29-08-2011, 11:41 AM
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ABSTRACT
Never in the history of modern world listening to the voice of the customer was more important than today. Old business models now no longer work. Today’s competitive environment leaves no room for error. The companies must delight their customers and relentlessly look for new ways to exceed customers’ expectations. This is where “Six Sigma” counts.
Six sigma is a powerful business strategy that employs a disciplined approach to tackle process variability using the application of statistical and non-statistical tools and techniques in a rigorous manner. This paper examines the pros and cons of six sigma in a detailed manner. This paper examines the pros and cons of six sigma in a detailed manner.
The main purpose of Six Sigma is to make the manufacturing processes BETTER IN ACCURACY, FASTER IN SERVICE, and LOWER AT COST IN PRODUCTION. It can also be used to improve every field of business, from production, to human resources, to order entry, to technical support. Six Sigma can be used for any activity that is concerned with cost, timeliness, and quality of results.
Keywords: Six sigma ,Variation, Standard Deviation, Black belts
INTRODUCTION
Six Sigma (6 )
The Greek symbol (sigma) refers to the amount of deviation in a process around the mean value for that process
Processes have acceptable upper and lower limits
Six Sigma is concerned with reducing the variations to get more output within those limits
The basic assumption in six sigma is that variation is the enemy of quality. The more Variation in a product, the fewer the number of items which will work as designed. To reduce variation, one must be able to measure it. There are various ways to measure it, but the usual measure is the standard deviation. The standard deviation is a measure of variability that is more convenient than percentile differences for further investigation and analysis of statistical data. The Standard Deviation of a set of measurements x1, x2… xn with the mean, is defined as the square root of the mean of the squares of the deviations; it is usually designated by the Greek letter sigma. In symbols
The square of the standard deviation is the variance. If the standard deviation is small, the measurements are tightly clustered around the mean; if it is large, they are widely scattered.
Definition
” Six Sigma: A comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success. Six sigma is uniquely driven by a close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes.” 2
The History of Six Sigma
“Six Sigma” originated at Motorola in 1982
Early adopters
Allied Signal (Honeywell)
General Electric(1996)
Six Sigma management philosophy today
A well-developed, thorough approach to quality improvement.
Uses statistics and management by fact.
Is effective in manufacturing and services firms.
What is Six Sigma?
Six Sigma is a data-driven, disciplined approach to minimizing defects in any type of process. Popularized in the mid-90 Six Sigma has grown greatly in acceptance among thousands of companies, and has proven to be both a time and money saver when implemented properly.
The goal of Six Sigma is to statistically represent how a process is performed, and determine where defects can be eliminated. Six Sigma strives for just 3.4 defects per million - near perfection.
Why 6 ?
Simply because Six Sigma
Delivers business excellence;
Improves profits;
Delights customers;
Increases entry barrier for competition.
6 SIGMA - HOW IT REALLY WORKS AND HOW IT'S EVOLVING
Six Sigma is a collection of over 100 concepts, techniques and sophisticated statistical tools that are woven together to create a unique problem solving methodology. 6 Sigma uses facts, data and root cause analysis to solve problems. This methodology is used to resolve process issues in manufacturing operations and business transactions. Typical problems that can be solved include quality, warranty, downtime, scrap and rework issues in manufacturing operations and flaws in business processes or customer services. Ultimate objectives of the methodology are to solve problems to improve quality, profitability and customer satisfaction. 6 Sigma is often referred to as "TQM on steroids".