six sigma guide

7/28/2019 Six Sigma Guide

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Frequently AskedQuestions

Contact The Six Sigma Group on 01926 632888 or [email protected] The Six Sigma Group

A Question Panel was held at a recent seminar organised by Integrated DocumentTechnology and the Six Sigma Group. Below are some of the Frequently Asked

Questions about Six Sigma answered by Stephen Walsh and Stuart Smith of the SixSigma Group.

They reflect the concerns, curiosity, cynicism and craving for knowledge about thisdynamic, developing approach to process improvement.

1. What is the difference between Lean and Six Sigma?

2. How do you sell the concept/cultural revolution to the organisation andovercome the Whats in it for me? from stakeholders?

3. How do you overcome the image of applicable to high volume manufacturing

environment that the Six Sigma title brings with some senior managers?

4. Doesnt the act of measurement improve the process anyway?

5. Is developing an initial application to help gather the actual statistics/data forinput to a Six Sigma project a leap of faith?

6 A process is only as good as the people using it. How can a businessenforce the usage, when back doors are available (i.e. they buck thesystem)?

7. How do you measure how good your process is? What techniques and

methods will give/provide most effective results? (For example themortgage application form.)

8. What are your methods of training?

9. [What are the] Steps to reduce variation e.g. review reasons for rework,complaint causes?

10. What level of realistic savings can most organisations expect to achievethrough the application of Six Sigma?

11. Processes vary from the whole thing (the restaurant bill) to a high overview ofthousands of sub-processes (the phone that doesnt crash). Do you have aparticular approach to grouping/layering the processes into a manageablestructure?

12. What have proved to be typical barriers to success?

13. At what level in the business should Six Sigma be aimed e.g. Board,management?

14. Many people are uncomfortable with changes to their day-to-day work. Howdo you prepare departments for rapidly changing processes?

For more information or comment, visit www.sixsigmagroup.co.uk .


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QUESTION 1What is the difference between Lean and Six Sigma?We in the Six Sigma Group prefer to think of Lean, Six Sigma, kaizen, corrective action,et al, as being all perspectives of the same process: the process forimprovingprocesses.DMAICT is a methodological approach to organise how one approaches a project-basedtask that has as its objective the improvement of a given aspect of a process. The sixphases and within them the iterative steps are a refinement of Demings notable Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, which is at the heart of all process improvement activity.

It comes down to the complexity of the problems/issues that you are addressing on theshallow slopes, walking boots and stick are adequate equipment, but as the slope getssteeper, you have to bring out the crampons and axe.

We also describe it as the low hanging fruit analogy, but be careful of the limitations ofthe graphic you would climb a tree bottom-up, but in a business, you will need toaddress issues at every level. Complex problems wont wait for you to pick out all theeasy ones first!

Typically, lean is seen asproviding the tools for wasteelimination and cycle timereduction, whilst deeperSix Sigma analysis focusesfurther on understanding andremoving the root causes ofvariation and reducingprocess defects by aconsiderable amount.

Another view is to considerthe nature of the issue as amatrix of ease-benefit.

6

5

4

32

DESIGN forSIX SIGMA

DMADVIDOV

SIX SIGMA

PROCESSIMPROVEMENTThe DMAICT methodology

LEANWORKING

Process streamlining

Process acceleration

Waste elimination

CORRECTIVEACTION

Kaizen blitz

Error proofing

Problem solving

SIX SIGMA AS AN APPROACH

The Six Sigma Group

PRIORITISATION MATRIX

Benefit

EffortLow High

Low

High

Six SigmaProcess

ImprovementQuick Hits

WasteElimination,Blitz Kaizen

Six Sigmaand

Design forSix Sigma

The Six Sigma Group

CorrectiveAction,Kaizen

PRIORITISATION MATRIX

Benefit

EffortLow High

Low

High

Six SigmaProcess

ImprovementQuick Hits

WasteElimination,Blitz Kaizen

Six Sigmaand

Design forSix Sigma

The Six Sigma Group

CorrectiveAction,Kaizen


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QUESTION 2How do you sell the concept/cultural revolution to the organisationand overcome the Whats in it for me? from stakeholders?In the first instance, Six Sigma is a top-down approach and so early introduction involvesthe education and commitment-building of the senior management. They in turn shouldbe developing a communication strategy that suits their business. Being project-based,Six Sigma activity will focus on improvements to processes (and so to the benefits ofreducing costs, errors, improving customer satisfaction) that ought to be on the corporateagenda anyhow and have a pressing need to be addressed.

Some of the early work with the senior team is about identifying the issues to beaddressed and developing a project cascade to scope bite-sized projects that will bemeaningful to the business. Business strategy tools like Hoshin Kanri (creating goalcongruence vertically), Quality Function Deployment, Balanced Scorecards, EFQMExcellence Model assessments are all helpful here.

In one sense whats in it for meshould be: its part of your objectives as set by seniormanagement, because they see this as important (because of the goal congruence). At amore personal level and at the buy-in stage of project input from stakeholders itsabout addressing local pain-points, solving problems and winning more business.Stakeholder management and analysis is a key tool in the Six Sigma tool portfolio.

Six Sigma is a proven methodology with a track record for delivering real, measurablebenefits that include significant cost savings, compressed time cycles, predictable and

reliable processes and satisfied customers (seeQuestion 10 andQuestion 13).


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QUESTION 3How do you overcome the image of applicable to high volumemanufacturing environment that the Six Sigma title brings with somesenior managers?The most direct retort is to show examples of businesses that are actively using Six Sigmaand who are not manufacturing companies. Our clientele illustrate a selection of small tolarge organisations from a wide variety of sectors, some of which are very low volume.

Whilst it is true to say that in the 1990s Six Sigma was being practised by manufacturingorganisations, the New Millennium has seen banks, building societies, insurancecompanies, the police and hospitals applying Six Sigma to improve their processes, i.e.reduce costs, improve timeliness and quality of service and so improve customer

satisfaction. All businesses have processes and all processes can be improved.

GE, the worlds largest engineering organisation, is often quoted as saving over $2 billionthrough a concerted effort to improve processes using the Six Sigma methodology. Whatis not as well known is that two thirds of that was saved in the transactionalprocesses,such as in purchasing, recruiting, finance.


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QUESTION 4Doesnt the act of measurement improve the process anyway?The well-known Hawthorne Experiments demonstrated the effect that just being measuredcaused people to improve their performance! Six Sigma process improvement, however,intends to fix processes permanently and sustainability is a key consideration in theControl phase of DMAICT.

Thinking back to the fruit tree analogy described inQuestion 1 (What is the differencebetween Lean and Six Sigma?), the fact of the matter is that there is a great deal of issuesin any company that are easily fixed, but for the want of attention and a bit of brainapplication. It would be true to say that the act of measuring a process will flush out quickwins, where a process is very broke. This is where the Blitz Kaizen approach cancomplement Six Sigma very well, by addressing the low hanging fruit, of which there is

always plenty, and creating a clearer picture of the more complex issues. Blitz Kaizencomes under several names including Workout, 5-day DMAICT and rapid improvementworkshops.

More complex problems will not havea staring-you-in-the-face solution,however, and it will take data analysisjust to understand whats going on.The matrix opposite is another way ofthinking about it.

When you start to try to understand the sources of variation in the output of a process(invariably because this is creating dissatisfaction in the customer of the process), you

often discover that the existing data measured is limited to the outputs (in Six Sigma wecall them Ys). To understand the sources of variation you have to establish the rootcauses of variation which are buried within the process and its inputs (which we call Xs).

Y = f (X1, X2, X3 . . . . . Xn)

YX3, X4X1X2

Y = f (X1, X2, X3 . . . . . Xn)

YX3, X4X1X2

YX3, X4X3, X4X1X2

X1X2

The phases of Measure and Analyse incorporate tools to establish the relationship

between the output Y and the input and process Xs.

TYPES OF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Problem

SolutionKnown Unknown

Known

Unknown Excellen

ceProjects

ApplyDMAICT

Methodologyto find theroot cause

ApplyDMAICT

Methodologyto verify theroot causeand thendevelopsolution

TYPES OF IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Problem


Known

Unknown Excellen

ceProjects

ApplyDMAICT


ApplyDMAICT


Problem


Known

Unknown Excellen

ceProjects

ApplyDMAICT


ApplyDMAICT



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QUESTION 5Is developing an initial application to help gather the actual statistics/data for input to a Six Sigma project a leap of faith?If you are troubled by a process problem, you will have to be able to quantify it, if you areto understand it. Collecting data is just sound common sense.

Some problems are not complex and we would not advocate a sledgehammer approachto all issues. However, be cautious of the impatience for results that seduces people tojump directly to a solution. Six Sigma is powerful in that it draws conclusions from data decisions are made from facts. Where problems are complex, the causes are not alwaysobvious and the temptation to put in a fixmay at best give a reprieve and at worst cost alot of money and heart-ache without giving any improved results.

Sometimes the decision to gather data around a problem yields the conclusion that aproblem was not actually real but a false perception and there is no fix to be had. Thismarks a good result, as it means we do not have to waste our valuable time pursuing amirage.

Collected data aids understanding and gives a base line performance measure of the asis process prerequisites to making process changes that actually address the rootcauses.

Without as is data it will be an act of faith to boast that any changes have improved asituation.

Collecting the right data is an issue (you could spend a lifetime gathering data) and thetools employed in Measure and Analyse are intended to ensure that data is efficientlyand effectively gathered. These include sampling, data collection planning, FMEA, toname a few.


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QUESTION 6A process is only as good as the people using it. How can a businessenforce the usage, when back doors are available (i.e. they buck thesystem)?To quote W Edwards Deming, the eminent quality guru:

Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure to meet customerexpectations are related to deficiencies in systems and

process . . . rather than the employee.

The role of management is to change the processrather than badger individuals to do better.

People will buck the process for a variety of reasons, not least of which is when theprocess is poor and they have found a more efficient and effective way of achieving thesame output, in which case that should be recognised and the process altered to suit.

Of course, if bucking the procedures leads to errors, then there is an issue. Why dopeople use the back door? It may be instilled behaviour through the way in which theyare measured (I know a bus driver who jumps red lights to keep to the scheduledtimetable because he is measured on bus stop arrival times!); it may be complexity, it maybe ignorance, it may be home time.

The trick is to make the process the preferred way of doing it (like lightening, people willfollow the path of least resistance), to measure the things you want as output (such asquality), to be sure that people understand what and why something is important andappreciate the process steps up and downstream of themselves and to make the processdifficult to get wrong by using an approach we call Poka Yoke.

Poka Yoke means mistake-proofing the process identify the steps that you mustcritically get right (a tool called Failure Modes and Effects Analysis can be helpful there)and (re)design the process so that it becomes very difficult if not impossible to get itwrong. There are simple, every day examples if you leave your car lights on, you get awarning buzzer; you cant fit a diesel fuel dispenser into an unleaded tank (or is it theother way around . . .); window envelopes eliminate the possibility of putting an addressed

letter or invoice into an envelope that is differently labeled (could be embarrassing at best,you might never get paid or perhaps sued at worst); mandatory fields on computer-basedforms that defy you to jump to the next page of an application.

The author of the question is right: processes especially transactionalprocesses falldown where people are involved. Part of solutions design, then, is to create processesthat minimise the errors and the impact of those errors. (It will have occurred to you thatpart of the solution is to automate the process and eliminate the people factor . . . valid insome cases, e.g. doing cheque runs, but impossible to achieve completely and this isthe realm of BPM.)

If you involve the process members themselves in the redesign, you will build commitment

for the new process procedure and they are less likely to use back doors. As TomPeters puts it with every pair of hands you get a free brain.


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QUESTION 7How do you measure how good your process is? What techniques andmethods will give/provide most effective results? (For example themortgage application form.)The (R)DMAICT methodology provides the route map for first understandingthe givenprocess under scrutiny and then changingthat process to attain a targeted or requiredimprovement.

The Recognise, Define and Measure phases provide a clear set of tools and approach tomeasuring how good your process is.

In the first instance it will have been Recognised that a particular process requires

attention and this is a pre-define phase in which projects are identified and selected forthe DMAICT treatment.

As part ofDefine there is a Voice of the Customer translation conducted, out of which weidentify the CTQs the Critical to Quality issues that a customer (the recipient of theoutput of the process) cares about and which we can measure.

We also draw a high-level process map, known as a SIPOC, to scope the process (i.e.where does it start and end) and so scope the project size.

If the process we were looking to improve was that of completing mortgage applicationforms without spoils for example, we would need to define who is the customer (is it the

approvals department, say, who accept/reject an application) and then we would focus onan aspect of the process, in this case we would have to decide where we felt the processbegan when a sales rep sat with an applicant and filled out the form? What was thatprocess from that point to the point where the form was deemed to be rejected? Whatcounts as a reject (i.e. as a spoilt application)? The CTQ definitions will give us a defectdefinition.

We can also estimate the size of the prize if spoilt papers requires that the process bedone again, returning to the applicant and refilling the form, say, then there will be anestimable cost of that first-time failure. If this happened five forms in a hundred, we coulddeclare the cost associated with that particular error and estimate the savings if wereduced the rejection rate.

The CTQs form the basis for the process measurements from which we can then assesshow good a process is. Each CTQ will relate to an output measure we call a Y and thevariation in the Y is a result of the variation in the process inputs and what we in theprocess do with those inputs. These we call Xs.


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CTQs, Ys and Xs

Voice of Customer Their key issues intheir speak

IssuesThe key issues in

our speak

CTQsThe key issues expressed ina way that can be measured

The process output or productmeasures relating to that CTQ

Y MeasuresX MeasuresX Measures

The process/product and inputmeasures that will influence Y

VoC

Translation

The Six Sigma Group

The Measure phase deals with establishing a data collection plan to collect data relatingto the Xs (and the Ys) and then proceeds to collect the data.

In the example, the Y might be number of unspoilt applications in a given time period.The Xs would include many things and are typically captured on a fishbone diagram:

FISHBONE DIAGRAMS

Effect YEffect YEnvironment

PeopleX

MaterialsMethods

Equipment

Put the Y as the

effect

What is it?

A simple tool that can be used to structure and group the causes

that lead to an effect

How to do it Use PEMME as prompts for identifying the potential Xs

X

X X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

The Six Sigma Group

Typical Xs might include: the sales rep, the time of day, the mode of interview (over thephone, face-to-face), mode of capture (pen and paper, computer . . .) and each of thesewill break down still further. Some of these will eventually be identified as the root causes

of the spoils the sources of variation.


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When we have collected data, we can calculate the capability of the process as it standsand we call this a Baseline process capability. In essence, we are looking at how well theprocess, with the variation in its output, fits the window of acceptable limits as defined by

the Customer (and is in fact the CTQ).

SIX SIGMA IN A NUTSHELL

On target and capable

Target Upper

Spec

Limit

Lower

Spec

Limit

On target and capable

Target Upper

Spec

Limit

Lower

Spec

Limit

Off target and not capable

Target Upper

Spec

Limit

Lower

Spec

Limit

Off target and not capable

Target Upper

Spec

Limit

Lower

Spec

Limit

MISSING THE WINDOW NOT ONLY DISILLUSIONSCUSTOMERS, IT COSTS THE BUSINESS MONEY

Six Sigma is the process improvementapproach used to move THIS scenario . . .

To this scenario . . .

. . . resulting in more satisfiedcustomers and reduced business costs

The Six Sigma Group

In Six Sigma we convert this measure of fit into a Sigma Value, which effectively isrepresenting a ratio of the area under the variation curve that fell outside of the customerslimits to that which met and satisfied the customer.

If, for example, out of one hundred mortgage application forms, 5% were found to have asufficient number of errors to be declared spoilt and so were rejected on first pass, wecould equate this to a Defects Per Million Opportunity (DPMO) count of 50,000, whichcan be equated statistically to a Sigma Value of3.14. If we improved the error rate to just2 in a 100, we would now have a Sigma Value of3.55 (a Sigma Value of6.0 would relateto only 3.4 errors in a million!)

(Note: I have simplified this somewhat and the statistically minded amongst you will knowthat there are complexities involved, depending on what we count as errors, long term andshort term data, continuous or discrete data and other factors).


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Below is an equivalence table that shows different ways of representing the processperformance.

MEASURING PROCESS PERFORMANCE

DPMO

6 3.4

5 233

4 6,2103 66,807

2 308,537

Sigma(Defects Per Million

Opportunities)YNA %

99.9997

99.977

99.379

93.32

69.20

When starting a Six Sigma project we need to knowwhere we are!!!

We use the above to BASELINE the process

(Short termProcessCapability)

Cp

2.0

1.667

1.333

1.0

0.67

(Z)(Long term

ProcessCapability)

Ppk

1.5

1.167

0.833

0.5

0.17

Process performance is measured by any of the below

The Six Sigma Group


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QUESTION 8What are your methods of training?In the Six Sigma Group we consider that Lean principles and Six Sigma ProcessImprovement are two parts of a continuous spectrum of business performanceimprovement (that also includes at one end Kaizen and Corrective Action and at the otherDesign for Six Sigma).

The Six Sigma Groups materials reflect this philosophy in that they incorporate both leanand the DMAICT tools and techniques under the one title ofSix Sigma. We feel that to dootherwise is to present the opportunity for confusion amongst practising companies. Wehave included a T Transfer phase in the DMAIC methodology. This is to create anovert team activity to ensure that maximum leverage from project work is gained throughthe proactive sharing of knowledge with all relevant parts of the organisation.

We focus our training on the business needs developing individuals skills is to serve themain objective, which is to accomplish successful improvement projects. We includechange management tools and skills to enable the Green Belt and Black Belt projectleaders to manage the change process.

Our training materials receive praise from our clients for their clarity andcomprehensiveness. We provide a complete hard copy of all necessary materials foreach delegate plus a CD copy. Minitab training is integrated into our standard 10-dayGreen Belt and 20-day Black Belt courses and full documentation is provided togetherwith a training version of Minitab software. The courses are modular and spread overseveral months (typically a module per month) and the training follows the projectmethodology, DMAICT. Delegates are expected to conduct a project from the outset andso benefit from some project advice each module.

Our people consist of experienced trainers and consultants, who have worked onimprovement projects and managed project teams in a variety of companies.

The standard of tuition and project application and support that we provide is high. Tomaintain a high quality of delivery we ensure that a team of tutor/consultants is allocatedto a contract. This enables us to get to knowyour organisation and encourages a teamrelationship to develop.

The delivery team consists of a programme manager and at least one othertutor/consultant. This is typically augmented by one or two other consultants appropriateto the module subject matter (e.g. we may use a soft skills expert for parts of the changemanagement content).

Six Sigma training is undertaken at different levels to suit the role that the individual willplay in an organisations improvement programme. The following diagram shows themain roles in a Six Sigma deployment.


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Team Member / Yellow BeltRequired for knowledge of processes and improvement suggestions. Time asneeded.

Green BeltIndividual from organisation that has been trained and who may spend 20% 30% of time on projects.

Black BeltIndividual with technical background and training who is full-time on projects.

Master Black Belt

Individual with technical background and training. Responsible for training andsupporting other belts to deliver business objectives. Full time.

ChampionUsually a director or senior manager, responsible for defining projects (generalarea of), monitoring of projects. Six Sigma trained and who may spend 20% oftime on projects.

SIX SIGMA ROLES

The Six Sigma Group

The training for each of these roles is described in detail on our website

(www.sixsigmagroup.co.uk) and is made up as follows:

Yellow Belt 3-days training in the basic tools and techniques. Green Belt 10-days training in the project methodology, tools and techniques

including Minitab to enable delegates to lead Green Belt projects on a part timebasis.

Black Belt 20-days training to full Black Belt level (advanced use of particularly thestatistical tools and Minitab) to enable delegates to undertake more complexprojects on a full time basis.

Master Black Belt not so much training as a development process to enablecoaching, training and advanced problem solving.

Champion overview training in the methodology and tools together with detailed

instruction on how to undertake a phase gate review, identify and select projectsand help manage the program infrastructure. This also includes training on coachingand mentoring skills.

The longer training programmes are broken down into modules to align with projectprogress.


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QUESTION 9[What are the] Steps to reduce variation e.g. review reasons forrework, complaint causes?Six sigma is targeted at reducing variation in processes and therefore the steps would bethe DMAICT methodology (define, measure, analyse, improve, control and transfer).Variation can only be reduced if the root causes are identified and understood in sufficientdetail to enable us to make the required changes to the process. Typically this will entailidentifying and quantifying process inputs and outputs and the relationships between themso that the critical inputs (known as Xs) can be addressed. Rework is often present inprocesses because errors occur and are discovered downstream but before the output isdelivered to the customer. Rework is just one manifestation of waste and can in itselflead to variation in output (such as lead time) and certainly will cause increased cost. SixSigma uses many lean tools within the methodology to address waste as part of theoverall drive for process improvement.


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QUESTION 10What level of realistic savings can most organisations expect to achievethrough the application of Six Sigma?Overall savings will depend on the size of the deployment e.g. how many Six Sigmaprojects you can run and the size of your resource in terms of trained Black Belts andGreen Belts. The level of maturity of your Six Sigma people will also have a bearing, forexample newly trained people will typically start with learner projects through which theycan apply the tools and methodology on less complex and pressured process problemswhich may deliver lower levels of benefits than can be achieved by experienced belts.Typical benefits delivered by mature belts would be as follows:

Black Belts (full time) 100k to 150k per project with the potential to run aroundfour projects concurrently

Green Belts (part time) around 75k per project usually run sequentially

So in order to estimate benefits you will need to consider the following:

The number and type of projects you can run The number of belts you can sustain on the programme The experience of the belts The transferability of benefits from project throughout the organisation

Finally, as with all improvement approaches where you are starting from will influenceyour potential i.e. What is your process baseline performance? How much low hanging

fruit is there? What levels of performance are you targeting?

There are many examples of Six Sigma benefits across a range of sectors and industries.Motorola and GE are the most famous Six Sigma companies and their accounts willdemonstrate significant benefits over the last 10 years. A summary of some companies isshown below.

The Six Sigma Group

Motorola turnaround in semiconductor manufacturing and financialperformance

Allied Signal Cost savings exceeding $800m annually

General Electric most admired company three years running, andconsistently increasing growth and profit. $2bn savings annually

Network Rail changing the culture to fact based decision making anddelivering significant impact on delays. Benefits delivered in 2005 27m, target in 2006 60m

Visteon $100,000 per project

EEV Started 2000 savings 700,000 on 100m turnover

Marconi Optical Components Started 2001 savings to date 250,000on 30m turnover

General Domestic Appliances Started 2000 savings 7.8m

DOES IT WORK?


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QUESTION 11Processes vary from the whole thing (the restaurant bill) to a highoverview of thousands of sub-processes (the phone that doesnt crash).Do you have a particular approach to grouping/layering the processesinto a manageable structure?You are correct in raising this as an important issue when looking at processes becauseunderstanding process architecture is fundamental to structuring:

How to go about your deployment Where to conduct Six Sigma projects Who is the customer

There are several approaches to undertaking this analysis but it usually starts with aprocess mapping or value stream mapping exercise with a cascading detail of inputs andoutputs until you arrive at the right level to address using Six Sigma. The diagram belowshows an example of how to drill down to the right process level using the Y cascade.

Apple Juice

The taste of apple juice (the Y) is influenced by a number

of potential Xs Type of apple ingredient

Amount of sugar added

Type of water used

Amount of ice added

If the apple ingredient is examined further the X variables

might include these potential Xs

Fresh apples

Liquid concentrate

Frozen concentrate

Powdered apple flavouring

Looking at fresh apples might include these potential Xs

Where the apples are grown

How the apples are transported

Age when squeezed

How apples are squeezed

THE Y CASCADE: FOCUSING THE PROBLEM

),,( 4,321 XXXXf=

Our Six Sigma project may focus

here; in which case Taste is our

Big Y and Age when squeezed

is our Little y

),,( 8,7651 fX =

),,( 12,111095 xxxxf=

The Six Sigma Group


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One of the main traps that people fall into when process mapping is to dive toinappropriate levels of detail too early and then lose sight of the end goal. Our advice isshown in the following diagram.

PROCESS MAPPING DETAIL

Phase Type of Process Map Purpose of Process Map

Define

Measure

Analyse

Improve

Control

High Level

Detailed

Detailed

Very Detailed

Detailed

Determine scope of

project by identifying

extent of process

Assists in identifying

input and process Xs

for data collection


Non-Value-Added

Bottlenecks etc

Models could be process


Measures for process control

As is

Could be

Should be

The Six Sigma Group


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QUESTION 12What have proved to be typical barriers to success?The following diagrams show why projects can fail and what Six Sigma does to overcomethe barriers.

The Six Sigma Group

WHY DO MOST IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS FAIL?

Why mostimprovement

efforts fail

5. Gaps inproblemsolving

approach

6. Lack criticalmass of

involvement

4. Wrongscope of effort

7. Treated likea Panacea

3. Weak resultsfocus

1. Poor change

strategy

2. Lack goalsand metrics

The Six Sigma Group

ADDRESSING THE PITFALLS

1. Poor changestrategy

2. Lack goalsand metrics

3. Weak resultsfocus

Effort not a priority of top

management

Lack of or poor diagnosis with

resulting weak case for change

Lack of quantifiable goal

Lack of long term stretch goal

Classic definition of defects

Focus on output measures

only

Not linked to what is rewarded

and recognized

Training without doing

Save the world projects

Doing studies for the shelf

CEO initial sponsor; Group management

leading efforts

Emphasizing proper assessment in

Recognize and Define phases

DPMO/sigma scale

3.4 DPMO stretch goal

Quality loss function

Focus on inputs and outputs

Link with org. bonus scheme

Must have project for training

4-month project (average)

Drive for implementation

Why most quality efforts fail To Succeed with Six Sigma


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The Six Sigma Group

ADDRESSING THE PITFALLS

4. Wrong scopeof effort

5 Gaps inproblemsolvingapproach

6. Lack of criticalmass ofinvolvement

Balancing sufficient breadth of

redesign with focused projects

Quality is QA or Mfg issue Quality is QA or Mfg issue

Inconsistent; lack rigor

Focus on process flow or process

steps but not both

Limited tools

Defects = blame

Withholding data and information

Poor awareness

All functions involved

Broad X-functional processes as well as

focused process steps

Rigorous and striving for consistency Rigorous and striving for consistency

Working to integrate statistical tools,

re-engineering, kaizen/lean tools etc. Working to integrate statistical tools,

re-engineering, kaizen/lean tools etc.

Use statistical tools Use statistical tools

Defects = learning

Encourage sharing and facilitate it

Must constantly work on awareness Must constantly work on awareness

Why most quality efforts fail To Succeed with Six Sigma

Suppliers not included and

purchasing narrowly defines cost Want to involve suppliers and reinforce

integrated view of costs

Proactive action discouraged

empowerment Proactive action discouraged

empowerment Management supports piloting, testing Management supports piloting, testing


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QUESTION 13At what level in the business should Six Sigma be aimed e.g. Board,management?Six Sigma works best when it is applied top down and bottom up. The commitment ofsenior management is an essential critical success factor that must be in place for SixSigma to succeed. A companywide infrastructure framework is also essential to ensurethat Belts and projects are managed properly to gain the maximum benefit andsustainability. However, Six Sigma projects are run by and with people within thebusiness, process owners and process teams. So in order to successfully undertake SixSigma their buy in is essential if benefits are to be delivered. (See alsoQuestion 2.)


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Frequently AskedQuestionsQUESTION 14Many people are uncomfortable with changes to their day-to-daywork. How do you prepare departments for rapidly changingprocesses?Books have been written on the subject of Change Management so I wont pretend to beable to answer it here. The Six Sigma toolset within our training provides a great basis tounderstand the soft issues involved in change management and how to go aboutimplementing change through people to ensure sustainability. One of my favouriteexamples of how to overcome resistance to change is covered in the diagram below. Inthis equation if any of D V or S is zero then R will always be greater than the product ofthe other elements making change very difficult. When you know which factor to addressthen there are strategies that will help you overcome them.

You can use the change equation to anticipate and managepeoples natural resistance to change

OVERCOME RESISTANCE TO CHANGE THE CHANGE EQUATION

The Six Sigma Group

D = Dissatisfaction felt with the present amongst those who need to change

V = Vision of the future needs to be attractive to the people who need to change

S = Confidence in taking the first Steps

R = Resistance or personal cost of changing

D V S R >xx D V S R >xx

six sigma guide

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