Six Sigma

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a popular quality improvement technique for cutting

costs, improving processes, and reducing business cycle times. It
was invented by Motorola in the 1980s and popularized by Allied
Signal (now Honeywell) and GE in the mid to late 1990s.
Six Sigma is a number

Six Sigma is a methodology

3.4 customer requirement failures per million opportunities

DMAIC - Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, & Control
DFSS Design for Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a culture

Six Sigma is Quality

Six Sigma -- Practical Meaning

99% (3.8 Sigma)
20,000 lost articles of mail per
hour
Unsafe drinking water for almost
15 minutes each day
5,000 incorrect surgical
operations per week
Two short or long landings at
most major airports each day

99.99966% (6 Sigma)
Seven articles lost per hour
One unsafe minute every seven
months
1.7 incorrect operations per week
One short or long landing every
five years

200,000 wrong drug prescriptions

each year

68 wrong prescriptions per year

No electricity for almost seven

hours each month

One hour without electricity every

34 years

Six sigma objective

To make all the process in a supply chain highly
capable
To make the process capability index at least
two
Applicable in every function of a company

WHAT IS SIX SIGMA?

SIX SIGMA IS
A metric based on the Standard Deviation
Sigma is a statistical concept that
represents the amount of variation present
in a process relative to customer
requirements or of specifications.
When a process operates at Six Sigma, the
variation is so small that the resulting
products and services are 99.9997% defect
free!

What is Six Sigma?

Originated at Motorola
in the early 80s
Helped Motorola win
the 1988 MBNQA
Is a methodology for
disciplined quality
improvement
Juran principles apply
Doesnt use Quality
in the name.

With the inclusion of

Six Sigma into a sound
business system the
major ingredients of a
Total Quality
Management System
are usually in place.
Uses a modified
Deming Wheel (PDCA)

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is an
aggressive method
for breakthrough
improvement in
speed, quality, and
profitability.
Unlike TQM it
should focus on
results, not training.

Measures errors in
parts per million
(ppm) not %s.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigmas goal is
the near
elimination of
defects from any
process, product
or service.
The numerical goal
is 3.467 defects
per million
opportunities.

Juran once
concluded that in the
US close to 1/3 of the
work done consisted
of redoing what had
already been done.
Depending on the
industry this Cost of
Poor Quality (COPQ)
could be 20 to 40% of
total effort!

What is Six Sigma?

Strategy includes:
Define

Measure
Analyze
Improve
Control
Similar to Shewharts
PDCA
Improvement projects
must be integrated with
the goals of the
organization.
Six Sigma uses a divide
and conquer approach

Implementation is topdown. CEO drives, and

executive management
provides the Champion
for each project.
GEs implementation is
often the de facto
model for
implementation.
Uses concept of
belts for levels of
competency in Six
Sigma implementation.

What is Six Sigma?

All Six Sigma projects are evaluated
rigorously for financial impact.
Most important is the financial
cumulative impact of all projects
upon the companys bottom line.

Six Sigma and TQM

Every activity is a process.
Every process has inputs and outputs.
Every individual process is part of a larger
system of interconnected processes.
Every process has customers and suppliers.
The purpose of every process is to satisfy the
customer.
To satisfy the customer requires continuous
improvement.
To beat the competition requires breakthrough
improvements.

Six Sigma Process Capability

SIGMA

DPM

COPQ

CAPABILITY

6 sigma

3.4

<10% of sales

5 sigma

230

10 to 15% of sales

4 sigma

6200

15 to 20% of sales Industry average

3 sigma

67,000

20 to 30% of sales

2 sigma

310,000

30 to 40% of sales

1 sigma

700,000

World Class

Noncompetitive

Six Sigma Process Capability

A 4 Sigma company will spend >10% of
revenue on internal and external repair.

A 6 Sigma company will spend <1%

of revenue on internal and external
repair!
*From study at Motorola

Six sigma tools

Affinity Diagram
Brainstorming
Cause & Effect / Ishikawa / Fishbone
Charters
Creativity / Out of the Box Thinking
Design Of Experiment
Flow Chart / Flow Charting
FMEA / Risk Assessment
Histogram
Kano Analysis
Organizing Data
Pareto
Poka Yoke (Mistake Proofing)
Process Map / Process Mapping
Quality Function Deployment / House of Quality
Scatter Diagram / Plot

Six sigma methodology

Identify customer requirements

Define the processes for doing the task
Identify necessary process requirements
Improve all processes to six sigma using
teamwork, DOE
Mistake-proof the process
Implement controls

THANK YOU
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