Six Sigma

Six Sigma Revolution

 Deming’s teaching about quality

 Quality initiatives:
 SPC, Just-in-time, TQM
 Motorola in 1980’s
 GE and AlliedSignal in 1990’s
 Radical Changes in products and services
 Companies:
 TI, ABB, DuPont, Ford, Dow Chemical, Johnson Controls,
BASF, American Express, Nokia, Toshiba,
What is Six Sigma?

 Vision
 Philosophy
 Company
Strategy
 Method
 Culture
 Tool
The Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
Inspection Warranty

Rework
Tangible Quality Costs
Scrap Rejects

Lost sales

Late delivery Lost Opportunities

Hidden Factory
More Setups

Expediting costs Engineering change orders

Lost Customer Loyalty

Long cycle times Excess inventory

 The Nature of the Process

On-target,
Off-Target
less variation Variation
x
xx x
xx x x x
x xx xxxx x
xxx x x
x x
x

Six Sigma goal identifies and controls process variations and targets.
Six Sigma methodology identifies processes that are off-target,
What is Six Sigma?
 Integrates
 Customer focus
 Breakthrough improvement
 Continuous improvement
 People Involvement

 Defines goals and performance metrics

that yield clear and measurable business
results.

 Applies statistical tools to achieve

breakthrough financial gains
Six Sigma Focus

 Meeting customer needs

 Rapid breakthrough improvement
 Process capability and improvement
 Positive and deep culture change
 Real financial results that impact the
bottom line
Structure / Roles

Executive Management

Champion

Master Black Belt

Black Belt Black Belt

Green Belt Green Belt Green Belt

Building the 6 Team
 Executive Management:
 Set meaningful goals and propel implementation of six sigma in the
organization
 Champion:
 Create general scope and set strategic direction of the projects and teams
 Drive project success by removing obstacles and allocating sufficient
resources
 Master Black Belt
 Consults, trains and mentors the local organization on Six Sigma
 Black Belt:
 Delivers successful projects (high corporate gains) using the Breakthrough
Strategy
 Green Belt:
 Delivers local projects (lower monetary gains) using the Breakthrough Strategy
 Other key members:
 Process Owner: maintains system improvements at project completion
 Process Sponsor: provides resources, time, money and direction of
your project
 Financial Analyst: verifies the financial gains of the project
 Team members: implement the steps for six sigma success
 What is Sigma?

  (sigma) - A Greek letter

 In statistics - the “standard” deviation
from the average/mean
 Assumption of Gaussian/Normal
distribution
 Six Sigma Methodology uses  to
define the capability of a process
 As the standard deviation of your
process decreases, the “sigma level” of
your process increases.
Normal/Gaussian Distribution

34.13% 34.13%

13.06% 13.06%
2.14% 2.14%
0.13% 0.13%

-3 2 1 m 1 2 3

68.26%
95.46%
99.73%

68.26% of the population is within +/-??1of the ?

Process Capability
6 process is to get acceptable results
through:
» Identification of variations
» Quantification of variations
» Elimination/control of variations

LSL USL

Defects Defects
Acceptable
Six Sigma - Goal

 Defects per
Million Opp.

1 691,462
2 308,537
3 66,807
4 6,210
5 233
6 3.4
 Six Sigma -- Practical Meaning
99% Good (3.8 Sigma) 99.99966% Good (6 Sigma)
16,000 lost articles of mail per hour 5.4 articles lost per hour

22,000 checks deducted from the 7.5 checks deducted from the
wrong bank account each hour wrong bank account each hour

500 incorrect surgical operations per 1.7 incorrect operations per week
week

2 unsafe plane landings per day at 1 unsafe plane landing every

O’Hare International Airport in Chicago four years

50 newborn babies dropped at birth 1 newborn baby dropped at

by doctors each day birth by doctors every 2 months

** Source: Six Sigma Revolution, George Eckes

Overall Approach
Define Define Problem

Measure Practical Problem

Analyze Statistical Problem

Improve Statistical Solution

Control Practical Solution

The Strategy
LSL USL

• Characterize
T

LSL USL

T
• Optimize

USL

•
LSL

Breakthrough
T
LSL’ USL’
The 6 Sigma Breakthrough
Method 1 Define project and scope
D Define 2 Establish process
3 Identify key input/outputs variables
Characterization Measure 4 Identify process capability/
M measurement system

5 Establish Product Capability

A Analyze 6 Identify Variation Sources

7 Screen Potential Causes

I Improve 8 Verify Variable Relationships
Optimization
9 Validate Measurement System
C Control 10 Implement Process Controls
Defining the
Process

 Team members who understand

the process

 Put together a flow of the process

 An common foundation for team
activity
 Identification of outputs for
measurement and capability studies
 Estimates of sigma levels at each
step
Project Scope

 Problem statement
 Goals/objectives for the team
 Measurable gains (monetary
terms)
 Milestone
 Customer needs and
requirements
Process Mapping

 What is process mapping?

 Graphical depiction of the ACTUAL
process

 What will the tool identify?

 All value added and non-value
added process steps
 Process inputs (X’s)
 Process or product outputs (Y’s)
 Data collection points
Basic Flowchart Symbols

Start / Stop Activity

Flow Line

Decision Point

A Connector A
 Basic Structure
No
Start Rework

Yes

A
• What are the steps to capture?
• What are the operational steps?
• What are the decision points?
• Where are the problem area?

Good
Finished
A goods

Bad

Scrap
Versions of a Process
What You Think It Is... Start

Start No
What It Actually Is... Yes

What You Would Like

Start
It To Be...
Preparing the Process Flowchart
 Team Effort
 Engineers
 Line Operators
 Line Supervisors
 Maintenance Technicians
 Inputs to Flowcharts
 Brainstorming
 Operator Manuals (SOP’s, AOP’s, etc.)
 Engineering Specifications
 Operator Experience
 5M’s and an E (Fishbone)
» Machine (Equipment), Method (Procedures), Measurement,
Materials, Manpower (People), Environment
Measurement Phase

 The input/output variables

 The capability of the
process
 The defects in the process
 Sigma level
Purpose of Measurement Phase

 Identify and define defects

 Identify key input variables (X’s)
and key output variables (Y’s)
 Document the existing process
 Establish a data collection system
for your X’s and Y’s if one does
not exist
 Evaluate measurement system for
each key output variable using
C&E, FMEA, etc.
The Importance of Defects
• Since Six-Sigma
focuses on
reducing defects, it
The final information are
is necessary that the results of years of
each project scientific studies and
definition clearly were often combined with
specifies the years of experience.
defect(s) that will be We must often configure
• Count the number
reduced the files for the final
report during the
of times the letter f
conference.
appears in the
following statement:

Six Sigma Revolution, George Eckes, pg 2

A simple test

 What was your answer?

The final information are the

results of years of scientific
studies and were often
combined with years of
experience. We must often
configure the files for the final
report during the conference.
What Causes Defects?
 Variation due to:
 Manufacturing processes
 Supplier (incoming) material
variation
 Unreasonably tight
specifications (beyond
customer needs)
 Unstable Parts and Materials
 Inadequate training
 Inadequate Design Margin
 Insufficient Process
Capability
How Do We Improve Capability
• Understand that the Outputs (Y’s) are determined by
Inputs (X’s).

Y = F (x1, x2, x3,…xn)

• If we know enough about our X’s we can accurately predict
Y without having to measure it.
• If we don’t know much about our X’s, then we have to
resort to inspection and test.
• If can control the X’s, then we reduce the variability in
Y, which decreases defects, and possibly,
eliminates/reduces inspection and test.
Data Collection Plan

What to Type of Type of Operational Data Sampling Baseline

measure measurement Data Definition Collection Six Sigma
Form(s)

Six Sigma Revolution, George Eckes, pg 72

Data Collection Data

 Type of Data
 Discrete
 Continuous
 Sampling
 Representative
 Random Sampling
Y-Axis

X-Axis
Metrics: What to measure?
Metrics

 Defects per million

opportunities (DPMO)
drives plant-wide
improvement
 Sigma level allows for
benchmarking within and
across companies
Calculating Sigma-Level

• Sigma level
• units: item produced or being serviced
• defect: event that does not meet the customer’s requirement
• opportunity: chance for a defect to occur

• Calculate Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO):

DPMO = Total # defects x 1,000,000

(# of Opportunities for Error) x (# of units)

• Go to a Sigma Chart and Estimate the Sigma Level

Six Sigma Revolution, George Eckes, pg 99

DPMO and Sigma Level
DPMO Sigma Level DPMO Sigma Level

1000000 -3.4 158655 2.5

999997 -3.0 66807 3.0

999968 -2.5 22750 3.5

999767 -2.0 6210 4.0

998650 -1.5 1350 4.5

993790 -1.0 233 5.0

977250 -0.5 32 5.5

933193 0.0 3.40 6.0

841345 0.5 0.29 6.5

691462 1.0 0.02 7.0

500000 1.5 0.00 7.5

308538 2.0 0.00 8.0

Tracking Trends in Metrics

Our objective is to track the trends in the Metrics to establish,

based on fact, our improvements. These metrics can be
productivity, defects, time, yield, etc.
Purpose of the Analysis Phase
 Establish baseline capability for key
output variables (potential and overall)
 Examine both the process and data for
analysis
 Determine and validate the root causation
of project problem
 To reduce the number of process input
variables (x’s) to a manageable number
 To determine the presence of and
potential elimination of uncontrolled
variables
Three Sigma Process
Centered
LSL USL

1.5 Sigma Shift

LSL USL
Three Sigma Process
Centered
LSL USL

1.5 Sigma Shift

LSL USL
Six Sigma Process
Centered
LSL USL

1.5 Sigma Shift

LSL USL
Analysis Tools

Analyze
Capabilities Hypothesis Testing

Multi-Vari ANOVA

Cause/Effect Root Cause

Histogram Pareto
Purpose of the Improvement
Phase
 Key variables are identified and
validated during this process .
 Look to eliminate, reduce or neutralize
the effects of the input or root cause.
 Design experiments to manipulate the
key input variables (X’s) to determine
their effect on the outputs (Y’s).
 Select the solution that impacts the
root cause the most.
Design of Experiment

• Full Factorials

• 2K Factorials

• Fractional Factorials
DOE Example

 Objective: To reduce consistency variation

in Y
 Output: Variation (Lower is Better)
 Full Factorial Inputs:
 RPM (Lo, Hi)
Main Effects Plot
 Speed (Lo, Hi) 16

 Time (Lo, Hi) 14

12

10

RPM Time Speed

Purpose of the Control Phase

 Develop and implement long-term

control methods to sustain the gains
identified
 Document the control plan with
specific roles identified
 Monitor long-term delivered capability
and performance
 Verify benefits and cost savings
Control Tools

Control

• Control Plan
• SPC
• Mistake
Proofing
• Automated
Control
Dynamics of Execution Strategy
40 - 50 Inputs

M Process Map/C&E 15 - 20 X’s

A Capability/Multi-Vari 8 - 10 X’s

I DOE 3-5 Critical

X’s

C Control Plan
Who needs Six Sigma?
Service

Mfg. Design

6
Method
QC Admin.

Sales Maint.

As long as there is a process that produces an output, we can apply the Six Sigma
Methodology. Every function has a customer and a deliverable.
Six Sigma Project Consideration
 Project is supportive of corporate objectives
 Project is focused on an ongoing process /
recurring events that is causing defects
 A 70% reduction in defects results
 Customer (internal or external) will see or feel
the result
 Takes 4-6 months to complete
 Little or no capital required
Possible Six Sigma Projects
 Low yield rate
 High operating costs
 High customer
failure/complaints
 High scrap/rework
 High inventory/WIP  Inaccurate information
 High maintenance costs  Missing information
 Supplier product quality  Poor process control
problems  Frequent set up requirements
 Low productivity  Long set up time
 Long cycle times  Unpredictable product
 Low machine utilization performance
Six Sigma Success
Visible top-down leadership and commitment

Education and training

Recognize and focus on customer needs

World-class quality

Establishing meaningful,
focused metrics

DMAIC - Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control