Six Sigma Yellow Belt – Part I
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Six Sigma Yellow Belt – Part I
Index
Evolution of Six Sigma
What is Six Sigma?
Goals of Six Sigma
Six Sigma Approach
Why do organizations adopt Six Sigma?
Six Sigma –Mathematical Interpretation
Roles in Six Sigma Organization
Key Stakeholders
DMAIC Methodology
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Evolution of Six Sigma
The concept of Six Sigma evolved progressively over a period of two
decades in step with the concerns of the organizations worldwide for
quality, value-creation and customer delight. The phases of this
evolution can be identified as being concurrent with emphasis on some
of the critical business parameters. The timelines can be approximately
summarized as follows: Defect Elimination
Cost Reduction
Value Creation
1980 1990 2000
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What is Six Sigma?
Six Sigma is a data driven, customer focused, and result oriented
methodology which uses statistical tools and techniques to
systematically eliminate the defects and inefficiencies to improve
processes.
Six Sigma methodology has the following characteristics:
• Customer centric
• Process focused
• Data driven/ factual
• Breakthrough performance gains
• Structured improvement deployment
• Validation through key business results
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Goals of Six Sigma
Reduction in variation
Elimination of defects
Improvement in yield
Enhancement in customer satisfaction
Strengthening of the bottom line
Example: GE’s Medical System division (GEMS) used Six Sigma design
techniques to create a breakthrough in medical scanning technology. Patients
can now get a full body scan in half a minute, versus three minutes or more with
previous technology. Hospitals can increase their usage of the equipment and
achieve a lower cost per scan, as well.
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Six Sigma Approach
Six Sigma approach is to find out the root causes of the problem,
symbolically represented by Y = F(X).
Here, Y represents the problem occurring due to cause (s) X.
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Why do Organizations Adopt Six
Sigma?
Organizations embrace the Six Sigma way as this methodology
systematically and measurably enhances the value of the organizations
by making them competitive, quality-conscious, customer-centric, and
forward-looking. Some of the benefits that the organizations derive from
the Six Sigma initiatives are:
• Waste prevention
• Defect reduction
• Cycle time reduction
• Cost savings
• Market share improvement
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Six Sigma – Mathematical Interpretation
Sigma, represented by the Greek alphabet ‘σ’, stands for standard deviation
from the ‘mean’. ‘Six Sigma’ represents six standard deviations from the
mean*.
• USL - Upper specification limit for a
performance standard. Any deviation above
this is a defect.
• LSL – Lower specification limit for a
performance standard. Any deviation below
- 6σ + 6σ
this is a defect.
• Target – Ideally, this will be the middle
point between USL and LSL. LSL T USL
Mean: It is the simple average of data. * Details will be provided in our Six Sigma Black
Standard deviation: It is a measure of variability of data. Belt and Green Belt course.
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Six Sigma – Mathematical Interpretation
Process standard deviation (σ) should be so minimal that the process
performance should be able to scale up to 12σ (6 Sigma each on either
side of the origin on the X-axis) within the customer specification limits*.
* Details will be provided in our Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt course.
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Six Sigma – Mathematical Interpretation
Sigma
Defect % Resultant Situation for different industries
Level
7 hrs of no power supply/month
3 6.6807%
15 minutes of unsafe drinking water/month
500 in-correct surgical operations/week
4 0.6210%
20,000 in-correct medical prescriptions/year
1 wrong landing of airplane/month
5 0.0233%
200 of mails lost/day
1 minute of unsafe drinking water supply every seven month
1 hour of no power supply once in 34 years
6 0.00034% 1.7 in-correct surgical operations/week
68 in-correct medical prescriptions/year
10 mails lost/month
Please note: As the sigma level increases, the defect percentage decreases, which improves the
efficiency of the process.
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Roles in Six Sigma Organization
Executive Leadership
Champion
Master Black Belt
Black Belt
Green Belt
Project Team
Team Member Team Member Team Member
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Roles in Six Sigma Organization
Executive Leadership - Executive Leadership includes project
sponsors and process owners. They create the Six Sigma vision for an
organization. They are responsible for ensuring that everyone in the
organization understands the vision and all work with unity of purpose to
realize it.
Champions - Champions are selected by Executive Leadership or
Senior Champions. They organize and direct the initiation, deployment,
and implementation of Six Sigma throughout the organization. They
ensure that Six Sigma is properly implemented in all the business
activities of the organization. Champions can be either Deployment
Champions or Project Champions.
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Roles in Six Sigma
Master Black Belts - Master Black Belts are in-house experts selected
by Champions. They manage project selection and human resource
training with the help of Champions. They train Black Belts and Green
Belts in Six Sigma implementation.
Black Belts - Black Belts are those who apply the tools and techniques
and knowledge of Six Sigma principles to a given project of an
organization. They are responsible for accomplishing the tasks
entrusted to them by Champions and Executive leadership. They
dedicate all of their work hours on Six Sigma implementation.
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Roles in Six Sigma
Green Belts - The Green Belts are those employees of an organization
who implement Six Sigma while discharging their other assigned duties.
Green Belts have fewer Six Sigma responsibilities compared to Black
Belts and Master Black Belts. They dedicate only a part of their work
hours on Six Sigma implementation.
Project Team - They are the employees who work on the Six Sigma
project. It includes the Project Manager as well. Project team members
need not be a Green Belt or Black Belt.
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Key Stakeholders
Customers – they are very important stakeholder whose requirements
have to be considered.
Employees – they are the people involved in the six sigma initiative in
the organization.
Suppliers - they are people who provide inputs to the process.
End users – they are people who actually use the product or service.
End users can also be customers.
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DMAIC Overview
DMAIC is a data-driven Six Sigma methodology for improving existing
products and processes.
The DMAIC process should be used when an existing product or
process requires improvement to meet or exceed the customer’s
requirements. This initiative should be consistent with the business
goals of the organization.
Companies using DMAIC Methodology: GE, Motorola, etc.
• GE – Reduces invoice defects and disputes by 98%, speeds up
payment, and creates better productivity.
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DMAIC Overview
D – DEFINE the problem
M – MEASURE the outcome (Y) to determine the current process
performance (baseline) and validate the measurement system
A – ANALYZE, identify X’s (root causes of the defects, variation
sources)
I – IMPROVE the process by eliminating the defects
C – Control X’s for sustained performance
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Define*
Inputs Tools Outputs
Need for Six Organization Project Charter
Sigma project hierarchy Established
Executive High level process metrics
Management maps Problem
Sponsorship High level Pareto Statement
Core team charts Roles and
identified Idea generation Responsibilities
and categorization
tools
*The Inputs, Tools and Outputs are covered in more detail in our Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt course .
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Measure*
Inputs Tools Outputs
Project Charter Data Collection Tools Well-defined
Roles and and Techniques Processes
Responsibilities Detailed process Baseline Process
Problem Statement maps Capabilities
Stakeholder Cause and Effect Process parameters
Requirements Diagrams affecting CTQ
Established metrics Flowcharts Cost of Poor Quality
Brainstorming (COPQ)
Statistical Measurement
Distributions Systems
Probability
Gauge R&R study
*The Inputs, Tools and Outputs are covered in more detail in our Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt course .
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Analyze*
Inputs Tools Outputs
Well-defined Failure Mode and Important causes of
Processes Effects Analysis defects
Baseline Process Data Analysis Performance gaps
Capabilities Hypothesis Testing Special and common
Process parameters causes of variation
affecting CTQ Costs and benefits of
Cost of Poor Quality proposed solutions
(COPQ) Points of Failure
Measurement
Systems
*The Inputs, Tools and Outputs are covered in more detail in our Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt course .
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Improve*
Inputs Tools Outputs
Important causes of Solutions Design Costs and Benefits
defects Matrix of different solutions
Performance gaps Design of Process Capability of
Special and common Experiments proposed solutions
causes of variation Taguchi Robustness Selection of solutions
Costs and benefits of concepts for implementation
proposed solutions Response Surface Implementation Plan
Points of Failure Methodology
*The Inputs, Tools and Outputs are covered in more detail in our Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt course .
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Control*
Inputs Tools Outputs
Costs and Benefits Data Collection Implemented
of different solutions Methodology Solutions
Process Capability of Control Chart Revised
proposed solutions 5S Measurement
Selection of solutions Kaizen Systems
for implementation Kanban Control Plans for
Implementation Plan Total Productive Sustaining Benefits
Maintenance Improved Process
Cycle Time Capabilities
Reduction Lessons Learned
Measurement
System Reanalysis
*The Inputs, Tools and Outputs are covered in more detail in our Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt course .
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Define Phase
The Define Phase is used to identify the areas of improvement and
define goals for the improvement activity and ensures that resources are
in place for the improvement project.
The Define Phase will focus on a customer requirement and identify
project CTQ’s (Critical to quality). A CTQ is a product or service
characteristic that satisfies a customer requirement or process
requirement
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Measure Phase
The Measure Phase evaluates the process to determine the current
process performance, that is, the baseline.
It uses exploratory and descriptive data analysis to help in
understanding the data. The Measure phase allows you to understand
the present condition of the process before you attempt to identify
improvements. The inputs to the measure phase are the outputs of the
Define phase
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Analyze Phase
The Analyze phase is used to identify few vital causes from a list of
potential causes obtained from the Measure phase, actually affecting
project outcome using six sigma methodologies. The data collected in
the Measure phase are examined to determine a prioritized list of the
sources of variation.
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Improve Phase
The improve phase of Six Sigma is used to improve the system to do
things better, cheaper or more rapidly by finding optimum solution for Y,
implement the new approach and validate using statistical methods. The
main objective of the improve phase is to improve the process by
eliminating defects.
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Control Phase
The control phase of Six Sigma is used to develop and implement
process control plan to ensure sustenance of the improved process. The
major activities in the control phase are to validate measurement
system, verify process improvement and develop control mechanism.
So far we have identified the best settings for each of the vital ‘X’. The
key now is to ensure that the X’s don’t fluctuate away from the targeted
setting. Process control is an important tool to ensure that the Six Sigma
project delivers lasting benefits.
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