A company can use Six Sigma as a quality management tool to improve proficiency in its strategy implementation. Six Sigma aims to produce no more than 3.4 defects per million parts produced in a manufacturing process. It uses a variety of statistics to determine the best practices for any given process.
Learn The Use of Six Sigma in Total Quality Management.
Statisticians and Six Sigma
Statisticians and Six Sigma consultants study the existing processes and determine the methods that produce the best overall results. Six Sigma statistically ensures that 99.9997% of all products produced in a process are of acceptable quality; it allows only 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
If a given process fails to meet this criterion, it is re-analyzed, altered, and tested to determine any improvements. If no improvement is found, the process is reanalyzed, altered, and tested again. This cycle is repeated until an Improvement becomes visible.
Once an improvement is found, it is documented, and the knowledge is spread across other units in the company so they can implement this new process and reduce their defects per million opportunities.
Six Sigma experts are known as Green Belts and Black Belts. They evaluate the business process and determine ways to improve the existing process. They can also design a brand new business process using DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) principles.
Typically it is easier to define a new process with DFSS principles than to refine an existing process to reduce the defects.
What is Six Sigma?
Six Sigma refers to a measure of quality that strives for near perfection.
Six Sigma is simply a TQM process that uses process capability analysis to measure progress.
Six Sigma stands for Six Standard Deviations from the arithmetic mean.
Sigma is the Greek letter used to represent standard deviation in statistics. It is basically a process quality goal. Thus, it falls into the category of process capability (Cp) techniques. Six Sigma methodology provides the techniques and tools to improve capability and reduce defects in any process.
Six Sigma uses a variety of statistics to determine the best practices for any given process. Statisticians and Six Sigma consultants study the existing processes and determine the methods that produce the best overall results.
Six Sigma statistically ensures that 99.9997% of all products produced in a process are of acceptable quality. Six Sigma allows only 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
If a given process fails to meet this criterion, it is reanalyzed, altered, and tested to find out if there are any opportunities for improvement. If no improvement is found, the process is reanalyzed, altered, and tested again. This cycle is repeated until an improvement becomes visible.
Once an improvement is found, it is documented, and the knowledge is spread across other units in the company so they can implement this new process and reduce their defects per million opportunities.
Use of Six Sigma
Six Sigma methodology improves any existing business process by constantly reviewing and re-tuning the process. To achieve this, Six Sigma uses a methodology known as DMAIC (Define opportunities, Measure performance, Analyze opportunity, Improve performance, Control performance).
Even though Six Sigma was initially implemented at Motorola to improve the manufacturing process, all types of businesses can profit from implementing Six Sigma.
Six Sigma methodology is used in many Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives these days.
These BPM initiatives are not necessarily related to manufacturing. Many BPMs that use Six Sigma in today’s world include call centers, customer support, supply chain management, and project management.
Businesses in various industry segments, such as the services industry (for example, Call Centers, Insurance, Financial/investment Services), the e-commerce industry (for example, B2B/B2C websites), and education, can use Six Sigma principles to achieve higher quality.
Many big businesses such as General Electric, Sony, Ford Motors, Nokia, Texas Instruments, Hitachi, Toshiba, Canon, DuPont, American Express, Polaroid, and Motorola have successfully implemented Six Sigma, but the adaptation by smaller businesses has been very slow.
Six Sigma improves profitability by improving quality and efficiency. Evidence shows that many companies implementing Six Sigma have seen profit margins grow 20% yearly for each sigma shift (up to 4.8 to 5 sigma).
Six Sigma allows top leaders in organizations to be proactive, rather than reactive, to quality issues. Proactiveness emerges from the fact that Six Sigma focuses on the process that creates or eliminates the defects rather than on the defects themselves.
Key Elements of Six Sigma
- Customer Satisfaction
- Defining Processes and defining Metrics and Measures for Processes
- Using and understanding Data and Systems
- Setting Goals for Improvement
- Team Building and Involving Employees
- Continuous Improvement
The underlying premise of Six Sigma is that customer requirements must be identified and incorporated into the product design so that customers are delighted with the product. Involving all employees is very important to Six Sigma. Companies must provide opportunities and incentives for employees to focus their talents and ability to satisfy customers. Defining the roles of all people in the organization is also important to Six Sigma. All team members should have a well-defined role with measurable objectives.
Quality Control Tools Used in Six Sigma
Tools that are used in Six Sigma quality control are;
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
QFD helps Six Sigma Black Belts drive customer-focused development across the design process. QFD is a system. It consists of a set of procedures to identify, communicate, and prioritize customer requirements.
With QFD, Six Sigma teams can more effectively focus on the activities that mean the most to the customer, beat the competition, and align with the organization’s mission.
Cause & Effect Matrix
The C&E Matrix helps Six Sigma project leaders facilitate team decision-making.
The C&E Matrix is a tool that helps Six Sigma teams select, prioritize, and analyze the data they collect over the course of a project to identify problems in that process. Six Sigma teams typically use the C&E Matrix in the Measure phase of the DMAIC methodology.
Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
FMEA helps Six Sigma teams to identify and address weaknesses in a product or process before they occur before implementing new products, processes, or services.
Six Sigma teams use FMEA to identify ways. An effective FMEA identifies corrective actions required to prevent failures from reaching the customer and will improve performance, quality, and reliability.
T-Test
The t-test helps Six Sigma teams validate test results using small sample sizes. The t-test is used to determine the statistical difference between two groups, not just a difference due to random chance.
Six Sigma teams might use it to determine if a plan for a comparative analysis of patient blood pressures before and after they receive a drug is likely to provide reliable results.
Control Charts
Six Sigma teams use Control Charts to assess process stability. Control Charts are a simple but highly effective tool for monitoring and improving process performance over time because they help Six Sigma teams to observe and analyze venation.
The three basic components of any control chart are a center line, upper and lower statistically determined control limits, and performance data plotted over time.
Design of Experiment (DOE)
DOE helps Six Sigma Black Belts make the most of valuable resources.
DOE is a statistical technique encompassing Six Sigma professionals’ planning, design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation strategy! Six Sigma teams use DOE to determine the relationship between factors (X) affecting a process and the output of that process (Y).
Six Sigma Process
Four broad categories of the Six Sigma Process. These are identification, characterization, optimization, and institutionalization.
Identification
Recognize
This is the initial stage in applying Six Sigma in a company. The company has just begun to understand the fundamental concept of Six Sigma. The employees begin to get a sense of Six Sigma as a problem-solving technique. They begin to question the use of certain inputs in the process.
A manager develops a proactive attitude and then undertakes initiatives to create opportunity and an environment for change (where there is a need for change).
Define
The second stage involves defining opportunities and identifying specific projects (for improvement). Managers at the top level decide on activities that might be needed at the initial situation of Six Sigma projects.
Characterization
Measure
This stage is concerned with measuring the process characteristics that are critical to quality. However, measurement is made at different organizational levels with a different focus. Thus, top-level and operational-level people (Black Belts) measure cycle time, yield, and defect per unit (dpu).
Analyze
At this stage, the process characteristics are primarily analyzed and described. This is done to understand the current performance levels.
Once the measurement and analysis phases are up, managers create action plans. They use the action plans to remove gaps between current work situations and the deal situations. The Black Belts are responsible for making necessary measurements, recording the results and estimating the process capability.
Optimization
Improve
This phase and the control phase maximizes process capability and then maintains the enhanced process capability.
Improvement initiatives are undertaken at different organizational levels with different purposes, for example, business unit level managers go for deployment of Six Sigma throughout the company. Process-level managers focus on providing training to the Black Belts and the selection of projects.
At the process level, the Black Belts may conduct “design of experiments” to examine the effects of variables on quality characteristics. They determine which variables exert the most influence.
Control
A process is controlled at this stage to control performance. Level-wise, top leaders may take steps to maintain gains. Operational managers may devise a reward system. The Black Belts at the process level may document procedures for marinating the already-achieved improvements in the process.
Overall, the optimization stage improves and controls the key variables that have the biggest influence in the key characteristics of a product.
Institutionalization
Standardize
The “standardization” and the “integration” phases together attempt to have the Six Sigma results woven into the company’s culture.
This “weaving is essential because the long -term goal of Six Sigma is to standardize and integrate the overall system improvements at every level of the company. This is done to raise the company wide sigma performance.
Managers at the standardization phase identify the best practices within the business and then standardize these practices. When practices are standardized, the company can design processes to work more effectively by using the already optimized resources and processes.
Integrate
Integration at the last stage results in institutionalization when the results are integrated into the company’s culture.
This phase modifies the company’s management process. It integrates the standardized Six Sigma practices into policies and procedures and the standard methods and processes into the design cycle.
Continuous Improvement and Islam
A Muslim must make every effort to remove any waste around him, at home, workplace, or in society, even when faced with confrontation.
A very common example would be to control the use of water, food, and electricity according to the needs. Wastage of resources such as material in the workplace, man-hours, machine-hours, human potential, and time should also be minimized.
While 100% elimination is not possible, we should still try to get as close to it as possible, and this can only be achieved through continuous effort (Jihad). Muslims would find this easier to do than non-Muslims because they have been clearly instructed to do so in this regard by the Holy Quran.
Continuous striving is the only way available to attain the minimum possible wastage or maximum possible efficiency, which is nothing but Jihad from an Islamic perspective. It is the obligation of every good Muslim to try again and again to develop his daily activities.
As narrated from Hazrat Ali, “If your today’s activities are not better than those of yesterday’s, you are not a good Muslim.”
These activities include not only our personal activities but the activities through which we serve others also. It is human nature to want better quality products and better behavior from others, and this demand is increasing day by day.
Prophet Muhammad said, “Do for others whatever you want from others.” This Hadith teaches us to improve the quality of our deeds continually, and definitely, it’s an ibadah for a Muslim.
Motorola DMAIC Six Sigma Process
Motorola developed a five-phase approach to the Six Sigma process called DMAIC. DMAIC stands for:
- Define opportunities
- Measure performance
- Analyze opportunity
- Improve performance
- Control performance
Conclusion
The underlying premise of Six Sigma is that customer requirements must be identified and incorporated into the product design so that customers are fully satisfied with the product. Involving all employees is very important to Six Sigma.
Companies must provide opportunities and incentives for employees to focus their talents and ability to satisfy customers. Defining the roles of all people in the organization is also important to Six Sigma. All team members should have a well-defined role with measurable objectives.
