A process owner is fairly self-explanatory, but many times in Lean Six Sigma, the process owner is not identified until the ‘ideal process state’ has been put into place.
Use: The importance of the process owner reveals itself in the last two subtasks of the control phase of DMAIC. The process which is usually somewhat of a new process needs to be managed by one person who will ensure that the improvements are sustained. Without a process owner, it is only human nature that a process will tend to go back to the old way.
