Six Sigma Guide
The Guide to Six Sigma brings out the various features of Six Sigma methodologies and their correct implementation in business processes.
Inside:
- 65 KPIs (KPIs for Quality Improvement, Six Sigma, TQM, Continuous Improvement)
- 23 page Six Sigma Guide (delivered in Adobe PDF format)
- 15 slide Six Sigma Presentation (delivered as PowerPoint presentation file)
Inside the Six Sigma Guide
- 65 KPIs (KPIs for Quality Improvement, Six Sigma, TQM, Continuous Improvement):
- 23 page Six Sigma Guide (delivered in Adobe PDF format)
- 15 slide Six Sigma Presentation (delivered as PowerPoint presentation file)
The Guide shows how several major organizations had benefited in real-life situations though the successful integration of Six Sigma to obtain benefits that were considered nearly impossible. The improvement of business process yield to 99.99966% was the major achievement of Six Sigma. Motorola, General Electric, Dow Chemical Company, Honeywell, and Tata Steel were able to reach the goals set by the management of these organizations with the rigorous implementation of Six Sigma.
It had been proved that Six Sigma could work not only in short-term but also remain effective over longer periods, if the business process procedures were carefully designed by the individual managements to suit each area of operation or each individual project. The Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process of business problem solving, coupled with other strategies like balanced scorecard, MVT, behavioral approaches, and CMMI had helped business houses to reach the sixth level of Six Sigma, which is attaining 34 defects per million opportunities. It had become a universally approved and followed business process management system at present.
- The first part ‘Introduction to the method and problem’ defines the fundamental principles of Six Sigma. The major aim of Six Sigma is to improve the business process output quality by identifying the defects, errors or causes that reduce process output. Further, the technique strives to minimize variability in business process. The purpose of Six Sigma is to reduce the defects to 34 DPMO and achieve 99.99966% output yield. This methodology was introduced by Motorola in the 1980s and had been widely followed by several organizations in the last 3 decades.
- The second part ‘Risk assessment and balanced scorecard’ describes the risk assessment process of qualitative assessment of business process hazards, the constituents of process functional systems, and event successions that lead to avoidable consequences. The part further explains the use of balanced scorecards of green, yellow, and red to measure performances levels of each employee, to make the employees realize their under-performance, and to improve on their own or with the help of higher level personnel. Finally, the part emphasizes on the importance of strategic planning in assisting the management to develop appropriate business process plans for total customer satisfaction.
- The third part ‘Reviewing of alternatives’ points out certain lacunae in the Six Sigma business process and alternative management tools that could be integrated with Six Sigma to make it a comprehensive business management process control tool. Multivariable testing (MVT) tests 20 to 30 business process changes to arrive at combination of changes that would result in product improvement and enhancement of business process. Behavioral approaches focus on human element by interacting with customers and employees to train and educate them for reduction of defects and improvement of employee, process, and product performances. The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) covers 22 processes to address diffident disciplines of systems and engineering processes.
- ‘Step-by-step guide on how to use Six Sigma for solving business problems’ is the fourth part. This guide explains the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process of business problem solving. The most important role of Six Sigma in solving business problems is identifying the problems faced by customers in the products and in the attitude of the company personnel in treating such customers. This enables the company to satisfy the customers fully, while making the employees also becoming aware of providing practical solutions to problems of customers.
- The fifth part ‘Examples of real-life usage of Six Sigma’ illustrates the success obtained by 5 organizations in entirely different fields through the implementation of Six Sigma. Motorola was the first company to initiate the Six Sigma philosophy in 1986. The pioneering effort of Motorola brought out the minor drawbacks in proper usage of Six Sigma, such as training the bottom level workers, who could not easily understand the statistical methods. This made Motorola to start the training program of employees from top level to reach down slowly through the ranks. General Electric initiated Six Sigma in 1995. GE selected customers, employees, and processes as the three key elements to achieve sixth Sigma level in quality control and quality assurance.
- Dow Chemical Company adopted Six Sigma in 1999 and a 10-stairs model, containing vision, values, attitude, language, behavior, best practices, articulated strategy, implementation, culture change, and success was developed and applied successfully by the company. The results were impressive. Honeywell embraced Six Sigma in 1998 after being merged with AlliedSignal, which was already following this technique. The QMS of Honeywell was integrated with Six Sigma and the results reflected in all the divisions. Tata Steel used Six Sigma in 2007 to consolidate its Total Operational Performance (TOP) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). This step helped Tata Steel to globalize its operations and emerge as the lowest cost steel producer in the world.
- ‘Conclusions’ is the sixth part. This reveals how Six Sigma had helped large-sized organizations like GE and Ford, as well as much smaller companies to reduce defects to 3.4 DPMO by consistently following the DMAIC principles of Six Sigma and using the balanced scorecard to improve employee performances. The linking of key elements, activities, strategies and management vision had been the main reason for the effectiveness of Six Sigma.
- The ‘FAQs’ seventh part answers three major questions on Six Sigma. The questions are 1) How does Six Sigma help in business process improvements? 2) Does Six Sigma involve only statistical data? and 3) Can all types of projects be brought under Six Sigma? The answers clearly bring out the effectiveness of Six Sigma in various business processes and operating environments.
- The eighth part is ‘Checklists for Six Sigma’. The checklists consist of several key points on Six Sigma. The management becoming fully familiar with Six Sigma before introducing it in the company, helping employees to accept and cope up with change management, applying Six Sigma in crucial areas initially, identifying and selecting key personnel in the beginning, deploying teams trained in Six Sigma, integrating Six Sigma seamlessly in the functioning of the organization, and continuously evaluating performances are the most important checklists.
