In Six Sigma, what is a control plan?

A control plan in Six Sigma is crucial for sustaining process improvements and ensuring that performance remains stable over time. It serves as a proactive tool that outlines the specific measures and actions necessary to maintain the gains achieved through improvement efforts. This plan typically includes details regarding process parameters, monitoring methods, roles and responsibilities, and how to respond to variations that might arise.

By implementing a control plan, organizations can ensure that processes remain within specified control limits, thus minimizing the likelihood of defects and ensuring a consistent quality of outputs. The effectiveness of a control plan is evident in its ability to guide teams in the ongoing oversight of processes, ultimately leading to sustained performance and continuous improvement in quality.

In contrast, other choices focus on different aspects unrelated to the sustainability of improvements. Documenting project goals is about defining what the project aims to achieve, employee training is focused on enhancing skills and knowledge, and customer feedback reports provide insights into user satisfaction and product performance. Each serves important functions but does not address the ongoing maintenance of process improvements in the way a control plan does.