is a controlled approach to experimentation that enables teams to systematically change the level of one or more input factors and observe the effects on the targeted response. If teams exercise care in choosing the right design including suitable factors, levels, and responses their experiments can reveal the precise combination of factors that will optimize the response. Later, that combination will be tested, validated, and ultimately implemented to effect the desired process improvement. This course surveys the concepts that are fundamental to design of experiments methodology, including the basic elements of experiments; principles for minimizing the effects of error, noise, and aliasing; and strategies for designing experiments with a maximum of power and resolution within the practical realities of resource and time constraints. The focus is on the planning stage of DOE, when teams set experimental objectives; select the factors, levels, and responses to be studied; choose the best experimental design; and prepare to run the experiments. In describing these activities, the course explores the questions teams should consider at each stage of planning, and it provides recommendations for building a design to meet a variety of needs. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.

• identify the purposes of design of experiments (DOE)
• match key DOE elements with examples
• recognize a balanced experiment from its design table
• recognize factors that should be blocked and randomized in a given scenario
• distinguish between reasons for using repetition and replication
• calculate the interaction effect between factors in a given scenario and determine its significance
• recognize the role of power in an experiment
• match common experimental resolution levels to descriptions
• classify the goal of an experiment, in a given scenario
• identify recommendations for choosing responses, factors, and levels in an experiment
• identify considerations related to measurement methods in DOE
• choose an experiment