Module Objectives better understand what Six Sigma is, why organizations use it, and introduce the

history behind its quality principles and techniques, the ASQ Body of Knowledge provides the following topics: Six Sigma and organizational goals

Recognize why organizations use Six Sigma, how they apply its philosophy and goals, and the origins of Six Sigma (Juran, Deming, Shewhart, etc.). Describe how process inputs, outputs, and feedback impact the larger organization. Recognize key drivers for business (profit, market share, customer satisfaction, efficiency, product differentiation) and how key metrics and scorecards are developed and impact the entire organization. Describe the project selection process including knowing when to use Six Sigma improvement methodology (DMAIC) as opposed to other problem-solving tools, and confirm that the project supports and is linked to organizational goals.

Lean principles in the organization

Define and describe concepts such as value chain, flow, pull, perfection, etc., and tools commonly used to eliminate waste, including kaizen, 5S, error-proofing, value-stream mapping, etc. Identify waste in terms of excess inventory, space, test inspection, rework, transportation, storage, etc., and reduce cycle time to improve throughput. Describe the theory of constraints.

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) in the organization

Describe how QFD fits into the overall DFSS process. Define and distinguish between design FMEA (DFMEA) and process (PFMEA) and interpret associated data. Describe and distinguish between DMADV (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) and IDOV (identify, design, optimize, verify), identify how they relate to DMAIC, and how they help close the loop on improving the end product/process during the design (DFSS) phase.

Six Sigma and Organizational Goals Topic: Learning Objectives At the end of this Six Sigma and the Organization topic, all learners will be able to:

recognize why organizations use Six Sigma, how they apply its philosophy and goals, and the origins of Six Sigma (Juran, Deming, Shewhart, etc.). describe how process inputs, outputs, and feedback impact the larger organization. recognize key drivers for business (profit, market share, customer satisfaction, efficiency, product differentiation) and how key metrics and scorecards are developed and impact the entire organization.

describe the project selection process including knowing when to use Six Sigma improvement methodology (DMAIC) as opposed to other problem-solving tools, and confirm that the project supports and is linked to organizational goals.

History of Six Sigma

The quality movement can trace its roots to medieval Europe, where, in the late 13th century, craftsmen began organizing into unions called guilds. Six Sigmas role as a measurement standard has its ancestry in the 1800s, with the introduction of Carl Frederick Gauss concept of the normal curve. The harbinger of Six Sigmas measurement standard in product variation came about in the 1920s, when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction.

1940'sTheU.S.Military,dependentuponproductqualityandconsistencytosupportthewar effort,becomestheprimaryproponentofquality.Inspectionandsamplingtechniquesare implementedandimprovedupon,andprocessesredesignedtoincreaseproductionefficiency. Statisticalqualitycontrolisanemergingqualityapproach. 1950'sFollowingWorldWarII,thequalityrevolutioninJapanspursthebirthoftotalqualityin theUnitedStates.TheJapanesewelcometheinputofAmericansJosephM.JuranandW. EdwardsDeming,andratherthanconcentratingoninspection,focusonimprovingall organizationalprocessesattheworkerlevel.Juranfacilitatesthemovefromstatisticalquality control(SQC)tototalqualitycontrol(TQC)inJapan. 1970'sJapanshighqualityproductssteadilyerodemarketsharefromU.S.industries.TheU.S. response,emphasizingnotonlystatisticsbutapproachesthatembracedtheentireorganization, becomesknownastotalqualitymanagement(TQM). 1980'sSixSigmabeginsin1986asastatisticallybasedmethodtoreducedefectsinproduction processesatMotorolaInc.Bythelate1980s,itextendstocriticalbusinessprocesses. 1990'sIn1991,MotorolacertifiesitsfirstBlackBeltSixSigmaexperts,signifyingthe formalizationoftheaccreditedtrainingofSixSigmamethods.AlliedSignalbecomesthesecond companytoadoptSixSigma,followedbyGE. 2000'sNewqualitysystemsevolvefromthefoundationsofDeming,Juran,andtheearly Japanesepractitionersofquality.Qualitymovesbeyondmanufacturingintoservice,healthcare, education,andgovernmentsectors.

Adapted from The History of Quality (American Society for Quality) and Quality Assurance and Reliability in the Japanese Electronics Industry (World Technology Evaluation Center).

Origins of Continuous Improvement

While the term Six Sigma also has a specific statistical meaning, the overall improvement system called Six Sigma contains a broad collection of concepts and tools used to discover organizational defects and their remedies. Each of these tools was pioneered by one person, who

developed a particular facet of the quality effort, then tested and proved it to be useful to the global community. In this topic, we will discuss seven of the men behind the tools of Six Sigma, and offer perspective on the tools any Quality Professional will encounter and likely put to use.

Quality Pioneers: Philip B. Crosby

Philip B. Crosby (1926-2001) is considered the business person of quality. He was one of ITTs first vice presidents of corporate quality, and gained prominence in the quality field after publishing Quality Is Free in 1979. Subsequently, he founded Philip Crosby Associates, a quality management consulting firm, and the Quality College, an institute that provides quality training for top management. One of Crosbys major contributions was making quality meaningful and accessible to American executives. He promoted addressing quality problems through existing management and organizational structures rather than from a statistical basis. Crosbys Four Absolutes of Quality Management In Crosbys quality philosophy, the four absolutes of quality management are designed to answer the following questions What is quality? Quality has to be defined as conformance to requirements, not as goodness. Managements job is to establish the requirements, supply the wherewithal, and encourage and help employees get the job done. The basis of this policy is DIRFTDo It Right the First Time. Requirements for quality must be thoroughly understood and accepted. What system is needed to cause quality? The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal. The first step toward defect and error prevention is to understand the process responsible for creating the product. When a defect occurs, discovery and elimination are the top priorities. Prevention is a knowledge issue for quality-focused workers. What performance standard should be used? The performance standard must be zero defects, not thats close enough. The only performance standard that makes sense for DIRFT is zero defects. Zero defects must be a performance standard of everyone in the company, from top management to line workers. What measurement system is required?

Quality Pioneers: W. Edwards Deming

Dr.W.EdwardsDeming(19001993)iswidelycreditedwithstartingthe modernqualityimprovementmovement.Heintroducedstatisticalmethodsto AmericanindustryduringWorldWarII,butthesewerelargelyabandoned afterthewar.Later,intheearly1950s,Demingintroducedhisstatistical methodstotheJapanese.TheJapaneseembracedDemingandhisquality philosophy,ultimatelynamingthecountrysqualityprizeafterhim.

According to Deming, good quality does not necessarily mean high quality. A predictable degree of uniformity and dependability is suited to the market at low cost, such that quality is whatever the customer needs and wants. Demings quality management principles support a process-oriented approach to the production of goods and services: Teach process improvement as the path to increased quality and performance.Acknowledge the workers expertise and involve them in continuous process improvement (CPI).Understand variation using statistical analysis.Overall, Deming emphasized that the key to quality is in managements hands: 95% of quality problems are due to the system, while only 5% are due to employees. Demings emphasis on approaching problem-solving at a system level is evident in his System of Profound Knowledge. Deming and The 14 Points The basis of Demings philosophy is a list of objectives he called the 14 Points for Management. These are requirements for a business whose management plans to remain competitive, producing goods and services that will have a suitable market.
1. Createconstancyofpurpose.Createconstancyofpurposetowardimprovementofproducts andserviceswiththeaimofbecomingcompetitive,stayinginbusiness,andprovidingjobs.A 2. doptthenewphilosophy.Weareinaneweconomicage.Westernmanagementmustawaken tothechallenge,learntheirresponsibilities,andtakeonleadershipforchange. 3. Ceasedependenceoninspection.Eliminatetheneedforinspectiononamassbasisbybuilding qualityintotheproductfromthebeginning. 4. Endthepracticeofawardingbusinessonthebasisofpricetag.Instead,minimizethetotalcost. Movetowardasinglesupplierforanyoneitem,basedonalongtermrelationshipofloyaltyand trust. 5. Improveconstantlyandforever.Makeconstantimprovementpartofthesystemofproduction andservice,andyouwillexperienceaconstantdecreaseincosts. 6. Institutetraining.Institutetrainingonthejob. 7. Instituteleadership(seePoint12).Instituteleadershiptohelppeople,machines,andgadgetsdo abetterjob.Leadershipinmanagementisinneedofanoverhaul,notjusttheleadershipof productionworkers.

8. Driveoutfear.Eliminatefearsoeveryonewillworkeffectivelyforthecompany. 9. Breakdownbarriers.Breakdownbarriersbetweendepartments.Peopleinresearch,design, sales,andproductionmustworkasateamtoforeseeproblemsofproductionandusagethat maybeencounteredwiththeproductandservice. 10. Eliminateslogans,exhortations,andtargetsfortheworkforce.Eliminateslogans,exhortations, andtargetsfortheworkforceaskingforzerodefectsandnewlevelsofproductivity. 11. Eliminateworkstandards;eliminatemanagementbyobjective.Substituteleadershipforwork standards(quotas)onthefactoryfloor.Substituteleadershipformanagementbyobjective. Eliminatemanagementbynumbers/numericalgoals.Removebarriersthatrobemployeesofthe righttoprideofworkmanship. 12. Removebarriersthatrobthehourlyworkeroftherighttoprideofworkmanship.The responsibilityofsupervisorsmustbechangedfromsheernumberstoquality.Removebarriers thatrobpeopleinmanagementandengineeringoftheirrighttoprideofworkmanship.This meansinteralia,abolishmentoftheannualormeritrating,managementbyobjectiveor managementbynumbers. 13. Instituteavigorousprogramofeducation.Instituteavigorousprogramofeducationandself improvement. 14. Puteverybodyinthecompanytoworktoaccomplishthetransformation.Thetransformationis everybodysjob.

Quality Pioneers: Armand V. Feigenbaum

Dr.ArmandV.Feigenbaum(1920)isgenerallycreditedwithdevelopingthe conceptoftotalqualitycontrolduringthelate1940swhileanemployeeof GeneralElectric.Inthelate1960s,hestartedhisowncompany,theGeneral SystemsCompany,toprovideconsultingservicesforqualitymanagementand strategicplanning.Feigenbaumplacedmajoremphasisontheneedfortotal qualitycontrolinordertoachieveproductivity,marketpenetration,and competitiveadvantage.

In his book Total Quality Control, Feigenbaum defines total quality control as an effective system for integrating the quality-development, quality-maintenance, and quality-improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable marketing, engineering, production, and service at the most economical levels which allow for full customer satisfaction. Feigenbaums Four Management Fundamentals Feigenbaums quality philosophy emphasizes the need for everyone in the organization to focus obsessively on serving the external and internal customers. To this end, Total Quality Control provides four management fundamentals of total quality:
1. Makequalityafullandequalpartner,withinnovationstartingfromtheinceptionofproduct development. 2. Emphasizegettinghighqualityproductdesignandprocessmatchesupstream,before manufacturingplanninghasfrozenthealternatives. 3. Makefullservicesuppliersaqualitypartneratthebeginningofdesign,ratherthan implementingaqualitysurveillanceprogramlater. 4. Maketheaccelerationofnewproductintroductionaprimarymeasureoftheeffectivenessofa companysqualityprogram.

Feigenbaums 10 Benchmarks
1. Qualityisanorganizationwideprocess.Qualityisneitheraspecialistfunction,nora department,awareness,ortestingprogramalone.Itisadisciplinedsystemofcustomer connectedworkprocessesimplementedthroughouttheorganizationandintegratedwith suppliers.Highqualityproductsaretheresultofhighqualityworkprocesses.Ifyoudonot improvetheprocess,youcannotexpectsubstantialimprovementinresults. 2. Qualityiswhatthecustomersaysitis.Qualityisnotwhatadeveloper,manager,ormarketer saysitis.Ifyouwanttofindoutaboutyourquality,askyourcustomer.Noonecancompressin amarketresearchstatisticordefectratetheextentofbuyerfrustrationordelight. 3. Qualityandcostareasum,notadifference.Qualityandcostarenotadversaries.Thequality costsoffixingfailuresarehighcomparedtoqualitycostsrequiredtoproperlypreventsuch defects.Truequalityleadersarecostleaders,andcommonlyenjoyadvantagesof1020%for competitivecost. 4. Qualityrequiresbothindividualandteamworkzealotry.Qualityiseveryonesjob.Withouta clearinfrastructurethatsupportsboththequalityworkofindividualsandtheteamworkamong

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individualsanddepartments,however,qualityisanorphanedresponsibility.Toooftenquality improvementactivitiesbecomeislandswithoutbridges.Allthelefthandsmustworkeffectively withalltherighthands. Qualityisawayofmanaging.Goodmanagementtodaymeansempoweringthequality knowledge,skills,andattitudesofeveryoneintheorganizationtorecognizethatmakingquality rightmakeseverythingelseintheorganizationright.Thebeliefthatqualitytravelsundersome exclusivenationalpassport,orhassomeuniquegeographicalorculturalidentity,isamyth. Qualityandinnovationaremutuallydependent.Qualityrequiresproductandprocess innovation,andthekeytosuccessfulnewproductsistomakequalitythepartnerof developmentfromthebeginning,nottouseitasacleanuptoolafterproblemssurface.Itis essentialtofullyincludethecustomerinallphasesofdevelopment.Paperstudiescannotdothe job. Qualityisanethic.Thepursuitofexcellencewiththeunderstandingthatwhatyouaredoingis rightisthestrongesthumanemotionalmotivatorinanyorganizationandisthebasicdriverin truequalityleadership.Qualityprogramsrelyingsolelyoncoldmetricsareneverenough. Qualityrequirescontinuousimprovement.Qualityisaconstantlyupwardmovingtarget,while continuousimprovementisaninline,integralcomponentofeveryonesjobresponsibility.This requiresmorethanjustbetterthanlastyearinternalincrementalimprovement.The marketplacedefinesworldclassperformance. Qualityisthemostcosteffective,leastcapitalintensiveroutetoproductivity.Someofthe worldsstrongestorganizationshaveblindsidedtheircompetitionbyconcentratingon eliminatingtheirhiddenplantororganizationthepartthatexiststofindandfixmistakes andtheassociatedwaste.Theyhavedonethisbychangingtheirproductivityconceptfrom moretogood(aqualityleadershipconcept),creatingthemoregoodqualityproductivity concept. Qualityisimplementedwithatotalsystemconnectedtobothcustomersandsuppliers.The relentlessapplicationofthesystematicmethodthatmakesitpossibleforanorganizationto manageitsqualityandassociatedcostsmakesqualityleadershiprealinanorganization.

Feigenbaums Crucial Elements of Total Quality Feigenbaum also established nine elements of total quality that enable a total customer focus (internal and external):
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Makingqualityleadershipabusinesscenterpointforrevenuegrowthandcompetitivestrength. Achievingcompletecustomerqualitysatisfactionanddrivingbuyeracceptance. Developingeffectivesupplierandotherbusinessqualitypartnerships. Maximizingtheeffectivenessofqualitydata. Acceleratingsalesandearningsgrowththroughqualitycostmanagement. Forminganintegratedcompanyqualitysystemsnetworkthroughcustomer,producer,and supplierrelationships. 7. Encouragingthetoolsandresourcestocreateindividualqualityimprovementemphasis. 8. Recognizingqualityasaninternationalbusinesslanguage. 9. Assuringqualityleadershipisafoundationforsuccessfulethicalbehaviorandsocial contribution.

Quality Pioneers: Kaoru Ishikawa

Dr.KaoruIshikawa(19151989),consideredthefatherofJapanesequality controlefforts,wasinvolvedwiththeJapanesequalitymovementfromits inception.Hewasinstrumentalinmakingthequalitymovementanationwide phenomenonthroughhiseducationaleffortsandhisworkwiththeUnionof JapaneseScientistsandEngineers.Ishikawastatesthatqualitycontrolisthe practiceofdeveloping,designing,producing,andservicingaqualityproduct thatismosteconomical,mostuseful,andalwayssatisfactorytotheconsumer.

Ishikawa CWQC Ishikawa developed the concept of company-wide quality control (CWQC) to distinguish the Japanese approach to total quality control from its Western counterpart. As stated in the Quality Engineering Handbook, First Edition, the concept of CWQC incorporates:

Participationbyallmembersoftheorganizationinqualitycontrol Educationandtraininginqualitycontrol Qualitycontrolcircleactivities UsingadvancedstatisticalmethodsandtheSevenManagementandPlanningToolsalso knownas7MTools: o Affinitydiagram o Interrelationshipdigraph o Treediagram o Prioritizationmatrices o Matrixdiagram o Processdecisionprogram(PDPC)chart o Activitynetworkdiagram Nationwidequalitycontrolpromotionactivities

Ishikawa Philosophy In addition to CWQC, Ishikawas philosophy also promotes many of the ideas that are now associated with the quality movement, including:

Nextoperationascustomer(i.e.,internaldepartmentsservingoneanotherascustomersrather thantreatingeachotherasenemies) Eliminationofsectionalism(i.e.,gettingridoftheitsnotourjobmentality) Workertrainingandempowerment Pursuitofcustomersatisfaction Humanisticmanagementofworkers

Quality Pioneers: Joseph M. Juran

AlongwithDeming,Dr.JosephM.Juran(19042008)isconsideredbymanyto beacofounderofthe20thcenturyqualitymovement.Hisqualityexperience beganin1924withaninspectionjobandevolvedintoaqualitycareerof research,lecturing,consulting,andwritingthatspansmorethan50years.In thattime,andthroughhisaffiliationwiththeAmericanManagement Association,hehastaughtthecourseManagingforQualitytoover100,000 peopleinmorethan40countries.

Like Deming, Juran was instrumental in working with the Japanese to introduce quality concepts. In particular, he championed quality control as a management tool rather than a specialists technique. Juran: Achieving Customer Satisfaction In Jurans Quality Planning and Analysis for Enterprise Quality, 5E, Juran and Frank M. Gryna state that quality is customer satisfaction, or simply fitness for use. Customer satisfaction is achieved through two components: product features and freedom from deficiencies. Product features that meet the needs of customers and thereby provide product satisfaction. This component refers to the quality of design. Overall, product features have a major impact on sales income as they affect market share and premium price. Examples of product features in both the manufacturing and service industries include: Manufacturing industry

Performance Reliability Durability Easeofuse Serviceability Aesthetics Availabilityofoptions Reputation

Service industry

Accuracy Timeliness Completeness Friendlinessandcourtesy Anticipatingcustomerneeds Knowledgeofserver Aesthetics Reputation

Freedom from deficiencies. This component refers to the quality of conformance. Freedom from deficiencies has a major impact on costs through reduction in rejects, rework, repairs, complaints, etc. Juran Trilogy In Juran on Quality by Design, Juran asserts that managing for quality is done by use of the same three managerial processes of planning, control, and improvement that are used to manage finance. Thus,
1. Qualityplanningisanalogoustofinancialplanningandbudgeting. 2. Qualitycontrolisanalogoustofinancialcontrol. 3. Qualityimprovementisanalogoustocostreduction.

As mentioned, these three quality management processes have come to be known as the Juran Trilogy. The Juran Trilogy is a system that top management can use to institutionalize quality, just as they use systems for financial planning, control, and improvement. The process requires patience and persistence. As Juran emphasizes, incremental quality improvements must be made by the thousands, year after year. Quality planning is the activity of developing products and processes required to meet customers needs. It involves the following universal steps:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Establishqualitygoals. Identifythecustomers(i.e.,thosewhowillbeaffectedbytheeffortstomeetthegoals). Determinethecustomersneeds. Developproductfeaturesthatrespondtothecustomersneeds. Developprocessesthatareabletoproducethoseproductfeatures. Establishprocesscontrolsandtransfertheresultingplanstotheoperatingforces.

Quality control refers to the process used to meet standards. The process is similar to a feedback loop and involves the following universal steps:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Choosethecontrolsubject(i.e.,whatneedstoberegulated). Chooseaunitofmeasure. Setagoalforthecontrolsubject. Createasensorthatcanmeasurethecontrolsubjectintermsoftheunitmeasure. Measureactualperformance. Interpretthedifferencebetweenactualperformanceandthegoal. Takeactiononthedifference(ifany).

The quality improvement process is the means of raising quality to unprecedented levels (i.e., breakthroughs). The methodology consists of the following universal steps:
1. Provetheneed. 2. Identifythespecificneedsforimprovement(i.e.,theimprovementprojects).

3. Foreachproject,establishaprojectteamwithclearresponsibilityforconductingand concludingtheproject. 4. Diagnosethecauses. 5. Provideremediesandprovethattheremediesareeffective. 6. Dealwithresistancetochange. 7. Controltoholdthegains.

Quality Pioneers: Walter A. Shewhart

Shewhart

Walter Andrew Shewhart (1891-1967) was a physicist, engineer, and statistician who is considered by many the father of statistical quality control. While an employee of Western Electric and Bell Telephone Laboratories, Shewhart wrote, lectured, and consulted on the subject of quality control. Most of Shewharts professional career was spent at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he served in several capacities as a member of the technical staff from 1925 until his retirement in 1956. While at Western Electric Company, Shewhart developed control chart techniques that helped to distinguish between assignable-cause and chance-cause variations. Shewhart stressed that bringing a production process into a state of statistical control is necessary to predict future output and to manage a process economically. Shewharts charts were adopted by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) in 1933 and advocated to improve production during World War II in 1942.

Shewhart Control Chart The contribution for which Shewhart is most widely known is the control chart. Also known as the Shewhart chart or process-behavior chart, the control chart is a statistical tool intended to assess the nature of variation in a process and to facilitate forecasting and management. The control chart is one of the seven basic tools of quality control discussed in the Control lesson of this course.

She ewhart PDCA Cycle She ewhart also gave us the Shewhart cycle (some o e etimes also attributed to W. Edwards Deming as the Demin cycle). In his W s s ng n boo Statistica Method f ok al from the Vie ewpoint of Q Quality Control, Shew whart illustr rates the con ntinuous im mprovement cyc of Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA cle D A) An alternate name for PDCA is PDSA Cyc with S meaning S f s cle, Study. Demi modified the ing acronym later in his life to bett align wit the intent of the step as he wa seeing peo m s ter th t p as ople assume it was a veri i ification ste as oppose to a learn ep ed ning step.

Quality y Pioneer rs: Genich hi Taguchi i

Dr.Gen nichiTaguchi(1924)isoft tencalledthe eFatherofQ Quality Enginee ering.Follow wingWorldW WarII,JapanchargedTaguc chiwithimproving trical R&Dproductivityandenhancing productqual lityatitsElect unicationLaboratories(EC L).TheJapan nesemodeled dECLafterthe e Commu UnitedStatesBellLa aboratoriesin naneffortto odevelopast tateofthear rt commu unicationssys stem.

Harold Kerzner, au d uthor of Proj Managem ject ment: A Sys stems Appro oach to Plan nning, Sched duling, and C Controlling, w writes that T Taguchi notic a ced great deal of time and money b d a being spent o engineeri on ing experime entation and testing durin his tenure at ECL. In response, T ng e Taguchi deve eloped specif fic quality en ngineering techniques to optimize th process of engineerin experimen o he f ng ntation and product design. d In the ear 1980s, th American companies Ford and Xe rly he n erox adopted Taguchis ideas as a w to d way improve product qua ality.

Taguchi loss function or quality loss function, maintai that there is an increa n, y ins e asing loss (b both ucers and for society at large), which is a functio of the dev r h on viation or var riability from the m for produ ideal or target value of any desig parameter The greate r the deviati from the target, the t o gn r. ion greater th loss. The concept of loss being de he ependent on variation is well establis shed in desig gn theory, an at a syste level is related to the benefits an costs asso nd ems r e nd ociated with dependabilit ty. Variabili inevitably means was of some kind, but ope ity y ste k erations man nagers also r realize that it is t impossib to have ze variabilit The com ble ero ty. mmon respons has been to set not on a target le se nly evel for performance but also a range of tolerance about that t a e target that re epresents ac cceptable performa ance. Thus, if performance falls anyw where within the range, it is regarded as accepta n d able,

while falling outside the range renders it unacceptable. The Taguchi methodology suggests that instead of this implied step function of acceptability, a more realistic function is used based on the square of the deviation from the ideal targetthat is, that customers/users get significantly more dissatisfied as performance varies from ideal). Taguchi defines quality as the financial loss to society after an article is shippeda departure from most customers perception that quality is positive or good. In this case, quality is used in a negative sense to indicate the degree of unacceptable product. As an example, consider a quality professional who reports a 3% quality level for a certain material. The 3% represents a loss to society due to unsatisfactory performance. Taguchis Three Basic Concepts While most statistical methods describe what has already happened, Taguchis philosophy emphasizes statistical methods that help make things happen. His view of product quality includes three basic concepts:
1. Qualityshouldbedesignedintoaproduct,notinspectedintoit. 2. Qualityisbestachievedbyminimizingdeviationsfromatarget.Themorerobusttheproducts, thelesssensitivetheyaretovariablesthatareeitherillcontrolledornoncontrollable. 3. TheCOQshouldbemeasuredasafunctionofdeviationfromthemidpointofthespecification ortolerancelimits;anylossesshouldbemeasuredsystemwide.

Overall, Taguchis philosophy is technical in nature. While it does not require companies to undergo an internal revolution, it does provide concrete concepts to help them improve products and procedures.

Six Sigm ma

In the nex image, Th difference between 4 Sigma and 6 Sigma is il xt he e llustrated by considering the y g problems at our own homes: s

Six Sigm is the best of the best meaning a Six Sigm strategy ta ma g ma akes the best of the qual lity principles and techni iques used fo many year and applie them appr or rs es ropriately to an organiza o ation. By taking the best pr g rinciples and techniques from each o these prog d of grams, organ nizations accelerat their impro te ovements in measurable ways. e The term Six Sigma itself is a measure of quality. Sigm is a Greek letter used by statistici m a m q ma k d ians to show the variation in a process Take our hospital syst t n s. h tem, for exam mple. If the hospital process for admit tting a new patient is sup p pposed to tak 5-10 minu ke utes, a varia ation occurs w when it take es more or less time, an also for ea mistake that may be made in col l nd ach t llecting the p patients informati ion. If the hos spital is oper rating at four sigma, ther may be as many as 6,000 problem for each r re s ms million opportunities for a mistak (assuming to use 1.5 sigma shift f mean). If a patient o s ke g for f admission form has 50 questions for every 20,000 patien admitted there could be 6,000 err 5 s, 2 nts d d rors in the inf formation. In a Six Sigm environme the stand n ma ent, dard for vari iability is red duced to 3.4 4 problems per million opportunities. Moving from 6,000 d errors a four sigma to just 3.4 d s n data at a data errors at Six Sigma is making rea progress! s al

Six Sigm ma Philos sophy and d Goals

The philo osophy of Si Sigma goe beyond th reduction of errors in one departm of a hos ix es he ment spital system. Six Sigm is a busine initiative not a quali initiative. It is a way of doing bus ma ess e, ity . siness that improves quality and productivit and increa profits. T s d ty ases hree omponents to Six o There are th major co Sigma:
1. Cultureoftheorganization 2. Im mprovementtools 3. Su upportsystem msforthetoo ols

By contro olling the am mount of var riation beyon the upper and lower a nd r allowable lim of a process, mits variation from the rec n cognized boundaries is reduced. In r terms, b r real building Six Sigma into a way of doing busines can reduce errors, iden ss e ntify and cor rrect flaws in processes, and have a , n dramatic impact on th success of the organiz he o zation.