Let's look at an example. If we are a manufacturing company that produces cheap pencils, we need to take our costs to manufacture the product and our sales price. If the pencils only cost twenty five cents, it doesn't make sense to manufacture the perfect, highest quality pencils on earth.

Quality increase effects the price of the end product. When using six sigma processes we need to use common sense when we look at what the end goal needs to be. Often we get caught up in analyzing the data and don't use common sense to find out what makes sense to our business. You must start the process improvement journey with an understanding of what it will do for production and how it will effect your process.

In improving the process, you are controlling variables that have a direct effect on the end product. The value on the process is what is defined during the starting stage of six sigma control. It also makes a distinction between the different types of values and their effect on the customer. You can make the process more effective and productive, reduce cycle time and reduce variability all in six sigma design.

Six sigma defines an input as something that is purchased or obtained by the company, then value is added, and the output is given to the customer. The input and the output processes have clear quality measurements, backed up with solid data. Using this data, we can analyze the process in minitab and perform a six sigma analysis on it.