Gosh, everyone is so testy – this is a technological resource folks – it would be nice to be just that, and not use it to make fun of someone who is reaching out for help. I don’t believe that they don’t want to do work. This forum is one of the NEW literacies. There is no reason why you can’t combine a new literacy with traditional…… I’m 34 years old and when my company rolled out the Six Sigma Quality Initiative and started talking about it, and coming up with various initiatives, I was also very confused, even AFTER reading about it. I found this book very informative: “Six Sigma for Everyone” by George Eckes. It’s very simply stated and explains the most basic (and advanced topics). But to help in the meantime….please do not copy and paste this into a paper, you’ll need to do your own research and reference appropriate copyrighted materials.
What is Six Sigma?: Six Sigma (6ó) is a statistical metric used to describe the quality of a process in a state of near perfection with only 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). It is a business philosophy that matches a companys basic strategies to the customers needs and expectations, and utilizes a project focused methodology resulting in significant financial gains for the company. Six Sigma is a team approach that combines technical leaders with advanced statistical knowledge and subject matter experts. In other words, Six Sigma is a powerful strategy for sustained success 1. 1: The Six Sigma Way, by Peter S. Pande, Robert P. Neuman, Roland R. Cavanagh, page 3.
§ Six Sigma is a state of near perfection that has been achieved by some companies for select processes. Attaining a Four Sigma performance level, especially in a service organization, is considered an achievement that will yield enormous benefits.
Origins of Six Sigma
The concept of Six Sigma originated in the 1980’s as Motorola, in response to the threat of it’s Japanese counterpart, got excited about the concept of zero defects. Further, the concept bloomed to Allied Signal and General Electric (GE), and as a result it became news in 1996 that GE had saved over $1 Billion of cost by using the Six Sigma methodology. In academics it is still in infancy. It is dependent on the management gurus for implementation. https://www.isixsigma.com/
DMAIC Overview: Six Sigma utilizes an improvement model which consists of 5 phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Through a well-defined project, the DMAIC methodology characterizes and optimizes processes to verify root causes and permanently fix issues.
DFSS Overview: Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a methodology that is used to create a new product, process or service. DFSS links the customer needs to the design details that achieve the desired performance. Although variations exist, phases are commonly referred to as Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify.
So, in a nutshell, you look at a particular process and you go through the Define, measure, and anlyze stages and only after that can you decide as a team if the process you are analyzing can be improved and fixed permanently or COMPLETELY replaced.
Solutions only come at the very end – that was the hardest concept for all of us to grasp. Everything can be measured and tracked statistically. You have different Belt levels that are involved in each project, Master Black Belt, Black Belt, Champions, Green Belt, Yellow Belt, and each has a different role in the process.
I hope that helps!!
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