What is Six Sigma?
Everyone asks this question What is Six Sigma? If you were also having the question in mind, then this how we answer What is Six Sigma?
A Data Driven Management Framework
Six Sigma is a management framework that has evolved from a focus on process improvement using statistical tools to a comprehensive framework for managing a business. The results that world-class companies such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell, Motorola, and many others have accomplished speak for themselves. Six Sigma has become a synonym for improving quality, reducing cost, improving customer loyalty, and achieving bottom-line results.
A World Class Management system using DMAIC
In its fullest form, Six Sigma is a world-class management system for driving, achieving, and sustaining breakthrough improvements in every part of an organization. Through structured planning, installation of a deployment infrastructure, and systematic DMAIC project implementation, an organization leverages Six Sigma to achieve its most important business objectives. DMAIC is the five phase Six Sigma problem solving process that will be described here DMAIC
Creates only 3.4 defects per million opportunities
Essentially, Six Sigma is about improving processes, or the way work gets done in an organization. If you operate your processes at “Six Sigma quality,” then you commit “no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities for defects.” This means you have to operate your processes correctly the first time 99.9997 percent of the time!
An Example
Let look at the same example in terms of the variation happening in the process because of which rejects are getting produced that are not meeting the customer’s specification limits.
After Six Sigma is implemented on the same process the focus is brought in on reducing the variation. As a result, the process variation is brought under control and the number of rejects / defects not meeting the customers’ specification limits are reduced. However since the process is not streamlined, still the full advantage of Six Sigma cannot be reaped. The picture below shows the advantage of implementation of Six Sigma on the process.
Six Sigma is a vision, a philosophy, a management system, a scientific methodology, and a performance-improvement tool box
In its totality, Six Sigma is a vision, a philosophy, a management system, a scientific methodology, and a performance-improvement tool box.
The vision of Six Sigma is to delight customers by delivering world-class products and services through achieving the highest levels of performance in everything you do.
The scientific methodology of Six Sigma is Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC), and it is the approach that everyone follows in solving specific performance problems and making specific performance improvements.
