There are a lot of terms that are specific to Lean and Six Sigma. If you are unsure about the meaning of a term, please feel free to check our Lean and Six Sigma Glossary for a definition. If you do not find the term you are looking for, please contact us. We would be happy to answer your questions, and we may add your term to the glossary in the future.
[ssus-show-glossary terms="A-C"]
Pareto Chart
Quality tool based on Pareto Principle; uses attribute data with columns arranged in descending order, with highest occurrences (highest bar) shown first; uses a cumulative line to track percentages of each category/bar, which distinguishes the 20 percent of items causing 80 percent of the problem.
Pareto Principle
The 80/20 rule; based on Vilfredo Pareto’s research stating that the vital few (20 percent of causes have a greater impact than the trivial many (80 percent) causes with a lesser impact.
Pilot
Trial implementation of a solution, on a limited scale, to ensure its effectiveness and test its impact; an experiment verifying a root cause hypothesis.
Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA
Basic model or set of steps in continuous improvement; also referred to as “Shewhart Cycle” or “Deming Cycle.”
Precision
The ability of the measurement to measure consistently. This links to the type of scale or detail of your operational definition, but it can have an impact on your sample size, too.
