INTRODUCTION:

Six Sigma is a business management strategy, originally developed by Motorola in 1986. A

methodology to improve a business process by constantly revising, updating and retuning the
existing process.

Six sigma improves the process performance, decreases variation and maintains consistent
quality of the process output. This leads to defect reduction and improvement in profits,
employee morale, product quality and finally customer satisfaction.

Six sigma strives for perfection. It allows for only 3.4 defects per million opportunities
for each product or service transaction.

It relies on statistical techniques to reduce defects and measure quality.

Six Sigma is a letter in the Greek alphabet used to denote the standard deviation of a process.

DEFINITION:

“A strategic initiative to boost profitability, increase market share and improve customer
satisfaction through statistical tools that can lead to breakthrough quantum gains in quality.”

Six sigma method can be operated at 3 different levels:

1. As a Metric: The term "Sigma" is often used as a scale for levels of 'goodness' or
quality. Using this scale, 'Six Sigma' equates to 3.4 defects per one million
opportunities (DPMO). Therefore, Six Sigma started as a defect reduction effort in
manufacturing and was then applied to other business processes for the same purpose.
2. As a Methodology: Six Sigma is a business improvement methodology that focuses
an organization on:
 Understanding and managing customer requirements
 Aligning key business processes to achieve those requirements
 Utilizing rigorous data analysis to minimize variation in those processes
 Driving rapid and sustainable improvement to business processes
3. As a management system: The Six Sigma Management System drives clarity around
the business strategy and the metrics that most reflect success with that strategy. It
provides the framework to prioritize resources for projects that will improve the
 metrics, and it leverages leaders who will manage the efforts for rapid, sustainable,
and improved business results.

LEVELS OF SIX SIGMA :

SIGMA LEVEL DEFECTS PER MILLION

6 3.4
5 233
4 6210
3 66807

2 308,537

1 690,000

3 basic elements of six sigma are:

1. Process improvement: The purpose of process improvement is to eliminate the root

causes of performance deficiencies in processes that already exist in the organization.
These performance deficiencies may be causing real problems for the organization, or
may be preventing it from working as efficiently and effectively as it could.
2. Process design/re-design: Sometimes simply improving existing processes is not
enough, and, therefore, new processes will need to be designed, or existing processes
will need to be redesigned.
There are several reasons why this could be necessary:
● An organization may choose to replace, rather than repair, one or more of
its core processes.
● An organization discovers, during an improvement project, that simply
improving an existing process will never deliver the level of quality its
customers are demanding.
● An organization identifies an opportunity to offer an entirely new product
or service.
3. Process management: Because it requires a fundamental change in the way an
organization is structured and managed, process management is often the most
challenging and time consuming part of Six Sigma.
In general, process management consists of:
● Defining processes, key customer requirements, and process.
● Measuring performance against customer requirements and key performance indicators.
● Analyzing data to enhance measures and refine the process management mechanisms.
● Controlling process performance by monitoring process inputs, process operation, and
process outputs, and responding quickly to problems and process.

Six sigma is better than other business strategies because of the following reasons:
 The essence of Six Sigma is the integration of four elements
(customer, process, manpower and strategy) to provide management
innovation.
 Six Sigma provides efficient manpower cultivation and utilization. It employs
a “belt system” in which the levels of mastery are classified as green belt,
black belt, master black belt and champion.
 The Six Sigma method allows us to draw comparisons among all processes,
and tells how good a process is. Through this information, we can learn what
path to follow to achieve process innovation and customer satisfaction.
 . Six Sigma provides flexibility of 3Cs, which are:
Change: Changing society
Customer: Power is shifted to customer and customer demand is
high
Competition: Competition in quality and productivity
BELTS IN SIX SIGMA:

There are 4 levels of six sigma training and each belt defines the expertise in that particular
level.
The levels in their respective order of expertise are:
 YELLOW BELT: The person trained at this level holds the responsibility of smaller
process improvement and has the basic knowledge of six sigma processes.
 GREEN BELT: A person trained at this level gets to head and lead a project.
 BLACK BELT: At this level the person in charge needs to be responsible in sigma
implementation at all levels. He has many teams under him and he guides them and trains
them to achieve goals successfully.
 MASTER BLACK BELT: Expert is the mentor of black belts. He is the trainer, teacher
and the person responsible for implementation of six sigma processes at all levels.
He is the head and leads many projects at a time.

METHODS IN SIX SIGMA

DMAIC: (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) is a process for continued
improvement. It is systematic, scientific and fact based. This closed-loop process eliminates
unproductive steps, often focuses on new measurements, and applies technology for
improvement.
• Define process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and the
enterprise strategy.
• Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data.
• Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships
are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered.
• Improve or optimize the process based upon data analysis using techniques like Design of
Experiments.
• Control to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects.
Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, move on to production, set up control
mechanisms and continuously monitor the process.