There are two primary methodologies in Six Sigma: DMAIC and DFSS.
Following are some of the salient features of Six Sigma methodology:
- Six Sigma is a data driven approach – Six Sigma provides us with information on which and what type of data should be collected, how it should be collected and how it should be analyzed.
- Six Sigma is a process focused methodology- Everything that is done at the workplace has a process behind it. For bringing improvements it is always good to study the underlying process along with the results, especially if we are looking for a long lasting improvement and not a temporary quick-fix solution
- Six Sigma provides a structured step by step roadmap – If a business problem is being resolved by a cross functional team over a period of time, it pays to utilize a structured methodology (like Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) with review stages.
- Six Sigma uses non common-sense approaches – Example – To improve customer satisfaction index by 25% in 4 months time, you would need not one but a series of non-common sense approaches which Six Sigma provides.
- Six Sigma integrates the best of tried and tested management methodologies over the years – Six Sigma has weaved various time tested management techniques in one roadmap. Also, Six Sigma is not rigid. It is an evolving methodology. New tools are being added to the Six Sigma toolkit by innovative practitioners.
- Six Sigma improvement projects are mostly validated by financial benefits or by impact on a KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
- Six Sigma works on improvements on a project by project basis by people trained as improvement experts (called Green Belts and Black Belts) – Improvements can be brought on a project by project basis and by no other way. Unless improvement areas are converted into projects, with assigned responsibilities and authorities to correctly trained people, the problems remain what they are.
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#1 by WPMixer on June 18th, 2010
Wise words, thx
#2 by Wordpress on June 18th, 2010
lol, your sick!
#3 by suree on June 18th, 2010
Six Sigma is a formalized approach to quality control that uses statistical methods to predict deviations from quality targets.
Fundamentally, Six Sigma is a very powerful tool that relies on the principle that the best decisions are based on facts. In that sense, it is part of the fabric of all branches of engineering in that starts with the premise that the best facts are those that can be quantified, and statistical methods are perfectly valid ways to quantify facts in instances where deterministic methods won't work.
The problem with Six Sigma is that the whole notion of "Green Belt" and "Black Belt" certification translates the concept of fact-based decision making into something that looks like quasi-religious mysticism.
I think that including Six Sigma as part of an engineering curriculum is a great idea, but my only caution would be that you need to focus on the fundamental principles and not get hung up on green belt/black belt hocus-pocus.
#4 by rikki on June 18th, 2010
We utilize Six Sigma programs and honestly, it only works if everyone, to include upper management, works together to make needed changes and ensure the changes are followed. This is hard if your in a large corporation with many levels of management and various different departments that interact but have no management connection beyond senior management levels.
#5 by sagarika d on June 18th, 2010
Hello Sagarika
The popular certifications are from ASQ, IEE, BMG, and Benchmark Six Sigma.
The IEE certification details are available at http://www.iienet.org/Landing.aspx?ID=168 whereas ASQ certification details are available at http://www.asq.org/certification/
BMG India details can be found at http://www.bmgindia.com/contact.htm and Benchmark Six Sigma at http://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/training.html
Six Sigma black belt certification requires 3+ years of work experience along with two completed projects. Similarly Green Belt certification requires 3 years of work experience. For details, you can refer to http://www.asq.org/education/training/certification-right-for-you.html
ASQ has a tie-up with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in India.
With warm regards,
SKS
#6 by Anonymous on June 19th, 2010
gotta love Jack
#7 by Niti J on June 19th, 2010
Six Sigma which seem to be in vogue today is one of the best methods to improve the profitability of an organization. Six Sigma training helps an organization improve its business processes and most importantly it can be applied to all the sectors and across each vertical. Six Sigma trainings help professionals inculcate process thinking and better problem solving capabilities besides learning the Six Sigma tools & techniques. This quality makes Six Sigma certified professionals most sought after in the job market.
Six Sigma trainings are conducted at two levels:
1. Six Sigma Green Belt Certification for beginners to understand the DMAIC methodology and the various tools & techniques.
2. Six Sigma Black Belt Certification for Green Belts wanting to learn advanced Six Sigma tools and techniques.
Benchmark Six Sigma, an organization of high repute imparts Six Sigma training and consulting services in most cities. I have personally benefited from this training and I feel this training can help you improve your company's productivity and profitability and simultaneously add value to your career. For latest dates & details you can log on to their website http://www.benchmarksixsigma.com.
#8 by Avatar the last airbender on June 19th, 2010
I am 53 years old and retired.
I acquired a six sigma black belt certification when I worked for GE. At that time, once you get your black belt, you are almost automatically given a management position and a large increase. Let's me empahize again that I am 53 years old and have been retired for 3 years so there are lots of value to that belt.
However, I would have to say that small companies (having worked there between my 48th and 50th B-day) are just not the right place for a black belt despite of whatever upper management said. Small companies have more things to worry about usually than making improvement to their process plus the resources are usually just not there. There is usually also a lack of knowledge on what six sigma really is so it is really difficult to implement change.
As you might have noticed, working at a small company was the key factor that convince me to actually retire….there really was just no reason to torture myself when the money is not needed anymore at that point.
#9 by Anonymous on June 19th, 2010
lol, I guess some times ,just sometimes variation is good ! for that I heard about that book “what color is your paraschute” I mean when it comes to career change.. another note :this looks like an interesting interview any chance someone can give access to the whole thing ..thanks
#10 by ginger2006 on June 20th, 2010
There are many colleges that provide courses in the Six Sigma Training and will provide Experience that can be used in interviews. Go online to research what schools offer this training and certification. I just went through some Six Sigma Black Belt training with a project I can use in an interview.
#11 by Anonymous on June 20th, 2010
Perfect professional role model for me. Any suggestions on how I can eliminate the variation on the career path please ? Suggested reading perhaps…
PS I’m serious
#12 by Anonymous on June 20th, 2010
thanks for the video. Being a student of Industrial Engineering this small video really helped me in understanding the 6 sigma concept.
#13 by Dean L on June 20th, 2010
The evolution of what is called Six Sigma today is long and come from many fields of engineering and management. The primary purpose of Six Sigma is a management tool for problem solving (note: many people in the quality profession initially rejected the Six Sigma Methodologies as being nothing new).
Advantages:
- Management tends to be much more involved with solving the problems of the organization
- common tools are being used that have been around for a long time and are well know by many engineering disciplines
- as people in the organization learn the language of Six Sigma, people are able to communicate better around working to solve the problems that management have identified to be worked on.
- if the model (DMAIC) is followed repeatedly, then real improvements can be seen in the company's products and services.
- many people in the quality profession already know the tools and have the skills to help the organization make good improvements quickly. NOTE: this is why Six Sigma is sometimes called a quality tool as the responsibility gets dropped into the quality department level instead of managers as champions.
Disadvantages:
- everyone has to go through training to learn the "new" language of Six Sigma. After the training, people can become "certified" as yellow belts, green belts, black belts, master black belts, etc.
- the perception that if a company is using Six Sigma, that some magical thing happens to the company that makes it products/services better for customers. In reality, it talks a lot of work to truly achieve the mathematical level of Six Sigma and there are very, very few companies who have actually achieved it.
- Generally speaking, managers get very frustrated with how long it takes to "do" Six Sigma and/or get busy with other things related to the business and the risk is that the managers will delegate the work down to lower levels of people in the organization who do not have the authority to make the fixes to improve the processes.
- Consulting organizations have pushed organizations into utilizing the most expensive training materials first to maximize the profits of the consulting company instead of truly helping the organization make meaningful improvements (NOTE: there are a lot of consultant who will disagree with me and for the most part they are the ones whom you need to watch out for – Dr. Deming had a term for them – Hacks).
As you have probably seen by now, there are many books, articles, and papers written about Six Sigma. There are also a large number of websites that tough the benefits of Six Sigma and how training should be done. The one organization that may arguable have the most useful information on Six Sigma is the American Society for Quality {ASQ}(another reason why some people think that Six Sigma is a quality thing instead of the management tool that it was designed as). The ASQ can be contacted at 800-248-1946. Another very good source of information is the ISixSigma group and there are many more out there.
If you would like to see some good examples of Six Sigma in action, I would suggest doing a search on "Six Sigma" at the US government website. The US Govt does not copyright any of their materials so there is a lot available and free for use.
If you want to see what all the tools/methods that are used in Six Sigma, then I would suggest you look at something called the "Body of Knowledge" {BOK} for both the ASQ certification exams for Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (lower level) and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (higher level).
If you would like to start getting a free magazine that includes articles about Six Sigma, then I suggest the Quality Digest (are you starting to see a theme why some people believe that Six Sigma is a quality thing). You can also look at their website to get a lot of references on Six Sigma.
If all of this isn’t enough, then one of the small pocket guides that I would suggest (actually the largest selling book on Six Sigma out there today) is called Six Sigma for the Shop Floor published by ASQ Quality Press. They also have a version of this for the “Front Office” and now the same author has come out with a “Lean Six Sigma” for the medical industry.
I hope this helps! As you can probably tell, there is a lot more that could be said about Six Sigma both good and bad in how effective it has been since Motorola started it in the mid 1980's. Thus about 25 years old and still growing. So something must be working for many organizations to keep in going.
#14 by jrb on June 20th, 2010
Six sigma is a measurement scale upon which improvement / performance can be gauged or overall methodology that provides standardized problem-solving tools improvement.
No matter in which line or which department, six sigma can be used for problem solving. And six sigma tools is very good for analysis. HR professional shall lean six sigma too, six sigma course will give them know the more professional analytic skill.
Sorry for not sure about six sigma institution in Chennai, but it is not hard to find this kind of professional course, try to contact the well know trainning center, they sure provide six sigma course
#15 by Blogger on June 21st, 2010
Jack Welsh is a complete sleazebucket who fired normal people to feather his bed. He perpetuated a long running accounting and stock fraud with GE and paid so much in campaign contributions that in a number of years GE paid no taxes, but received billions from the government. He now lives like a drug lord and still pulls compensation from GE. Its good that he appears to have Alzheimer so now we won’t have to listed to his vacuous BS anymore.
#16 by WPBlog Shop on June 21st, 2010
If he is so smart, why he write books together with that useless freeloader Suzy Welsh?
#17 by s on June 21st, 2010
To calculate the six sigma score, basically you are calculating the process standard deviation. First at all, you need to collect data, based on the data calculate the standard deviation as per http://www.sixsigmais.com/sixsigmastatisticalintroduction.htm. By the way, the six sigma we using now is 1.5 sigma shift, so you gotta add 1.5 sigma on it
#18 by Free Blog on June 22nd, 2010
He is brilliant, he donated all profits from his book to charity.