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Honeywell Aerospace Electronics System, Singapore -

Implementing Six Sigma Quality

Launched in April, the Insight Programme provides access through study missions to
best practice information in Singpaore organisations, based assessments done for
the various award schemes. Participants identify key learning points from the study
mission which they then translate into an action plan for impelmentation in their own
organisations.

By Mak May Yoke

Honeywell 1 is a US$254 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader,

serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control
technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; power
generation systems; specialty chemicals; fibers; plastics; and electronic and
advanced materials. In Asia Pacific, Honeywell operates its core businesses through
13 sales and service offices.

One of its business units, Aerospace Electronics System in Singapore, uses Six Sigma
as a best practice to improve processes in most of its operations. The organisation,
which has 150 employees, was set up in Singapore in 1983. It manufactures high
quality avionics and navigation equipment and systems. Its principal customers
include Cessna, Bell Helicopters, Raytheon, Learjet, Mooney Aircraft, Piper Aircraft,
FedEx and Singapore Aerospace.

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GE announced late October last year its intention to acquire Honeywell.

• What is Six Sigma?

• Implementing Six Sigma Plus
• Impact of Six Sigma Plus

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is an approach to quality improvement which lowers costs and increases
productivity and profits through statistical and problem-solving tools that brings
about breakthrough improvements with measurable impact on the bottom-line. The
tools are applied by trained practitioners known as Black Belts.

Sigma (s) is a measurement of quality which enables the determination of how

effectively defects and variations from processes are eliminated. The various sigma
levels are shown in Figure 1 as follows:

Defects per million Error-free rate opportunities

Two Sigma 308,537 69.2%

Three Sigma 66,807 93.3%

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Four Sigma 6,210 99.4%

Five Sigma 233 99.977%

Six Sigma 3.4 99.9997%

The processes in a Six Sigma-rated project operate at only 3.4 defects per million
opportunities, or 99.9997% error-free. This is equivalent to two seconds per week
without electricity, compared to an hour per week at Four Sigma (99.4%) and almost
seven hours monthly at 99% level of efficiency. For a process with 15 activities
operating at Four Sigma, the loss of quality at every stage will lead to only 91.4% of
the finished product being first quality the first time through. This translates to more
than 8% of rework or waste.

As Four Sigma means that mistakes occur about six times in every 1,000
opportunities, it is equivalent to an organisation sending out six incorrect invoices
out of every 1,000 transactions, or having six flaws in every 1,000 customer-critical
design elements before it is fully commercialised into a new product.

Customers demand a high level of quality when they buy critical products and
services. Hence, Six Sigma results in more delighted customers. As an organisation
approaches this level of performance, it improves its outcome measurements such as
customer satisfaction and financial performance.

Why Six Sigma Plus?

Six Sigma Plus is Honeywell's overall strategy to accelerate improvement in all

processes, products and services, and to reduce the cost of poor quality by
eliminating waste and reducing defects and variations. Six Sigma is already
understood worldwide as a measure of excellence. The "Plus" is derived from
Honeywell's Quality Value assessment process and expanded former AlliedSignal's
Six Sigma strategic tools.

Six Sigma Plus is viewed as a proven method to driven growth and productivity. It
also enables the company's E-Business strategy by identifying customer needs,
designing value propositions and developing appropriate business models.

The strategy requires that the organisation approach every improvement project with
the same logical method of DMAIC:

• Define the customer critical parameters

• Measure how the process performs
• Analyse causes of problems
• Improve the process to reduce defects and variations
• Control the process to ensure continued, improved performance.

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Implementing Six Sigma Plus

The tools and skills that help in the implementation of the DMAIC method include:

• Process mapping which helps to identify the order of events in producing a

product or service and compares the "ideal" work flow to what actually
happens.
• Failure mode and effect analysis which helps to identify likely process failures
and minimises their frequency.
• Measurement system evaluation which helps in the assessment of
measurement instruments to enable the better separation of important
process variations from measurement "noise".
• Statistical tests which assist in the separation of significant effects of variable
from random variation.
• Design of experiments which is used to identify and confirm cause and effect
relationships.
• Control plans which allow for the monitoring and controlling of processes to
maintain the gains that have been made.
• Quality function deployment which is a tool for defining what is important to
customers; it enables better anticipation and understanding of customer
needs.
• Activity based management to look at product and process costs in a
comprehensive and realistic way by examining the activities that create the
costs in the first place and hence allowing for better subsequent
management.
• Enterprise resource planning which uses special computer software to
integrate, accelerate and sustain seamless process improvements throughout
an organisation.
• Lean enterprise with skills to enhance the understanding of actions essential
to achieving customer satisfaction. These skills simplify and improve work
flow, help eliminate unnecessary tasks and reduce waste throughout a
process.

Honeywell's Six Sigma Plus incorporates new skills and tools, and broadens the
application of many existing tools. For example, it has added:

• A process methodology to enable the success of its E-Business value creation

strategy. Each element of that strategy uses the power of the Internet and
Six Sigma Plus processes to differentiate itself by creating more value for
customers.
• Another learning curriculum specifically geared to marketing and selling
processes to enable customer value creation and growth opportunities.
• The Honeywell Quality Value (HQV) assessment process, which is based on
the Malcolm Baldrige Award in the US. The assessment process focuses on
gaps and identifies opportunities for improvement.
• New skills and techniques for Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), a
productivity skill-set which enables permanent improvement in the overall
effectiveness of Honeywell's assets, be they equipment for production,
laboratories, buildings, business support or transportation.
• Broader applications for Activity Based Cost Management to analyse customer
profitability and target future costs for new product development.

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Honeywell is committed to providing every employee with at least 40 hours of ample

opportunities for continued learning annually. It believes that the learning and
application of Six Sigma Plus skills will lead to growth, improved productivity and
better business results. The implementation of Six Sigma Plus involves the
introduction of the Six Sigma concept and methodologies to employees at quarterly
presentations and the deployment of the Six Sigma plans. Honeywell is targeting for
the majority of employees to learn the "basics" of the Six Sigma Plus tools.

Employees who become skilled in Six Sigma Plus tools are certified to the following
core areas of proficiency:

• Green Belt - An individual with working knowledge of Six Sigma Plus

methodology and tools who has completed training and a project to drive
high-impact business results.
• Black Belt - A highly-skilled Six Sigma Plus expert who has completed four
weeks of classroom learning, and over the course of four to six months,
demonstrated mastery of tools through the completion of a major process
improvement project.
• Master Black Belt - A Six Sigma Plus expert who is highly skilled in the
methodologies of variation reduction. After a year-long project-based
certification programme, Master Black Belts train and mentor Black Belts, help
select and lead high-value projects, maintain the integrity of the Sigma
measurements, and develop and revise Six Sigma Plus learning materials.
• Lean Expert - An individual who has completed four weeks of Lean training
and one or more projects that have demonstrated significant, auditable
business results and the appropriate application of Six Sigma Plus Lean tools.
• Activity Based Management (ABM) expert - An individual who demonstrates
proficiency in Activity Based Management via a business application involving
product costing, process costing, or customer profitability analysis.
Certification involves attending an ABM training course, defining a meaningful
project, displaying knowledge of the ABM tools and using the data for key
decision making. ABM experts frequently link Six Sigma Plus tools to
projected and actual financial impacts.
• Activity Based Management (ABM) masters - An individual with the skills of an
expert and the ability to develop and deliver ABM learning courses.
Certification typically takes one year and involves demonstrating the use of
ABM data for multiple purposes with repeatable and sustainable results. ABM
Masters are proficient in the use of advanced cost management tools and
have the ability to tailor cost data and analysis to a business' vision and
strategy.
• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) expert - An individual who applies TPM
and reliability methodologies and tools to assist and/or lead teams in
optimising asset capacity-productivity at minimum life cycle cost. A TPM
expert is responsible for determining critical equipment and measuring its
overall effectiveness to enable growth and productivity through optimum
asset utilisation.
• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) master - An individual experienced in the
use of TPM and reliability tools and methodologies. The responsibilities include
assisting leadership in identifying high leverage asset improvement
opportunities; leading critical, high leverage improvement projects in a
business; and leading cultural paradigm shifts from reactive to proactive asset
management.

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Managers, supervisors and other professionals who control business processes are
expected to become certified at least to the Green Belt level by successfully applying
Six Sigma Plus tools to projects to improve company performance.

The effective usage of Six Sigma Plus requires an organisation to understand the
problems in its existing processes. Before any improvement project is done,
Honeywell maps out its processes to determine the inputs and outputs as well as the
critical elements within the processes. The outputs must meet customer
requirements; and suppliers are involved in providing feedback and understanding
the process.

Cross-trained employees form cross-functional teams to work on the problem areas

and identify control factors with relevant control plans. The teams make weekly
presentations to management and share their problems. The management team
assists them in setting priorities.

Every year, Honeywell sets stretch targets, which are communicated to both
employees and key suppliers. Key suppliers are brought into the loop to enable them
to understand how their performance affects the company; and Honeywell provides
them with Six Sigma training. Six Sigma Plus process improvements are applied to
almost every function within Honeywell and are not restricted to manufacturing
operations.

Impact of Six Sigma Plus

In the past, generic and low-end competencies such as the manufacture of printed
circuit boards were outsourced. With Six Sigma Plus, core competencies were
redefined and control plans established.

Presently, Aerospace Electronics System, Singapore focuses on core competencies

that are unique to itself, such as final assembly and test and final alignment. This
helped to stabilise the workforce for the organisation, which once experienced high
turnover for its front-end and low-skill jobs.

Waste has also been reduced from key business processes. For example, inspection,
which is considered as non-value added, has been eliminated. Instead, reliance on
operators' inspection (ROI) is practised and this has helped to increase the value-
added per employee.

In the past, all Honeywell Singapore's products were 100% inspected by a team from
the US. Currently, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) certifies its products for
manufacturing in Singapore; and 100% of its products are shipped direct to stock to
Kansas, US, saving $1 million in inspection cost. In addition, audits by FAA involve
only observations and not all processes need to be audited. This is achieved by
ensuring that the necessary quality procedures are built into the process.

Honeywell worked with its customers to initiate a programme whereby reliance is

placed on operators to conduct the inspection. Employees are trained to achieve
customer requirements and their skills are assessed through technical assessment

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and inspection and by analysing the processes. The results are then conveyed to the
customers. This has led to lower product returns and increased demand for its
product.

Six Sigma Plus in Honeywell has led to the following results:

• Increased Rolled Throughput Yield (RTY)

• Reduced variations in all processes
• Reduced cost of poor quality (COPQ)
• Deployment of skilled resources as change agents.

Six Sigma Plus knowledge is shared through the Quest for Excellence (QFE), an
annual Honeywell event designed to advance Six Sigma Plus continuous process
improvement learning and improve employees' skills through sharing of best
practices. Three Several QFEs are held each year - in the Americas, Europe (includes
Africa and the Middle East) and Asia Pacific- many different locations.

Many teams, representing a wide range of businesses and functions are short-listed
to participate after preliminary competitions. They then showcase their work to a
panel of judges, comprising senior Honeywell executives and customer
representatives, during the regional Quest events. Teams are evaluated on
outstanding business results, adherence to corporate values, the use of E-Business
and Six Sigma Plus tools. Winning teams from each of the regional Quest events are
later honoured at a special ceremony at the corporate headquarters in Morristown,
US.

Key learning points

Some of the key learning points are:

• Strong management commitment and support. Six Sigma Plus objectives are
tied to Honeywell's goals of accelerating growth and productivity and there is
structured allocation of resources to train employees.
• Well-structured approach and deployment process. Six Sigma Plus is
customised to drive financial and performance excellence and E-Business.
There is a focused approach with clear definition of roles and responsibilities
and the streamlining of processes focusing on core competencies. The focus is
on breakthrough processes, products and services. There is also the
systematic usage of various Six Sigma Plus tools directed at root cause
analysis and problem-solving and the certification of employees to the various
Six Sigma Plus competencies.
• Team-based approach. Employees are cross-trained and work in cross-
functional teams. Rewards and recognition are given on a team basis and Six
Sigma Plus results are celebrated.
• Sharing Six Sigma Plus knowledge. There is active knowledge sharing and
continuous learning among the employees on Six Sigma Plus. For example,
the QFE provides the forum for sharing best practices.

Reference: Honeywell International Inc, 2000, Six Sigma Plus at Honeywell.