Managers Forum (Student’s Article)

What Is Six Sigma?
Globalization and instant access to information, products and services continue to change the way our customers conduct business. Today's competitive environment leaves no room for error. We must delight our customers and relentlessly look for new ways to exceed their expectations. This is why Six Sigma Quality has become a part of our culture. First, what it is not. It is not a secret society, a slogan or a cliche. Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. Why "Sigma"? The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how many "defects" you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to "zero defects" as possible. To achieve Six Sigma Quality, a process must produce no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. An "opportunity" is defined as a chance for nonconformance, or not meeting the required specifications. This means we need to be nearly flawless in executing our key processes.

Quality Approaches and Models

DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) - A systematic methodology utilizing tools, training and measurements to enable us to design products and processes that meet customer expectations and can be produced at Six Sigma Quality levels.
DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) - A process for continued improvement. It is systematic, scientific and fact based. This closed-loop process eliminates unproductive steps, often focuses on new measurements, and applies technology for improvement.
Six Sigma - A vision of quality, which equates with only 3.4 defects per million opportunities for each product or service transaction. Strives for perfection.
Quality Tools : Associates are exposed to various tools and terms related to quality. Below are just a few of them.
Control Chart - Monitors variance in a process over time and alerts the business to unexpected variance which may cause defects.
Defect Measurement - Accounting for the number or frequency of defects that cause lapses in product or service quality.
Pareto Diagram - Focuses on efforts or the problems that have the greatest potential for improvement by showing relative frequency and/or size in a descending bar graph. Based on the proven Pareto principle: 20% of the sources cause 80% of any problems.
Process Mapping - Illustrated description of how things get done, which enables participants to visualize an entire process and identify areas of strength and weaknesses. It helps reduce cycle time and defects while recognizing the value of individual contributions.
Root Cause Analysis - Study of original reason for nonconformance with a process. When the root cause is removed or corrected, the nonconformance will be eliminated.
Statistical Process Control - The application of statistical methods to analyze data, study and monitor process capability and performance.
Tree Diagram - Graphically shows any broad goal broken into different levels of detailed actions. It encourages team members to expand their thinking when creating solutions.