Defining Critical-to-Quality Characteristics (CTQs)
This article is part of our Lean Six Sigma series and explains how to define critical-to-quality characteristics (CTQs) during the Measure phase. See the Measure phase guide for its steps and deliverables.
As we progress through the Measure phase, we connect customer requirements—the project’s CTQs—with the process elements needing improvement that have the greatest effect on those CTQs, or project Y.
For example, the project CTQ, or customer request, might be “on-time delivery of funds.” By the end of this step, using various tools, you may determine that the main driver is the loan approval process. Your lower-case y is then the cycle time required to approve loan applications. These questions guide you from upper-case Y, what the customer wants, to lower-case y, the process with the greatest effect on it:
- What do I want to improve?
- What is essential to the customer?
- How do I frame the project so that it meets customer needs?
The first question may seem the easiest, but answering it can be more complicated than expected.
Deciding exactly what to improve requires understanding what the customer considers critical and which processes affect their expectations. The following tools can help answer these questions:
- Process Map
- Fishbone Diagram
- FMEA
Related Links:
Lean Six Sigma Project Roadmap: Phase 2— Measure
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