Six Sigma Projects - Six Sigma Project Example Nonprofit
"A problem with an unknown solution"
Projects must be aligned to organizational priorities
Depending on the organization, have value at least $100,000 for Black Belts and $50,000 for Green Belts.
Projects can also be directed to high priorities metrics not only money.
Be scoped so can be completed in 4 to 6 months
Follow the Six Sigma Project Roadmap.
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control or DMAIC
Normally Six Sigma Projects are reviewed before the completion of each phase.
Help create a learning organization by documenting completed projects.
Project savings be signed off by finance.
Typical Six Sigma Courses: (See 6Sigma.us Course Schedule)
Six Sigma Champion Launch - 2 days
Six Sigma Process Green Belt (completed in 2 week +2 week format)
Six Sigma Process Black Belt - four weeks
Six Sigma Transactional Green Belt (completed in 2 week +2 week format)- 10 days
Six Sigma Transactional Process Black Belt - four weeks
Six Sigma Master Black Belt - 2 weeks
Design for Six Sigma or DFSS - either a 5 day or 10 day program
Introduction to Minitab for Six Sigma Belts - 0.5 days
Advanced Minitab for trained Six Sigma Belts - 2 days
Lean Flow for Six Sigma - Here for more Information
Other Courses:
Project Management
Presentation Skills
Change Management
Statistical Thinking for Leaders - 2 days
Business Process Charting - 1 day
Design of Experiments - 4 days
Statistical Process Control - 2 days
Mixture Experimentation - 2 days
Test Methods - 2 days
Six Sigma Consulting Services
Upon request courses SixSigma.us can be customized to meet client needs.Interested in 12 College Credit Hours? Ask about the College Credit Option for Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt courses! What is a Black Belt? One of our Spring 2004 Black Belts just closed a project in the chemical industry saving 2.4 Million!One of our Spring 2004 Healthcare Belts just closed a project to reduced wastage due to blood expiration with Annual Savings: $ 247,876 (3 month savings = $61,969)
Design of Experiments Presentations 1 2 3 4 5. 6 . 7

more

Six Sigma Project Failure : Questions to ask

This survey explores Six Sigma project failure. If your company is using Six Sigma, we invite your participation in this survey.

For conglomerates or multi-business companies, the word "company" as used in the survey questions refers to your business unit.

Your responses are anonymous and cannot be tied to you or your company.
Your candid feedback is appreciated.

1. Which of the following is considered a "failed Six Sigma project" at your company? (Select all that apply.)

more

Six Sigma DMAIC Training Slides, on Purchase

» Six Sigma DMAIC Training Slides
6s training materials to learn and instruct


The complete Lean Six Sigma DMAIC course prepares participants to perform the role of a LSS Black Belt; covering what’s necessary to successfully achieve Black Belt certification and performance standards. Note: the training slides are much more than simple "tools training" – they’re formatted to demonstrate problem-solving strategy.

The OSSS Six Sigma DMAIC course is comprised of:
1,176 slides,
Instructor notes,
Slide explanations,
37 data sets,
20 supporting templates.
Slides are geared for novices, belts, trainers and consultants.
To view a small sample of this course, please click Training Demo.OSSS Six Sigma DMAIC Full Outline

DEFINE
Understanding Six SigmaSix Sigma FundamentalsSelecting ProjectsElements of WasteWrap Up & Action Items
MEASURE
Welcome to MeasureProcess DiscoverySix Sigma StatisticsMeasurement System AnalysisProcess CapabilityWrap Up & Action Items
ANALYZE
Welcome to Analyze“X” SiftingInferential StatisticsIntro to Hypothesis TestingHypothesis Testing Normal Data P1Hypothesis Testing Normal Data P2Hypothesis Testing Non Normal Data P1Hypothesis Testing Non Normal Data P2Wrap Up & Action Items
IMPROVE
Welcome to ImproveProcess Modeling: RegressionAdvanced Process Modeling: MLRDesigning ExperimentsExperimental MethodsFull Factorial ExperimentsFractional Factorial ExperimentsWrap Up & Action Items
CONTROL
Welcome to ControlAdvanced ExperimentsAdvanced CapabilityLean ControlsDefect ControlsStatistical Process Control (SPC)Six Sigma Control PlansWrap up & Action ItemsOSSS Six Sigma DMAIC V8.1 Full OutlineTo purchase the accompanying Lean Six Sigma Black Belt e-book with in depth topic explanation, click e-book.

more

SPSS vs MINITAB

go here

Analyze

....

IMPROVE

Improve Phase

a) Idea Generation
b) Synthesizing and Selecting the solution
Solution statement -----> Project Objective
Statement in a Process Improvement Project:
Problem Statement --> Goal Statement --> Hypotheses Statement --> Solution Statement

c) Implementing Process Improvements
Planning ---> Piloting ----> Problem Prevention

d) Completing the Improvement Phase
Capture data to track the impact of the changes (positive and negative) as they take effect

DEFINE

clarifying the problem , Goals and Process

a) Elements of six sigma Project Charter

1) The Problem Statement
2) Goal Statement
3) Constraints and Assumptions
4) Individual Problem or Opportunity Dta
5) Team Members and Responsibilities
6) Team Guideleines
7) Preliminary Project Plan
8) Scope

b) Identifying and listening to the customer


c) Identifying and documenting the process
Choice of process diagram: SIPOC or detailed

DMAIC

MEASURE
Baselining and referencing the problem
a) Measurement choices
b) The Tr for Measure and Analyse

SPSS Software

go here

DMAIC and DFSS

DMAIC
The basic methodology consists of the following five steps:
Define process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.
Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data.
Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered.
Improve or optimize the process based upon data analysis using techniques like Design of Experiments.
Control to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, move on to production, set up control mechanisms and continuously monitor the process.

DMADV
The basic methodology consists of the following five steps:
Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.
Measure and identify CTQs (characteristics that are Critical To Quality), product capabilities, production process capability, and risks.
Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design.
Design details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations.
Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owners.
DMADV is also known as DFSS, an abbreviation of "Design For Six Sigma".[8]

more

more

must read

Six Sigma--the organizational quality system made famous by GE's legendary Jack Welch--has set new standards for process improvement.

This is the first book to provide managers a basic, non-technical overview and steps...
go here

which improvement model/s to choose ?

Implementing Six Sigma: The Road Map

Identify Core Processes
Identify key customers
Define Customer requirements
Measure current performance
Improve the process or redesign the process

DMAIC is one way
but not the only way

Black belt, green belt training

at Mumbai

Sampling the process performance

Sampling (statistics)

Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern, especially for the purposes of statistical inference. Each observation measures one or more properties (weight, location, etc.) of an observable entity enumerated to distinguish objects or individuals. Survey weights often need to be applied to the data to adjust for the sample design. Results from probability theory and statistical theory are employed to guide practice.

The sampling process comprises several stages:
Defining the population of concern
Specifying a sampling frame, a set of items or events possible to measure
Specifying a sampling method for selecting items or events from the frame
Determining the sample size
Implementing the sampling plan
Sampling and data collecting
Reviewing the sampling process

Contents
1 Population definition
2 Sampling frame
3 Sampling method
3.1 Quota sampling
3.2 Simple random sampling
3.3 Stratified sampling
3.4 Cluster sampling
3.5 Random sampling
3.6 Matched random sampling
3.7 Systematic sampling
3.8 Mechanical sampling
3.9 Convenience sampling
3.10 Line-intercept sampling
4 Sample size
5 Types of data
5.1 Categorical and numerical
6 Sampling and data collection
7 Review of sampling process
7.1 Non-response
8 Survey weights
9 History
10 See also
11 External links
12 Notes
13 References
//
more

Process Sampling
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of Pyzdek's Guide to SPC, Volume 2: Applications and Special Topics by Thomas Pyzdek, © 1992 by Quality Publishing. It may be ordered from the Quality Publishing Order Form.

Sampling to determine process control is more an art form than a science. The objective is to select subgroups such that the variation of measurements or counts within the subgroup will be produced by only common causes. The spread of the control limits will be based on only within subgroup variation. Thus, any addition variation will cause the production of subgroup statistics which fall beyond the control limits, signaling a special cause of variation.

I have always found it helpful to think about the process as a bowl of blue chips with numbers written on them. A controlled process is one where the same bowl of chips is sampled time-after-time. If the chips in the bowl have different numbers on them, there will be a variation in the sample.

However since the bowl doesn’t change, the variation will be relatively consistent from one sample to the next. After sampling the bowl numerous times we will become more and more comfortable setting up some limits on the variation we expect to see in the future samples from the same bowl. The bowl represents a controlled process, a predictable process.


Now lets say that there are two bowls, one with blue chips and one with green chips. Assume further that the number written on the blue chips are quite different than those written on the green chips. Furthermore, lets say that you don’t get to see the chips themselves; all you know is the numbers you obtained. Sometimes the sample is taken from the blue chips and sometimes from the green chips. Could you tell the difference?

The answer depends a great deal on the way you formed your subgroups. If your subgroups were formed from a mixture of blue and green chips, then the process is neither blue nor green; the process is blue + green. The subgroup variation would include the variation from both the blue + green and the difference between them.

For example, if the blue chip varied from 10 to 50 and the green varied from 60 to 100, a mixed sample of both blue and green would vary from 10 to 100. Control limits based on the mixed sample would show a greater spread, and your estimate of the process capability would indicate a less capable process than either the blue or the green alone. In other words, you would probably conclude that the blue + green process was "in control and capable of holding a tolerance of 10 to 100."

The objective of forming rational subgroups is to identify the underlying process so that departure from the underlying process can be quickly detected and corrected. The underlying process can be thought of as the performance that could be attained if all special causes of variation were eliminated and the process was operating at its best. To do this you must plan carefully to avoid mixing processes from different cause systems, which is comparable to mixing the blue chips and the green chips.

Here’s a more down- to- earth example. An o-ring is made in a mold with fifty cavities. It is known that there is a substantial difference between the cavities. It would be a mistake to form a subgroup using a o-ring from cavities known to be different because the cavity- to- cavity variation would mask the variation caused by other factors such as material, temperature, etc..

SPC methods useful for this type of data are presented in chapter 21. However, taking a longer-term perspective, you should try to modify the mold so that there is less variation between the different cavities. Eventually you would like to get the molding process so consistent that the o-rings are all alike regardless of which cavity in the mold produced them. That is the ultimate goal of SPC, to change the real world for the better not to make a control chart look better.

more

more

Improve your process

go here
and here
how not to improve your process
redesign your process
BPR
barriers to process redesign
further reading material

Measure current performance

go here
and here
then return back and go here

define Customer Requirements

go here

Identify key customers

A lot of organizations appreciate the importance of key account management but fail to identify their key accounts in a strategic fashion. This is simply because of a common misconception that “big” (company size) is also “key,” and that offering special treatment costs more. In this series of articles, I will highlight the importance and steps for identification of key accounts, an approach to segmentation and categorization of accounts, and steps for developing a key account management strategy.

Why “big” is not always “key”?
Most companies try to include big companies in their customer portfolio and it is a good strategy (unless you choose to serve only small customers for strategic reasons). Serving a fragmented base of customers generally raises the cost of doing business and customer turnover can cause severe fluctuations.

However, serving big companies too has its challenges:
Require more attention and typically do not pay for it.
Leverage their scale and market power to negotiate lower prices and often exploit suppliers by creating conditions for price wars.
Use small suppliers by giving them small orders and getting the lowest possible prices to squeeze their larger suppliers.


Salespeople learn only the hard way that many big companies rarely give them the business that they deserve based on the effort that they put in. Therefore, it is important to clearly identify what customers are “key” to your business and then serving them using a well thought out plan.Customer segmentation approach to identifying key accountsIdentification of key accounts should be a quantitative exercise rather than an emotional one based on personal preferences.

The recommended approach is suggested below.
Step 1: Group your customers into three (or more categories) by sales. For instance, more than $1 million (A accounts), $100,000 to $1 million (B accounts), and less than $100,000 (C accounts).

Step 2: Include contribution margins and direct profit (or any other financial metrics that make sense for your business).

Step 3: Identify key accounts based on the accounts that have the highest impact on company financials.

more

Now go here

Identify Core Processes

go here

then come back here

FREE Beginners guide to six sigma

Implementing Six Sigma: The Road Map

Identify Core Processes
Identify key customers
Define Customer requirements
Measure current performance
Improve the process or redesign the process

Start here

Six Sigma - the Basics explained

Although much has been written touting Six Sigma and its benefits, many are still confused about what exactly Six Sigma is and why it is extremely beneficial.

Six Sigma Fundamentals cuts through the fluff of conventional Six Sigma jargon and provides the reader with a solid understanding of what defines a Six Sigma initiative and what is expected from the organization, management, and customer.

Each chapter fully addresses the concepts of the Six Sigma philosophy and explains the methodologies for real-world applications. Included with the text is a CD-ROM containing more than 75 ready-to-use Six Sigma forms. Six Sigma Fundamentals gives an overview to the entire process - from understanding the significance of customer requirements all the way to Designing for Six Sigma and implementation strategy.

The model tools, methodology, and goals are explained thoroughly, so that this powerful system may be applied to organizations that are concerned with drastic positive changes to both customer satisfaction and profitability. With a focus on both manufacturing as well as non-manufacturing organizations, Six Sigma Fundamentals demystifies the methodologies, identifies the tools needed for accurate deployment, and enables the reader to explain the design of Six Sigma within the organization.

more


Six Sigma - What is Six Sigma?

Definition of Six Sigma
Six Sigma Deployment
Is Six Sigma Just For Large Companies? No.
Is Six Sigma hype or truth?
Hype
Truth
Unsure

Six Sigma at many organizations simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.
The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications. A Six Sigma opportunity is then the total quantity of chances for a defect. Process sigma can easily be calculated using a Six Sigma calculator.

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects. This is accomplished through the use of two Six Sigma sub-methodologies: DMAIC and DMADV. The Six Sigma DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an improvement system for existing processes falling below specification and looking for incremental improvement. The Six Sigma DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) is an improvement system used to develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels. It can also be employed if a current process requires more than just incremental improvement. Both Six Sigma processes are executed by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts, and are overseen by Six Sigma Master Black Belts.

more

Using Six Sigma toImprove Product QualityHow can Six Sigma improve product quality? The key is to reduce variation and eliminate defects. Let’s explore the basics of Six Sigma to understand how this is accomplished.
The term "sigma" refers to standard deviation, which is a measure of the variation or scatter in a process. Within business and industry, the sigma value is a metric that indicates how well a process is performing, compared to the benchmark value of Six Sigma. Sigma measures the capability of a process to perform defect-free work. A defect is anything that may result in customer dissatisfaction.
The common measurement for Six Sigma is defects-per-unit, where a unit can be virtually anything: a component, an administrative form, a piece of material, a line of software code, and so on. The sigma value is a quality measurement that indicates how often a defect is likely to occur. The higher the sigma value, the less likely a process will produce defects. As sigma increases, cycle time and cost decreases, and customer satisfaction increases.
So what does it mean to be Six Sigma? Consider a process that produces one million parts. For this process to meet a Six Sigma quality level, it must produce less than four defective parts (the actual number is 3.4) out of the million that are produced! Clearly, achieving a Six Sigma quality level represents world-class status. Let’s further examine the impact of variation on product quality. Referring to the graphic, the variation of two products is depicted and represented by the bell-shaped curves. The product produced using Six Sigma methodologies is shown with less variation, represented by the steeper slope of the curve and more narrow spread around the mean value, than the traditional product. With the customer specification limit superimposed on the curves, you can see that the shaded area under the curves on the right-hand side of the specification limit line is considerably smaller for the Six Sigma product than for the traditional product. This area corresponds to the quantity of defects that are produced for each product.
Clearly, a Six Sigma product produces far fewer defects translating into less scrap and rework costs. As a result of this reduced variation, Six Sigma methodologies often lead to the identification of product development best practices. Ultimately, exploiting these practices result in the creation of superior products.
As you can see, variation has a significant impact on product quality. Controlling variation leads to improved productivity and lower costs, which translate into a competitive advantage for the company.

more

Six Sigma- the myths

FREE Beginners guide to six sigma

Six Sigma Green Belt Training

TQM International Pvt. Ltd. (TQMI) was established in July 1992.
It is recognized as one of the leaders in the field of training and consultancy in Quality Management and Business Process Improvement in India and theMiddle East.

TQMI has offices in all over India and also provides services in MiddleEast & South East Asia. TQMI clients include many of India’s top 100 private sector companies in manufacturing and service business, several ofthe MNCs, as also the PSUs and SMEs.

TQMI has served over 1000 clients andmany of them have given repeat assignments.Apart from consultancy and In-house Trainings we also conduct PublicTraining courses which are as follows :

1)Name of the Course :Internal Auditor Training Course ISO 9001:2000 (IRCA & NRBPT Approved)Dates :7-8 May,08Location :Mumbai - Non-residential

2)Name of the Course : Lead Auditor Training Course on ISO 9001:2000 (IRCA & NRBPT Approved)Dates : 12-16 May, 2008Location : Mumbai- Non-Residential

3)Name of the course : Six Sigma Green Belt Training –A joint initiative of Motorola University and TQM International Pvt. Ltd.Dates : 09-14 June,08Location : Mumbai -Non-residential

4)Name of the course : Six Sigma Green Belt Training –A joint initiative of Motorola University and TQM International Pvt. Ltd.
Dates : 18-23 August,08Location : Pune -Non-residential5)Name of the course :Six Sigma Black Belt Training –A joint initiative of Motorola University and TQM International Pvt. Ltd.Dates :Week-1 : 15-19 September,08 , Week-2: 20-24 October,08 Week-3 : 17-21 November,08 , Week-4 : 15-20 December,08
Location :Mumbai -Non-residentialAs seats are limited to 20 participants only, we look forward to receiveyour nominations at an early date.For further details please feel free to contact the undersigned or Mr.Ashwani Sharma / Ms. Aarti Mahude 022-26830601 / 3632 / 2790 or by email atmumbai@tqmi.com, ashwani@tqmi.com , krishna@tqmi.com.

With Best regards,
Krishna Maheshwaram
Manager – Business Promotion
Mob. 98204 20604

The wonder of Six Sigma

Take quality. Add accuracy. And the result is a tool that's making TQM transcend the shopfloor, driving defects out of companies, and bringing mathematical precision to process-improvement. BT presents the CEO's primer on Six Sigma.
By Jaideep Lahiri

3.4 defects in 1,000,000. If you precision-engineered total quality, that is what you'd get. Around the world, quality-obsessed CEOs are chasing that magic figure as they wield what could turn out to be the sharpest tool to please customers, pump up profits, and eliminate flaws. Invented at Motorola, perfected at General Electric (GE), and now practised by a handful of corporations in India, Six Sigma is converting defect-prone businesses into powerhouses of perfection.

Such force flows from the simple, but stunningly sharp objective of Six Sigma: design, operate, and control every one of the processes in your company in such a way that none of them yields more than 3.4 defects out of every 1 million units of output. With breathtaking clarity, Six Sigma is telling companies in clear, accurate, mathematical terms how good--or, more likely, bad--their quality-levels are, how much they can improve, and what progress they're making on that journey. And the Six Sigma strategists are leveraging this knowledge to consummate exciting improvements in quality--not just on the shopfloor, but all over their organisation.

SIX SIGMA@ALLIED SIGNAL
At alliedSignal, Six Sigma is an overall strategy to accelerate improvements in its processes, products, and services. It is also a measurement of total quality to let the company know how effective it is in eliminating defects and variations from its processes. It encompasses tools from all improvement initiatives, including those in operational, technical, and customer excellence. It also applies to every function in the company, not just the factory floor. Although the businesses that make up AlliedSignal are different, the company now has a single, common way to describe its work by applying Six Sigma to all its processes. The company's objective: to use Six Sigma to achieve a growth of 12 per cent and a productivity improvement of 7 per cent by 2000. Workers at AlliedSignal Inc. are using Six Sigma-driven robust efficiency to make turbo-chargers, carpet-fibres, and avionics. The company has saved $1.50 billion through Six Sigma, and wants to slash another $500 million of waste this year. Reducing waste helps AlliedSignal raise profit margins. "Six Sigma is crucial for us," says Lawrence Bossidy, the CEO of AlliedSignal. "We're trying to broaden it outside manufacturing, and we're off to a good start. You've got to have growth and productivity in business these days."

Want to know where we stand? The global mean isn't inspiring to begin with. Explains Charles Loew, 59, Managing Consultant, Consulting & Training Services, Motorola University: "Companies that haven't begun their quality journey are usually at One or Two Sigma levels. The worldwide average is about Three Sigma." That's 66,807 defects per million parts. As for companies in India, estimates made by Six Sigma consultant S.C. Bajaj, a GE veteran of 23 years, place our progress at 308,537 defects. Or, a lowly Two Sigma.

Against this backdrop, corporate India's Six Sigma success stories are looking miraculous. In 1998-99, its first year of implementing Six Sigma, Wipro recorded savings of Rs 4.40 crore. The company expects to be a Four Sigma corporation in key processes by March, 2000, and hit Six Sigma levels by end-2002. Wipro's first essay at Six Sigma was to purge the defects from Letters of Credit (LC) at its peripherals division in Bangalore in April, 1997. The project was hugely successful, and cloned at Wipro's peripherals unit in Mysore in February, 1998. The Six Sigma team worked on a mistake-proofing plan with 27 vendors for a set of LCs that had to be opened through 2 bankers. By December, 1998, the Mysore office was keeping pace with the head-office. In the past 24 months, Wipro has taken up more than 70 such projects, generating savings from different projects ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 2 crore. Declares Azim Premji, 54, CEO, Wipro: "We look at Six Sigma as a powerful locomotive carrying us along."

On Godrej-GE's assembly-lines at Vikhroli, Mohali, and Pune, defective components were coming in at the rate of 300,000 for every million parts. By GE standards, this was simply unacceptable. Applying Six Sigma, Godrej-GE now expects to bring down the defects to 1,000 per million parts, between Four and Five Sigma. In 1998-99, it whittled down its fixed costs by Rs 4 crore after 5 of its Six Sigma projects were completed, with the first defect-free consignment being shipped in December, 1998. And the company is targeting cost-savings of Rs 10 crore in the next 2 years. Confirms Vijay Crishna, 54, CEO, Godrej-GE: `'We're not talking about intangible savings here. Six Sigma has given us the power to measure and control costs. And that goes straight to our bottomline."

The list of converts is swelling rapidly. Despite its faith in Japanese quality practices, Maruti Udyog has started a Six Sigma pilot-project in its spares department. Hero Motors is using Six Sigma to bring down warranty-costs. Bajaj Auto is on the verge of converting too. Confirms S. Ravi Kumar, 42, Senior Manager (Business Development), Bajaj Auto: "We are studying the feasibility of adopting Six Sigma as a religion across the company."

Similarly, the Indian operations of transnationals that have already adopted the tool globally are being compelled to take it up too. AlliedSignal's Indian facility at Gurgaon has been following Six Sigma since its first day of operations. Admits D.P. Roy, 54, Executive Director (Quality & Development), Modi Xerox: "Xerox has now taken up Six Sigma at its locations in the US and Europe, and it is just a matter of time before it is introduced here. We think Six Sigma will blend neatly with our on-going quality programmes, like quality policy deployment. What's more, we'll be in a better position to quantify what we have been doing all along."

SIX SIGMA@MOTOROLA
In addition to the use of statistical methods, Motorola's Six Sigma programme includes monetary performance incentives for participating employees as well as extensive in-house training. During the first year of the Six Sigma programme alone, Motorola spent more than $25 million on an initial top-down training programme. As of 1992, out of a total of 100,000 workers, nearly 70,000 had participated in the company's Understanding The Six Steps To Six Sigma course. By 1992, Motorola had achieved an 80 per cent reduction in the cost of quality per unit shipped, yielding a total savings of nearly $4 billion. Just one year after Six Sigma, Motorola saved $250 million on failure costs. Products such as Motorola's Micro TAC cellular phone reflect the impact of the Six Sigma programme. The Micro TAC contains one-third the number of parts of the product it replaced and 90 per cent of Micro TAC components were manufactured by Motorola to comply with Six Sigma requirements. In 1991, the communications division was reorganised from multiple locations to one central location when it was discovered that it was impossible to maintain a Six Sigma level of service with a decentralised structure. As of 1990, Motorola's marketing department had achieved nearly Six Sigma in typos and has since been instituting measures of error in areas such as photography, pricing, and grammar.

All of them have been looking at the gains made by the global Six Sigma stars. Pioneers like Motorola reported savings of upto $2 billion over 10 years of implementation while a recent convert like GE totted up $750 million in shaved-off costs in 1998. Similarly, by pursuing Six Sigma quality-levels throughout the company, Raytheon expects to burn away over $1 billion in costs annually by 2001. Just like every classic TQM tool, Six Sigma has a direct link with profitability by reducing the cost of poor quality, which firms have to incur through rework, rejects, and lost customers. Analyses Sarita Nagpal, 44, TQM Co-ordinator, Confederation of Indian Industry: "The pursuit of cost-management during the recession explains why Six Sigma appears such an attractive tool."

Need six times more?
You've got it. For, Six Sigma at its most powerful is a tool that can ratchet up quality-levels in every single process in your company--not just on the shopfloor. In fact, that's precisely where its versatility stems from. >From your accounts to your customer-service, from your supply-chain management to your advertising, every process can be evaluated on the basis of its adherence to Critical To Quality (CTQ) parameters. After all, defects can--and do--occur in an engineering design, in the time it takes to treat a patient--or even in a banking transaction. All your processes, therefore, can deviate from the ideal level, and cost you additional time, labour, and material.

But, using the sigma scale from 1 to 6, you can study competing levels of capability and, then, raise yours to those standards. GE, for instance, has used Six Sigma with great success at GE Caps, whose processes are transactions-driven. Says Pramod Bhasin, 46, President, GE Capital Asia: "In a services company, you measure your output. A courier company carries so many parcels, and you say so many of them reached on time. What Six Sigma does is to allow you an efficient way of finding out where your greatest need is and what your softest point is, and of addressing them in a measurable, analytical, and objective way."

You can also expect your Six Sigma analysis to show up faults you weren't even aware of. Recalls Anand Dutta, 40, President, GE Motors: "We thought there was a bias against us when our parent began insisting on a Pareto rating of our products before shipment. But, when we quantified our defects using Six Sigma tools, we realised that we were generating 20,000 faults per million spares. And the faults weren't even major; most of them were just the results of carelessness." Adds V. Rama Kumar, 45, Corporate Vice-President, Wipro: "In addition to the quantitative gains, Six Sigma has helped us streamline our processes. That will help us in future too."

Itching to ask the obvious question--especially if, like other companies, you've also set off a TQM or TPM, or both, movement in your company?
Well, Six Sigma can certainly be plugged into such initiatives. After all, its philosophy is the same as that of TQM: reducing defects. So are the tools that it can use. In fact, what Six Sigma can really do is to add octane to your TQM fuel. For, its metrics of performance are more sharply-defined than is the case with most quality programmes, which have a multiplicity of objectives, ranging from broad operational goals, like reducing cycle-times, to micro-level ones, like reducing waste. Points out Scott Bayman, 52, President and CEO, GE India: "The difference between Six Sigma and the other quality approaches is that the others measure your abilities to meet some quality. Six Sigma actually measures the output of your processes. So, it's less theoretical and more real world."

Agrees R. Dayal, 48, General Manager (Quality), Maruti Udyog: "We have been using quality-control tools for a number of years, but Six Sigma introduces a certain rigour and robustness which isn't there in TQM. We've found that the harder our targets get, the more difficult it is to use conventional TQM tools to meet them." Adds A.K. Singh, 44, General Manager (Technical), Jindal Strips: "Measurement is key here. If your metrics are ambiguous, you won't be able to control your defects, which means you won't be able to control your processes." Simply put, Six Sigma implementors know what they are chasing, and can measure their progress in objective terms. So can you.

What Makes Six Sigma So Powerful?
The explanation--drawing on the original work in statistical process control theorised by the grandfather of quality, Walter Shewhart--is deceptively simple. The mathematical translation states that a process that operates at six sigma allows only 3.40 defects per million parts of output. The Six, of course, is the culmination of a progression that starts, for all practical purposes, at Three Sigma (66,807 defects per million), and traverses Four (6,210) and Five (233).

But there is much more to Six Sigma than merely lowering the number of defects. The Greek letter, Sigma, is the statistical shorthand for standard deviation--and what the metric really refers to is the extent to which a process is capable of deviating from pre-set specifications without causing errors. The higher the sigma rating, the greater is this capability, with Six Sigma allowing variations of upto 6 times the standard deviation without causing flaws.

The mathematical interpretation of Six Sigma is crucial to implementing the tool. The output of any process in your company--the products rolling off your assembly-lines, the bills created by your accounts people, the pay-cheques delivered--can be analysed in terms of the number of errors in it. What Six Sigma analysis does is to measure every process on each of the CTQ factors.

Consider, for instance, a process which, every hour, produces 100 units of a particular component which should measure 100 mm in length. Measurements may show that while 95 out of the 100 units produced are, indeed, 100-mm long, the remaining 5 deviate from that ideal, each to a different extent. This data can be used to calculate the standard deviation, or sigma--the likelihood and extent of deviations from the norm--of the process. Assume that the value of sigma for this process turns out to be 0.01.

The question, of course, is whether these deviations will be counted as flaws under the given CTQ. This is determined by the upper and lower specification limits of the product. If they allow those deviations--that is, if the upper and lower control limits of the process fall beyond the upper and lower specification-levels--the customer won't have a problem. What if they don't? That's when the capability of the process has to be changed.

Six Sigma offers 2 approaches. One is to change the design of the product in which this component is used so that it can accommodate some of the variations in the length without malfunctioning. Thus, for instance, the so-called design-width could be Three Sigma--accommodating components with 3 times the standard deviation of the process. In other words, components that measure between 99.07 mm and 100.03 mm will also be acceptable. Of course, that will still mean eliminating those units whose sigma exceeds 3, but this will, at least, lessen the number of defects in every sample.

The second approach is to make improvements in the process itself so that the chances of defects are lowered. That will reduce the value of the standard deviation, or sigma, of the process. If, say, the value of the sigma can be halved through this method to 0.005, the acceptable specification-limits--99.07 mm and 100.03 mm, respectively--will automatically become 6 times--and not 3 times--the standard deviation. Et voila! A Six Sigma process will be yours. The implication? To take a process to Six Sigma level, you must, ideally, adopt both approaches: changing the design to increase the range of acceptability in the CTQ; and improving the process to reduce its chances of variance.

In practical terms, this means that Six Sigma is a tool that must be wielded both at the design stage and at the process stage. As a matter of fact, a Six Sigma rating, in ideal conditions, should produce no errors at all. If it does lead to those 3.40 defects out of every million parts, that's because even the best processes, over a period of time, tend to generate deviations of upto 1.50 sigma. Thus, the effective extent of deviation can go upto 7.50 sigma while the process allows only 6 sigma without defects. That translates into those 3.40 flaws. Admits Sunder Mulchandani, 44, CEO, AlliedSignal India: "It sounds intricate, but the underlying principles are simple enough."

Wondering whether 3.40 defects per million isn't too high to aim for? Why isn't 6,210 (Three Sigma) flaws per million parts--the upper end of the corporate average in the US--also good enough, particularly since it can be achieved with less effort? Just a minute. The average product rolling off your assembly lines today could consist of as many as 10,000 different parts, components, and designs--any of which runs the risk of being defective. Thus, 3.40 flaws per million parts actually amounts to 34 defective products out of every 1,000. In other words, an average of 34 out of 1,000 customers will still be unhappy about your product--explaining why even Six Sigma is not the ceiling.

Want to know what Four Sigma could mean? Here's a horrifying shortlist: 1,24,200 wrong prescriptions a year; 4.60 hours of toxic water supply a month; 62.10 minutes of telephone services shutdown a week. At Four Sigma levels, the cost of poor quality is estimated to be between 15 and 20 per cent of your sales--compared to less than 10 per cent in a Six Sigma company. Sums up Soumesh Bagchi, 54, a Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta: "In traditional statistical analysis, we used to talk in terms of Three or Four Sigma as acceptable levels of tolerance. If companies are thinking in terms of Six Sigma, we're looking for quantum improvements."

How Was Six Sigma Developed?
Its genesis lies in a classic stretch-target set in 1981 by Motorola's CEO, Bob Galvin, to his people: effect a ten-fold improvement in product-failure levels over a 5-year period. Bill Smith, an engineer at the company, realised that such results could not be achieved without going into the core of what caused defects in the first place. So, he conducted a statistical correlation between the field-life of a product and the number of flaws that had been spotted--and corrected--while the product was being manufactured. The correlations, arrived at in 1985, turned out to be positive. In other words, if a product had been found defective and corrected during the production-process, chances were high that other defects had been missed, and would show up later during usage.

On the other hand, error-free products rarely failed in the first 3 years of customer-usage. Evidently, the simplest way to prevent product-breakdowns was to ensure that the process prevented defects of any kind, making detection and repair redundant. External support for this argument came from the best-in-class benchmarking that Motorola had been conducting simultaneously. It showed that total quality companies were turning out products that had not been reworked at all. The question: how could Motorola minimise--and, ideally, eliminate--defects from the manufacturing process?

That was when another engineer, Mikel J. Harry, introduced the concept of Six Sigma to Motorola. The idea was to set a steep quantitative target for all processes--and then, parse each process into smaller and smaller sequences, each of which could be examined for their potential for errors, and changed to eliminate that potential. Explains T. Ganguly, 61, Director, Crompton Greaves: "Breaking down and studying processes is a key element of result-oriented quality programmes. This helps in tracking down the root-cause of defects."

Until 1994, Six Sigma remained a closely-guarded secret at Motorola. The outside world knew about it, but not how to use it. In 1995, however, CEO Gary L. Tooker decided to throw open the source-code. One of the earliest to pick it up was AlliedSignal, where CEO Lawrence Bossidy led the conversion. But it wasn't until GE's CEO, Jack Welch, introduced Six Sigma across the length and breadth of his organisation that the tool grabbed the limelight--and stayed put. Four years after `Neutron' Jack pushed Six Sigma hard into the innards at GE, it contributes 20 per cent to the conglomerate's earnings. That has spurred many others to follow suit.
More

Six Sigma Green Belt & Black Belt training program at Mumbai

Thanks a lot for your interest in BSI Training services. We are pleased to inform you that we are holding an open house Six Sigma Green Belt & Black Belt training program at Mumbai.

The details of this training program are as follows. Six Sigma Green Belt (certificate) Date: 14th to 18th May 2008 Venue: Hotel The Mirador New Link Road, Chakala, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400 099 Timing: Day 1-5: 09:00 Hrs to 18:00 Hrs. Fees: INR.25,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand only) + Service Tax @ 12.36% per delegate.

Six Sigma Green Belt (Advance) Date: 1-5 May 2008 (Module 1) & 4-8 June 2008 (Module 2) Venue: Hotel The Mirador New Link Road, Chakala, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400 099 Timing: Day 1-5: 09:00 Hrs to 18:00 Hrs. Fees: INR.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) + Service Tax @ 12.36% per delegate.

Six Sigma Black Belt (Transaction) Date: 21-25 May 2008 (Module1), 16-20 June 2008 (Module 2) & 14-18 July 2008 (Module 3) Venue: Hotel The Mirador New Link Road, Chakala, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400 099 Timing: Day 1-5: 09:00 Hrs to 18:00 Hrs. Fees: INR.75,000/- (Rupees Seventy Five Thousand only) + Service Tax @ 12.36% per delegate

Six Sigma Black Belt (Oprational) Date: 21-25 April 2008 (Module 1), 19-23 May 2008 (Module 2), 16-20 June 2008 (Module 3) & 14-18 July 2008 (Module 4) Venue: Hotel The Mirador New Link Road, Chakala, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400 099 Timing: Day 1-5: 09:00 Hrs to 18:00 Hrs. Fees: INR.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lac Only) + Service Tax @ 12.36% per delegate

These are the non-residential programmes and the course fee includes tutor fees, course material and all meals. Please find enclosed Brochure and Course booking form for your reference. Kindly inform us your availability to book the seats for these trainings and we encourage you to depute delegates for these trainings. We request you to return us duly filled Course Booking Form along with the respective fees to confirm your nominations.

Thanks & best regards, Minal Patil ---------------------------------------------------
BSI Management Systems India Pvt. Ltd. 701, Samarpan Complex, Andheri Link Road, Chakala, Next to Hotel The Mirador, Andheri (E), Mumbai -400 099 Tel: +91-22-28260606/07 +91-22-28262611/12 Mobile: 9867643081 Email: http://us.f541.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=minal.patil@bsigroup.com Web: http://www.bsigroup.co.in/

Six Sigma Black Belt Certification - Body of Knowledge

Download the Six Sigma Black Belt Body of Knowledge (PDF, 35 KB). -->
Download the current Six Sigma Black Belt Body of Knowledge (PDF, 159 KB).

The topics in this Body of Knowledge include additional detail in the form of subtext explanations and the cognitive level at which the questions will be written. This information will provide useful guidance for both the Examination Development Committee and the candidates preparing to take the exam. The subtext is not intended to limit the subject matter or be all-inclusive of what might be covered in an exam. It is meant to clarify the type of content to be included in the exam. The descriptor in parentheses at the end of each entry refers to the maximum cognitive level at which the topic will be tested. A more complete description of cognitive levels is provided at the end of this document.

more

Six Sigma and Quality News & Press Releases

Submit A Press Release
This is your source for the latest Six Sigma and Quality news and press releases from around the world. News is updated throughout the day -- every day -- so please check back often.
To learn how to submit a press release for your company/organization, please click the link to the right labeled "Submit A Press Release" and visit the iSixSigma Media Kit for more information.

more

List of companies that have implemented 6 Sigma

List of companies that have implemented 6 Sigma
(this is not a complete listing)

Six Sigma - The truths, the half truths, and just plain lies

The Top Ten Six Sigma Myths
1. Six Sigma is a new concept
Six Sigma is Total Quality Management (TQM) with a focus on process, results, and return on investment as a result reduction in variation. It's not the tools or process of Six Sigma, it's how you implement it that counts. The tools have been around for a many years, they are statistical in nature and now aided by computer to make them more user friendly. Start by leveraging Business Process Management and your understanding of the core processes in your business. Then apply it with a clear focus to drive significant results in your company.

2. Culture change is difficult
Culture change is easy when you give employees what they need to do a better job and don't waste their time. Employees don’t come to work to do a bad job, we don’t always give them the processes, tools and training to do the job correctly. By working on the core business processes that are problematic, then the next, and the next, your ongoing success will convert the rest of the organization to Six Sigma.

3. Setting big goals may prevent the success of Six Sigma
While Six Sigma equates to 3.4 defects per million operations is a very lofty goal, moving up a sigma level or two can give some impressive results. Since many enterprises operate their core business processes at the 3 to 4 sigma level, an improvement of even one sigma level represents a huge step forward in reducing defects or errors, and in turn improving customer satisfaction and reducing costs. Through a better understanding of their core processes, businesses can make significant improvements rapidly. For example, if a businesses which has an order fulfillment process (a core process) operating at 3.0 sigma or 66,000 defects per million opportunities (DPMO) could improve performance to the 4.0 sigma level (6,210 DPMO), it would realize a gain of approximately 10X performance. Imagine if each error cost as little as $10.00 to fix, then the cost savings would be in the range of $600,000.00.

4. You have to train everyone
Many Six Sigma consulting organizations make their money by training the organization in volume. You don't want to measure the number of employees trained, you want what you expect training will do to provide significant improvements. Also, restricting participation helps build interest and desire among the rest of the work force.

5. It takes weeks to train team members
No one has time or money to spend on training. Using Just-in-Time training, you can train team members in a short time and throw them right into DMAIC process with a skilled facilitator. They will learn more from a timely introduction and real experience. Most employees can learn the Six Sigma tools, the people issues in this area are harder to learn and require real hands on experience.

6. You need Blackbelts & Greenbelts
Most successful companies hover around 3-3.5 sigma (1-6% defects,10000-60000 defects/million). I have found that you can get to 4 sigma (6200 defects/million) with common sense and some problem solving skills. That means you need a few capable greenbelts. Meanwhile you'll save a ton of money and add it to the bottom line.

You need motivated people who can help you successfully start making dramatic improvements in your business. You bring in a consultant who has a proven track record of making dramatic improvements to help you jumpstart the process. Once you start making progress, you'll discover the employees who are adept at employing Six Sigma tools and delivering results. These are your greenbelts and future blackbelts.

7. Teams can figure out what to work on
I have found that if leadership, assisted by an experienced professional or consultant, can't narrow the focus to the processes that causes most of the problems, your teams can't do it either. Projects are the responsibility of the leadership team and should be based upon fixing issues in the core processes that have an affect on your customers. Every Six Sigma project should deliver $250,000 in savings that fall straight to the bottom line. As a leader, you wouldn't let teams define their own work projects, so why would you delegate focusing the improvement effort?

8. Solving problems takes time
A facilitated team can identify the real root causes of key process problems in anywhere from 4-8 weeks, without dramatically taking away from their normal work. Properly focused by data collected and a clear understand of the process, the team can analyze process and make recommendations to improve the process.

9. Teams can implement their solutions
Robust solutions to process problems often cross organizational boundaries. Leadership needs to manage the implementation of identified improvements. It may take time and money to make all of the changes in people, process, and technology required to maximize your benefit. The implementation team may involve members of the root cause team, but don't get the two teams confused.

10. Six Sigma and BPM can’t work together
Once businesses get beyond the big myths surrounding Six Sigma, then they must start to apply the methodology. The strength of Six Sigma lies in its rigorous approach to data collection and analysis. Through this methodology it is can identify even the smallest opportunities for process improvement, maximizing an organization’s ability to institute necessary changes. It is not as strong, however, in its ability to monitor process improvements and ensure they are applied across the board.

One of the most powerful ways to improve business performance is combining business process management (BPM) strategies with Six Sigma strategies. BPM strategies emphasize process improvements and automation to drive performance, while Six Sigma uses statistical analysis to drive quality improvements. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive, however, and some savvy companies have discovered that combining BPM and Six Sigma can create dramatic results.

BPM fills this gap by providing tools to automate process improvements and connect those improvements across the entire organization. The strength of BPM lies in its ability to automate processes and workflow through modeling and examination of inputs, outputs and performance. It is not as strong, however, in its ability to analyze data associated with very difficult or multifaceted problems.

Both BPM and Six Sigma represent significant commitments on the part of a business or organization, and they take time to implement them thoroughly. Organizational change is often required, leading most companies to start with a single department or pilot project and expand their use over a multi-year period. It is well worth the time and effort, though, to generate the substantial business improvements that are typical with BPM and Six Sigma.

more

The Enigma Of Six Sigma

Take quality. Add accuracy. And the result is a tool that's making TQM transcend the shopfloor, driving defects out of companies, and bringing mathematical precision to process-improvement. BT presents the CEO's primer on Six Sigma.
more

Six Sima - a new approach

In This Issue
An Analytical Method for Estimating Project Benefits
Quantify the Benefits of Six Sigma Projects
New Six Sigma Job Openings
Recent Quality Discussions
Aligning KPIs
Researching Six Sigma Certification Programs in Europe
Completing a Gage R&R
Using Change Management Tools
The Latest News & Press Releases
Upcoming Conferences & Training Events
iSixSigma Exclusive: 16 Memory Joggers on Flash Drive, Only $99

more