Category: Six Sigma Methodology

In my recollection, two recurring questions have dominated the field of six sigma.  The first inquiry can be described by the global question: “Why 6s and not some other level of capability?”  The second inquiry is more molecular.  It can be summarized by the question: “Where does the 1.5s shift factor come from – and […]

Today, very few corporate executives believe that TQM is a viable system of business management.  To this point, a 1996 study titled “Measuring Performance After Meeting Award Criteria” was published in Quality Progress magazine.  The conclusions were quite apparent – the impact of TQM practices may not be nearly as significant as some think.  After […]

I assume that you are referring to the “quantitative” variety.  In this regard, I believe that benchmarking is a highly valuable activity.  For example, consider the “sigma-tizing” of a business.  Let us suppose a certain corporation discovers that it is a 3.5 sigma business.  Now suppose that the same company finds one of its competitors […]

The attempted integration of Six Sigma with other technologies is quite natural, although often unsuccessful.  Perhaps it is only instinctive that people try to blend the benefits of several different approaches into a single entity (per se).  After all, such a thing is seemingly quite rational.  More to the point, it is often believed that […]

A central aspect of six sigma is an eight-step approach for achieving dramatic improvement at different levels of the business.  The process is given by the acronym RDMAICSI – Recognize, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control, Standardize, and Integrate.  As a short cut, many just apply DMAIC. At a top management level, it functions as a […]

I know this may seem somewhat self-evident, but have you considered doing a simple literature review to answer your own question?  So much is out there on the Internet – the available information is like water drops in a world-wide rainstorm.  At this point in the life cycle of Six Sigma, a great many people […]

Metaphysically speaking, I cannot (and will not) argue with your assertions. Perhaps the transitional state between order and chaos (i.e., the point of bifurcation) necessarily constitutes a stage for heightened creativity. However, scientifically speaking, I do believe that chaos theory and fractal geometry can be effectively employed to examine the effects of unstable processes on […]

It is quite interesting that you find Six Sigma to be “very difficult” in terms of application.  Typically, such a perspective is fairly common among those who have had limited exposure to or experience with Six Sigma.  Either you have convinced yourself that Six Sigma is very difficult (to deploy, implement, and apply), or someone […]

In terms of Lean vs. Six Sigma, only time will tell.  Although there exists natural points of intersection, there are also points of incompatibility – philosophically and pragmatically speaking.  I would strongly suggest that you conduct a literature review into the stated issue so as to properly scale the scope and depth of an answer.  […]

Measure what leads to success.

Essentially, the idea of a “process” is to “Six Sigma” as the idea of “teaching” is to “knowledge.”  Perhaps Martin Luther King, Jr. best summed it when he stated: “Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.”  Not only is the process approach important, it is what under girds the […]

Get the book “Six Sigma for Everyone” by George Eckes, John Wiley and Sons 2003.  It does a very nice job of outlining what to do and provides some really good tools.  Seems like a good book for green belts. To extend beyond the aforementioned book, let us come to understand the importance of properly […]

As you likely know, equipment uptime (as well as downtime) is very much akin to product reliability engineering.  Many of the same concepts, equations, and methods are commonly shared.  Given this, it should be interesting to note that Six Sigma found its genetic roots in the field of reliability engineering.  As some of the more […]

So as to better appreciate the spirit and intent of our ensuing discussion, we must call upon the nature and purpose of two recognized entities – the US Postal Service and Ford Motor Company.  If we were to contrast these organizations, how would they appear to be similar? How would they appear to be dissimilar?  […]

Lean Sigma might be an anorexic standard deviation. If this is true, then Lean Six Sigma is probably the linear sum of six anorexic sigmas. I would imagine that a healthy diet, mental exercise, and less greed would improve the current trend. That’s the funny thing about people with anorexia – they truly believe “skinnier […]

There is a clear tendency among many new comers to Six Sigma.  That tendency is to artificially and unwittingly limit the scope of Design-For-Six-Sigma (DFSS) to the configuration of hardware-based products and processes.  As a result, it is currently common to equate DFSS with such fields of practice as engineering and manufacturing, which have their […]

I am not aware of a “standardized” exit document (in template form) that is related to the closeout of deliverables.  Of course, corporations often create such devices to serve their own internal needs, but are not usually postured to publicly share the resulting intellectual property.  I would suggest that you post this question on the […]

Same as a big factory, but in a small way.

Based on the nature of your question, I would assume you are referencing the “Capability Maturity Model Integration” system and “Capability Maturity Model”, or CMMI and CMM, respectively.  My understanding is that CMM is a generalized model for judging or otherwise assessing the maturity of software processes.  In addition, it is a means for identifying […]

At the onset of this discussion, it is vital that we establish the basic nature and character of a “Management Information System.”  According to G. Davis and M. Olson in the publication “Management Information Systems” (1984, p. 5-6):  “There is no consensus of the definition of the term ‘management information system’…” In fact, these highly […]

You apply Six Sigma in the same way as any other business enterprise.  In general, this means you must implement Six Sigma on a project-by-project basis.  Generically speaking, Y=f(X) and the only thing that changes from situation-to-situation is the variable labels, transfer function, rate of replication, cost-per-transaction,  and faces of the players.  Other than that,  […]

As we consider the DMAIC process, it is important to bear in mind the fundamental principle of determinism: Y = f (X).  Of course, Y is the outcome variable and X is the many variables that induce Y to exist.  For any given problem-solving situation, we are behooved to recognize how DMAIC relates to Y […]

Where the engineering of quality is concerned, Dr. G. Taguchi popularized the idea of “robustness” in the mid 80’s.  As one might suspect, the underlying definition of this term is fairly simple – per the dictionary, it is the ability to recover from unexpected [and expected] conditions during operation.   In this sense, the idea of […]

Where the idea of “process improvement” is concerned, it is now well understood that Six Sigma can play a most decisive role.  Specifically, it can serve to significantly improve the process of market forecasting. For example, consider the instance where an organization attempts to deploy a certain type of ARIMA model from which to forecast […]