The Complete Guide To Six Sigma For Small Business: What is Six Sigma?

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Six Sigma is defined as a type of business improvement methodology. Its main objective is to implement a vigorous process to systematically eliminate defects and inefficiency. It was originally developed by Motorola in the early 1980's and because of its proficiency has become extremely popular in many corporate and small business environments around the world. Six Sigma's main purpose or objective is to deliver high performance, value and reliability to the customer. It is regarded and used around the world as one of the major themes for TQM (Total Quality Management).

Six Sigma was developed by Bill Smith at Motorola in the early 1980's. It was originally designed for a way to measure defects and to improve overall quality. A major position of Six Sigma is that by using the methodology, it can lower defects to a level of 3.4 DPMO (defects per million opportunities). 3.4 DPMO can also be written as plus or minus six sigma when the centerline spans 12 sigma positions. (Six Sigma comes from a technical term used in statistics)

While originally developed for quality control, Six Sigma is used in many different ways, such as improving communications with customers, employees and shareholders and improving the total process of interaction, communication and product design.

It should be noted that the term "Six Sigma" is a registered trademark, owned by Motorola. According to Motorola, this methodology has saved the company over 17 billion dollars from its inception to 2006.

The Six Sigma Methodology

The Six Sigma includes two key methodologies; DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC is used for an existing process. DMADV is used when creating a new product or process. Using DMADV for new projects can usually result in a more predictable process and ultimately higher quality product.

DMAIC

There are 5 important steps included in DMAIC. They are:

* D - Define goals to improve the overall process between your company strategy and your customer's demands (can also refer to your group and the groups or individuals that you support).

* M - Measure your current processes. Collect relevant data on your current processes and then use this data as a baseline for future comparisons.

* A - Analyze your relationship within the process. It is important to understand the relationship to determine factors that can ensure you keep your companies strategy in line with your customers demands.

* I - Improve the process. It is important to constantly improve and optimize the process, using analysis and other techniques. One technique that is often used is Design of Experiments. (This is a technique that can help to test a hypothesis, using acceptable experimental design).

* C - Control. It is important ensure that you can control and correct any variances avoiding possibly costly defects and loss of quality. Many times pilot runs are set up to study process capability and production transition. These pilot runs can help fine tune or add additional control mechanisms.

DMADV

There are 5 important steps included in DMADV. They are:

* D - Define goals that are consistent between your business strategy and customer demands.

* M - Measure CTOs (critical to qualities) CTOs consist of production process, capabilities producing a product, the capability of a product and any risk assessments.

* A - Analyze and evaluate many different designs, choosing the best design for its overall qualities.

* D - Design details. It is important not only to design a product, but optimize the design features. In order to fully optimize a design feature, you may be required to create multiple designs or simulations.

* V - Verify the design. Important steps to verifying a design include setting up pilot runs and running a short production. This step also requires you to handover the design to process owners.

Statistics

Statistics is at the core of the Six Sigma methodology. Six Sigma focuses on using data to problem solve and create systematic approaches to lowering deficiencies. Because data is at the core of the Six Sigma methodology, statistical analysis and tools are commonly used. It is important to note that while the Six Sigma methodology is data driven at its core, rudimentary statistical tools and analysis are usually proficient.

Implementation of Roles in Six Sigma Methodology

There are many roles that that are used in the Six Sigma Methodology. While most of the roles below are used in many organizations Six Sigma implementation, it should be noted that they are not universal. The roles include:

1- Executive Leadership - Top level executives are responsible for vision and ultimately implementation of the Six Sigma Methodology. They also empower others to take initiative and ownership of the Six Sigma principles.

2- Champions - Champions are usually upper management that is responsible for the implementation of Six Sigma throughout their organization.

3- Master Black Belts - are usually hand picked by Champions to coach others within the organization on the Six Sigma methodologies. They allocate either all or most of their time to the Six Sigma methodologies. It should also be noted, that they usually have mentoring responsibilities to coach and train lower roles including Black Belts and Green Belts (see below)

4- Experts - while this role is not in every organization, it can play a huge role in major engineering or manufacturing sectors. They improve overall services, products, and processes for their end customers.

5- Black Belts - Black Belts focus on six sigma execution. They are usually middle managers.

6- Green Belts - These roles are usually taken on by employees who help Black belts execute specific projects, as well as other job responsibilities.

Downsides of the Six Sigma Methodology

For the vast majority of organizations, the Six Sigma methodology has helped them be competitive and reduce costs; however it should be noted that there are some downsides that do exist.

In order to implement the Six Sigma methodology in an organization, it is extremely important to have buy- in from employees on all levels. If associates, middle managers or high level executives are not enthusiastic about using the Six Sigma Methodology, it can ultimately lead to failure.

Another downside of using Six Sigma is that in some instances, Six Sigma's effectiveness has never been measured or is unable to be measured. Due to the inability of measurements, it is unclear if Six Sigma is actually helpful.

Finally, many organizations use the Six Sigma methodology as a way of protecting themselves from liability. For instance, if a company produces a product that is low in quality or can harm its user, the organization can use the defense that quality is at the forefront in order to be viewed positively. In this respect, it is unclear if an organization has implemented Six Sigma for its methodology or to cover its liability.

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