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Zero Defects - not quite - but
darn close!
The term six sigma is a statistical measure and a business
strategy. Statistically six sigma can be defined as less than 3.4 defects
per million opportunities i.e. plus or minus six standard deviations from
the mean. e.g. Near Perfection.
As a business strategy six sigma was introduced by Motorola
in the 1980's to standardise the way defects were counted, six sigma performance
became their five year goal and they set about achieving this through
their innovative six sigma programme.
Since then, the six sigma philosophy has been adopted widely by all types
and sizes of organisations throughout the world, most notably General
Electric, Allied
Signal, and Citibank.
The most common approach to six sigma is DMAIC:
| Define a suitable project for Six Sigma efforts
based on business objectives as well as customer needs. |
| Measurethe variables
of the process and count the defects. |
| Analyse the process to identify and validate root
causes of problems. |
| Improvethe process
by implementing and testing solutions. |
| Control the modified process to ensure the key
variables remain within the maximum acceptable ranges over time. |
The benefits of developing a six sigma programme
are numerous but simply: less defects, less waste and reduced costs leading
to increased customer satisfaction and stakeholder value.
However, as with all business improvement techniques a six sigma programme
is not something to be taken lightly. To achieve anywhere near six sigma
levels of performance requires long term vision, commitment, leadership,
management and training.
What
is Six Sigma
With businesses striving to focus on the customer and achieve competitiveness
through consistently reliable products and services, it should be no surprise
that the issue of six sigma quality is now attracting increasing attention
from manufacturers and service providers in the UK and beyond...
Professor
Tony Bendell Services Ltd
Six Sigma Enigma - Taking the Mystery
out of the Methodology
Six Sigma is an information-driven methodology for reducing waste, increasing
customer satisfaction, and improving processes, with a focus on financially
measurable results. This paper provides an excellent overview of six sigma...
MINITAB
Using
Your Brain
Six Sigma offers major opportunities for organisations to enhance
quality and competitiveness, but some foolish things are being done in
its name...
Professor
Tony Bendell and Dr Nick Corke Services LTD
Understanding Variation
Understanding variation is important if a process is to be improved. It
is critical that the two sources of variation, Common Causes and Special
Causes, are identified and handled using the appropriate tools...
Stephen
Halliday WDP Consulting
Six
Sigma Analysed
Six Sigma works - it delivers impressive reductions in cost and, potentially,
improvements in customer satisfaction by increasing performance and reducing
variation. But there is much more to six sigma than cost reduction...
Professor
Tony Bendell and Ted Marra Services LTD
Ford Motor Company - Driving
Down Defect Rates
It's a huge undertaking to deliver defect-free vehicles after
they have been transported thousands of miles by truck, rail, and ocean
carrier to dealerships around the world. When the people at Ford saw that
exported vehicles arrived at their final destination point with exterior
surface defects, they knew they had to take action. The cost of repairs
and the negative impact on customer satisfaction levels drove the company
to search for a solution to the problem. In June 2001, a Customer Driven
6-Sigma project team was selected to reduce exterior finish defects caused
by the transit protection film on exported vehicles. This case study leads
us through the project that secured massive cost savings whilst increasing
customer satisfaction...
MINITAB
Making
a Mountain out of a molehill
Six Sigma is a phrase that has not yet hit the
majority of businesses in Britain. Only 16%, according to an exit poll
at the Best Factories conference in Birmingham, thought that it was a
current manufacturing initiative (reported in Works Management July 2000).
However, in the USA it is heralded as the next step on the road to quality
improvement and business excellence...
Stephen
Halliday WDP Consulting
Achieving Total Customer Satisfaction Through Six Sigma
If practice makes perfect, then practicing the precepts of Six Sigma leads
to virtual perfection. Six Sigma is a concept for now and well into the
next century: It focuses on the customer, not the product! And while philosophers
debate and cynics doubt whether anything can be truly flawless, the Six
Sigma program developed by Motorola Corp. is winning converts because
it works. It brings about a cultural change in a company, a paradigm shift
toward expecting the highest quality, which then drives a passion for
continuous improvement by all players...
Six Sigma Candidate Profiles
If you are looking to implement Six Sigma or develop your current structure
within your organisation, there are a few simple rules which will help
narrow the field when looking for suitable candidates both from within
your own business and in the wider world according to Roland Lee, green
belt trained Six Sigma recruitment specialist at Jonathan Lee Recruitment...
Roland
Lee Jonathan Lee Recruitment
| Further reading |
|
What Is Six
Sigma?
Pete Pande, Larry Holpp |
Six Sigma
is a system for improving the quality of organizational processes,
and has become one of the most widely discussed and reported trends
in business since 1998. This volume is a brief, 98-page, "One-Minute
Manager"-style book for employees (not managers) describing
what Six Sigma is, why companies are implementing it, why employees
should care and how employees can make it a success in their organization.
Designed to be given out to every employee in an organization that
has decided to implement Six Sigma, the book is based on "The
Six Sigma Way" by Pande, Neuman and Cavanagh.
|
| Buy
UK |
Buy
US |
|
Six Sigma Way:
How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies Are Honing Their Performance
Pete Pande, Robert P. Neuman, Roland R. Cavanagh |
|
Six Sigma
is a data-driven management system with near-perfect performance
objectives that has been employed to notable acclaim at leading
corporations like General Electric. Its name is derived from the
eye-catching statistical target of operating with no more than 3.4
defects per one million chances, but Peter Pande, Robert Neuman
and Roland Cavanagh--associates in a firm providing Six Sigma implementation,
training and management development services--contend its principles
can be applied in businesses of all types to routinely reduce costs,
improve productivity, increase market share, and achieve other positive
results. The Six Sigma Way is their comprehensive self-help guide
to adapting and using the system under various conditions.
|
| Buy
UK |
Buy
US |
|
The Power of
Six Sigma: An Inspiring Tale of How Six Sigma Is Transforming the
Way We Work
Subir Chowdhury |
|
This
book is for the CEOs who write huge checks to consulting firms without
knowing what Six Sigma really is, or how it works. It's for the
strategists who have not yet fully grasped how improved quality
can beef up the bottom line. It's for the middle managers who have
to follow the boss's orders without believing in the programme.
But most of all, it's for the "rest of us": the line workers,
the support staff, and all the others in non-managerial positions,
who fear yet another programme coming down the road, and what it
might mean for our work and our jobs This book will help us all
-- and in the process, help our respective companies achieve the
goals only Six Sigma can help us reach.
|
| Buy
UK |
Buy
US |
|
Browse
more Six Sigma books
Links
Six
Sigma IQ - The six sigma arm of the International Quality & Productivity
Center (IQPC)
The leading independent provider of specialised international conferences
for the six sigma
community...
Adams Six Sigma
US dedicated six sigma site providing training, information, jobs, a forum
and live chat...
i Six Sigma
US dedicated six sigma site providing articles, tools, jobs and a forum...
International Society of
Six Sigma Professionals
US site - professional membership society dedicated to six sigma...
American Society
for Quality Six Sigma Forum
The American Society for Quality (ASQ) six sigma forum...
All Six Sigma
This site tries to focus on the practicalities of designing a six sigma
project and running a team to get results...
Six Sigma Training
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