Six Sigma Professor

What Is Six Sigma? Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Q:  I’ve been hearing a lot about Six Sigma.  What is it, exactly? 

A:  Six Sigma is a method of business process improvement.  The goal of Six Sigma is to reduce the number of defects in a given process to below 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO).  The methods of Six Sigma can be applied to any business process, not just manufacturing.  Six Sigma can even help improve the process of new product development.

Q:  What does the name Six Sigma mean?

A:  The term “Six Sigma” refers to a property of the normal distribution curve in the study of statistics.  In statistics, the symbol “sigma” is used to identify the standard deviation, a measure of variability in a data set.  If your business process produces widely variable results, you are likely to see a large number of defects.  A Six Sigma business process is one designed to produce results with an extremely low proportion of defects.   The methods of Six Sigma have been successfully applied to many business processes.   

Q:  How can Six Sigma help my company?  I provide services, not widgets.

A:  Even if your company provides services, you can benefit from Six Sigma methods.  A defect can be broadly defined as anything that results in your customer being less than fully satisfied.  In non-manufacturing terms, the source of such a defect might be unclear communication of project requirements, or inconsistent follow-up.  Perhaps your sales force is over-promising.  Any business process can be improved, and the methods of Six Sigma can help.

Q:  Who started Six Sigma?

A:   Six Sigma as a method of business process improvement was started by Motorola in the late 1980’s.  Famously successful companies which have implemented Six Sigma since then include General Electric, 3M, and Amazon.com.

Q:  What is Lean Six Sigma?  Is it different from “regular” Six Sigma?

A:  The “Lean” aspect focuses on optimizing the flow and speed of work.  Ironically, in their early histories, Lean and Six Sigma were seen as competing methods.  Lean enthusiasts pointed out that Six Sigma did not necessarily result in faster or more efficient processes; Six Sigma supporters replied that Lean processes could still produce poor quality.  More recently, however, business leaders have come to see Lean and Six Sigma as complementary tools.  Using the integrated Lean Six Sigma approach, a company can improve both efficiency and quality — at the same time.

Q:  Sounds great!  How do we get started?

A:  For an existing business process, the primary Six Sigma / Lean Six Sigma method is known as DMAIC.  This stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. Consultants who have been trained in specific statistical methods for each of these steps are known as Green Belts, Black Belts, and Master Black Belts, depending on their level of mastery.  For more information on how to implement Six Sigma in your company, or how to obtain Six Sigma training, contact a Six Sigma Black Belt in your area.

Frequently Asked Questions On Lean Six Sigma

How will it benefit me and my company?

Despite Lean Six Sigma being around for over twenty years now, it is remarkable that a significant number of companies and individuals still don’t really know what it is. Oh, they’ve heard of it, and may even have been involved in it, but when it comes to defining it or reaping the huge benefits it can offer, then far too many are still in the dark.

A few of the frequently asked questions from students and companies regarding Lean Six Sigma and how to use it are rehearsed below, together with some answers to these questions.

What’s the difference between Lean Six Sigma and other problem solving methods?

There are any number of ways to solve problems, some work better than others, however.

The trial and error problem solving method, sadly still in use, is the equivalent of groping in the dark, with little or no data, little or no method and often little or no idea. The result, quite predictably is ‘little or no improvement’.

The ‘Just do it’ method, where the problem solver is encouraged to jump straight into process changes, can be effective if the problem and root cause are understood and the person doing it knows what they are doing but the method lacks rigour and repeatability.

More advanced methods such as CEDAC (Cause and Effect with the Addition of Cards) or 8D (Eight Disciplines) are more structured. These methodologies utilise simple and often subjective tools such as the Fishbone Diagrams and Pareto analysis, however, and lack statistical rigour. 8D for example is a useful method to employ when reacting to customer problems.

Lean Six Sigma uses the DMAIC process of Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control to solve problems. The methodology is data centric with excellent tools that are more powerful because they offer statistical validity. They are sill easily learnt, however, if taught by seasoned professionals. Usually run as a project based strategic deployment or improvement method, Lean Six Sigma has proved to be an effective problem solving method with average savings, according to the DTI, of £150,000 per project.

I want to progress my career and wondered if training in Lean Six Sigma will help me?

In a word YES! The disciplined and structured approach combined with the tools and method of Lean Six Sigma are all highly effective and will help you to be more successful at solving problems and making improvements in your place of work. Typically, people who bring a Lean Six Sigma qualification to a job can command 10 to 15% higher salaries than an equivalent untrained applicant.

What’s the best way to identify projects for Lean Six Sigma?

The good thing about Lean Six Sigma is that there is a whole suite of tools to use to identify projects. An enterprise level Value Stream Map can be used to highlight projects in context to the whole company.

A Cost of Quality analysis usually identifies a host of projects to work on and techniques like Voice of Customer and Customer Journey will illuminate the customer’s perspective of what are the important projects to choose.

Undoubtedly though, the best way to identify projects is through a strategic deployment process, which takes in to account the external and internal customer perspective and aligns projects and goals to strategic objectives.

How do I keep my projects on track?

Well, the best way to keep projects on track, is to employ the age old adage of discipline. However a number of techniques, employed in Lean Six Sigma, can be useful to aid you in keeping projects on track.

It is important to spend time and effort upfront defining your Project Charter (a semi formal contract between the Belt and the Company detailing the problem to be solved and the resources required to solve it) and get buy-in from stakeholders. This can’t be emphasised too strongly. Poor planning and communication are the main reasons projects go wrong. The SigmaPro Lean Six Sigma tools will come in handy here.

Plan your activities and assign responsibilities, then meet regularly to review progress. The frequency of meetings will determine the pace of the project. Hold well structured meetings, here’s where the discipline comes in, and tackle delays and issues quickly to keep the project on track.

Treat your project as a process. Define it, choose KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) such as DMAIC stage reviews and monitor progress. A good way to do this is to have a ‘war room’ or notice board with project measures and progress easily accessible and simple to understand. Hold your meetings there, stood around your progress charts. This usually keeps meetings focused and short! And don’t forget – “what gets measured gets done!”

What is your favourite Lean Six Sigma tool?

Lean Six Sigma has such a wide variety of rich tools to choose from but if I were to pick a favourite it would be Regression Analysis. It is simple but extremely powerful.

A company once needed help to set up a Design Of Experiments trial and analyse the results to optimise the drying times of various sized components in an oven. There were 5 variables and each trial could take up to three hours to complete. Even using experiment reduction techniques the work to set-up and run the experiment would have taken over a month to complete with considerable disruption to production.

However, good quality data on the five variables had been taken over a period of time. It was a relatively simple task, taking less than a day, to run the data through a regression analysis and produce an algorithm describing the drying time as a function of these five variables.

The model proved to be highly accurate and simple to use. Needless to say the company was extremely pleased and enrolled several of their staff on a Lean Six Sigma course in order to have their own capability in-house.

Lean Six Sigma is an effective tool for improving business processes of all kinds. By adopting a grading system from Yellow Belt at the starter level, through Six Sigma Green Belt and Six Sigma Black Belt to Six Sigma Master Black Belt at the expert level, Lean Six Sigma can effectively engage a range of people with varying levels of ability and disciplines to make impressive improvements in any business.

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