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| Friday, 5 November 2004 |
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Six-Sigma - five specific stages by Major General Dr. Tilak Jayaweera Conflicts between overall strategic objectives ad individual functional objectives are quite common occurrences in any establishment which will have a direct impact on productivity. Six Sigma is a globally accepted, data and factor driven, proactive management philosophy, mastering the process where the action is, by using scientific methods to improve Effectiveness and Efficiency. (E&E) of the individual steps in any process through five specific stages. (Define, Measure analysis, Improve and Control) Six-Sigma is an organisation initiative and not a quality initiative adopted to improve customer relations, by reducing defects and cycle time with maximum utilisation of resources whilst ensuring employee satisfaction. The sequence would be to first identify the key processes; their levels of E & E the worst affected process and then take steps to improve it. Six-Sigma is a 'Three in one' strategy business management, which is 'customer, process and employee' focused. Values are added to inputs by a series of activities to produce an output, in the form of a 'product or a service', for the customer. Customers in turn are not interested in the organisation but on the process particularly if the output is a service. Business philosophy The theme of this business philosophy is to identify the process owners, who should be dedicated experts with an inherent aptitude to think, and able to get respect of employees on either side of any particular process. Their primary task would be to ascertain the E & E levels of the process, identify the customers far and near and their needs and requirements by any appropriate method or a combination there of. The first in 'The Define phase' which as the name implies, define the problem statement, define the requirements critical to quality, find out which components do not meet the satisfaction, of which subset of customers. A well-defined process map will serve as a problem disguised as a solution. The aim of the exercise is to have a project charter with remedial steps, defined well within the scope and the time frame that can be implemented to improve the project, with the available resources according to predetermined schedule in the DMAIC process. The creation and implementation of a school of a data collection plan to measure the EYE of the input, process and the output are the basis of the Measure Phase. The operational definitions, whether data is discrete or continues what to measure, with what, using which method, and what sort of forms have to be known first, to calculate the Base Line Sigma value. Measure describes the quality capacity or performance of a product or a service based on observable data. The main objective of the Measure phase is to establish baseline process performance, isolate sources of variation, decide whether variation is due to a common cause or a special cause, and identify areas in which improvements can be made. The measurement system itself has to be analysed for its own potential and end value. Data, process and the root cause are the main areas to be analysed in the next phase which is the 'Analysis Phase'. Different analytic methods are used depending on the type of data, for example Pareto and Pie for discrete and Run Charts and Frequency Distribution Check Sheets for continuous data, without being prejudiced of pointing a finger at the P component of the 5 M's and I P. Process and sub-process mapping enables to determine the value -added natures of the individual steps in the process. After considering what needs to be discovered and what tools might work best, appropriate tools, could be applied to get different perspectives regarding the problem, as it is unlikely that anyone single tool will provide all the answers. Root cause can be measured by opening; narrowing and then closing the flow of ideas obtained by any suitable method. Closing is done by basic collection of data for comparison, scatter diagrams and by simple individual tailor made experiments for exclusions and or inclusions depending on circumstances. This phase ends up with a validated root cause chart and the proposed solutions. Brainstorming In the next phase "The improve Phase" solutions are generated and the ideal selected. Brainstorming is a good method to get different ideas for improvements. Use a pilot project before validation. Finally conduct a Failure Mode Effect Analysis and a Cost/Benefit Analysis to ensure the potential improvements are viable and cost effective. In the last phase "The Control Phase", a suitable technical method of control is determined and a response plan is created to sustain improvement by either eliminating the opportunity for defect or monitoring process improvement using feedback system with the objective of establishing a strategy to ensure that improvements are sustained. Visual displays and visual controls are fool-proven tools of value. The difference between control and specification limits have to be understood first to determine, whether the process has to be redesigned or readjusted. Every control plan should have a reaction plan. A control plan is a description of strategy for sustaining improvements. A reaction plan indicate how to differentiate between a special cause and a common cause; when its appropriate to react (number of data points out of control) what actions to be taken, should control charts indicate that revised processes are no longer in control, who is responsible for implementation and their verification plan. A reaction plan must be a realistic feasible and an affordable one, a guide for adjusting the process whenever data gets recorded outside the control limits. This plan finally provides the process with a monitoring and controlling system, which would ensure the meetings of the desired E & E levels of these five stages. |
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