About Six Sigma

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2008-05-26T13:25:00.001+07:00

Six Sigma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Growing article, with links to many related topics. [Wikipedia]
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Six Sigma - What is Six Sigma?
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General Electric : Our Company : What is Six Sigma?
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Statisticstical Definitions

2008-05-26T11:50:00.002+07:00

Statistics: Collection of methods for planning experiments, obtaining data, and then organizing, summarizing, presenting, analyzing, interpreting, and drawing conclusions.
Variable: Characteristic or attribute that can assume different values
Random Variable: A variable whose values are determined by chance.
Population: All subjects possessing a common characteristic that is being studied.
Census: The collection of data from every element in a population.
Sample: A subgroup or subset of the population.
Parameter: Characteristic or measure obtained from a population.
Statistic (not to be confused with Statistics): Characteristic or measure obtained from a sample.
Descriptive Statistics: Collection, organization, summarization, and presentation of data.
Inferential Statistics: Generalizing from samples to populations using probabilities. Performing hypothesis testing, determining relationships between variables, and making predictions.
Qualitative Variables (Data): Variables (data) which assume non-numerical values.
Quantitative Variables (Data): Variables (data) which assume numerical values.
Discrete Variables (Data)
Variables (data) which assume a finite or countable number of possible values. Usually obtained by counting.
Continuous Variables (Data): Variables (data) which assume an infinite number of possible values. Usually obtained by measurement.
Nominal Level: Level of measurement which classifies data into mutually exclusive, all inclusive categories in which no order or ranking can be imposed on the data.
Ordinal Level: Level of measurement which classifies data into categories that can be ranked. Differences between the ranks do not exist.
Interval Level: Level of measurement which classifies data that can be ranked and differences are meaningful. However, there is no meaningful zero, so ratios are meaningless.
Ratio Level: Level of measurement which classifies data that can be ranked, differences are meaningful, and there is a true zero. True ratios exist between the different units of measure.
Random Sampling: Sampling in which the data is collected using chance methods or random numbers.
Systematic Sampling: Sampling in which data is obtained by selecting every kth object.
Convenience Sampling: Sampling in which data that is readily available is used.
Stratified Sampling: Sampling in which the population is divided into groups (called strata) according to some characteristic. Each of these strata is then sampled using one of the other sampling techniques.
Cluster Sampling: Sampling in which the population is divided into groups (usually geographically). Some of these groups are randomly selected, and then all of the elements in those groups are selected.
Self-Selected Survey: Sampling in which the respondents themselves decide whether or not to be included.
Observational Study: A study in which the subjects are observed and studied, but no attempt is made to manipulate or modify the subjects.
Experiment: A study in which a treatment is applied, and then its effects on the subjects are studied.
Sampling Error: The difference between the sample result and the true population result that occurs because of chance variation.
Non-sampling Error: An error that occurs because sample data is incorrectly collected, recorded, or analyzed.

Introduction of Statistics

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Population vs Sample
The population includes all objects of interest whereas the sample is only a portion of the population. Parameters are associated with populations and statistics with samples. Parameters are usually denoted using Greek letters (mu, sigma) while statistics are usually denoted using Roman letters (x, s).

There are several reasons why we don't work with populations. They are usually large, and it is often impossible to get data for every object we're studying. Sampling does not usually occur without cost, and the more items surveyed, the larger the cost.

We compute statistics, and use them to estimate parameters. The computation is the first part of the statistics course (Descriptive Statistics) and the estimation is the second part (Inferential Statistics)

Discrete vs Continuous
Discrete variables are usually obtained by counting. There are a finite or countable number of choices available with discrete data. You can't have 2.63 people in the room.

Continuous variables are usually obtained by measuring. Length, weight, and time are all examples of continuous variables. Since continuous variables are real numbers, we usually round them. This implies a boundary depending on the number of decimal places. For example: 64 is really anything 63.5 <= x < 64.5. Likewise, if there are two decimal places, then 64.03 is really anything 63.025 <= x < 63.035. Boundaries always have one more decimal place than the data and end in a 5.

Levels of Measurement
There are four levels of measurement: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio. These go from lowest level to highest level. Data is classified according to the highest level which it fits. Each additional level adds something the previous level didn't have.

Nominal is the lowest level. Only names are meaningful here.
Ordinal adds an order to the names.
Interval adds meaningful differences, but there is no starting point (0).
Ratio adds a zero so that ratios are meaningful.

Types of Sampling
There are five types of sampling: Random, Systematic, Convenience, Cluster, and Stratified.

Random sampling is analogous to putting everyone's name into a hat and drawing out several names. Each element in the population has an equal chance of occurring. While this is the preferred way of sampling, it is often difficult to do. It requires that a complete list of every element in the population be obtained. Computer generated lists are often used with random sampling. You can generate random numbers using the TI82 calculator.
Systematic sampling is easier to do than random sampling. In systematic sampling, the list of elements is "counted off". That is, every kth element is taken. This is similar to lining everyone up and numbering off "1,2,3,4; 1,2,3,4; etc". When done numbering, all people numbered 4 would be used.
Convenience sampling is very easy to do, but it's probably the worst technique to use. In convenience sampling, readily available data is used. That is, the first people the surveyor runs into.
Cluster sampling is accomplished by dividing the population into groups -- usually geographically. These groups are called clusters or blocks. The clusters are randomly selected, and each element in the selected clusters are used.
Stratified sampling also divides the population into groups called strata. However, this time it is by some characteristic, not geographically. For instance, the population might be separated into males and females. A sample is taken from each of these strata using either random, systematic, or convenience sampling.

Define Matrix

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In the Define phase, the activities, objectives and tools that will be used to finding the CTQ are drawn by the Define Matrix bellow.

Six Sigma Breakthrough: DMAIC

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Six Sigma can be used to creating the improvement of the business process. Output of our process sometimes influenced by some factors that measurable or not, predictable or not predictable. This process we can illustrate as the Functional Mathematics Y = f(X’s)
Y -> Output (Customer), Value, Result, Effect, Symptom, Depended Variable X’s -> Causes, Factor, Input, Problem, Independent Variable

To solve the problem by using Six Sigma, commonly steps in Six Sigma activities are DMAIC (Define – Measure – Analyze – Improve – Control).

Why “Six”?? Achievement 99% Enough?

2007-11-02T10:04:00.000+07:00

Our Next question is Why use Six as the target of Six Sigma Activities? As the main goal of Six Sigma are creating errors or defects 3.4 per millions. This number compared by its success (999,996.6 devices) is too small or near to Zero or perfect condition. That’s why this condition wants to be achieved and implemented in our organization process. For more objectives, in the Six Sigma activities we use σ (Sigma)-level to reflect our process capability. Based on the statistical research shown that 3.4 defects/error per million equal if our process capacity reach 6 Sigma Level. Detail defect compared with its Sigma Level will shown table bellow.

Refer to illustration above, indicated that 99% accurate in process is not enough to become world class organization. If our process capability have got 99% (refer to 3s) we still have a big number of errors / failures / defects. Only if we reach Six “s” we can reduce the process in small error.

Other Six Sigma Team Members

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** Quality Leader / Manager
To ensure the success of a Six Sigma project, the champions need to be backed by a motivated team whose members act as driving forces for the implementation of new processes.
The Quality Leader or Manager is responsible for representing the needs of the customer and improving the operational effectiveness of the organization.

** Master Black Belt
another team member, the Master Black Belt, typically provides the technical leadership in a Six Sigma project. This position also involves examining a specific area within the organization and coaching other in the Six Sigma methodology. The area may be a functional area, such as human resources, or a process-specific area, such as order processing.

** Process Owner
Process Owners are the individuals responsible for a specific process. For instance, the Vice President of the Legal department would be the Process Owner of the processes followed in the Legal department.

** Black Belt
Black Belt is technically oriented individuals who lead quality projects and work full time on them. They are usually familiar with computer usage and data analysis techniques.

** Green Belt
Employee trained in Six Sigma who complete projects and provide project status data to the Six Sigma team are called Green Belt. They perform their regular work responsibilities in addition to their responsibilities as Green Belt. They are also capable of taking their projects from concept to completion.

Champion Attributes

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*) Authoritative
To implement a Six Sigma project successfully, a champion must be authoritative, open-minded, and persuasive.
Being authoritative enables a champion to make organizational divisions adopt or 'buy in' to the Six Sigma initiative. The position of authority also enables a champion to make manpower other resources available to organizational divisions.

*) Open-minded
Champions should also be open-minded to view disagreements with a team-member or an employee from that persons perspective. This often requires the champion to understand the problems of team members and other employees and suggest solutions.

*) Persuasive
Implementing Six Sigma often means a change in working methods for all employees leading to resistance to the Six Sigma initiative. The champion needs to be persuasive to increase employee 'buy-in'.
The champion also needs to be persuasive to get management support for the initiative.

Understanding the Factors Affecting the Selection of a Champion

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The department heads in an organization would not be good candidates for the champion role because of their unfamiliarity with cross-functional issues. However, a Vice President fits well in the role because of his or her deep understanding of cross-fictional issues and access to the senior management of the company.

Factor Affecting the Selection of a Champion

2007-11-01T08:23:00.003+07:00

There are a number factors we should consider when selecting a champion. A champion should be familiar with the cross-functional issues and their relevance to the existing processes. The champion should have a deep understanding of Six Sigma and be committed to its success in the organization. The champion should also be capable of communicating Six Sigma initiatives at every opportunity.

The Six Sigma Champion

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The leader of the Six Sigma team is referred to as the 'Champion'. The champion acts as the project sponsor and interfaces between user departments and senior management.
These functions require the champion to be a part of the senior management of a company, usually the ECO or a Vice President.

The Six Sigma Project Team

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We create a Six Sigma project team by selecting member that have deep process knowledge from all levels of the organization. A Six Sigma project team usually comprises a Champion, a Quality Leader, a Master Black Belt, a Process Owner, Black Belts, and Green Belts. It isn't always necessary to involve all these members, especially in smaller company, or in an initial improvement effort, but the functions of each role should be present and defined.

Key success implementing Six Sigma in the organization

2007-10-30T16:34:00.000+07:00

Key success implementing Six Sigma in the organization must be have a good system and good methodology.

1. Top Down procedure

The Concept Six Sigma working must be known first and directed by the Top Management of the organization. Six Sigma cannot work properly without good awareness by the Top. They must be active in controlling, creating system review (champion review/project review), and awarding system by the Top also good knowledge of Top about Six Sigma content itself. By developing awareness and controlling Six Sigma activities by Top, will be pursue the whole six sigma process activities in the organization (Down activities). General Electric success implementing six sigma because of the Top (Jack Welch) have good knowledge about six sigma and provide good leadership in the six sigma activities. Jack Welch always publicizes the policy periodically. That is the Power.

2. Must be involved all member of the organization

In the organization usually consist of many process of business. In example, Manufacturing process not only has business in manufacture, but also has a services process business. Six Sigma must be implemented in all business process. Its mean that all member must be participate on Six Sigma activities. Involving all member to conduct Six Sigma must be facilitate by organization policies, such as providing training program about concept six sigma regularly, project based on six sigma, evaluation system performance of member. In Some Organization have a system evaluation performance based on six sigma activities that supported certification system.

3. Global Standard of the Organization

To create good and deep awareness of six sigma activities, we must create global standard of the organization. Six sigma must be become the common language of organization process (CTQ, Sigma Level, Capability process, etc…) or all process drawn by variation, or reporting system by six sigma steps is the example how to standardize six sigma in the whole organization activities. Therefore, organization must be often to create the case study. Some company practice the six sigma system by creating project personal, everyone must be creating a project six sigma in their area. Besides it will be culturing six sigma in the organization also will develop the organization knowledge.

Any business uses a number of processes for its operations. Improving many of these may lead to significant measurable gains. However, we must select a small number of these processes for improvement in a Six Sigma project.

A Six Sigma project is a team effort. We create an implementation team and clearly define specific designation as wess as job responsibilities for team members. We should also obtain complete commitment from senior management for allocation of adequate manpower and other resources.

How does Six Sigma Works?

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Six Sigma can be applied in many fields of business. Design, Services, Sales, Manufacturing, etc have the own six sigma steps and process (DFSS: Design for Six Sigma).

In the Manufacturing field usually use the Six Sigma Manufacture with its DMAIC (Define – Measure – Analyze – Improve – Control). The Manufacturing Six Sigma focuses on assuring the quality in manufacturing process, improvement in serious problem, monitoring of CTQ, etc.

R&D with the R&D Six Sigma commonly uses the steps IDOV (Identify – Design – Optimize – Verify) to perform the Six Sigma Projects. This type used for designing and developing new process/products as the fulfilling the customer need. R&D Six Sigma activities involve election of

CTQ to fulfill the customer need, determining the tolerance of part spec, cost down product development, quality assurance of products capability, etc.

Beside both type of Six Sigma, the Transactional Six Sigma as the one kind of type that performs in Sales/Services areas. Usually cases in Transactional Six Sigma are Cost improvement, improving cycle time and accuracy of products need by customer, etc.

What are the Six Sigma Activities?

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Six Sigma is the way how to maximize the outcome and aim to customer satisfaction by applying all possible methods of organization. Some organizations use the Six Sigma method as the main way to get the success.

Our processes sometimes are not accurate with our target that opportune to make errors. Or, if we calculated our process in average there are matches with our target but have a big variance. I.e. we will make a dress and cut the clothes in 7 inch length. Some process cut it less than 7 inch, but some machine cut it more than 7 inch. These matters are often occurring in our organization process and we need to reduce it or eliminate it.

The Main concept of Six Sigma is how the reducing the variation in the process and shifting the process to the target.

The Implementation Six Sigma as the Strategy of Business.
Implementing Six Sigma as the Business Strategy to seize the success should be involved some activities.

Six Sigma is a Statistical Measurement

As the statistical measurement, Six Sigma will provide us the information about our process or products/services whether it’s good or not. This information can help us to determine the next improvement step to fulfill the customer satisfaction totally.

Six Sigma is a Improvement Tools

Six Sigma give the option of Statistical Tools from defining problem to improvement action comprehensively and can be applied in all condition such as in Design, Manufacture Process, sales, services, etc…

Six Sigma as the Business Strategy

By reducing variation and good process match by the target will give the advantages for the organization reducing the wastes, and improving profits by creating high quality and innovative products that customer needed.

Six Sigma is a Philosophy

Six Sigma itself will be success if reach level of Management and Culture Philosophy.

1. 6σ does not mean only absolute work but Smart work efficiently. By its method, six sigma provide steps structurally that guide the person to get the goal clearly and effectively.

2. 100PPM is to cut the trunk of weed; 6σ is to extract the root of weed. This statement same that 99% of accuracy is enough? Six sigma concepts are how to achieve the process in 3.4 defects per million closer in perfect zero.

3. 6σ is Top Down management of field. Many innovation activities are failed because of Lack of leadership of Manager (17% - Survey of 100 enterprises). To create the result form the bottom-line, we must know the direction of the six sigma activities in the organization. Top Management must be aware and directly practice, control, and strength monitoring in the six sigma activities before asking the bottom line to do it.

4. 6σ is Common Language of our organization. By using six sigma system of organization role, expecting six sigma will be automatically become the language of any activities in the organization.

History of Six Sigma

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The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard can be traced back to Carl Frederick Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920's when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. Many measurement standards (Cpk, Zero Defects, etc.) later came on the scene but credit for coining the term "Six Sigma" goes to a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith. (Incidentally, "Six Sigma" is a federally registered trademark of Motorola).

In the early and mid-1980s with Chairman Bob Galvin at the helm, Motorola engineers decided that the traditional quality levels -- measuring defects in thousands of opportunities -- didn't provide enough granularity. Instead, they wanted to measure the defects per million opportunities. Motorola developed this new standard and created the methodology and needed cultural change associated with it. Six Sigma helped Motorola realize powerful bottom-line results in their organization - in fact, they documented more than $16 Billion in savings as a result of our Six Sigma efforts.

Since then, hundreds of companies around the world have adopted Six Sigma as a way of doing business. This is a direct result of many of America's leaders openly praising the benefits of Six Sigma. Leaders such as Larry Bossidy of Allied Signal (now Honeywell), and Jack Welch of General Electric Company. Rumor has it that Larry and Jack were playing golf one day and Jack bet Larry that he could implement Six Sigma faster and with greater results at GE than Larry did at Allied Signal. The results speak for themselves.

Six Sigma has evolved over time. It's more than just a quality system like TQM or ISO. It's a way of doing business. As Geoff Tennant describes in his book Six Sigma: SPC and TQM in Manufacturing and Services: "Six Sigma is many things, and it would perhaps be easier to list all the things that Six Sigma quality is not. Six Sigma can be seen as: a vision; a philosophy; a symbol; a metric; a goal; a methodology." We couldn't agree more.

Why Companies Are Embracing Six Sigma ?

2006-07-08T08:08:00.000+07:00

What drives companies to implement Six Sigma? Contrary to what some believe, the goal of Six Sigma is not to achieve six sigma levels of quality. Six Sigma is about improving profitability, although improved quality and efficiency are immediate by-products of Six Sigma. Companies that implement Six Sigma do so with the goal of improving their margins. Prior to Six Sigma, improvements brought about by quality programs usually had no visible impact on a company's net income. Organizations that can't track the effect of quality improvements on profitability don't know what changes need to be made to improve their profit margins. To date, every company that has implemented Six Sigma under our guidance has seen profit margins grow 20 percent year after year for each sigma shift(up to 4.8 to 5 sigma). Companies ranging from AlliedSignal to Dupont Chemical have come to us because despite improvements they made in quality, their profit margins were stagnating, if not shrinking. These companies could no longer afford to reduce prices to increase market share, and market competition would not allow them to raise to improve profit margins. They found themselves boxed into a corner. When they offered products and services with new features at no extra charge to consumer, market share might increase but profit margins would shrink.

You can't change what you can't measure

2006-06-20T18:03:00.000+07:00

The fact is, organizations need ways of measuring what they claim to value. Measurements, or "metrics" as we prefer to call them, carry relevance to every member, for every activity, of an organization. You can't change what you can't measure. The foundation of Six Sigma uses metrics to calculate the success of everything an organization does. Enthusiastic speeches, colorful posters, and corporate mandates will not produce quantum change-only measuring the things a company values can do this. Without measuring a company's processes-and its changes to these processes-it's impossible to know where you are or where you are going.
Six Sigma tells us :

We don't know what we don't know.
We can't what we don't know.
We won't know until we measure.
We don't measure what we don't value.
We don't value what we don't measure.

So, in a general way, Six Sigma is a process of asking questions that lead to tangible, quantifiable answer that ultimately produce profitable results. This book will share what Six Sigma is, how it is applied, and what it can do for your company, business, or organization. It will be your guide for transforming knowledge into a living vision. To date, every company that has followed our Six Sigma methodology has achieved breakthrough profitability.

50% individuals are able to mobilize massive changes in the way biz is done, dramatically increasing profitability.

2006-05-23T10:46:00.000+07:00

Six Sigma is about asking tougher and tougher questions until we receive quantifiable answers that change behavior. Through Six Sigma, companies relentlessly question every process, every number, every step along the way to creating a final product. Managers, employees, and customers ask different kinds of questions of each other than they've asked before. As Six Sigma takes hold across an organization, it creates an internal infrastructure that includes executives, managers, engineers, and operations and service personnel. When 50 percent or more of an organization staff embrace Six Sigma, those individuals are able to mobilize massive changes in the way business is done, dramatically increasing profitability.
Questions, of course, are not meant to exist in a vacuum. The methodology behind Six Sigma is designed to pave the way to find the right answers for your company. In the classic children's story The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's persistent questions about what she sees and where she is going lead her down the Yellow Brick Road and into the Land of Oz. Similarly, when an organization starts to question what it does and why it does it, it too can begin to lay a Yellow Brick Road that will lead to its own long-term goals.

How does Six Sigma works ?

2006-05-22T09:53:00.000+07:00

How does Six Sigma work? The first step in the Breakthrough Strategy is to ask a new set of questions, questions that take you out of your comfort zone, that force you to query what you have taken for granted, and that ultimately provide you with new direction. Six Sigma forces businesses to let go of bad habits. Bureaucracy becomes delayed. Those employees closest to the actual work and to the customer become motivated to meet or exceed consumer requirements. By questioning the speed with which products are produced and services are rendered, people begin to think about new systems that can be put into place to produce a higher-quality product or service in a shorter amount of time. As those closest to the work discover more effective and profitable ways of working, they are able to inform senior management about what changes need to be made; and as a result, push those higher in the organization to reexamine the ways in which they do business.

A few reasons for the enthusiasm.

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Here are just a few reasons for the enthusiasm so many analysis on Wall Street voice: General Electric's Jack Welch, a self-proclaimed cynic when it comes to quality programs, describes Six Sigma as "The most important initiative GE has ever undertaken." GE's operation income, a critical measure of business efficiency and profitability, hovered around the 10 percent level for decades. In 1995, Welch mandated that each GE operation, from credit card services to aircraft engine plants to NBC-TV, work toward achieving Six Sigma. GE averaged about 3.5 sigma when it introduced the program. With Six Sigma embedding itself deeper into the organization's processes, GE achieved the previously "Impossible" operating margin of 16.7 percent in 1998, up from 13.6 percent in 1995 when GE implemented Six Sigma. In dollar amounts, Six Sigma delivered more than $300 million to GE's 1997 operating income, and in 1998, the financial benefits of Six Sigma more than doubled, to over $600 million.

Larry Bossidy, CEO of AlliedSignal Inc., brought the $14.5 billion industrial giant back from the verge of bankruptcy by implementing the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy. The company has now trained thousands of employees from every business unit and staff function in Six Sigma and the Breakthrough Strategy, with the goal of increasing productivity 6 percent each year in its industrial sectors. Broad-base Six Sigma initiatives allowed operating margin in the first quarter of 1999 to grow to a record 14.2 percent from 12 percent one year earlier. Since Bossidy implemented the program in 1994, the cumulative impact of Six Sigma has been a savings in excess of $2 billion in direct costs.

Former AlliedSignal executive Daniel P. Burnham, who became Raytheon's CEO in 1998, has made Six Sigma a cornerstone of the company, Burnham expects Raytheon to improve its cost of doing business by more than $1 billion annually by 2001.

Since taking over GE's industrial diamonds business in Worthington, Ohio, in 1994, William Woodburn has increased the operation's return on investment fourfold and cut the operation's costs half by employing the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy. He and his team have made their existing facilities so efficient that they have eliminated the need for new plants and equipment for at least another ten years. Woodburn and GE's industrial diamond business exemplify how Six Sigma can enable a company to cut costs, enhance productivity, and eliminate the need for new plant and equipment investments.

Polaroid Corporation's Joseph J. Kasabula, quality strategy manager for product development and worldwide manufacturing, believe that the most compelling reason companies embrace Six Sigma is its impact on the bottom line. While other programs may improve quality, Kasabula believes they do not focus on increasing a company's profits. With Six Sigma, companies focus on the processes that affect quality and profit margins on a project- by-project basis. Six Sigma is helping Polaroid to add 6 percent to its bottom line each year.

Asea Brown Boveri(ABB), which successfully applied the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy to its power transfer facility in Muncie, Indiana, has reduced measurement equipment error by 83 percent; piece count error from 8.3 percent to 1.3 percent; and no-load loss to within 2 percent. ABB also improved material handling, resulting in an annual estimated cost saving of $775,000 for a single process within a single plant.

We believe the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy should be of paramount interest to any forward-thinking executive, manager, and public administrator who wants to make his or her organization more competitive and profitable, and enhance its ability to drive change. Six Sigma principles apply to any business of any size. It applies to far more than just industrial processes-it applies to engineering, product design, and any commercial process, from processing mortgage applications, to credit card transactions, to customer service call centers. By attacking "Variation" during the design of products and services, it's possible for any organization to achieve unprecedented profitability.

Six Sigma produces superior financial results

2006-05-19T17:19:00.000+07:00

Six Sigma produces superior financial results, using business strategies that not only revive companies but help them leapfrog ahead of their competition in terms of market share and profitability. By reaching for the seemingly impossible, companies achieve the impossible. But the biggest reason for the incredible buzz about Six Sigma throughout the business community has been its astonishing success at dramatically improving a company bottom-line profitability.As a result, Six Sigma has become the darling of Wall Street. Jennifer Murphy, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co., spent three days at our ranch in Payson and at our Six Sigma Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona, a teaching facility we designed to educate and train executives in the principles of Six Sigma so that they can transform their companies into world - class organizations. Impatient with the negligible effect quality programs have had on the bottom-line, Murphy was astonished what she learned. "Six Sigma companies achieve - faster working capital turns; lower capital spending as capacity is freed up; more productive R&D spending; faster new product development; and greater customer satisfaction,¡s she wrote upon her return. She estimates that by the year 2000, GE gross annual benefit from Six Sigma could be as high as $6.6 billion, or 5.5 percent of sales.

You will encounter new ideas and principles

2006-05-19T16:58:00.000+07:00

You will encounter new ideas and principles-some of which will run contrary to what managers have learned in school or professional practice. Six Sigma represents extraordinary sense, not ordinary or common sense; common sense rarely produces extraordinary results.It is our belief that once managers and their companies understand what Six Sigma is and how it works, they will begin to see that many well-accepted past management practices and quality-control methods are less than optimal, or are even wrong.Industries are desperate to find new ways to buoy profitability.That is why companies as diverse as AlliedSignal, General Electric, Sony, Honda, Maytag, Raytheon, Texas Instruments, Bombardier, Canon, Hitachi, Lockheed Martin, and Polaroid have adopted Six Sigma.Many of these companies are averse to management fads. But they have embraced Six Sigma because they believe the initiative will help them increase market share, decrease costs, and grow profit margins. As a result, they are beginning to tie quality directly to their bottom line.

What is Six Sigma ?

2006-05-19T13:38:00.000+07:00

We believe that Six Sigma is the most powerful breakthrough management tool ever devised. What is Six Sigma? It is a business process that allows companies to drastically improve their bottom line by designing and monitoring everyday business activities in ways that minimize waste and resources while increasing customer satisfaction. Six Sigma guides companies into making fewer mistakes in everything they do -from filling out a purchase order to manufacturing airplane engines- eliminating lapses in quality at the earliest possible occurrence. Quality control programs have focused on detecting and correcting commercial, industrial, and design defects. Six sigma encompasses something broader : It provides specific methods to re-create the process so that defects and errors never arise in the first place.