Critical to Quality (CTQ) in Six Sigma, Trees can help to understand what makes quality stand out in your customers’ eyes so you can provide the goods they want and need.

Quality is essential, whether you are developing a new product, or service, or refining an existing one. It will also help you to stay ahead of your competitors.

However, it can be difficult to define quality. It is possible that your definition of quality might be different than your customers or your colleagues. This can lead to customers overlooking important factors.

About CTQ Trees

The Critical to Quality (CTQ) in Six Sigma, Trees are diagram-based tools that allow you to create and deliver high-quality products. They can be used to convert broad customer requirements into concrete, actionable, and measurable performance expectations.

An example of this is “improve customer services”, which is too broad for us to deal with. A CTQ Tree in Six Sigma allows you to drill down from the broad goal to more specific and measurable requirements you must fulfill in order to satisfy customer needs.

The original purpose of CTQ Trees was to improve quality and process. CTQ Trees can be used to clarify which characteristics and qualities of products or services are essential for your customers.

CTQ Trees in Six Sigma are able to break down customer requirements into three components:

  1. Customer Satisfaction – What must your product/service delivery be to make customers happy? A donut shop may have a crucial need to deliver delicious donuts.
  2. Drivers – You must consider quality drivers for every need. These are the key factors customers use to judge the quality of your product and service. These drivers could include “Produce fresh donuts” and “Use high-quality ingredients.”
  3. Requirements – These are the performance requirements each driver must meet to deliver a high-quality service or product to customers. One example of the measurable requirements for a donut shop is to use packaging that keeps donuts fresh or create a regular menu with ten donuts, based on our bestseller data in CTQ Six Sigma.