Six Sigma and Project Management
Project Management in Business and Technology, Section 02
Introduction
“Sigma” is a symbol for a unit of measure which measures how much a process deviates from perfection. With the increase in demand for quality products/services, several organizations look for ways to improve their performance to meet customer’s expectations. Six Sigma is considered to be an approach which blends the components of quality management and business process re-engineering. Six Sigma’s aim is to increase the efficiency and remove waste, thereby increasing the customer satisfaction. There are many myths about Six Sigma:
a) It’s only concerned with reducing defects
b) It is a process for production
c) It can’t be applied to engineering activities
d) It is just a training process
e) It is a new concept
History of Six Sigma
Since 1920’s the term ‘sigma’ is used by mathematician’s measurement unit in product quality measurement. In mid-1980’s, engineers at Motorola Inc. coined the term Six Sigma which they used it informally as an in-house initiative to increase the quality for reducing the defects in the production process. Initially the engineers measured the defects in terms of thousands which gradually increased to ‘defects per million’. This prompted the use of ‘Six Sigma’ technology and idea of branding Six Sigma. A company is Six Sigma certified if it could limit its flaws up to 3.4 defects per million.
In 1991, Motorola introduced his first
Originally, Six Sigma was designed for control of defects and was part of total quality management (TQM) (Gupta, 2003). Since its creation, however, it has gone well beyond what it was originally. It is much more of a methodology now, and used to address and handle the variations that are seen in processes. These variations can cause defects, and that makes them unacceptable deviations that stray too far from the mean. When the variations can be managed systematically, the defects will be largely eliminated from any product (Gupta, 2003; Whalen, 2002; Witt, 2002). Because of that, the Six Sigma objective is to provide performance, value, and reliability to every end user or customer on a level that is world-class. Through the years it has gotten much better at meeting that objective, and more companies have began adopting it. One such company is Cessna. The company makes airplanes and airplane parts, and its name is almost synonymous with small, personal aircraft.
Six Sigma is a business metrics that seeks to identify and eliminate causes of errors or defects as well as failures in business processes by focusing on output that are critical to customers (De Feo, Barnard 2004). It is also a measure of quality that strives to eliminate defects using the application of statistical methods. In this case, a defect is defined as anything that could lead to customer dissatisfaction. Six Sigma’s statistical quality control is the method used to measure variability in a product for evaluation and corrective actions. When the product metrics exceeds the bounds of acceptability, based on statistical inference, the product can be rejected with reasonable assurance that does not meet requirement. It aims to identify and eliminate waste in order to increase speed and flow from start to finish. It also identifies the critical steps, and deleting those not required or nonessential. There are so many metrics process in today’s business industries but the metrics that Six Sigma’s statistical thinking can also be defined as a thought process. In which it recognize the variation is all around us and present in everything we do. The Six Sigma’s interconnected processes and identifying, characterizing, quantifying, controlling and reducing variation provide opportunities for improvement within any organizations or firms. That is to say,
Sigma is the standard deviation (reasonable, institutionalized figure from the mean acknowledgment level), and when the deliberate number of deviations past the mean resilience breaking point is six, you are scarcely creating quality items. Basically, this implies that in the event that you discovered six imperfections in your items, you are near to low quality creation. Regardless of its exploratory methodology towards quality change, there are reactions against Six Sigma. The most vocal one is the perspective that there is nothing but the same old thing new around Six Sigma as it impersonates effectively existing and demonstrated strategies. To a certain degree, this contention has some validity. In any case, advocates of Six Sigma accept that the length of 6 sigma accomplishes more unsurprising results with far lower exertion; there is no damage in tolerating and actualizing it. Reactions in any case, what Six Sigma does is apply deliberate endeavors at using existing strategies with new methodologies Information Retrieved from:
The concept of Six Sigma was developed in the early 1980’s at Motorola Corporation (Harry and Schroeder, 2000). Six Sigma can be defined as a statistical measure of the performance of a process or product (Kumi et. al., 2006). It is used as a quality control mechanism, which seeks to reduce defects or variations in a process to 3.4 per million opportunities thereby optimizing output and increasing customer satisfaction (Sambhe, 2012). Sigma is representing the standard deviation, a unit of measurement that designates the distribution or spread about the mean of a process (Six Sigma Academy, 2002). In addition, the Six Sigma uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of fact, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing improving, and reinventing business processes (Pande, P., et. al. 2000). The Six Sigma methodology uses statistical tools to identify the factors that matter most for improving the quality of processes and generating bottom-line results. The Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure,
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The basic principle of improvement by the processes of Six Sigma methodology is by the reduction of diffusion. The six sigma approach aims to reduce defect levels to only a few parts per million for an organization's key products and processes. The Six Sigma philosophy is based on the fact that all processes from design, through to manufacturing and to services provided to customers, display aberrances, which may result in product errors that cost time and money. These errors are variations of processes that can be reduced by various methods in order for the real cause of the problem to be systematically identified and
Forest Hills is a school where people want to fit in. Although when everyone wants to fit in, everyone tends to look alike. When someone wants to express themselves by looking or dressing differently, they may think they are being looked at differently because they don’t “fit in.” At Forest Hills, there really isn’t much diversity or self expression because almost everyone looks the same and keeps up with the trends that are in. Instead of people immediately reacting to someone that looks different, everyone should learn to embrace the fact that not everyone is the same and one person’s idea of perfection might be different from another’s idea. I think everyone should seize the face that everyone is different instead of working so hard to
1. Six Sigma is a management philosophy that sets objectives, collects data and analyzes results as a way to remove wasted expenses from its processes and help reduce the number of defective products produced. Six Sigma uses quality measures to strive for near perfection by eliminating errors and variables.
Six Sigma aims to establish the causes of errors, measures those errors, and assess them so that they can be minimized. It has five types of examination that aids to solve problems when utilized. These analysis steps include define, measure, analyze, improve and control. The sigma letter is a character that is occasionally used by statisticians to define the variability of any method, particularly the extent of uncertainty with the outcome. There is a big evidence of proof that the use of this process might lead to an enormous minimization of errors in manufacturing, healthcare or any service that is related to the customer. Moreover, the bigger the sigma the fewer the errors permitted. The goal of sigma converts into a maximum of 3.4 defects per every million opportunities, methods, events, proving that it can be used to solve any problem that any product or service fails to meet client’s needs and requirements (Arthur, 2011).
One of such strategy is the implementation of Six Sigma methodology in the organization. Six Sigma is a methodology that combines the gradual and continuous improvement with radical redesign. The process of Six Sigma begins by measuring the statistical variability within a process. This means that the causes of error can only be determined if you understand the critical requirement of either the internal or external customer. Six Sigma processes are designed to reduce process variability. Six Sigma helps the organization to achieve improved process flows and better
Six Sigma simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in any process. In another meaning Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services.
Six Sigma is a methodology used to improve business processes by utilizing statistical analysis rather than guesswork. This proven approach has been implemented within a myriad of industries to achieve hard and soft money savings, while increasing customer satisfaction. 6Sigma.us is at the forefront of Six Sigma certification and consulting services.
This led people to look for techniques to reduce variations in any process. To resolve issues related to this problem, a quality parameter called SIX SIGMA was invented. Six Sigma had its origin as a measurement standard relating to the concept of normal curve by Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 – 1855). Walter Shewhart established that the process needs either a correction or new design if the deviations were more than three sigma levels from the mean. However, the credit of coining the term Six Sigma was given to Bill Smith (Engineer at Motorola) in early and mid-1980s. Motorola earlier used to measure the defects in thousands of opportunities, later developed a much better standard of defects per million opportunities. Six Sigma is achieved when the process produces no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. By using techniques that Six Sigma methodology had, the variations in manufacturing a product went down, reducing the number of defects in total manufactured products. As a consequence of implementing Six Sigma, Motorola made an estimated profit of $16 Billion. Many other companies started to implement Six Sigma in their company and have reached to the maximum potential.
Six Sigma has two different focuses which includes Management and technical [1]. The Management focus deals with Project metrics, identifying goals, approving/selecting projects and selecting the workforce on the project [1]. The technical focus primarily deals with minimizing the variation and improving process performance. Six Sigma predominantly depends on the management team inorder to complete the assigned projects in timely manner and to ascertain meeting specific objectives. The Business improvement involves five different stages. Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Six Sigma gives at most importance to detailed results at the bottomline and predict the impact on the Business environment before the Project is approved. The four significant aspects of Six Sigma are customer satisfaction, understanding of the Process, critical decision – making and Business results. Six Sigma is advantageous for companies that rely on bottom-line results and minimizing the number of defects in the Production process. Six Sigma serves as the common technique or mode in order to measure quality gains of different organizations and also to compare one
Definition of Six SigmaSix Sigma is not a mere methodology or a quality tool. It is a philosophy i.e. a systematic way of thinking to solve quality problems. Six sigma involves