Lean_Six_Sigma.md

Lean Six Sigma

The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Lean Six Sigma Second Edition by Benjamin Sweeney

Lean Six Sigma is a hybrid approach to improving business process combining the following:

• Lean = Toyota's production system
• Six Sigma = Motorolas quality control program

"Six Sigma is a quality improvement oriented process management system. It uses statistical tools and empirical techniques to reduce the number of defects within a process to a miniscule level. Developed by the multinational telecommunications company Motorola in 1986, it has evolved into a process-focused business strategy and manufacturing tool that promises highly sought-after results."

Core doctrines:

• Continuous efforts to achieve stable and predictable process results are of vital importance to business success.
• Manufacturing and business processes have characteristics that can be measured, analyzed improved, and controlled.
• Achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization particularly, from top-level management.

DPMO: defects per million opportunities

Six Sigma quality refers to a process that produces a defect less than or equal to 3.4 DPMO or .00034 percent of the time.

Unit production, the design process, a service process, billing and data retrieval—these processes are all quantifiable. The creative process, however, is not. Brainstorming, product conceptualization, and pre-design through post-design phases all defy quantification and therefore are very poor candidates for the Six Sigma approach. Also, as outlined later in this text, the need for specialized coaching and training often makes small organizations or low-volume processes poor candidates for extensive Six Sigma applications, as the cost of training and implementation can be exhaustive of resources.

The additional doctrine elements:

• A clear focus on achieving measurable and quantifiable financial returns from any Six Sigma project
• An increased emphasis on strong and passionate management leadership and support
• A special infrastructure of program-specific staff ranks and hierarchy to lead and implement the Six Sigma approach
• A clear commitment to making decisions on the basis of verifiable data and statistical methods rather than assumptions and guesswork

There is no stronger supporter of Six Sigma’s effectiveness in a multinational conglomerate than Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE). Welch implemented Six Sigma at GE in 1995 and adopted it straight from the source: Motorola. In his 2005 book entitled Winning, he states, “Nothing compares to the effectiveness of Six Sigma when it comes to improving a company’s operational efficiency, raising its productivity, and lowering its costs.”

D.M.A.I.C

1. Define - the system, goals, requirements, and the voice of the customer.
2. Measure - critical elements of the process and collect necessary data.
3. Analyze - collected data to identify root causes of defects and relationships between all factors.
4. Improve - the process using Six Sigma and other innovation tools based on collection data.
5. Control - the process during future executions to ensure consistent adherence to quality standards.

D.M.A.D.V

1. Define - target goals and the needs of the customer.
2. Measure - and identify elements that are Critical to Quality (CTQs)
3. Analyze - characteristics that have been identified and measured to determine design alternatives.
4. Design - an improved alternative that is a "best fit" based on measurements and analysis.
5. Verify - the design and begin implementation of the process.

The DMADV is a variation of DMAIC oriented toward the introduction of new product lines and processes. It's also called Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)

I cant help but think that many of these rigorously engineered process frameworks should be implemented as DAO's. For the exact same reasons they have been rigorously modeled and sought to be driven by data. Wouldn't that fit right into the ISO way of doing things?