UNIT 4

SIX SIGMA IMPLEMENTATION AND CHALLENGES

OMF751- LEAN SIX SIGMA

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a structured approach to defining
customer needs or requirements and translating them into specific plans to
produce products to meet those needs.
The “voice of the customer” is the term to describe these stated and unstated
customer needs or requirements.
The voice of the customer is captured in a variety of ways: direct discussion or
interviews, surveys, focus groups, customer specifications, observation,
warranty data, field reports, etc.
This understanding of the customer needs is then summarized in a product
planning matrix or “house of quality”. These matrices are used to translate
higher level “what’s” or needs into lower level “how’s” – product requirements
or technical characteristics to satisfy these needs.

OMF751- LEAN SIX SIGMA

OMF751- LEAN SIX SIGMA
OMF751- LEAN SIX SIGMA
OMF751- LEAN SIX SIGMA
OMF751- LEAN SIX SIGMA
• The project team includes the project manager and the group of individuals
who work together on a project to achieve its objectives.
• It consists of the project manager, project management staff, and other
team members who are maybe not directly involved with management but
carry out the work related to the project.
• This team consists of people from different teams with precise subject
matter knowledge or with the required skill set to carry out the work of the
project.
• The structure and characteristics of a project team usually vary, but the
project manager’s role as the leader of the team remains constant.
However, the amount and nature of authority the project manager has
over the members can differ.
• Project team members are mainly the people who work on various phases
of the project. They could be in-house staff or external consultants and may
be working on a full-time or part-time basis. Their roles can differ according
to each project.

Project team member duties can be summed up as the following:

• Contribute to overall project objectives
• Complete individual deliverables
• Provide expertise
• Work with users to determine and meet business needs
• Document the process
• What Is CPQ, or Configure, Price, Quote?
CPQ is a sales tool for companies to quickly and accurately generate
quotes for orders. CPQ applications often work in tandem with CRM
platforms, ERP programs, and other business technology, which helps
ensure integrated data as well as accuracy.
Quotes produced with CPQ software are automated according to a
preprogrammed set of rules, ensuring error-free pricing that takes into
account quantities, discounts, customizations, optional features of
products, multiple revenue types, and incompatibilities.
 Structure – Deployment of six sigma
• First Step
• The first step an organization needs to embark on is conducting a self-assessment
based on proven assessment models like the Malcolm Baldrige which will help the
organization in understanding its “as is” state more clearly and help identify the
various opportunities for improvement.
• The organizations could use the checklist type of approach in conjunction with
interviews for identifying the gaps in approach-deployment-results.
• Once the assessment of the organization is completed the findings need to be
shared with the top management and the employees.
• This step is extremely crucial as this is what binds the organization together and
helps create the cultural change needed aspect within the organization combined
with the need for Six Sigma.
• Second Step
• Once the first step is conducted the organization is now clear about
its current strategies for growth and customer statisfaction. Based on
the assessment conducted the organization can re-evaluate all its
strategies and strategic objectives. New strategic objectives can now
be identified.
• Third Step
• Most organizations after having articulated and identified their various objectives are
unable to communicate the strategies of the organization.
• One of the most effective methods for communicating the strategy of the
organization is building a strategy map encompassing the now widely adopted Kaplan
and Norton’s Balanced score card spanning the four perspectives.
• Answering the questions related to the perspectives helps understand the strategy
better and also build a good strategy map.
• The strategy map helps provide the vital cause and effect linkages in an organization
and helps link the Business processes to the strategic destination of the organization.
• Before attempting to build the map it is essential for the organization to identify all its
core processes and support processes as they help in completing the strategy map.
• Fourth Step
• Once the strategy map is completed the organization can now start
looking at each of the objectives in the shareholders and customer
perspectives, and identify various measures that will help in achieving the
strategy. When identifying measures, organizations must try to focus on
what needs to be measured to achieve the strategy rather than plug
existing measures into the objectives. Measures selected need to have a
right balance between Lead and Lag. Lag measures are metrics that are
obtained after the event is over, whereas Lead measures are metrics that
tend to measure the drivers that help reach the destination.
• Fifth Step
• For the key core and support processes, develop high level process maps
based on the concept of SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output,
Customer). The process model developed earlier serves as an excellent
resource. Identify key metrics for each of these processes. Return back to
the strategy map developed and for each of the process strategic
objectives select appropriate measures linking both the customer
perspective measures identified in step four to the process perspective
measures identified. Select process strategic objectives measures that
reflect the customer’s viewpoint. Conventional Six Sigma metrics like
DPMO, sigma level or rolled throughput yield may be appropriate. Once
the measures for the process strategic objectives are identified, identify
measures for the learning and growth perspectives. As discussed earlier,
remember to balance in lead and lag measures and identify suitable
benchmarks for these measures.
• Sixth Step
• Deploy the organizational score card at the departmental level. During the
deployment of the scorecard break up the measures as applicable to the
department. This would ensure that the organization has appropriate metrics at
all levels and and that they are integrated both vertically and horizontally within
the organization.
• Seventh Step
• Once the organization is hardwired with the metrics, start collecting data on the
metrics and identify on a continual basis various gaps in the organization. The
champions training received by the senior management will be extremely useful
in this phase as the champions will analyse data based on the type of cause
(special or common) and then would work on whether a potential project is
identified or not.
• An implementation structure of Six Sigma modeled on this method is a sure fire
method for ensuring maximum benefits from the Six Sigma strategy deployed
within the organization.
Structure – Deployment of six sigma
• Level 1- Here the top management decides on launching Six Sigma to deal with major
business challenges
• Level 2 - This step is all about generating people, mostly in the middle management,
as the project sponsors and process owners. The project sponsors can be recruited
from the senior management in case their influence helps the team to seamlessly
overcome bottlenecks. The role of a process owner is crucial to any enterprise
concerned about efficient process management
• The Level 2 participants usually look for the potential to enhance within a corporate
process sphere. For this, they require to turn the business objectives into process
objectives. They are also required to recognize the processes whose results are
presently not catering to the targets and acting more as limitations on the path to
attain higher business objectives.
• Level 3 - The ideas for improvement that sources out of Level 2 gets disseminated
between the project leaders – the Black Belts and the Green Belts, as initial daft
project definitions. Here, the Belts modify their allocated project definitions, collect
information and evaluate the primary causes of differences in their allocated variables
Cultural challenges of six sigma
• The 5 stages of maturity in Six Sigma adoption and development are as follows:
• Launch.  In the early onset, there are only an few visionaries in the organization
who decide to launch Six Sigma.  The focus is on training and launching a few
initial projects.
• Early Success.  By the second stage, the initial projects are yielding results and
early successes are being achieved.
• Scale and Replication.  The early success has led to other parts of the
organization buying in to Six Sigma and a broader launch of projects is under way.
• Institutionalization.  By now, throughout the organization, projects are yielding
broad-based financial impact.  People are seeing, understanding, and realizing the
value of Six Sigma.
• Lean Culture Transformation.  By this final stage of maturity, Six Sigma is part of
the organizational DNA, financial impact is sustained, and the Six Sigma culture is
pervasive.