How is six sigma defined ssd

Scorecards may be an area that the HR professional has experience designing. Scorecards are an accepted way to keep track of business success. A successful business scorecard would promote a balance between long- and short-term goals, between financial and non-financial measures, as well as between internal and external perspectives. Implementation of a scorecard system requires translating the vision into operational or financial goals. Although the HR professional may not have experience enterprise-wide, most are skilled at doing this type of measurement for their own departments.

This experience benefits projects that use a scorecard system because there must be a commitment to a vision, a process and a communication plan to share with employees. The same competencies that allow a project manager to improve the quality and bottom-line results may backfire without the necessary people skills.

At first, it may be difficult for an HR professional to get the training necessary to be successful. There may not be a budget or a desire to formally educate administrative support staff. However, if the HR professional is part of a Lean Six Sigma organization, the solid experience can be gained by offering to do projects that capitalize on HR expertise.

Offering to build a Lean Six Sigma competency model, for example, will not only serve to identify candidates with the right mix of technical and leadership skills, but it will also allow the HR professional to work closely with the project team. Other areas that are a natural fit for an HR professional trying to gain Lean Six Sigma experience include developing Lean Six Sigma retention strategies and creating job descriptions. Developing a rewards and recognition program, although promoted in Lean Six Sigma, rarely has a serious process owner.

It is important that the HR professional seek out opportunities to become involved. A proactive approach will be noticed and appreciated. Although Lean Six Sigma does require formal education and training, any hands-on experience will make the concepts easier to digest. HR professionals also have the opportunity to use skills such as change management and leadership development. Sometimes the HR professional is positioned better to function as a liaison with Sponsors, leaders, and Champions than the project manager.

He has written many influential books on those subjects still used in universities today. Juran designed a document called the Quality Planning Road Map. The steps in this road map are: 1. Identify customers. Determine customer needs. Translate customer needs into specifications. Develop product or service to meet customer needs. Optimize product or service features and characteristics.

Develop process capabilities to produce product or service. Prove process. Production process. The five laws of Lean Six Sigma are derived from a combination of the principles of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing which complement each other. The five laws have developed over a period of time and were originally found in Lean Manufacturing.

Here is a summary of the laws: Law 0: The Law of the Market — This is It is called the Zeroth law because the other laws are built on this foundation. Law 1: The Law of Flexibility - The velocity of any process is proportional to the flexibility of the process. Keep things off the to-do list. Law 4: The complexity of the service or product offering adds more non-value, costs and WIP than either poor quality low Sigma or slow speed un-Lean.

The Seven Deadly Diseases: 1. Lack of constancy of purpose. Emphasis on short-term profits. Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance. Mobility of management. Running a company on visible figures alone. Excessive medical costs. Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers who work for contingency fees.

History — 43 — Deming also mentioned additional diseases, referred to as A Lesser Category of Obstacles: 1. Neglect of long-range planning. Relying on technology to solve problems. Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions. Excuses such as "Our problems are different". What are the advantages of Lean Six Sigma? Which methodology is most concerned with eliminating waste? Which methodology is most concerned with eliminating defects?

List some of the tools used primarily in Six Sigma. List some tools used primarily in Lean. What industries use Lean Six Sigma? What projects benefit most from Lean Six Sigma? What company is primarily responsible for pioneering Lean Thinking?

Blanton Godfrey, Dr. Jones, What is Lean Six Sigma? Core Knowledge Part 2. Core Knowledge — 46 — Chapter4. In fact, the problem is barely stated before solutions are offered. Both the list of solutions, and the subsequent project plan does not happen until Phase Four, improve.

The theory being that a good list of solutions cannot be created without clearly defining the problem, creating a measurement system and then doing intense analysis. Chapter 4. These models also have various phases along with activities and tools. The plan—do—check—act cycle can be used for carrying out a change. In this case, just as a circle has no end, the PDCA cycle should be repeated again and again.

Since the DMAIC is considered a process improvement methodology, some Lean Six Sigma practitioners believe another model would be useful if a product or service was being designed from the ground up. Originally the purpose of DFSS models was to include specific design steps in the process.

Now many process improvement professionals see a benefit in including a specific Design Phase. In these cases, the DFSS model may actually not have a design component at all. In summary of this chapter some projects are simply projects that must be completed via a prescribed project plan.

What are some of the primary differences between the DMAIC model and typical problem solving techniques? Core Knowledge — 50 — Chapter5. Many concepts are introduced but all of the material in this chapter is covered more in-depth throughout the course of this book. If the most important thing is low expense and a quick turnaround quality will suffer and so forth. One of the core thoughts of Lean Six Sigma is that by following the right methodology and implementing problem-solving tools the customer does not have to make that choice.

All three are possible. Scope represents the services that will be provided. Scope creep is a consideration when the client is asking for more services than originally negotiated. Lean Six Sigma is also concerned about Chapter 5.

One of the reasons Lean Thinking and Six Sigma Methodology blend so well is that they both use the same analytical problem solving tools, sometimes referred to as the Seven Quality tools. These tools are discussed in the next chapter. No matter how well data is captured and explained strong people skills are still needed to pull a team together to solve problems.

Therefore, one item that is prevalent in almost all Lean Six Sigma material that is somewhat minimized in a book covering only Six Sigma is attention to things such as leadership, team building, and basic communication skills.

How the message is presented and articulated is also a concern in Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma promotes using the simplest graph and explanation when presenting the research and problem solutions. Six Sigma strives for defect reduction, process improvement and customer satisfaction and is based on "statistical thinking". There is an assumption that everything is a process and that all processes have inherent variability. The Six Sigma theory relies heavily on data to un- derstand the variability and drive process improvement decisions.

As mentioned earlier, it is all about reducing errors, mistakes or defects. Lean is concerned about waste. Waste is sometimes hidden. For example two employees may be doing the same job. However, Lean has a bevy of suggestions on how to reduce just common everyday waste that is identifiable. VSM is intended to help identify all forms of waste. VSM was originally a simple pencil and paper tool where only those processes and items that contributed directly to the product, service or project completion were recorded.

In project management this is similar to a critical path. VSM can also now have sophisticated graphics and symbols — similar to a process map. The easiest way to construct a VSM is to do a simple process map. Process mapping is covered later in this book but for now think of a process map as simply everything that needs to be done to accomplish the project.

The paperwork could be completed later. The idea behind a VSM is that the viewer can easily see where most of the resources should be dedicated. Lean Six Sigma is a systematic approach designed to eliminate defects and reduce waste. Once the model is understood much of Lean Six Sigma training is dedicated to understanding and implementing various tools to facilitate each phase of the model. In the beginning, Lean Six Sigma students are often obsessed with the actual meaning of Sigma.

In the context of Lean Six Sigma, however, it simply means reducing errors to 3. This is pretty close to zero defects. Lean Six Sigma Basics — 53 — Sigma levels examples are often related to how many times pizza is delivered on time.

When the above scale is considered, one million on-time deliveries of pizza may not seem to alarming. However, if a pilot is flying in an airplane or a patient is about to enter surgery these levels take on a different meaning. Statistically this is sometimes difficult to measure.

In fact, before metrics can be built to measure the CTQs, the Lean Six Sigma practitioner must first determine the significant factors. Many projects simply miss the boat by not meeting CTQs. Lean Six Sigma is concerned with process capability. What can the process really deliver? It is equally concerned with Measure Systems.

In fact, Lean Six Sigma is so concerned with measurement systems that there are analyses to measure the measure system. This may seem like overkill but if the measurement system is not accurately measuring, the entire process is flawed. Lean Six Sigma strives to stabilize processes. A consistent, predictable process can be improved. As mentioned earlier, in this book, one of the big pluses for Lean Six Sigma methodology is that it incorporates many popular management tools.

For example, brainstorming, flow charts and check lists are frequently utilized. Since Six Sigma is the dominant methodology Lean Six Sigma uses the following belts to denote area of expertise. These roles are discussed in-depth throughout the book: They can assist Green Belts in administrative duties. They participate in longer training sessions and must complete hands-on activities. Master Black Belts often also decide which projects will be selected for the program. Most recruiters use these designations to determine levels of expertise when filling a job posting.

Some companies use these designations whereas others use the titles only for recruiting purposes. Companies who have made the enterprise-wide commitment to Lean Six Sigma may offer internal training programs and encourage everyone to use the designations.

Other companies may hire a Black Belt as a Quality Engineer. Typically in a company that has adopted Lean Six Sigma, a Green Belt will have a regular position and use Lean Six Sigma methodology for projects within their department. Black Belts often are assigned to a specific department and Lean Six Sigma implementation is their principle duty. Many companies, who do not have an internal training program, do not have a Master Black Belt on staff.

Black Belts mentor and support Green Belts. Master Black Belts mentor Black Blacks and often are in charge of training for the company. Green Belts are sometimes preferred for contract work when the company has a clear idea of what project they want to implement.

One recent trend, with the variety of training available, is that recruiters look for candidates with external certifications achieved by attending vendor or university training. Internal company programs are often viewed as too specialized or customized to cover all the Lean Six Sigma basics.

The good news is that the statistics for Green Belt projects are often limited to basic statistics such as Mean, Median, Mode, Range, and Variance, also covered later in this book. Statistics studied by Black Belts are often performed via statistical packages or by using templates. Whereas it is helpful that the statistical concept is understood, the computer or the template does all the heavy lifting.

The DMAIC model can actually be implemented by using very little math or statistical tools so a lack of statistical or mathematical knowledge should not keep the Lean Six Sigma practitioner from getting started.

What are the advantages of blending Six Sigma and Lean? What are the advantages to understanding basic project management when considering implementing Lean Six Sigma? Explain the various martial arts designations for Lean Six Sigma 6. What is the advantage to being externally certified by a vendor as opposed to attending an internal program? What are some examples of waste? What is the purpose of a value stream map? What are CTQs and why are they important? How would you get a CTQ?

Evans and William M. Chapter 6. Analytical Problem Solving Tools — 57 — Chapter6. Analytical Problem Solving Tools The following tools are known by several different names. The generic term is Analytical Problem Solving tools however the most popular name is still the 7 Tools of Quality. Now because the term Quality also encompasses cost and time considerations they have also gained the reputation as the most popular process improvement tools.

For those interested in trying out these tools, the American Society of Quality offers free templates on line for these tools and others. Go to www. It is interesting to note that although many people have received credit for creating these tools and certainly Walter Shewhart, Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran heavily promoted their use, it was actually Kaoru Ishikawa who popularized most of the toolset.

These seven tools, when used together, form a very powerful tool kit. Core Knowledge — 58 — Flowcharting No one claims responsibility for being the founder of the flowchart.

Many tools can be traced back to the individual who created the tool but this is not true for flowcharts. A flowchart can be customized to fit any need or purpose. Flowcharts are individualized unique quality improvement tools. It reflects the sequence of events. A flowchart is a blueprint.

There are several advantages to flowcharting. In the Measure Phase, flowcharts are often used to study or identify variations that can be studied and measured. In the Analyze Phase, flowcharting is a way to reason through the steps in a process — what would happen if a step was removed?

To be effective and useful, flowcharts should not be complicated. Here an example of a simple flowchart. Analytical Problem Solving Tools — 59 — Figure 6.

Flowchart Figure 6. A check sheet is a list of things that need to be accomplished similar to a to-do list or can be used to collect data. Core Knowledge — 60 — Sometimes a check sheet is used as a Toll Gate, a way of checking that things are completed at the end of each phase.

Check sheets allow data to be collected in an easy, systematic, and organized manner. Opportunities for process improvements are based on information obtained from the data collected in the process. Check sheets are easy to understand, however, the collected data needs to be accurate and relevant to the quality problem being analyzed. Information has to be accurate. Additionally, it is not enough to just know the problem, you'll also determine the goal. The Analyze phase is all about establishing verified drivers.

In the Six Sigma methodology, Analyze uses statistics and higher order analytics to discover the fact-based relationship between the your process performance and the x's in other words, what are the root causes or drivers of your improvement effort. Ultimately, you must establish a hypothesis for your improvement solutions. The goal of the Improve phase is Both of these documents refer to conditions and thoughts about business entities in general. Joseph Juran Joseph M. This book is a textbook that is still used as foundational material in most quality engineering programs.

His work in quality contributed to both Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. He created the Pareto principle, also known as the rule. This rules states that 80 percent of consequences stem from 20 percent of causes. Today managers use the Pareto principle to help them separate what Mr.

During his tenure, Baldrige played a major role in bring quality concepts to the government. Baldrige's award-winning managerial excellence contributed to long-term improvement in economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in government.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of established the Baldrige award which is given annually to companies showing the best quality approach and process improvement. Many of the basic criteria established for the award are built into the Lean Six Sigma process. He also created Design of Experiment screening and factorial analysis models. The Theory of Constraints or Constraint Management states that we know before beginning a project that constraints will be contained within the process.

Goldratt gives direction and ideas on how to handle those constraints. Kaoru Ishikawa Kaoru Ishikawa wanted to change the way people think about work.

He urged managers to resist becoming content with merely improving a product's quality, insisting that quality improvement can always go one step further. He is best known for the Ishikawa diagram, a popular fishbone chart used in process improvement and his thoughts that the job of quality belonged to everyone.

Joseph Juran also supported this view. Ishikawa also showed the importance of the seven quality tools: fishbone Ishikawa diagram , control chart, run chart, histogram, scatter diagram, Pareto chart, and flowchart.

Additionally, Ishikawa explored the concept of quality circles. In all quality efforts the concept of always making things better, faster and more cost-effective continuous improvement is key to success. Quality Impact Lean Six Sigma is a mistake-proofing program that believes prevention is always better than detection and is a primary belief in securing process improvement.

Additionally recognizing all inputs and outputs and how the inputs ultimately impact each output is a constant consideration. How the inputs and outputs impact the customer is constantly assessed and reassessed. Better is another word for quality. Quality always comes with a cost. Faster which also means more efficient, can only be achieved by eliminating or reducing a step in the process.

Cost effectiveness relates to profit, savings or cost avoidance. A project that does not have the opportunity to make things better, faster or more cost-effective may simply not be a process improvement project. There are a number of methods used to measure process improvement. The most popular is return on investment. There are a number of formulas available to calculate both savings and profit. Many industries like to use the Balance Scorecard technique.

This technique measures improvement in the area of finance, process, training and customer impact. In other words, what if we did not make this improvement?

Would there be a ramification or penalty to pay? Industry benchmarks and metrics are also an effective way to measure both the as-is state and the actual process improvement, once it is realized. Each phase of the model has specific steps to be followed. In Sort, the first pass, all items that are obviously bad, broken or not useful are discarded. In the Set-In-Order phase sometimes referred to as Straighten, items are place in piles or buckets according to pre-set criteria.

For example: by colors, by seasons, by what items are used first, etc. Shine means cleaning each pile of items but the purpose is to identify even more items that may be discarded. Standardize is developing a system of how to handle the various piles of items that have now been designated worthy to keep.

Finally, the Sustain phase, a system is developed and rolled out to keep everything in order. Strengths and weakness can be thought of as pros and cons. A diagram that determines the pros and cons is called a Force Field Analysis. The SWOT diagram takes on additional factors such as threats to the project, or risks as well as opportunities, or possibilities.