Six Sigma

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What is Six Sigma?
 A Metric
 Philosophy
 Initiative
 Method / Tools

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Philosophy
 Sources of variation can be
 Identified
 Quantified
 Eliminated
 Controlled

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Initiative
 Breakthrough Improvement
 Systematic, Focused Approach
 Projects Linked to Business Strategy
 Key People Selected & Trained
 Project Management & Reviews
 Results
 Strategic Process Improvement
 Financial Results
 Sustain the Gains

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Method and Tools
 Process Thinking
 Process Variation
 Facts, Figures, Data
 Critical Few Drivers
 Customer Satisfaction
 Cycle Time

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Six Sigma Organization
 Champions
 Master Black Belts
 Black Belts
 Green Belts

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 Champions
 Provide direction and resources.
 Facilitate the identification and
selection of projects with senior
leadership.
 Track progress of projects.
 Breakdown barriers.
 Create support systems.
 Six Sigma Catalysts
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 Master Black Belts
 Internal experts in Six Sigma
methods and tools.
 Train and mentor Black Belts.
 Develop and deliver training.
 Assist Champions.
 Leverage best practices.
 Six Sigma Experts

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Black Belts
 Project Lead
 Strategic high impact multi-
functional projects
 2-4 projects per year

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Black Belts cont’d….
 Mentor and coach Green Belts
 Dedicated role for 18 – 30 months
 Six Sigma Change Agents

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What Makes a Good Black
Belt?
 Open mind.
 Desire to find out why things happen.
 Ability to lead and direct people.
 Ability to handle conflict.
 Capable of self-directed activity.
 Sense of urgency.
 Good grasp of computer skills and a
basic understanding of math.

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Green Belts
 Lead day-to-day functional
projects and support strategic
Black Belt projects
 Maintain current role in
organization with 20-50% of time
dedicated to a Six Sigma project
 Sustain the gains
 Six Sigma Institutionalizers

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Characteristics of a Good
Project
 Problem is clearly connected to
business priorities
 Improvement in process metrics > 50%
 Financial impact >
 People will support a project they understand
and see as important

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Characteristics of a Good Project
cont’d….
 Clear quantitative measures of
success
 Reasonable scope – Do able in 4-6
months
 Has the support and approval of
management needed to get resources
and remove barriers

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Examples of Black Belt
Projects
 Increase process throughput
 Reduce cycle time of assembly
 Reduce process downtime and scrap
 Reduce freight costs
 Reduce costs of waste disposal
 Reduce bulk material transportation
costs

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 Reduce amount of accounts
receivable
 Material loss: Reduce scrap &
increase yield
 Reduce warranty costs 50%

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Examples of Black Belt
Projects (Actual)
 Reduce road construction change
orders 20%.
 Improve sewage plant efficiency by
25%.
 Reduce lime usage in water softening
at city water plant by 20%.
 Reduce invoice to cash cycle time by
50%.
 Reduce processing time of billing
customers for 3rd party orders.

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Examples of Black Belt
Projects (Actual) cont’d…
 Reduce overpayment of benefits.
 Reduce document retention for legal
cases.
 Reduce cycle time of legal transcript
transmittals.

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Six Sigma Applies to All
Processes in All Industries
 Customer Service
 Design
 Purchasing
 Manufacturing
 Sales
 Marketing
 Administration
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 Manufacturing
 Financial
 Telecommunications
 Health Care
 Government
 Education

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What is Different? Why Does
Six Sigma Work?
 Driven by top leadership
 Top-down deployment - integrated
with business strategies
 Bottom-line cost-benefit
 Disciplined approach (Define-
Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control)

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 Sense of urgency (4-6 month
projects)
 Well defined roles &
infrastructure (Champion, MBB,
BB, GB, etc)
 Statistical and data based
decisions
 Customer and process focus
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Define-Measure-Analyze-
Improve-Control
 Define: Define the problem, measures
and process associated with the
problem; quantify benefits; and
identify project team.
 Measure: Determine the capability of
the current process and the
measurement system.

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 Analyze: Analyze data to assess
patterns and trends between inputs
and outputs.
 Improve: Verify critical inputs and
determine optimum settings.
Implement.
 Control: Implement controls to
“sustain the gains.”

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DMAIC

 DMAIC is an acronym that stands for the 5

major steps within the Six Sigma program.
D - Define
M – Measure
A - Analyze
I - Improve
C - Control

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 DMAIC is a structured, disciplined and
aggressive approach to process
improvement that consists of the above five
phases.
 Each phase is linked logically to the
previous phase, and to the next phase at
the same time.
 The purpose of this rigorous methodology is
to achieve the overall goal of Six Sigma,
which is 3.4 defects per million parts, or
opportunities.
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PHASE ONE - DEFINE
 In this phase, the project's purpose and
scope are defined. Customer information
and background information on the process
is collected. The output of this phase is:
 1. A clear statement of the intended
improvement.
2. A high-level map of the process (SIPOC -
defined further later).
3. A list of what is important to the
customer (Voice of the customer).

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PHASE TWO - MEASURE
 The goal of the Measure phase is to focus
the improvement effort by gathering
information on the current situation. The
output of Measure is:
 1. Baseline data on current process
performance.
2. Data that pinpoints problem location or
occurrence.
3. A more focused problem statement.

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PHASE THREE - ANALYZE
 The goal of the Analyze phase is to
identify root cause(s) and confirm
those with data.
 The output is a theory that has been
tested and confirmed.
 The verified cause(s) will form the
basis for solutions in the next phase.

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PHASE FOUR - IMPROVE
 The goal of the Improve phase is to
do trials and implement solutions that
address the identified root cause(s).
 The output is planned, tested actions
that should eliminate or reduce the
impact of the identified root cause(s).
 A plan is also created as to how the
results will be evaluated in the next
phase.

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PHASE FIVE - CONTROL
 The goal of the Control phase is to
evaluate the solutions and the plan,
maintain the gains accomplished by
standardizing the process, and
outline steps for on-going
improvements including
opportunities for replication.

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 It is also important to consider if this
improvement affects similar lines of
production. The output is:
 1. Before and after analysis.
2. A monitoring system.
3. Completed documentation of
results, learning's, and
recommendations.

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Step #1 - DEFINE
 Project
 SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process,
Outputs and Customers )
 VOC (Voice Of The Customer )

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 In this phase, you will be setting
project goals and boundaries based
upon your knowledge of your
organization's business goals,
customer needs, and the process that
needs to be improved to get you to a
higher sigma level.

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The tools that are most commonly
used in the define phase are:
 1. Project charter (to include the
business case).
2. Stakeholder analysis.
3. SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers )

4. Rolled Throughput Yield

5. Voice of the customer
6. Affinity Diagram
7. Kano Model
8. Critical-to-Quality (CTQ) tree
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Project Charter
 The charter is a contract between the
organization's leadership and the team
created at the onset of the project with the
purpose of:
 · Clarifying what is expected of the team.
· Keeping the team focused.
· Keeping the team aligned with
organizational priorities.
· Transferring the project from the
champion to the team.

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The main elements of the
Charter are:
 · Business case (financial impact)
· Problem statement
· Goal statement
· Project scope
· Roles of the team members
· Milestones/deliverables
· Support required and from whom.

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Business Case
 Since most organizations do not have
unlimited resources, teams should be
assigned to projects with a significant
financial impact.
 Rough estimates can be used

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Some examples could be:
 Reduce inventory levels to reduce capital
investment in inventory.
 Reduce time-to-market to increase
revenues through increased sales.
 Reduce equipment downtime to increase
capacity and production.
 Reduce rejects and rework to decrease
material costs rendering a greater ROI

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 Speed up delivery time to increase
revenues.
Reduce set-up time to increase capacity
and reduce downtime.
 Teams should be aware that these
estimates are likely to change as the team
finds out more about the problems,
constraints, and root cause, and the
problem itself becomes more of a focus.
 It is generally advisable to quantify your
anticipated results with someone from the
Finance Department.
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Six Sigma Deployment &
Baldrige Performance Excellence
Framework

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 Leadership
 Set Values, Direction, & Performance
Expectations, Manage Performance
 Strategic
 Planning
 Strategy Formulation, Planning,
Budgeting & Resource Allocation
 Focus = Customer & Market
Knowledge
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 Human Resource
 Belt Selection
 Compensation
 Career Development
 Training Process

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 Management
 Project Selection
 Project Assign
 Project Tracking
 Review Results

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Business =
Six Sigma Deployment
 Information and Analysis
 Organizational Environment,
Relationships & Challenges
 Data & IS Support
 Mfg, Design & Service Capability
 Finance
 Communication

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Conclusion.

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