This text is provided by courtesy of Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady, The Change Handbook.
The Six Sigma Approach
For More Information: American Society for Quality, www.asq.org
Purpose:
To improve process performance and eliminate causes of mistakes in manufacturing and business processes by focusing on process outputs that are critically important to customers.
Outcomes:
• Process improvements resulting from completed improvement projects
• Human elements like leadership, teamwork, and customer focus integrated with the process aspects of improvement
• An infrastructure of management systems and permanent change agents is created to lead, deploy, and implement improvement projects
• Leaders are provided with the strategy, methods, and tools for changing their organizations
• Benefits produce culture change, rather than trying to change the culture to produce benefits
When to Use:
• To solve the problem by improving processes, whether they are manufacturing, financial, supply chain, or customer service
When Not to Use:
• When the solution to a problem is already known— for example, installing a new piece of equipment, bringing information technology into line with new corporate guidelines, building a plant, most capital projects
Number of Participants:
• 4–6 team members per improvement project
• From 1 to more than 100 parallel teams
Types of Participants:
• Leadership, Champions, Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, functional support members
Typical Duration:
• Preparation: 2 days–1 months
• Process: 4–6 months per project
• Follow-up: Weekly management reviews; monthly for improvement projects, quarterly for the overall deployment, and annually to plan for the coming year
Brief Example:
A major pharmaceutical manufacturer that anticipated being unable to meet demand for a blockbuster new product used Six Sigma’s sequenced problem-solving methodology to improve the process and address underlying organizational issues.
Historical Context:
Early 1980s, stimulated by Japanese companies’ use of statistical methods in manufacturing. Mid-1980s, created by Motorola and named Six Sigma. Mid-1990s, extended by G.E. to include all processes.
The Six Sigma Approach
