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Bring Quality Near Perfection with Six Sigma

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Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control your way to success!

Has your company ever implemented a quality initiative that failed? Quality initiatives often are seen by executives as a financial burden and by employees as a way to make them work harder. Is this true? How can organizations benefit from implementing a quality initiative successfully and how can they do that? Which initiative has proven to be successful when implemented correctly? Six Sigma!

Six Sigma is a management philosophy which aims at improving the business performance by eliminating defects. This methodology was first introduced by Motorola engineers during 1980s, more specifically Mikel Harry studied variation and together with other engineers used different tools to improve the processes with the most variation. Six Sigma soon became a powerful methodology used by world class organizations to improve their business processes. Six Sigma was made famous by General Electric, who experienced multiple successes due to an effective implementation of the methodology.

Six Sigma is a methodology for process improvement which tends to make organizations effective and efficient by keeping customers and employees satisfied.This management philosophy uses the DMAIC methodology as a roadmap for problem solving and process improvement. Each phase of the DMAIC methodology usually follows the order define, measure, analyze, improve and control. However, sometimes the project must be re-defined, re-measured, and re-analyzed after the data collected has been analyzed. The methodology can only proceed to improve and control phases once the Six Sigma team has come to a final project definition

Data-based decision making is one of the most important elements of the Six Sigma methodology. Even though the fear of using and applying statistics might sometimes make organizations not undertake this initiative, it is clear that data-based decision making helps in taking better decisions. Professionals should overcome the barrier of learning statistics and remember that it is used to describe, compare, and relate the data. The path of learning can be easier if one understands the correlation between the three and then focuses on advanced statistical methods.

Many organizations get to see the performance of different processes when sigma performance is calculated. Research shows that the sigma performance is usually lower than expected. What makes Six Sigma the ultimate methodology is the fact that achieving a 6 sigma performance means having only 3.4 defects in a million opportunities, which is close to perfection. Airplane industry is the only industry to have a better performance than 6 sigma in terms of flight crashes. Research shows that in a million flights there are less than four crashes. Traveling by plane is safer than traveling by train, bike, car or ship. In addition, research shows that the luggage process is a three sigma process, which means that out of million pieces of luggage, the airplane will lose, misplace, misdirect, mishandle, or delay 66,807 pieces.

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Lately, the uncertainty on whether Six Sigma is the greatest management philosophy has grown. Executives tend to undertake other initiatives with the excuse that many companies have failed with Six Sigma. What they fail to realize is that Six Sigma can be implemented incorrectly just like any other initiative. There are many factors that affect the success of the project and they include:

• Senior Management Involvement - is crucial for the success of a Six Sigma project as that is the only way for the executives to see where the problems derive from. Executives can select projects and teams, approve improvement ideas, resolve conflicts, provide the resources for the project, and review the projects.

• Six Sigma Infrastructure Creation – makes resource allocation for process improvement efficient. Research shows that failure to create a suitable organizational infrastructure can lead to project failure.

• Education and Training – is a key factor for the successful implementation of Six Sigma. Training the team members will reduce the chance of project failure. Preferably, all employees of the organization should have some sort of awareness training so that they can get involved in the project whenever necessary.

• Effective use of Six Sigma tools – will allow the Six Sigma team to implement the project correctly. It is important that employees that undertake the training are those with strongest technical and social skills.

• Project Management Skills – are highly important when implementing a Six Sigma project. The project team should be able to overcome the obstacles and achieve the project objectives on time and within the planed budget.

• Communication – in Six Sigma projects is a substantial factor to facilitate the change without much resistance.

Some of the reasons why Six Sigma has prospered include bottom line cost reduction, improved customer and employee satisfaction, improved product or service quality, and process improvement through a common language throughout the organization. As mentioned above, world class organizations such as Motorola, General Electric, Allied Signal, Dell, Amazon.com, United States Army, Boeing, Ford Motor Company, and so on, have benefited from Six Sigma implementation. Motorola saved $17 billion from the implementation of Six Sigma, General Electric saved $750 million by making Six Sigma their quality culture, and many millions more were saved by organizations and institutions worldwide.

“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’tunderstand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” – H. James Harrington

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International Organization for Standardization has created ISO 13053 which serves as a guideline for process improvement. ISO 13053 describes the methodology for process improvement also known as Six Sigma. This methodology aims at improving the business performance by eliminating defects and waste. Six Sigma can make your organization efficient by generating higher profits. With ISO 13053 you ensure that quality within the organization is near perfection. This international standard adopts the process model “Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control” (DMAIC) which is applied to the structure of all the processes in a management system.

Implementing standards such as ISO 13053 is crucial for organizations that want to improve their business performance. The organizations implementing Six Sigma will remain competitive due to the reduction in their costs. Growing competition will make Six Sigma crucial for business sustainability, and as such the need for qualified personnel on implementation and audit of ISO 13053 will keep increasing.

PECB (Professional Evaluation and Certification Board) is a certification body for persons on wide range of international standards. It offers Six Sigma trainings to help you achieve your business objectives and reach process efficiency while having satisfied customers. Successful ISO 13053 training completion validates your knowledge in developing a Six Sigma project. It proves that you understand the Six Sigma tools and concepts, and that you are capable to improve organization's bottom line. This training suits quality professionals, project managers or consultants wanting to prepare and to support an organization in the implementation of a Six Sigma project. In addition, ISO 13053 training can also be followed by auditors wanting to perform and lead Six Sigma audits, and staff involved in the implementation of the ISO 13053 standard.

ISO 13053 and Six Sigma Trainings offered by PECB:• Certified ISO 13053 Lead Implementer (5 days)• Certified ISO 13053 Lead Auditor (5 days)• Certified ISO 13053 Foundation (2 days)• ISO 13053 Introduction (1 day)

ISO 13053 Lead Auditor, ISO 13053 Lead Implementer and ISO 13053 Master are certification schemes accredited by ANSI ISO/IEC 17024.

Lorika Bina is the Quality, Management and Risk (QMR) Product Manager at PECB. She is in charge of developing and maintaining training courses related to QMR. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her at qmr@pecb.org.

For further information, please visit www.pecb.org/en/