Nonsense, go study Quality History

Sorry, Mr or Ms. Anonymous, but Six Sigma is a whole lot more than the conventional quality tools, haphazardly applied. You are correct in stating that none of the tools are NEW. Six Sigma however provides a roadmap, on how/when to use each tool. Conventional methods don’t do that. Furthermore (and most importantly) Six Sigma REQUIRES that projects actually affect the bottom line a significant amount. Conventional methods don’t require that. And in addition, Six Sigma requires accountability from the project leader. Furthermore, some (perhaps not all) Six Sigma training programs try to make the statistics simple, so that larger number of people can apply the methods.

A lot of people have the objections that you have. Bus my experience is that those that do haven’t been exposed to the philosophy. I really can’t blame the naysayers since they just don’t know. I do wish though they would keep their comments to themselves.

In a nutshell, here is what Six Sigma is all about:

Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach to process improvement aimed at the near-elimination of defects from every product, process, and transaction. The purpose of Six Sigma is to gain breakthrough knowledge on how to improve processes to do things BETTER, FASTER, and at LOWER COST. It can be used to improve every facet of business, from production, to human resources, to order entry, to technical support. Six Sigma can be used for any activity that is concerned with cost, timeliness, and quality of results. Unlike previous quality improvement efforts, Six Sigma is designed to provide tangible business results, cost savings that are directly traceable to the bottom line.

Jim,
Thanks for the nice comments. And feel free to use whatever you like.

Jim

P.S. Your e-mail address is not correct.

This is my first comment on the matter. I’m sitting here wondering what I’m missing after being in the military and being looking at Dr. Deming. Then I read this Six Sigma stuff and ask, what the heck is this. Now your answer sounded great, but it seems you did not mention Dr. Deming who preceeded or lead other peopkle on the wisdom behind total quality. What else can you share with me, and what have you studied and accomplished?

Thanks from me too, Jim, for the above description of Six Sigma.

I can feel the frustration from those who have been exposed to one quality system after another and don’t see anything new with Six Sigma. The architects of Six Sigma will tell you that the tools and concepts are nothing new, indeed, but that it is the system and ordering that are new, and a question of where the emphasis needs to be in a given situation.

When I was first introduced to TQM I was exposed to many useful concepts and tools, but there was no order or prescription for defining a problem (and the underlying process), measuring the performance, analyzing the gaps, improving, and controlling. But after having received the training on Six Sigma, passing the Black Belt certification exam and then leading projects, I became a strong believer in Six Sigma.

What good is quality if it doesn’t improve your bottom line? Six Sigma does not allow quality to become the “flavor of the month” quality initiative. It seeks to find better ways of doing things so that all stakeholders are pleased with the results (customers, shareholders, etc.).

Yes, Six Sigma has evolved from the work of Deming, Juran, and others into a more prescriptive roadmap on how to do things better, faster, quicker, etc.

Where does it all end? Fewer jobs, more stress, greater profits. I’m all for the corporate model but when is enough, enough.
Do you like the corporate-driven society now in place? Be honest with yourself. Longer commutes, lousy, segregated schools, little happiness found in “things.”
Time to change, gentlemen.
 
 
 

There are a lot of good questions raised in this thread – I like it.

Six Sigma new vs. not:  I think that it’s fair to say that the structure of application proposed by Six Sigma is at least kind of new – a lot of you probably have more experience than me, but my take on this is that these tools, which obviously existed before, could be and were used to the same ends by individuals with the wisdom and vision to do so.  Six Sigma makes that a formal structure.  Sometimes, I think that maybe that formal structure is carried too far.  “Traditional” Six Sigma is applied to manufacturing processes – that is the easiest application, and what most people think of, but certainly these tools and philosphies can be (and are) applied elsewhere as well.  Something I’d like to see emphasized more is flexibility.
Profits over people, etc;:  I think it’s great to see someone asking this question.  This has to do with our application of Six Sigma (or any quality tools or business processes/policies) – we choose these results, because they’re the ones that are most obviously necessary.  Modern society and business philosophy says that the primary responsibility of a business is to create good financial returns for it’s shareholders.  Well, sure.  And we do that – like applying Six Sigma to manufacturing processes, we work hard at improving the bottom line.  But, something that is not so obvious and is a harder sell is that businesses, like individuals and governements, have other obligations as well.  In the name of improving profits, a business is likely to only do nearly the minimum, what laws and “best practice” prescribe.  We need to also promote “good citizenship” for our companies – to take into account into our decision the future and the impact on society.  As quality professionals, you all have probably seen decisions taken that made you cringe – short terms gains at the expense of the long term.  “We’ll deal with that later” they say.  I think we need to promote “future thinking” and “sustainability”.  Instead of making stockholders rich next quarter or next year, let’s make sure that our company is still providing good value to the shareholder in 50 years – and that it’s a company they can be proud to own a part of.
Man, I should go into marketing…
Best Regards and Happy New Year to all.

SIX SIGMA DOES NOT EQUAL COMMONSENSE, HOW MANY OF YOU ‘GURUS’ HAVE READ ANYTHING BY DEMING, TAGUHCHI, CROSBY ETC. READ ON, THIS IS COMMONSENSE! 
Demings 14 points of management 

Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.
Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.
End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
Institute training on the job.
Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul as well as supervision of production workers.
Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.
Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
a Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.b Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
 

a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual merit rating and of management by objective.
 

Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.

Marco,
I understand where you are coming from based on some of my past experiences….my only comment to you would be that I am a Lean Sigma MBB who has read some of the work by the individuals that you have listed and that apparently, you have not worked with a good GB/BB/MBB.  Commonsense always comes into play regardless of whether you are following the DMAIC methodology or Deming’s 14 points.
Doug

This process was just brought to our company seven months ago.  We are now expected to save a few million per group, however, the individual groups have had no six sigma training.  We are a service industry with several departments within.  It was simple for the departments who produce the final product to identify and achieve savings, however when you got down to applying six sigma to the departments who support the production departments, the savings were slim, mostly because all savings had been accounted for by production.  This made it difficult for the support organization to find a fit for six sigma.  I equate this difficulty to holding a elementry school teacher accountable for saving the school a million per year.  She could save a little by purchasing students books and school supplies with out-of-pocket funds, but not much will be saved in modifying the way she teaches.  And if each year she is expected to increase that savings, 2 million next year and 3 million the year after that, eventually she will run out of methods to squeeze out more savings.  The majority of her savings are dependent on the school board making modifications.  And if the teacher spends most of the day trying to come up with more ideas for savings, she will soon be spending less time doing what’s more important, teaching.  What I am saying is that when it gets down to the person on the bottom of the deck, six sigma savings are limited.  Big companies are letting go of good people because of this.

Wow, great response to a 2000 thread. Took you five years to figure out the perfect response.

Hey Darth, leave the guy alone. He and I just bet who was going to win the 2000 baseball World Series. {I would have said ‘the 2000 American Presidental Election, but some may still dispute the outcome of that event.}

“How long, oh Lord, will ambitious people keep reshaping old concepts and trying to get famous thereby.”
Dear all,
I appreicate this statement above. Until the Lord Jesus intervene and turn the knolwdge to the wisemen into foolishness and backward things will be like that. He will come and judge according to every one’s work and the liers will be found out.
Thanks
Cyrus