The Application of Six Sigma in Industry

The application of Six sigma is usually related with DMAIC methodology (Define, measure,
analysis, improve and control phase). In Define Phasse, the goal of the project should be defined,
cross-functional teams should be formed including individuals with adequate knowledge,
historical information collected and appropriate process selected for improvements. Further,
quantitative analysis about failure modes should also be conducted by plotting a Pareto chart to
find a most economic way to reduce those failure modes.
In Measure phase, SIPOC Diagram (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers) is usually
used by the team to identify all relevant elements of a process improvement project before work
begins. The SIPOC tool is particularly useful when it is not clear:
Who supplies inputs to the process?
What specifications are placed on the inputs?
Who are the true customers of the process?
What are the requirements of the customers?
Similar to SIPOC, thought process map (TMAP) is another tool that team come together to figure
all operations in the process and input and output list should be completed.
Several steps are needed to complete the SIPOC diagram. First, create an area that will allow the
team to post additions to the SIPOC diagram. Then begin with the process and map it in four to
five high level steps. Identify the outputs of this process and the customer that will receive the
outputs of this process. Finally, identify the inputs required for the process to function properly
and the supplier of the inputs that are required by the process.

In manufacturing scenario, there are some special properties in making SIPOC. For suppliers,
there are international suppliers and domestic supplies, which mean there might be different lead
time and respond time in manufacturing. For inputs, there could be material type, machine,
supporting equipments etc. In Process, it should represent the time and energy that involved or
consumed. In Outputs, it should contain the correct product within designed specification and
some other by products which might cause safety or environment issues. For the customers, it
would better to provide a service plan for repairable product.
The purpose of the Measure step is to evaluate and understand the current state of the process.
This involves collecting data on measures of quality, cost, and throughput/cycle time. It is
important to develop a list of all of the key process input variables (sometimes abbreviated KPIV)
and the key process output variables (KPOV).In measure phase, activities include process
mapping, operational definition, data collection chart, evaluation of the existing system,
assessment of the current level of process performance etc.
Data may be collected by examining historical records, but this may not always be satisfactory, as
the history may be incomplete, the methods of record keeping may have changed over time, and,
in many cases, the desired information may not have been retained. Consequently, it is often
necessary to collect current data through an observational study, or it may be done by sampling
from the relevant data streams. When there are many workers in the system, work sampling may
be useful. (http://8pic.ir/images/36703296357416548058.pdf)
In the Analyze step, the objective is to use the data from the Measure step to begin to determine
the cause-and-effect relationships in the process and to understand the different sources of
variability. There are many statistical tools that are potentially useful in the Analyze step. Among

these are qualitative methods and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods includes cause
and effect diagram, the Why-why analysis, FME Aanalysis which leads to identify the vital few
factors in other to identify the root causes of the defects, graphical data displays, control charts,
etc. For quantitative methods, there are Pareto analysis of the causes, hypothesis testing and
confidence interval estimation, regression analysis, etc.
In Improve step, the team starts to think about the specific changes that can be made in the process
and other things that can improve the process performance. A lot of tools can be used in the
Improve step. Flow chart is extensively used in redesigning to find the bottlenecks and defects.
Sometimes mistake-proofing (designing an operation so that it can be done only the right way) an
operation will be useful. Designed experiments are usually a very important statistical tool in the
Improve step. Designed experiments can be applied either to an actual physical process or to a
computer simulation model of that process, and can be used both for determining which factors
influence the outcome of a process and for determining the optimal combination of factor settings.
The objectives of the Control step are to complete all remaining work on the project and to hand
off the improved process to the process owner along with a process control plan and other
necessary procedures to ensure that the gains from the project will be institutionalized.
The tollgate review for the Control step typically includes the following issues:
(i) Data illustrating that the before and after results are in line with the project charter should be
available. (Were the original objectives accomplished?)
(ii) Is the process control plan complete? Are procedures to monitor the process, such as control
charts, in place?

(iii) Is all essential documentation for the process owner complete?

(iv) A summary of lessons learned from the project should be available.
(v) A list of opportunities that were not pursued in the project should be prepared. This can be used
to develop future projects; it is very important to maintain an inventory of good potential projects
to keep the improvement process going.
(vi) A list of opportunities where the results of the project can be used in other parts of the
business.

Trainings of Six Sigma

Today many companies provide interior sig-sigma training for employees working in quality
department or management, as well as lots of third party training company and many universities.
Taking the training or obtaining certification are not a guarantee to be a good practitioner but it
still provide a change for people who want to know about six sigma and impalement it into their
working.
The widely accepted certifications are denoted by Six Sigma Belt with different colors, Green
Black and Master Black, with a few company providing White or Yellow Belts. Green Belts are
entry level knowledge normally with 1 or 2 weeks training and can assist on major project teams
or lead a small project. Black Belts are advanced knowledge trained for at least 4 weeks and they
can lead teams that are focused on projects with both quality and business impact for the

organization. The Master Black Belt is the top level of Six Sigma who can train others, consult on
projects and make strategic work. Black Belts and Master Black Belts can move to different
industries and do more soft skill and change management type work. Also, Green Belts are no
required to get a Black Belt.
Among the training organizations, there are mainly three groups: professional associations,
university certification programs and third party (for-profit) training organizations. Currently, the
professional associations in US are American society for quality (ASQ), Institute of Industrial
Engineers and chartered Quality Institute. ASQ is highly recognized by the industry and the books
it published are becoming universal as textbook for Six Sigma certification passing exam. For
universities providing Six sigma training, there are at least thirty-one universities
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Six_Sigma_certification_organizations),

generally

with

strong background in industrial engineering or industrial managing education, such as Arizona

State University, Purdue University, University of Michigan, etc. Besides, there are a lot of third
party training organizations that would fill up the pages when searching Six Sigma by any search
engine. The most authentic organization are those companies implemented sig sigma for long
time,

such

as

Motorola

Solutions.

(http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-

EN/Training+Home/Lean+Six+Sigma)
All those training organizations provide their own programs and certifications with different
training focuses. Most of them should cover a detailed training about DMAIC, basic statistics and
design of experiments/six sigma. In order to pass the exam and obtain the certification, a project of
six sigma implementation is generally required. However, there is no standard requirement for any
six sigma certification across the US and this brings an inconsistency in those certifications.

This might cause some troubles for beginners who need a certification for jobs. Nevertheless, the
gist of six sigma could be applied in many fields like manufacturing industries, health industries or
even banks, the course learning path is not so important and the key point is a tight connection to
the work.