A ROAD MAP TO TOTAL QUALITY

What is Six Sigma

Six Sigma, a process-focused strategy and methodology for business improvement, can be used to improve care processes, eliminate waste, reduce costs, and enhance patient satisfaction. Sigma represents one standard deviation from the average or mean, ranging from three to six; with six being the highest. At Six Sigma, there are only 3.4 parts per million (PPM) defective. (yield = 99.9997%

@ 6sigma level)

Involves the use of statistical tools within a structured methodology.

Six Sigma relies heavily on teams of people working together, not on individual effort. It is customer oriented. A customer being any person, internal or external, who is affected by a process or product change because it is the customer who defines quality. It is supported by an infrastructure of specialists called Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts and Yellow Belts.

Success depends on:

Highly visible top-down management commitment to the initiatives. A measurement system (metrics) to track the progress. Internal and external benchmarking of the organizations products, services, and processes. Stretch goals to focus on changing the process by which the work gets done Educating all levels of the organization.

Define Measure Analyze

Continuous Improvement Reengineering

Improve
Control

Design
Validate

Control Improve Define Analyze Measure

Define: Define who your customers are, and what their requirements are for your products and services Their expectations. Define your team goals, project boundaries, what you will focus on and what you wont. Define the process you are striving to improve by mapping the process.

Control Improve Define Analyze Measure

Measure: Eliminate guesswork and assumptions about what customers need and expect and how well processes are working. Collect data from many sources to determine speed in responding to customer requests, defect types and how frequently they occur, client feedback on how processes fit their needs, how clients rate us over time, etc. The data collection may suggest Charter revision.

Control Improve Define Analyze Measure

Analyze: Grounded in the context of the customer and competitive environment, analyze is used to organize data and look for process problems and opportunities. This step helps to identify gaps between current and goal performance, prioritize opportunities to improve, identify sources of variation and root causes of problems in the process.

Control Improve Define Analyze Measure Improve: Generate both obvious and creative solutions to fix and prevent problems. Finding creative solutions by correcting root causes requires innovation, technology and discipline.

Control Improve Define Analyze Measure

Control: Insure that the process improvements, once implemented, will hold the gains rather than revert to the same problems again. Various control tools such as statistical process control can be used. Other tools such as procedure documentation helps institutionalize the improvement.

Validate Design Define Analyze Measure

Design: Develop detailed design for new process. Determine and evaluate enabling elements. Create control and testing plan for new design. Use tools such as simulation, benchmarking, DOE, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), FMECA analysis, and cost/benefit analysis.

Validate Design Define Analyze Measure

Validate: Test detailed design with a pilot implementation. If successful, develop and execute a full-scale implementation. Tools in this step include: planning tools, flowcharts/other process management techniques, and work documentation.

Master Black Belts

takes on a leadership role as keeper of the Six Sigma process proven change agent, leader, facilitator, and technical expert in Six Sigma management. advisor to senior executives or business unit managers.

Black Belts
full-time change agent and improvement leader qualified to solve process problems that arise in manufacturing environments

Green Belts
individual who works as a team member for complex projects or as a project leader for simpler projects. Communicate with master black belt, black belt, and process owner throughout all stages of the project. Analyze data through all phases of the project. Train team members in the basic tools and methods through all phases of the project.

Yellow Belts
represent everyone else on the team. staff members, administrators, operations personnel and anyone else who might play a role.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD):

used to understand customer requirements. The QFD identifies customer requirements and rates them on a numerical scale.

The QFD is

The fish-bone diagram helps identify which input variables should be studied further. Cause-and-Effect (C&E) Matrix: The C&E matrix is an extension of the fishbone diagram. Six Sigma teams identify, explore and graphically display all the possible causes related to a problem and search for the root cause.

Fishbone Diagrams: In Six Sigma, all outcomes are the result of specific inputs.

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA):

FMEA identifies ways a new product, process or service might fail. This generates scores that enable the team to prioritize things that could go wrong and develop preventative measures.

T-Test: helps Six Sigma teams validate test results using

sample sizes that range from two to 30 data points. Control Charts: Statistical process control, or SPC, relies on statistical techniques to monitor and control the variation in processes. Design of Experiments: When a process is optimized, all inputs are set to deliver the best and most stable output.