Control Plan
A Control Plan is a written summary that describes what is required to maintain an improved process at its current level.
It includes human resource and training requirements, actions to be taken if measurements/indicators fall outside the specified range, and actions to ensure process owners maintain process improvement gains.
The Control Plan is part of the Control phase of the DMAIC Six Sigma (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) methodology, however, it can also be part of other similar process improvement methodologies.
A control plan:
Rigorous compliance with the control plan guarantees the sustainability of the process performance and the quality of the products delivered by it.
The control plan is also used when handing over the process to another process owner; without control plans, most processes slide into a state of degradation due to staff turnover, knowledge losses, and short-term production priorities.
It includes human resource and training requirements, actions to be taken if measurements/indicators fall outside the specified range, and actions to ensure process owners maintain process improvement gains.
The Control Plan is part of the Control phase of the DMAIC Six Sigma (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) methodology, however, it can also be part of other similar process improvement methodologies.
A control plan:
- It describes the process briefly and represents it graphically (using a simplified process map called SIPOC) process
- Shows the departments/persons responsible for initiating or executing steps in the process
- Describes all elements of the process that require checks, indicating their frequency and responsible persons, as well as contingency plans, if necessary
- Contains control charts for selected control points, indicating control limits and corrective actions for cases where indicators slip outside specified limits
- They often contain a dashboard that illustrates all the relevant parameters of the controlled process
Rigorous compliance with the control plan guarantees the sustainability of the process performance and the quality of the products delivered by it.
The control plan is also used when handing over the process to another process owner; without control plans, most processes slide into a state of degradation due to staff turnover, knowledge losses, and short-term production priorities.
