INTRODUCTION TO SIX SIGMA

Six Sigma provides a systematic way of improving business processes based on

customer needs and factual analysis of company processes. Business intelligence
(BI) is technology devoted to accessing, analyzing, and sharing business
information.
Organizations like General Electric are combining these two technologies in the form
of Six Sigma intelligence, a framework for using information technology to pick Six
Sigma projects, get results more efficiently, and ensure their long-term
success.Specifically, BI systems from companies such as Business Objects help
organization-wide implementation of Six Sigma in the following ways:

 More Effective Preparation

 Faster Implementations

 Increased Long-Term Success

Six Sigma is one type of methodology adopted by organizations looking to improve

performance. Enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions enable you to
align people, processes and technologies around common plans to execute and
optimize business strategy.
 Basic steps on the path to Six Sigma quality (DMAIC)

 Define

In this step we define the problem statement and the goal statement. We understand
what is the scope of project? What is the defect? Here the project scope and defects
are also defined. A business case is made to obtain project approval. Team charter
is established with a clear goal statement

 Identify Project CTQs

 Develop Team Charter

 Define Process Map

 Measurement

Six Sigma quality means attaining a business-wide standard of making fewer than
3.4 mistakes per million opportunities to make a mistake. This quality standard
includes design, manufacturing, marketing, administration, service, support–all
facets of the business. Everyone has the same quality goal and essentially the same
method to reach it..

After the improvement project has been clearly defined and bounded, the first
element in the process of quality improvement is the measurement of performance.
Effective measurement demands taking a statistical view of all processes and all
problems. This reliance on data and logic is crucial to the pursuit of Six Sigma
quality.

The next step is knowing what to measure. The determination of sigma level is
essentially based on counting defects, so we must measure the frequency of
defects.

Mistakes or defects in a manufacturing process tend to be relatively easy to define–

simply a failure to meet a specification. To broaden the application to other
processes and to further improve manufacturing, a new definition is helpful: a defect
is any failure to meet a customer satisfaction requirement, and the customer is
always the next person in the process.

In this beginning phase, you would select the critical-to-quality characteristics you
plan to improve. These would be based on an analysis of your customer’s
requirements–(usually using a tool like Quality Function Deployment.) After you
clearly define your performance standards and validate your measurement system
(with gage reliability and repeatability studies), you would then be able to determine
short-term and long-term process capability and actual process performance (Cp
and Cpk).

 Analysis

The second step is to define performance objectives and identify the sources of
process variation. As a business, we have set Six Sigma performance of all
processes within five years as our objective. This must be translated into specific
objectives in each operation and process.

To identify sources of variation, after counting the defects we must determine when,
where and how they occur. Many tools can be used to identify the causes of the
variation that creates defects. These include tools that many people have seen
before (process mapping, Pareto charts, fishbone diagrams, histograms, scatter
diagrams, run charts) and some that may be new (affinity diagrams, box-and-whisker
diagrams, multivariate analysis, hypothesis testing).
 Improvement

This phase involves screening for potential causes of variation and discovering
interrelationships between them. (The tool commonly used in this phase is Design of
Experiment or DOE.) Understanding these complex interrelationships then allows the
setting of individual process tolerances that interact to produce the desired result.

 Control

In the Control Phase, the process of validating the measurement system and
evaluating capability is repeated to insure that improvement occurred. Steps are then
taken to control the improved processes. (Some examples of tools used in this
phase are statistical process control, mistake proofing and internal quality audits.)
 Seven Basic Quality Tools (Quality core tools):

Below is the list of some quality management tools, popularly known as seven basic
quality tools –

1. Cause and effect diagram or Ishikawa diagram

2. Flow Chart
3. Pareto Chart
4. Histogram
5. Check Sheet
6. Scatter Plot
7. Control Chart

These basic tools are helpful in six sigma projects at different times.
Now, let's discuss them to get better clarity and understanding:
1. Cause and Effect Diagram:

Also, known as Fishbone diagram. Attributed to Kaoru Ishikawa, the diagram has its
shape similar to a fish skeleton. Hence, named as Fishbone diagram. This tool is
used to explore causes to a single effect (or event) through brainstorming. These
causes are put under different common categories known as 5 M or 6 M. Where, 6 M
expands as – Man, Material, Method, Machine, Measurement & Mother Nature.

2. Flow Chart:

It suggests the process flow in a diagrammatic way. Outlines a pictorial

representation of processes or process steps to understand their flow upstream or
downstream.

3. Pareto Chart:

Also, known as 80:20 principle. Attributed to Vilfredo Pareto, Principle states, 80% of
the outcome is a result of 20% causes. It’s a kind of bar chart showing the
frequencies of different causes or factors in descending order. The main purpose of
this chart is to highlight the most significant factors among a number of factors.

4. Histogram:

It’s a bar chart to study the frequency distribution of data set. It’s used to understand
nature of data.

5. Checksheet:

It is used for data collection. A frequency of factorized data is collected in check

sheet.

6. Scatter Plot:

Scatter plot represents the relationship between two variables. It shows, how one
variable changes with respect to any change in another variable. Scatter plot can
depict following relationships:

 Strong positive
 Strong negative
 Weak Positive
 Weak Negative
 Any trend (Parabolic)
 No relation
7. Control Chart:

These charts are used to check, whether process data remains under control for the
shorter time span. They involve process control limits and sometimes customer
specification limits as operational ranges or bands. Process data is analyzed to
remain within process control limits. Whenever data goes out of control limits, it
certainly has some special causes – to be investigated & removed immediately. The
aim of these charts is to ensure process data doesn’t go beyond control limits.
However, some exception rules are also there to ascertain the condition of a process
going out of control, while well within control limits.

Six Sigma – A top-down approach:

Six Sigma needs a drive & support from top management to realize its full potential.
Hence, it’s a top-down approach. Top management commitment is a key to success
of Six Sigma projects. Six Sigma Master Black belts or Black belts should seek for
the best possible management support to bring successful six sigma improvements.
Apart from top management, commitment from all stakeholders and employees lead
to exceptional outcomes. In the organizations, where six sigma is a part of
organizational culture, excellence is pursued in each work area. Six Sigma approach
is highly driven by the culture & values of the organization. The pursuit of continuous
improvement & being excellent is an obvious buy- into six sigma applications.
 Six Sigma and the Military: Improved, Highly
Efficient Defense

Military operations have no room for error. United States Military forces rely on
efficiency, order and precision. In order for operations to run smoothly it’s important
to reduce waste. This makes military ops a prime candidate for lean and Six Sigma
applications.
Applying lean and Six Sigma methodologies allows military process experts to
improve the quality of our national defense through tangible, cost effective methods .

Military successes with Six Sigma use include:

 Improved fuel efficiency and reduced repair cycle time for military aircraft by
90%; annual savings of $117,200.
 Reduced wait time for processing new security clearances and upgrades by
70%
 Saved $11 million by increasing the accuracy of the reconciliation process
between aviation fuel cost and actual flying hours.
 Minimized overtime and unplanned labor requirements in the engineering
process by 60%; $400,000 in annual savings.
 Decreased the wait time for processing new contractors and civilian
employees leading to increased productivity of nearly 7,680 man hours.

The military’s use of Six Sigma has proven to be very effective in solving long-
standing, complicated issues. Waste has been reduced, process times have been
shortened, errors have reached a low probability rate, and military personnel are
being better equipped. The application of Six Sigma has enabled service members to
better protect themselves and to help ensure country’s safety.
As expected, integrating Six Sigma into the military was a challenge. Originally Six
Sigma was developed as a manufacturing quality assurance program. As such, its
methods can be difficult to implement in other areas.
Several adaptations were made to tailor the processes; however, once the
manufacturing language had been translated for military use, training and
implementation were able to progress.
A variety of factors had to be considered including the allocation of military funds and
resources. Due to differences between the military and civilian business, the fixed
business model did not transfer well. However, military strategies did offer the
flexibility needed to adjust Six Sigma to meet the unique requirements of the
Department of Defense.
The integration of Six Sigma into the military demonstrates that Six Sigma, and its
various benefits, are not limited to manufacturing. Once Six Sigma became the
practice the military was able to scale it across other areas with impressive results.
While it’s difficult coordinating processes which satisfy the requirements of multiple
units the task proved to be worthwhile, saving hundreds of thousands of money and
man hours.
 CONCLUSION

Six Sigma and lean are very powerful CI methodologies that share common goals
and grounds in terms of striving to achieve customer satisfaction . They compliment
each other and can be integrated to form a superior methodology which could
overcome the shortcomings of the individual methodologies .
Six Sigma and lean share common grounds in terms of : the origin or development ,
principles or concepts , objectives , leadership roles , staff roles and features . On
the other hand , the differences between the two methodologies lie in : the focus ,
technique , how they are viewed , scope , execution , analysis vs action , tools ,
software , rewards , etc . However , even in the dimensions where they are different ,
there are still lots of similarities , such as in the focus of customer satisfaction .
It was shown that despite the differences , there are many areas where Six Sigma
and lean share common grounds and there are many compatible areas where one of
them may excel forming an opportunity to complete the other one . Thus , the
integration of the two is concluded to be possible and beneficial .