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DMAIC
The five steps of DMAIC
Main article: DMAIC
The DMAIC project methodology has five phases:
• Define the system, the voice of the customer and their requirements, and the project goals,
specifically.
• Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data; calculate the 'as-is'
Process Capability.
• Analyze the data to investigate and verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what
the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered. Seek out
root cause of the defect under investigation.
• Improve or optimize the current process based upon data analysis using techniques such as
design of experiments, poka yoke or mistake proofing, and standard work to create a new,
future state process. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability.
• Control the future state process to ensure that any deviations from the target are corrected
before they result in defects. Implement control systems such as statistical process control,
production boards, visual workplaces, and continuously monitor the process. This process
is repeated until the desired quality level is obtained.
Some organizations add a Recognize step at the beginning, which is to recognize the right problem
to work on, thus yielding an RDMAIC methodology.[11]
DMADV or DFSS
The five steps of DMADV
Main article: DFSS
The DMADV project methodology, known as DFSS ("Design for Six Sigma"),features five
phases:
• Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/sixsigma-190707203238/85/Six-sigma-6-320.jpg)
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set apart, to create specialists who can be very helpful. Again, that's not a new idea. The American
Society for Quality long ago established certificates, such as for reliability engineers."[26]
Inadequate for complex manufacturing
Quality expert Philip B. Crosby pointed out that the Six Sigma standard doesn't go far enough[27]
—
customers deserve defect-free products every time. For example, under the Six Sigma standard,
semiconductors which require the flawless etching of millions of tiny circuits onto a single chip
are all defective, he claims.[28]
Role of consultants
The use of "Black Belts" as itinerant change agents has fostered an industry of training and
certification. Critics have argued there is overselling of Six Sigma by too great a number of
consulting firms, many of which claim expertise in Six Sigma when they have only a rudimentary
understanding of the tools and techniques involved or the markets or industries in which they are
acting.[29]
Potential negative effects
A Fortune article stated that "of 58 large companies that have announced Six Sigma programs, 91
percent have trailed the S&P 500 since". The statement was attributed to "an analysis by Charles
Holland of consulting firm Qualpro (which espouses a competing quality-improvement
process)".[30]
The summary of the article is that Six Sigma is effective at what it is intended to do,
but that it is "narrowly designed to fix an existing process" and does not help in "coming up with
new products or disruptive technologies."[31][32]
Over-reliance on statistical tools
A more direct criticism is the "rigid" nature of Six Sigma with its over-reliance on methods and
tools. In most cases, more attention is paid to reducing variation and searching for any significant
factors and less attention is paid to developing robustness in the first place (which can altogether
eliminate the need for reducing variation).[33]
The extensive reliance on significance testing and
use of multiple regression techniques increases the risk of making commonly unknown types of
statistical errors or mistakes. A possible consequence of Six Sigma's array of P-value
misconceptions is the false belief that the probability of a conclusion being in error can be
calculated from the data in a single experiment without reference to external evidence or the
plausibility of the underlying mechanism.[34]
One of the most serious but all-too-common misuses
of inferential statistics is to take a model that was developed through exploratory model building
and subject it to the same sorts of statistical tests that are used to validate a model that was specified
in advance.[35]
Another comment refers to the often mentioned Transfer Function, which seems to be a flawed
theory if looked at in detail.[36]
Since significance tests were first popularized many objections
have been voiced by prominent and respected statisticians. The volume of criticism and rebuttal
has filled books with language seldom used in the scholarly debate of a dry subject.[37][38][39][40]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/sixsigma-190707203238/85/Six-sigma-15-320.jpg)
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Much of the first criticism was already published more than 40 years ago. Refer to: Statistical
hypothesis testing Criticism for details.
Articles featuring critics have appeared in the November–December 2006 issue of USA Army
Logistician regarding Six-Sigma: "The dangers of a single paradigmatic orientation (in this case,
that of technical rationality) can blind us to values associated with double-loop learning and the
learning organization, organization adaptability, workforce creativity and development,
humanizing the workplace, cultural awareness, and strategy making.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb considers risk managers little more than "blind users" of statistical tools
and methods. He states that statistics is fundamentally incomplete as a field as it cannot predict the
risk of rare events — something Six Sigma is especially concerned with. Furthermore, errors in
prediction are likely to occur because of ignorance for or distinction between epistemic and other
uncertainties. These errors are the biggest in time variant (reliability) related failures.
Stifling creativity in research environments
According to an article by John Dodge, editor in chief of Design News, use of Six Sigma is
inappropriate in a research environment. Dodge states[44]
"excessive metrics, steps, measurements
and Six Sigma's intense focus on reducing variability water down the discovery process. Under
Six Sigma, the free-wheeling nature of brainstorming and the serendipitous side of discovery is
stifled." He concludes "there's general agreement that freedom in basic or pure research is
preferable while Six Sigma works best in incremental innovation when there's an expressed
commercial goal."
A BusinessWeek article says that James McNerney's introduction of Six Sigma at 3M had the effect
of stifling creativity and reports its removal from the research function. It cites two Wharton School
professors who say that Six Sigma leads to incremental innovation at the expense of blue skies
research. This phenomenon is further explored in the book Going Lean, which describes a related
approach known as lean dynamics and provides data to show that Ford's "6 Sigma" program did
little to change its fortunes.
Lack of systematic documentation
One criticism voiced by Yasar Jarrar and Andy Neely from the Cranfield School of Management's
Centre for Business Performance is that while Six Sigma is a powerful approach, it can also unduly
dominate an organization's culture; and they add that much of the Six Sigma literature – in a
remarkable way (six-sigma claims to be evidence, scientifically based) – lacks academic rigor:
One final criticism, probably more to the Six Sigma literature than concepts, relates to the evidence
for Six Sigma’s success. So far, documented case studies using the Six Sigma methods are
presented as the strongest evidence for its success. However, looking at these documented cases,
and apart from a few that are detailed from the experience of leading organizations like GE and
Motorola, most cases are not documented in a systemic or academic manner. In fact, the majority
are case studies illustrated on websites, and are, at best, sketchy. They provide no mention of any
specific Six Sigma methods that were used to resolve the problems. It has been argued that by](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/sixsigma-190707203238/85/Six-sigma-16-320.jpg)
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Six sigma
- 1. 1 Six Sigma Introduction Six Sigma(6σ) is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was introduced by engineers Bill Smith & Mikel J Harry while working at Motorola in 1986. Jack Welch made it central to his business strategy at General Electric in 1995. It seeks to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, mainly empirical, statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has specific value targets, for example: reduce process cycle time, reduce pollution, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and increase profits. The term Six Sigma (capitalized because it was written that way when registered as a Motorola trademark on December 28, 1993) originated from terminology associated with statistical modeling of manufacturing processes. The maturity of a manufacturing process can be described by a sigma rating indicating its yield or the percentage of defect-free products it creates. A six- sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of all opportunities to produce some feature of a part are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defective features per million opportunities). Motorola set a goal of "six sigma" for all of its manufacturing operations, and this goal became a by-word for the management and engineering practices used to achieve it. What is Six Sigma Six Sigma is a defined and disciplined business Methodology to increase customer satisfaction and profitability by streamlining operations, improving quality and eliminating defects in every organization wide process. A Business Strategy: Using Six Sigma Methodology, a business can strategize its plan of action and drive revenue increase, cost reduction and process improvements in all parts of the organization. A Vision: Six Sigma Methodology helps the Senior Management create a vision to provide defect free, positive environment to the organization. A Benchmark: Six Sigma Methodology helps in improving process metrics. Once the improved process metrics achieve stability; we can use Six Sigma methodology again to improve the newly stabilized process metrics. For example: The Cycle Time of Pizza Delivery is improved from 60 minutes to 45 minutes in a Pizza Delivery process by using Six Sigma methodology. Once the Pizza Delivery process stabilizes at 45 minutes, we could carry out
- 2. 2 another Six Sigmaproject to improve its cycle time from 45 minutes to 30 minutes. Thus, it is a benchmark. A Goal: Using Six Sigma methodology, organizations can keep a stringent goal for themselves and work towards achieving them during the course of the year. Right use of the methodology often leads these organizations to achieve these goals. A Statistical Measure: Six Sigma is a data driven methodology. Statistical Analysis is used to identify root-causes of the problem. Additionally, Six Sigma methodology calculates the process performance using its own unit known as Sigma unit. A Robust Methodology: Six Sigma is the only methodology available in the market today which is a documented methodology for problem solving. If used in the right manner,Six Sigma improvements are bullet-proof, and they give high yielding returns Why Six sigma Help Your Organization Eliminate Errors From an organization’s perspective, acquiring a Six Sigma certification enables an individual to become crucial to an organization’s ability to identify and eliminate repeatable process errors. With a Six Sigma certification, you would be able to transform and enable an organization to increase revenue by identifying and eliminating errors that would otherwise have brought poor customer satisfaction and losses to the business. Certified Six Sigma professionals can help reduce invoicing errors, customer complaints, complaint resolution time, spending, schedule delays, and cost overruns. For example: in 1998, GE attributed their $350 million in savings to the Six Sigma process, while Motorola attributed their highest savings of $17 billion in 2005 to Six Sigma. GE’s savings rose to more than $1 billion later that decade. Improve Business Processes and Sustain Quality Improvement Once you attain the Six Sigma certification, you’ll be able to prove you have the knowledge to identify the characteristics of an organization’s manufacturing and business processes and be able to measure, analyze, control, and improve them. You will also have the ability to conduct a complete review of current practices and gain a very clear understanding of their impact on quality performance. Applicability Across Industries What is the value of a Six Sigma certification? As an industry-agnostic methodology, Six Sigma techniques are applied in aerospace, electronics, telecom, banking and financial services, IT, HR, marketing, and many more industries.
- 3. 3 Getting a SixSigma certification can lead to better job opportunities and improved salary—even though it’s not easy to attain. One of the reasons Six Sigma certified professionals get so much respect is that the exams are not easy to pass—and executives and hiring managers at major companies are well aware. Ensure Compliance With the stringent quality standards of Six Sigma, manufacturing and process errors are reduced to insignificant figures. This has meant that a number of vendors, procurers, and oversight organizations apply Six Sigma standards when evaluating products or accounts. As a certified Six Sigma professional, you will be able to help your organization comply with international standards, as well as maintain profitable contracts. Helps Nurture Managerial And Leadership Ability Six Sigma training also prepares you for leadership roles, with the techniques and knowhow to cut costs, increase revenue, and ways to improve the efficiency of the business process. Those who achieve Six Sigma Black Belt are not only educated on the methodologies of Six Sigma, they are also prepared to become a change agent within their organization, leading efforts to improve processes and the quality of products and services delivered to customers. Once you complete your Six Sigma course and obtain your certification, you will have a clear understanding of measuring and quantifying financial benefits from executing any Six Sigma project. Because financial management and risk assessment are highly desirable skills for middle and top-level management, certified Six Sigma professionals stand a very good chance of rising to senior managerial positions. Excellent Salary According to a survey carried out by indeed.com, the salary for Six Sigma certified individuals routinely break into the $100,000+ pay bracket, and are among the highest-paid professionals globally. Gain Hands-On Experience in Quality Management Unlike a few other certifications, the Six Sigma certification process includes hands-on work on industry projects and experience with implementation of theoretical principles to real-life scenarios. As a certified Six Sigma professional, you will gain valuable experience even before you enter the workforce. Ready to get started on the path to Six Sigma Master Black Belt? Simplilearn's Lean Six Sigma master's program is taught by Green and Black Belt certified professionals with more than ten years of industry experience in implementing Quality Management and will help you become a Lean Six Sigma champion.
- 4. 4 Principles: There are someprinciples in Six Sigma. These have been depicted below; 1) Focus on the customer. 2) Identify and understand how the work gets done. (the value system) 3) Manage, improve and smooth the process flow. 4) Remove non-value-added steps and waste. 5) Manage by fact and reduce variation. 6) Involve and equip the people in the process. 7) Undertake improvement activity in a systematic way. Historical overview of Six Sigma The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard can be traced back to Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920’s when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigmas from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. Many measurement standards (Cpk, Zero Defects, etc.) later came on the scene but credit for coining the term “Six Sigma” goes to a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith. (Incidentally, “Six Sigma” is a federally registered trademark of Motorola). In the early and mid-1980s with Chairman Bob Galvin at the helm, Motorola engineers decided that the traditional quality levels — measuring defects in thousands of opportunities – didn’t provide enough granularity. Instead, they wanted to measure the defects per million opportunities. Motorola developed this new standard and created the methodology and needed cultural change associated with it. Six Sigma helped Motorola realize powerful bottom-line results in their organization – in fact, they documented more than $16 Billion in savings as a result of our Six Sigma efforts. Since then, tens of thousands of companies around the world have adopted Six Sigma as a way of doing business. This is a direct result of many of America’s leaders openly praising the benefits of Six Sigma. Leaders such as Larry Bossidy of Allied Signal (now Honeywell), and Jack Welch of General Electric Company. Rumor has it that Larry and Jack were playing golf one day and Jack bet Larry that he could implement Six Sigma faster and with greater results at GE than Larry did at Allied Signal. The results speak for themselves. Six Sigma has evolved over time. It’s more than just a quality system like TQM or ISO. It’s a way of doing business. As Geoff Tennant describes in his book Six Sigma: SPC and TQM in Manufacturing and Services: “Six Sigma is many things, and it would perhaps be easier to list all the things that Six Sigma quality is not. Six Sigma be: a vision; a philosophy; a symbol; a metric; a goal; a methodology.” We couldn’t agree more.
- 5. 5 How does SixSigma work? Identify Business Problem Identify Business Problem At the beginning of a Six Sigma project, the Business Problem is defined. Questions such as What, When, where are addressed in a problem statement. Magnitude and Consequence of the problem is also discussed. Project Scope is identified. Trivial Many Causes: These are all the possible causes of the given problem. They may cause impact to the problem. Identify Business Solution These statistical solutions are then converted to implementable practical solutions. Implementation of these business solutions is carried out in the process. Improvements are observed and sustained. Identify Statistical Problem Identify Statistical Problem Root causes for the business problems are identified. Those root causes are converted into statistical problems using Hypothesis testing methods. Vital Few Causes: These are the few critical causes which cause maximum impact over the problem. Identify Statistical Solution Identification of only 3-4 vital root causes using statistical analysis is achieved. These root causes are vital because they have maximum impact on the problem. Any given problem follows a Pareto principle which states that 80% of the problems are caused due to 20% of the root-causes. Solutions to these root causes are studied and an optimal value for each solution is identified. Difference between related concepts Lean management and Six Sigma are two concepts which share similar methodologies and tools. Both programs are Japanese influenced, but they are two different programs. Lean management is focused on eliminating waste and ensuring efficiency while Six Sigma's focus is on eliminating defects and reducing variability. Methodologies Six Sigma projects follow two project methodologies inspired by Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle. These methodologies, composed of five phases each, bear the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV.
- 6. 6 DMAIC The five stepsof DMAIC Main article: DMAIC The DMAIC project methodology has five phases: • Define the system, the voice of the customer and their requirements, and the project goals, specifically. • Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data; calculate the 'as-is' Process Capability. • Analyze the data to investigate and verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered. Seek out root cause of the defect under investigation. • Improve or optimize the current process based upon data analysis using techniques such as design of experiments, poka yoke or mistake proofing, and standard work to create a new, future state process. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability. • Control the future state process to ensure that any deviations from the target are corrected before they result in defects. Implement control systems such as statistical process control, production boards, visual workplaces, and continuously monitor the process. This process is repeated until the desired quality level is obtained. Some organizations add a Recognize step at the beginning, which is to recognize the right problem to work on, thus yielding an RDMAIC methodology.[11] DMADV or DFSS The five steps of DMADV Main article: DFSS The DMADV project methodology, known as DFSS ("Design for Six Sigma"),features five phases: • Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.
- 7. 7 • Measure andidentify CTQs (characteristics that are Critical to Quality), measure product capabilities, production process capability, and measure risks. • Analyze to develop and design alternatives • Design an improved alternative, best suited per analysis in the previous step • Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owner(s). Quality management tools and methods Within the individual phases of a DMAIC or DMADV project, Six Sigma utilizes many established quality-management tools that are also used outside Six Sigma. The following table shows an overview of the main methods used. AS • 5 Whys • Statistical and fitting tools o Analysis of variance o General linear model o ANOVA Gauge R&R o Regression analysis o Correlation o Scatter diagram o Chi-squared test • Axiomatic design • Business Process Mapping/Check sheet • Cause & effects diagram (also known as fishbone or Ishikawa diagram) • Control chart/Control plan (also known as a swimlane map)/Run charts • Cost-benefit analysis • CTQ tree • Design of experiments/Stratification • Histograms/Pareto analysis/Pareto chart • Pick chart/Process capability/Rolled throughput yield • Quality Function Deployment (QFD) • Quantitative marketing research through use of Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) systems • Root cause analysis • SIPOC analysis (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers) • COPIS analysis (Customer centric version/perspective of SIPOC) • Taguchi methods/Taguchi Loss Function • Value stream mapping
- 8. 8 Software and Application Mainarticle: List of Six Sigma software packages Main article: List of Six Sigma companies Six Sigma mostly finds application in large organizations. An important factor in the spread of Six Sigma was GE's 1998 announcement of $350 million in savings thanks to Six Sigma, a figure that later grew to more than $1 billion. According to industry consultants like Thomas Pyzdek and John Kullmann, companies with fewer than 500 employees are less suited to Six Sigma implementation or need to adapt the standard approach to make it work for them. Six Sigma however contains a large number of tools and techniques that work well in small to mid-size organizations. The fact that an organization is not big enough to be able to afford Black Belts does not diminish its abilities to make improvements using this set of tools and techniques. The infrastructure described as necessary to support Six Sigma is a result of the size of the organization rather than a requirement of Six Sigma itself. Although the scope of Six Sigma differs depending on where it is implemented, it can successfully deliver its benefits to different applications. Manufacturing After its first application at Motorola in the late 1980s, other internationally recognized firms currently recorded high number of savings after applying Six Sigma. Examples of these are Johnson and Johnson, with $600 million of reported savings, Texas Instruments, which saved over $500 million as well as Telefonica de Espana, which reported $30 million euros of revenue in the first 10 months. On top of this, other organizations like Sony and Boeing achieved large percentages in waste reduction. Engineering and Construction Although companies have considered common quality control and process improvement strategies, there’s still a need for more reasonable and effective methods as all the desired standards and client satisfaction have not always been reached. There is still a need for an essential analysis that can control the factors affecting concrete cracks and slippage between concrete and steel. After conducting a case study on Tinjin Xianyi Construction Technology Co, Ltd., it was found that construction time and construction waste were reduced by 26.2% and 67% accordingly after adopting Six Sigma. Similarly, Six Sigma implementation was studied at one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world: Bechtel Corporation, where after an initial investment of $30 million in a Six Sigma program that included identifying and preventing rework and defects, over $200 million were saved. Finance Six Sigma has played an important role by improving accuracy of allocation of cash to reduce bank charges, automatic payments, improving accuracy of reporting, reducing documentary credits
- 9. 9 defects, reducing checkcollection defects, and reducing variation in collector performance. Two of the financial institutions that have reported considerable improvements in their operations are Bank of America and American Express. By 2004 Bank of America increased customer satisfaction by 10.4% and decreased customer issues by 24% by applying Six Sigma tools in their streamline operations. Similarly, American Express successfully eliminated non-received renewal credit cards and improved their overall processes by applying Six Sigma principles. This strategy is also currently being applied by other financial institutions like GE Capital Corp., JP Morgan Chase, and Sun Trust Banks, with customer satisfaction being their main objective. Supply Chain In this field, it important to ensure that products are delivered to clients at the right time while preserving high-quality standards from the beginning to the end of the supply chain. By changing the schematic diagram for the supply chain, Six Sigma can ensure quality control on products (defect free) and guarantee delivery deadlines, which are the two major issues involved in the supply chain. Healthcare This is a sector that has been highly matched with this doctrine for many years because of the nature of zero tolerance for mistakes and potential for reducing medical errors involved in healthcare. The goal of Six Sigma in healthcare is broad and includes reducing the inventory of equipment that brings extra costs, altering the process of healthcare delivery to make more efficient and refining reimbursements. A study at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which recorded an increase in examinations with no additional machines of 45% and reduction in patience preparation time of 40 minutes; from 45 minutes to 5 minutes in multiple cases. Six Sigma Roles and Responsibilities Six Sigma roles are primarily divided into two segments: 1. Initiative Leadership 2. Project Leadership Apart from the above two segments, the overall Six Sigma methodology require the following roles: 1. Six Sigma Deployment Leader 2. Six Sigma Champion 3. Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB) 4. Six Sigma Black Belt (BB) 5. Six Sigma Green Belt (GB) 6. Six Sigma Yellow Belt (YB)
- 10. 10 Let’s look athow Six Sigma roles are bifurcated into the required segments: Six Sigma Project Roles SIX SIGMA DEPLOYMENT LEADERS: As a group, business leaders must own and drive Six Sigma by doing the following: • Establish business objectives and the role of Six Sigma to achieve those goals. • Create an environment which enables success including goals, measures, coaching, and communication, among others. • Actively participate in Six Sigma activities and projects. Success of the effort is very highly correlated to the interest and time invested by business leaders. Deliverables of a Six Sigma Deployment Leader: • Six sigma strategy and roll-out plan for the overall organization • Hire team of Master Black Belt, Black Belts, among others • Work with MBB to identify organization vision and mission • Provide a goal for the organization to drive Six Sigma at all levels Benefits of being a Six Sigma Deployment Leader for Organization and for self-career: • Six Sigma Deployment Leader helps the organization to develop the Six Sigma culture and helps nurture a culture of continuous process improvement. • Driving Six Sigma in the organization allows the deployment leader to run the company to its full potential, thus, leveraging him/her the additional budget for taking more initiatives. SIX SIGMA CHAMPIONS: Project Champions (Sponsors) are the managers of the business, function, or value stream which has been identified as high priority for a Six Sigma team. They play a pivotal role in that they own the processes of the business and, therefore, must ensure process improvements are captured and sustained.
- 11. 11 They typically alsomanage Six Sigma Green Belts (GB’s) and must understand the challenges faced by GB associates (for example, removing roadblocks). They also must work with BB’s and MBB’s to ensure that their business area has developed, and is implementing, a long-term vision of a Six Sigma operating environment across the entire operative base. Some more details and associated deliverables on the role of Six Sigma Champion (Sponsor): • Training: Sponsors must participate in available Six Sigma trainings. • Support: Provide visible support for Six Sigma MBB, BB and GB’s and provide access to resources needed to conduct the project. • Scope: Set very clear scope for all Six Sigma projects. Ensure that the project is clearly defined, has a scope which can be managed within 4-6 months, and which has high likelihood of success. Watch the project as it progresses to ensure that the scope stays strictly within the bounds originally set. • Expectations: Set high expectations on the value of the results. Ensure the goals are not sub-optimized. The Six Sigma process has proven in many cases to deliver value far beyond initial estimates. Less-than-aggressive goals will yield less-than-aggressive results. • Facts: Challenge Experts on their Knowledge of facts and the basis of their conclusions. • Involvement: Sponsors are expected to interact with project teams on a regular basis to participate in problem solving, make decisions, and allocate resources. Plan to spend at least 2 hours every other week with the project team. • Hand-over: Sponsors will be responsible for ensuring that the business takes ownership of the implementation and delivers the value indicated in the Control phase. This requires a specific individual who will own the delivery of the project metrics. • Results: Sponsors, as well as 6sigma mentors and business controllers, are responsible for ensuring that project results hit the bottom line of the organization. Benefits of being a Six Sigma Champion (Sponsor) for Organization and for self-career: • Champions set the direction of process improvements in the organization. They link the benefits of the project to organizational priorities. • Champions can create a portfolio of projects which could range from projects in Customer Satisfaction, Service, Cost and Quality. It provides the Champions the visibility in the process and also showcases his abilities to top-management to manage varied portfolio of projects. SIX SIGMAS master’s BLACK BELT (MBB): These individuals are responsible for translating the high-level business goals into a Six Sigma strategy for the division and the supporting tactics. They work with the deployment leader to achieve the former. They also lead the development of the Six Sigma skills in the organization, for Black Belts, Green Belts, and the general associate base. MBB’s have ultimate responsibility to ensure the quality, value, and sustainability of Six Sigma projects under their guidance.
- 12. 12 MBB’s are responsible,together, for the success of the overall Division’s Six Sigma effort. They coordinate and lead activity on key cross-division value streams (e.g. Customer Service, Cycle Time, Research, etc). They also ensure that a culture that values openness, creativity and challenging the status quo develops in the organization. Deliverables of a Master Black Belt: • Six sigma strategy and roll-out plan in the organization/function • Manage Project of the function • Mentor Teams • Achieve Lean Six Sigma Results • Cross-Functional Leadership • Project Execution and Removing Roadblocks Benefits of being a Master Black Belt for Organization and for self-career: • MBB helps to set the culture of Six Sigma right from the grass-root level in the organization. • Black Belts are benefited due to the mentoring and statistical skills of MBB. • MBB can grow up the ladder and become the Chief Quality Officer as he gains experience and expertise in the field of Six Sigma. SIX SIGMAS BLACK BELT (BB): Six Sigma BB’s are full-time/part time project leaders and mentors of the business, including Green Belts and other associates. They have tactical responsibility for executing specific projects and ensuring that the results are captured, the changes are owned by the Champions (Sponsors), and the changes are sustained. They will also lead Six Sigma knowledge transfer to both full- and part-time participants. BB’s are expected to create an environment of open, honest debate of facts. They challenge the status quo where appropriate and share (and seek) ideas across boundaries. Deliverables of a Black Belt: • Six sigma strategy and roll-out plan for the given process/area • Execute Projects • Help and guide Project Resources/ Help remove project level Barriers • Team and Project Structuring • 6 sigma Project Results • Mentor Green Belts • Share Best Practices
- 13. 13 Benefits of beinga Black Belt for Organization and for self-career: • BB’s are responsible for taking the process improvements to the next level in the organization. • BB’s are highly trained on improving results for the organization using statistical analysis and Six Sigma tools. Hence, they have a very lucrative career path ranging from Business Analysts to Process Improvement experts. SIX SIGMAS GREEN BELT (GB): Six Sigma Green Belts are the engine of Six Sigma projects. Black Belt’s support the efforts of the broader business teams to identify and implement change. The GB’s are part-time Six Sigma Project Leaders. They are responsible for scoping the projects, leading the project team, calling for help when needed, managing interfaces with business leaders, and ensuring sustainable results. The goal of GB’s is to translate the value of Six Sigma to the specific work environment and problems. Deliverables of a Green Belt: • Project Execution • Team and Project Structuring • Six Sigma Project Results • Share Best Practices Benefits of being a Green Belt for Organization and for self-career: • GB’s have authority in their respective processes and can get the work done effectively. This is a very critical aspect for the organization as it builds its process improvement structure within each process. • For self-career, GB’s receive exposure to senior management directly by virtue of the projects and get the opportunity to make a difference in the organization. SIX SIGMAS YELLOW BELT (YB): These are the project-specific, full-or part-time resources that provide process and cross- functional knowledge, as well as help to sustain the gains. They have co-ownership of the project with the Six Sigma Experts and are responsible for the quality of the work and results. This team also plays the critical role of translating the process gains from Six Sigma to other areas of the business after the specific project has been completed. This is the true leverage of Six Sigma methodology!
- 14. 14 Deliverables of aYellow Belt: • A Yellow Belt has basic knowledge of Six Sigma • They do not lead projects on their own, as does a Green Belt or Black Belt. • YB participates as a core team member or subject matter expert (SME) on DMAIC project or projects. Supports Green Belt or Black Belt in developing process maps, helping with data capture, facilitating simulation, and improvements. • YBs may often be responsible for driving smaller process improvement projects using Lean tools or best practice sharing in their processes. Benefits of being a Yellow Belt for Organization and for self-career: • For any project, Yellow Belts are those individuals who are the Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) of their respective processes and also have the basic know-how of Six Sigma. They are the spokes of a wheel and can help drive any Six Sigma process to closure by using their process expertise. Organizations can greatly benefit by choosing the right YB’s for the right projects. • For self-career, YB’s get exposure of channelizing their Subject knowledge to process improvement opportunities yielding tremendous benefits for self-understanding. Example of a Mobile Phone factory which intends to transition to Six Sigma methodology in a mobile phone factory: Functional Roles vs Six Sigma Roles Criticism Lack of originality Quality expert Joseph M. Juran described Six Sigma as "a basic version of quality improvement", stating that "there is nothing new there. It includes what we used to call facilitators. They've adopted more flamboyant terms, like belts with different colors. I think that concept has merit to
- 15. 15 set apart, tocreate specialists who can be very helpful. Again, that's not a new idea. The American Society for Quality long ago established certificates, such as for reliability engineers."[26] Inadequate for complex manufacturing Quality expert Philip B. Crosby pointed out that the Six Sigma standard doesn't go far enough[27] — customers deserve defect-free products every time. For example, under the Six Sigma standard, semiconductors which require the flawless etching of millions of tiny circuits onto a single chip are all defective, he claims.[28] Role of consultants The use of "Black Belts" as itinerant change agents has fostered an industry of training and certification. Critics have argued there is overselling of Six Sigma by too great a number of consulting firms, many of which claim expertise in Six Sigma when they have only a rudimentary understanding of the tools and techniques involved or the markets or industries in which they are acting.[29] Potential negative effects A Fortune article stated that "of 58 large companies that have announced Six Sigma programs, 91 percent have trailed the S&P 500 since". The statement was attributed to "an analysis by Charles Holland of consulting firm Qualpro (which espouses a competing quality-improvement process)".[30] The summary of the article is that Six Sigma is effective at what it is intended to do, but that it is "narrowly designed to fix an existing process" and does not help in "coming up with new products or disruptive technologies."[31][32] Over-reliance on statistical tools A more direct criticism is the "rigid" nature of Six Sigma with its over-reliance on methods and tools. In most cases, more attention is paid to reducing variation and searching for any significant factors and less attention is paid to developing robustness in the first place (which can altogether eliminate the need for reducing variation).[33] The extensive reliance on significance testing and use of multiple regression techniques increases the risk of making commonly unknown types of statistical errors or mistakes. A possible consequence of Six Sigma's array of P-value misconceptions is the false belief that the probability of a conclusion being in error can be calculated from the data in a single experiment without reference to external evidence or the plausibility of the underlying mechanism.[34] One of the most serious but all-too-common misuses of inferential statistics is to take a model that was developed through exploratory model building and subject it to the same sorts of statistical tests that are used to validate a model that was specified in advance.[35] Another comment refers to the often mentioned Transfer Function, which seems to be a flawed theory if looked at in detail.[36] Since significance tests were first popularized many objections have been voiced by prominent and respected statisticians. The volume of criticism and rebuttal has filled books with language seldom used in the scholarly debate of a dry subject.[37][38][39][40]
- 16. 16 Much of thefirst criticism was already published more than 40 years ago. Refer to: Statistical hypothesis testing Criticism for details. Articles featuring critics have appeared in the November–December 2006 issue of USA Army Logistician regarding Six-Sigma: "The dangers of a single paradigmatic orientation (in this case, that of technical rationality) can blind us to values associated with double-loop learning and the learning organization, organization adaptability, workforce creativity and development, humanizing the workplace, cultural awareness, and strategy making. Nassim Nicholas Taleb considers risk managers little more than "blind users" of statistical tools and methods. He states that statistics is fundamentally incomplete as a field as it cannot predict the risk of rare events — something Six Sigma is especially concerned with. Furthermore, errors in prediction are likely to occur because of ignorance for or distinction between epistemic and other uncertainties. These errors are the biggest in time variant (reliability) related failures. Stifling creativity in research environments According to an article by John Dodge, editor in chief of Design News, use of Six Sigma is inappropriate in a research environment. Dodge states[44] "excessive metrics, steps, measurements and Six Sigma's intense focus on reducing variability water down the discovery process. Under Six Sigma, the free-wheeling nature of brainstorming and the serendipitous side of discovery is stifled." He concludes "there's general agreement that freedom in basic or pure research is preferable while Six Sigma works best in incremental innovation when there's an expressed commercial goal." A BusinessWeek article says that James McNerney's introduction of Six Sigma at 3M had the effect of stifling creativity and reports its removal from the research function. It cites two Wharton School professors who say that Six Sigma leads to incremental innovation at the expense of blue skies research. This phenomenon is further explored in the book Going Lean, which describes a related approach known as lean dynamics and provides data to show that Ford's "6 Sigma" program did little to change its fortunes. Lack of systematic documentation One criticism voiced by Yasar Jarrar and Andy Neely from the Cranfield School of Management's Centre for Business Performance is that while Six Sigma is a powerful approach, it can also unduly dominate an organization's culture; and they add that much of the Six Sigma literature – in a remarkable way (six-sigma claims to be evidence, scientifically based) – lacks academic rigor: One final criticism, probably more to the Six Sigma literature than concepts, relates to the evidence for Six Sigma’s success. So far, documented case studies using the Six Sigma methods are presented as the strongest evidence for its success. However, looking at these documented cases, and apart from a few that are detailed from the experience of leading organizations like GE and Motorola, most cases are not documented in a systemic or academic manner. In fact, the majority are case studies illustrated on websites, and are, at best, sketchy. They provide no mention of any specific Six Sigma methods that were used to resolve the problems. It has been argued that by
- 17. 17 relying on theSix Sigma criteria, management is lulled into the idea that something is being done about quality, whereas any resulting improvement is accidental (Latzko 1995). Thus, when looking at the evidence put forward for Six Sigma success, mostly by consultants and people with vested interests, the question that begs to be asked is: are we making a true improvement with Six Sigma methods or just getting skilled at telling stories? Everyone seems to believe that we are making true improvements, but there is some way to go to document these empirically and clarify the causal relations.