Six Sigma Education a Data Driven Process


By Jacquelyn Donner

Six Sigma is a data-driven process re-engineering methodology resulting in paradigm shifts in the way a company behaves, treats its customers, and produces its products. It has been used for over 15 years in a number of companies including General Electric, Allied Signal and Texas Instruments.

Six Sigma performance implies a level of process and product performance of no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Five lean, in turn, is 233 per million, Four Sigma is 6,210 per million, while Three lean implies 66,807 per million opportunities. Most companies in North America are between 3 and 4 lean, while truly world-class performers are lean 6 or better. lean 6 companies produce vastly superior, reliable, and customer-satisfying products, faster, better, cheaper, and more efficiently than their competitors, translating higher quality for their customers into lower costs for themselves. Companies which are at Three or Four Sigma, are typically not actively trying to improve themselves, are often stagnant and complacent, fighting to stay one step ahead of the competition, and not really aware of how poorly they are performing. They also typically do not believe Six Performance is viable.

For any process, variation is the main reason for poor performance, and the key focus of Six . Defects arise from variation, arising in turn from either process, material, or design inadequacies. A defect results when a characteristic doesn't conform to a standard, and can be uniformly or randomly distributed in a process. Closely related to the concept of defects is the metric Defects per Unit. In this chapter DPU and the associated concepts are discussed. Another concept closely related to defects is Process Yield. The larger the number of defects in a production batch, the lower the yield. There are several types of yield, such as first-time yield, rolled throughput yield and normalized yield. These metrics are closely linked to defects, defects per unit, and the process' 6 value.

Process Capability is also discussed in this chapter, which refers to the ability of a process to perform to the target and specifications set out for it. Processes can be precise and/or accurate, according to the inherent variation and how well targeted they are. Process targeting is determined by the statistic called Mean, the average value of the process output variable, while process variation, or spread, is measured by the statistic Standard Deviation.

One of the most important tools for achieving Six process capability is Process Benchmarking. This powerful tool is used to compare processes or products within the industry, between industries, or even between geographical areas or countries. A tool called Benchmarking Chart is a powerful way to "baseline" various processes or products so they may be meaningfully compared.



 
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six sigma education Special offer to help you gain six sigma lean certification. http://www.greenbelt6sigma.com



Jacquelyn Donner, Master Six Sigma Black Belt from http://www.ContentHere.com


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