Free tool · Six Sigma
Sigma & Control Char t
Turn defects into a sigma level, combine on time, undamaged and complete into one perfect delivery number, and see on a control chart whether a bad day is a signal or just noise.
1 · Calculator
How good is the process?
Type the numbers from any period. Everything updates as you type, and nothing leaves your browser.
What a sigma level means
| Sigma level | Defects per million | Yield | Failures per 1,000 |
|---|
Short-term sigma, with the 1.5 shift that sigma tables add by convention (it assumes a process drifts over time; it is a convention, not a measurement). Most warehouse and delivery processes run between 3 and 4.5 sigma; every step up means roughly three to ten times fewer failures.
2 · Control chart
Paste from Excel or CSV
One row per day, columns in this order: date, handled, defects, note. Tabs, semicolons or commas all work, and a header row is skipped. A date that is already in the chart is replaced.
Mark a change on the timeline optional
A new standard, a new layout, a new team: mark the day it started, and the charts show a line there, so you can see whether the numbers moved after it.
Days
| Date | Handled | Defects | Rate | Note | Remove |
|---|
No days yet. Add them above, paste from Excel, or .
From the essays
Read the st ory behind this t ool
- Operations · 4 minA bad day or a problem?A bad day is a signal to check. It is not automatically proof that the whole process has to change.→
- Operations · 6 minFrom r
e tailt o logistics and hospitalit y: the industry changes, the management problems do notI went from checking a box in a warehouse to an order on the move, then to a transaction that exists only in a system. The principle stayed the same.→
From the field notes
- “The question is not whether today is worse than the average. Many days will be. The question is whether today is worse than the normal variation of this process.”
- “A bad day is a signal to check. It is not automatically proof that the whole process has to change.”
- “A manager has to know when to step in straight away and when to gather more information.”
The guide · Edition 8 · Page 53
How t o use this t ool, in the guide
Why each tool exists, which family it belongs to and how to use it step by step, in one book you can leaf through.
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Your work
All your work in one file
Every tool keeps your work only in this browser. Save it as one file to keep a copy, to carry on from another phone or computer, or to hand it to a colleague. Nothing is uploaded.
The file holds the tools' photos too, up to 20 MB of them; restore points stay on this device.
Then clear old entries in these tools to make room: the file keeps them, and opens on any device.
Works offline too: once a tool has been opened on this device, it and the other tools of its role open without a connection.
Team sync Off
Share the tools you choose with your team: every device keeps working without a connection and syncs when it can. The work is encrypted on this device with a key made from the team code, so the server cannot read it.
Your team code
On another device, open this box and scan the code or type the six words under “Join a team”. Give it only to your team: whoever has it can read and change the shared work; for someone who should only look, make a read-only code instead. Write it down; it is not shown again.
Read-only: this device takes the team's work and sends nothing, so it can neither change nor delete the team's copy. Changes made here to the shared tools are not sent, and the next sync replaces them with the team's copy.
For someone who should see the team's work but not change it, such as a manager or a screen on the wall. It cannot change or delete anything.
When someone leaves the team: the work moves to a new code and the old copy is deleted. Every other device then joins again with the new code, and the old read-only codes stop working.
Read-only code
On the other device, open this box and scan the code or paste it under “Join a team”. Whoever has it can read the shared work, so give it only to people who may see it. It stops working when the team changes its code.
The team changed the work of this tool. Reload the page to see it.
Shared computer
One browser for the whole desk? Lock the tools with a PIN: your work and the restore points are encrypted on this device, the tools open empty, and the PIN brings everything back. Team sync pauses while locked. Nothing is uploaded.
- Worksheet · 10 min5 WhysMove from a symptom to a root cause you can change, then agree one countermeasure, one owner and one check. Print it or save it as PDF.→
- Root causes · 15 minFishbonePut the effect at the head and collect causes with the team on the 6M, 4P or hotel bones, each with its why. Votes and likely causes rank them, the likely ones become actions to verify, and the top one goes to 5 Whys or the causes to Pareto.→
- Risk · 30 minFMEAWrite down how each process step can fail, rate severity, occurrence and detection, and get the RPN and the AIAG-VDA action priority. A heat map, the top ten risks and the actions with owners until the re-rating shows the risk is gone.→
- Six Sigma · 10 minProcess LabPaste measurements and get the right control chart (I-MR, Xbar-R/S, np, c, u) with Nelson rules and before/after phases, Cpk, chi-square, regression and a Gage R&R or attribute agreement study. Every number in plain words.→
- Lean · 20 minTime StudyTime each element over five cycles with a stopwatch, space bar as the lap key. Get the standard time per station, takt from demand, a Yamazumi against it and the first element to move.→
- Lean · 30 minValue Stream MapMap one flow from supplier to customer with the pieces waiting between the steps. Get the lead-time ladder, PCE, takt and the bottleneck, then draw the future state and send its kaizen bursts to the Action Tracker.→
- Standard · 20 minStandard WorkOne job as a TWI breakdown: major steps, key points marked Safety, Quality, Technique or Cost, and a reason for each, with the time per step against the takt. Versions with change notes, print on A4, Word.→
- Lean · 15 minSpagh
e t ti DiagramDraw the walking paths of one job over the floor plan, tap by tap, in metres. Get the metres and minutes walked per shift, the stop visited most and the longest repeated leg, then compare the layout after the change.→ - Six Sigma · WeeklyProject Po
r tfolioEvery DMAIC project on one page: phase, status, the next tollgate and its checklist, days in the phase, sigma before and after, and savings planned against realised. Each project keeps its charter, SIPOC, CTQ tree, RACI, Kano, RTY, COPQ and control plan.→ - Inventory · 15 minABC/X
Y Z Invent oryClassify every SKU by annual consumption value and by how steady its demand is, and get the nine-cell matrix with its policies, the cycle counts per week, safety stock and reorder points at your service level, and the SKUs for the golden zone.→ - Lean · 30 minSMED ChangeoverTime one changeover element by element, split it into internal and external work, convert and streamline by Shingo's steps, and see the minutes and euros freed and the new changeover standard.→
- Quality · Per problem8D Repo
r tThe Global 8D for a problem a customer saw, D0 to D8: containment within a day, 5W2H and IS / IS NOT, the root cause and the escape point both verified, corrective actions validated with data. Days open and to containment against targets, every action to the tracker, print and Word.→ - Strategy · MonthlyHoshin KanriThe site's strategy on one X-matrix: breakthrough and annual objectives, improvement priorities, metrics and their owners, with the gaps listed. Catchball notes per priority, a bowling chart month by month, and a countermeasure when a metric misses twice in a row.→
- Overview · WeeklySite CompareThe sites you look after side by side, each read from its read-only team code without joining: damage and incomplete rates, routes on time, OEE, 5S, safety, actions, maintenance and the hotel rates, best and worst named, ranked by a rule you can see.→
- Lean · 3–5 daysKaizen EventPlan, run and follow up a rapid improvement event: the charter with goals in numbers, preparation counted back from the first day, the standard 3–5 day agenda, ideas by waste on an effort and impact matrix, goals before and after, and the 30-day follow-up list. Report-out in A4 and Word.→
- Six Sigma · 20 minCost of Quali
t yList what prevention, appraisal, internal and external failure cost, as hours, counts or amounts for any period, and get the cost of quality a month and a year, the cost of poor quality as a share of revenue, the largest items and what a cut in failure would save.→ - Lean · 20 minHeijunkaTurn a batched schedule into a levelled mix: takt, pitch, load and EPEI, the day's heijunka box with clock times, and the changeovers it costs against the finished stock it saves.→
- Inventory · 15 minKanban SizingWork out how many kanban cards each supermarket or two-bin loop needs, by Toyota's formula or a statistical safety stock, see the cards to add or take out and the stock value at maximum, and print the cards eight to an A4 sheet.→
- Quality · WeeklyPoka-Yoke RegisterEvery mistake-proofing device in one register: the error it prevents, Shingo's method, control or warning, prevention or detection. Test each on schedule with a deliberate error; see what is overdue or failed, verification compliance, effectiveness per device and a checklist to print.→
- Lean · QuarterlyLean AssessmentScore how mature an area's lean system is in ten dimensions, from 5S to kaizen, with up to five assessors: the spread shows where they disagree, the radar the change since last quarter, and the three weakest dimensions link to the tools that close them.→
- Course · 45 minSix Sigma in the WarehouseDMAIC in five steps on one warehouse case, with the tool to use at each step, three questions per step, the eight wastes and a project charter.→