1 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Define phase

After a Six Sigma project is selected, the first step is to clearly define the problem. This
activity is different from project selection.
Project selection generally responds to symptoms of a problem. One must describe the
problem in a very specific operational terms that facilitate further analysis (project
scoping)
Example:
o A six Sigma project to improve motor reliability (followed by a long history of
poor reliability of electric motors manufactured in the firm)
o A preliminary investigation of warranty and field service repair data suggest that
source of most problems was brush hardness variability. Thus, the problem might
be defined as reduce the variability of brush hardness

Key objective: to clarify Why it is a problem. It focuses only on the problem not on the
solutions

The following questions need to be answered in the define phase:

o Whats wrong? What do you want to achieve?
o How does the problem link to the customer?
o Are you clear which process the problem relates to?
o Managing the project (Who? Where? When? How?)
A six Sigma project requires a formal project mission statement (also called project
charter) that defines the project, its objectives, and deliverables.
Whats wrong? What do you want to achieve?
A good problem statement should identify:
o Customers and the critical-to-quality (CTQ) that has the most impact on
product or service performance
o Describe the relevant performance metrics
o Benchmark best performance standards
o Calculate the cost/revenue implications of the project
o Quantify the expected level of performance from a Six Sigma project
Problem:
o A deviation between what should be happening and what actually is
happening

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2 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Based on a research using more than 1000 cases describing quality problem solving
activities, every instance of quality problem solving falls into one of the five
categories:
o Conformance problems: unsatisfactory performance by a well specified
system. Users are not happy with the systems output
o Unstructured performance problems: unsatisfactory performance by a poorly
specified system. The task is non-standardized and not fully specified by
procedures.
o Efficiency problems: unsatisfactory performance from the standpoint of
stakeholders other than customers.
o Product design problems: involve designing new products that better satisfy
user needs (CTQ).
o Process design problems: involve designing new processes or substantially
revising existing processes.
Main questions for a proper problem statement:
o What the problem is? How often it occurs? What the impact (cost) is when it
happens?
o Must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bounded
(SMART)
o Must contain the main category of Costs of Quality (COQ) that impacts the
business financially
o Cost of quality (COQ)
A COQ process often facilitate identifying problem
The cost of quality as a percentage of profit and losses must be assessed
by top management and incorporates the following categories:
1- Cost of conformance:
Measures the investments incurred to produce goods and services that
meets customer expectations
Preventive cost including cost of quality improvement
meetings, employee training, information system, etc.
Appraisal cost including cost of process audit, inspection of
products received from suppliers, design review, instrument
maintenance costs, process measurements, etc.
2- Cost of non-conformance (poor quality)
A product is said to be of a poor quality every time it deviates from the
predetermined critical-to-quality (CTQ) target
Poor quality happens when:
Poor quality goods are produced

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3 Six Sigma-Define Phase

More resources than necessary are used to produce the good

products (e.g., waste in the form of rework, excessive testing,
scrap, etc.)
Internal failure cost: cost of reworking products that failed audit, cost
of bad marketing, scrap, non-value adding activities
External failure cost: cost of customer support, shipping cost of
returned products, cost of reworking products returned from
customers, cost of refunds, warranty claims, loss of customer goodwill
o Examples of proper problem statement
During 2009, 20% of overseas customer payment took longer than the
agreed invoice terms. This resulted in an average outstanding debt of
$327K, at a 5% cost of capital
From October 09 to March 2010, 5% of product A manufactured on
production line 1 failed the final test. This resulted in extra
inspection/rework process being implemented (at the cost of 25,000$
per month), and a scrap rate of 2% costing $20K per month in lost
revenue

Goal statement
o Responds to the problem statement and defines the target for the project
o Must be brief and specific
o Must be stated as the best estimate for improvement or an X% improvement
(to be revised at the end of the Measure and Analyse Phases)
o Examples

Project scope
o The particular area of interest and focus in the project
o Is identified by means of project decomposition
The process of going from project objectives to tasks
Work breakdown structure (WBS): a process for defining the final and
intermediate products of a project and their relationship
It allows the team to further consider which of project elements should
be considered for improvement

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4 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Pareto analysis is used to provide an insight into the relative benefits in

improving a given element
The elements (categories of interest) are sorted by their count
or cost
Example:

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5 Six Sigma-Define Phase

How does the problem link to the customer?

To identify customer (internal and external customers) expectations, priorities, needs,
and voice
o Voice of customer (VOC) is captured through
Operational feedback systems (complaints and suggestions system)
Direct contact methods (phone calls, interviews, etc)
Less direct methods (surveys, market research, etc)
Focus groups
A group composed of seven to ten participants who are
unfamiliar with each other
The participants are selected based on a common
characteristics that relates to the topic of the focus group
A carefully planned discussion designed to obtain perceptions
on a defined area of interest in a permissive, nonthreatening
environment.
Group members influence each other by responding to ideas
and comments in the discussion
Field experiment
Becoming a customer
o Critical-to-quality (QCT) tree
The purpose is to determine what it takes to actually meet the
customers requirement

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6 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Customer requirements are not always clearly expressed; hence their

implicit requirements must be analyzed
It transforms customer requirements captured as VOC into quantifiable
data
The following steps are used to create a CTQ tree:
Identify the product or service that is being analyzed
Identify the key components of the product or service
Identify the critical customers requirement for the products or
services (e.g., quality, price, delivery) that customer expect
from the products
Identify the customers first level of requirements (critical
requirements that satisfy key customer need)
Identify the customer second level of requirements.
This step has to be repeated until quantifiable requirements are
obtained
Once the tree is built, the next step should consist of analyzing
the tree to determine the aspects of the critical requirements
that need improvements

Example of a CTQ tree

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7 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Kano analysis
o A framework for categorizing and prioritising different performance features
of a product or service
o Identifies three categories of performance:
Basic quality (Must-haves)
Basic level of quality that customer assume the product will
have (e.g., all cars have tires and windows)
Expected quality (More is better)
Those expectations which customer explicitly consider (e.g.,
the waiting time in a checkout counter)
Exciting quality (Delighters)
Unexpected quality items which are the result of innovation
(e.g., Cadillac pioneered a system where the headlights stay on
long enough for the owner to walk safely to the door)
o Maps existing or proposing features of companys products and services into
the Kano categories
Can be prepared by the company or by asking the customers

House of quality (an integral part of QFD (Quality Function Deployment))

o QFD
A technique to link the voice of the customer directly to internal
processes.
A customer-driven process for planning and/or improvement of
products and services

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8 Six Sigma-Define Phase

It moves methodically from customer requirements to specifications

for the product or service
Is implemented through the development of a series of matrices
(requirement matrix)
A matrix that represents customer requirements as rows and
product or service features as columns
Enhanced requirement matrix which shows the correlation of the
columns is called the house of quality
House of quality matrix
Is utilized by a multidisciplinary team to translate a set of
customer requirements (VOC), market research and technical
benchmarking data into an appropriate number of prioritized
engineering targets to be met by a new product design
To define the product or service (selected for improvement)
from several directions such as customer demands, functions,
parts, reliability, cost, etc
To identify the relationship between each customer requirement
and product/service feature
To select areas for improvement

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9 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Define Six Sigma project deliverables

o Six Sigma projects focus on one or more of the following three critical
deliverables: cost, quality, schedule
o Rough estimates based on historical data are often used to derive CTX metrics
in the define phase
o Critical to Quality (CTQ) metrics
o Critical to schedule (CTS) metrics
o Critical to cost (CTC) metrics
All CTQ and CTS metrics are often CTC as well
Metrics reflecting the time value of money
Net Present value (NPV)
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Are you clear which process the problem relates to?
Top-level process definition
o Defines the boundaries of the Six Sigma project by identifying the process being
investigated, its inputs, and outputs, and its suppliers and customers.
o Provides critical reference for discussions on specific project objectives,
calculation of project deliverables, and definition of key stakeholder groups
o Process maps are used to document top-level process activities and their
stakeholders
Stakeholder is a department, customer and/or vendor influenced by the
activity or its outcome
SIPOC
o SIPOCs: Suppliers-Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers
o It provides a broad overview of the key elements in the process and help to
explain:
who is the process owner
how inputs are acquired
who the process serves
how it adds value
o A focused brainstorming session can be conducted in order to answer the
SIPOC questions
It is usually best to start with the process and identify the major activities
that occur in the process working backward toward suppliers and forward
toward the customers

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10 Six Sigma-Define Phase

SIOPC example (SIOPC for Billing-by-the-minute option sub process)

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11 Six Sigma-Define Phase

Managing the project (Who? Where? When? How?)

Project charters
o Summary of the official plan and authorization for the project
o It helps to review the define phase
o Documents the why, how, who, and when of a project

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12 Six Sigma-Define Phase

o Project scheduling
To help the project manager develop a realistic timetable, to use the
timetable to the allocation of resources, and to track progress during the
implementation of the project plan
Tools: Gantt charts and PERT-type systems
Typical DMAIC project tasks and responsibilities can be used as a
planning tool by Six Sigma teams

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13 Six Sigma-Define Phase

o Assembling the team

By project manager and project sponsor
Short informal meeting with (middle) managers of all stakeholder groups
To inform them that an improvement project is proposed in their
functional area
To challenge the scope and objectives
Project team: 5-7 members with one team member from each stakeholder
group
o Gain project approval:
Does the project have the buy-in to proceed and success?

Define phase review meeting

o The final step in the define phase is a meeting between a team (led by a Black Belt
or a Green Belt) and a guiding team. The meeting should ensure that:

The team has reached agreement on and has clearly defined the problem or
opportunity to address

The project charter is developed and agreed on

The team understands the strategic and financial impacts of the project

The team agrees that the project can be completed successfully

A project plan and timeline has been developed

The right mix of people are on the team

Team members have received necessary training

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