what's "6 sigma"?

Answer 1

Six Sigma at many organizations simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.

The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications. A Six Sigma opportunity is then the total quantity of chances for a defect. Process sigma can easily be calculated using a Six Sigma calculator.

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects. This is accomplished through the use of two Six Sigma sub-methodologies: DMAIC and DMADV. The Six Sigma DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an improvement system for existing processes falling below specification and looking for incremental improvement. The Six Sigma DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) is an improvement system used to develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels. It can also be employed if a current process requires more than just incremental improvement. Both Six Sigma processes are executed by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts, and are overseen by Six Sigma Master Black Belts.

According to the Six Sigma Academy, Black Belts save companies approximately $230,000 per project and can complete four to 6 projects per year. General Electric, one of the most successful companies implementing Six Sigma, has estimated benefits on the order of $10 billion during the first five years of implementation. GE first began Six Sigma in 1995 after Motorola and Allied Signal blazed the Six Sigma trail. Since then, thousands of companies around the world have discovered the far reaching benefits of Six Sigma.

Answer 2

A method or set of techniques, Six Sigma has also become a movement focused on business process improvement. It is a quality measurement and improvement program originally developed by Motorola that focuses on the control of a process to the point of ± six sigma (standard deviations) from a centerline, or put another way, 3.4 defects per million items. A Six Sigma systematic quality program provides businesses with the tools to improve the capability of their business processes. It includes identifying factors critical to quality as determined by the customer, reducing process variation and improving capabilities, increasing stability and designing systems to support the six sigma goal.

Answer 3

Six sigma has become a bit of a joke and a cliche' in industry as far as I am concerned.

Six sigma represents + or - 3 standard deviations ("sigma" is a standard deviation) of a population data sample. The significance of 3 sigma is that it represents a percentile that covers a range that contains all but 1 in every 3.4 million data points. This became a popular "level of acceptence" for failures at Toyota Production (as in cars) - they were willing to tolerate 1 failure in 3.4 million chances of a part not being to specifications.

This is only true for "Gaussian" distributions (you know - the "Bell Curve") - one of the hallmarks of "Six Sigma Certification" should be the ability to identify when a process does not have a Gaussian distribution possibility (such as the diameter of a drilled hole - the whole can vary on the "big side", but can only be as small as the drill bit)

There are 2 ways to achieve this - by product design (don't make you design such that every part has to be "dead-on" or your gizmo won't work), or by process design (make your process so capable that there is no chance that a part will made on will fall outside the specfications).

The Six Sigma (note the caps) are a bunch of folks who have trademarked this and "bottled and canned" this into a certification system. For about $3,000, they will certify you (just as soon as the check clears) to be "Six Cigma Certified". In keeping with the Japanese roots of this concept, people are certified as "Brown Belts" and Green Belts" and "Black Belts", etc. for completing projects.

My experience with this certification is colored by a couple of facts:

- My company has completed a number of very successful projects "cleaning up" behind some of these folks, who are often long on theory and short on common sense.
- My company has been rejected by "Certified Black Belts" because of not having "Six Sigma Certification", only to be hired by the company down the road after firing their "Black Belt" due to incompetence.

Nobody needs a "Six Sigma" badge to be successful. This should be viewed as a away to demonstrate what you can accomplish - in which case it becomes a "filter" of sorts.

Another way to do this is to simply do great work for customers and clients, and to have them pass on recommendations. You don't have to spend $3,000 on top of doing the work to get this.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.....I didn't have to cut and paste it out of "Wikipedia".

Answer 4

Six Sigma is a business improvement methodology, originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. Defects are defined as units that are not members of the intended population. The objective of Six Sigma is to deliver high performance, reliability, and value to the end customer. Since it was originally developed, Six Sigma has enjoyed wide popularity as an important element of many Total Quality Management (TQM) initiatives.

The process was pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986 and was originally defined as a metric for measuring defects and improving quality, and a methodology to reduce defect levels below 3.4 Defects Per (one) Million Opportunities (DPMO), or put another way, a methodology of controlling a process to the point of plus or minus six sigma (standard deviations) from a centerline (for a total span of twelve sigma). Six Sigma has now grown beyond defect control. It is now commonly used to obtain detailed information regarding customer, employee and shareholder demands and then using this information to improve process and product design.

Six Sigma is a registered service mark and trademark of Motorola, Inc. Motorola has reported over US$17 billion in savings from Six Sigma to date.

In addition to Motorola, companies which also adopted six sigma methodologies early-on and continue to practice it today include Honeywell International (previously known as Allied Signal), Raytheon and General Electric (introduced by Jack Welch). The three companies have reportedly saved billions of dollars thanks to the aggressive implementation and daily practice of six sigma methodologies.[citation needed]

Recent six sigma trends lies in the advancement of the methodology with integrating to TRIZ for inventive problem solving and product design.

Answer 5

These are some files thjat will help you understand the 6 sigma method and i think it will answer all your questions

http://rapidshare.com/files/8532483/six_sigma.pdf.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/8532656/six_sigma_def..pdf.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/8532930/05.SixSigma.zip.html