SIX

SIGMA
 Six Sigma
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.
 Six Sigma
Purpose and Origin
Six Sigma (6 ) is a business-driven, multi-faceted
approach to process improvement, reduced costs,
and increased profits. With a fundamental principle
to improve customer satisfaction by reducing
defects, its ultimate performance target is virtually
defect-free processes and products (3.4 or fewer
defective parts per million (ppm)). The Six Sigma
methodology, consisting of the steps "Define -
Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control," is the
roadmap to achieving this goal. Within this
improvement framework, it is the responsibility of
the improvement team to identify the process, the
definition of defect, and the corresponding
measurements.
Calculating the Cost and Savings of Six Sigma Quality
One of the most distinct differences between Six
Sigma and other quality management systems is the
link to business finances. Financial benefits of
potential process improvement projects are
quantified and used to help select and prioritize
process improvement projects. Financial benefits
are re-evaluated during the analyze phase to ensure
that the cost of improvements suggested will be
supported by the benefit of the project. And finally,
the financial benefits are verified once the project
enters the control (for DMAIC) and verify (for DMADV
) phases.
The rigor associated with linking Six Sigma projects
to business financials helps connect everyone
within the business -- not just the quality department
and related personnel. The entire organization,
including the CEO, CFO, line managers, employees,
and shareholders, looks to Six Sigma to increase
cost savings, productivity, and incremental revenue.
It also helps differentiate substantial process
improvements from insignificant 'fluff' projects that
have little long-term benefit for the business.
The Differences of DMAIC and DMADV
DMAIC and DMADV sound very similar, don't they?
The acronyms even share the first three letters. But
that's about where the similarities stop.
DMAIC Define:
Define the project goals and customer
(internal and external) deliverables
Measure:
Measure the process to determine current
performance
Analyze:
Analyze and determine the root cause's of
the defects
Improve:
Improve the process by eliminating
defects
Control:
Control future process performance
When To Use DMAIC
The DMAIC methodology, instead of the DMADV
methodology, should be used when a product or
process is in existence at your company but is not
meeting customer specification or is not performing
adequately.
DMADV
Define:

Define the
project goals and customer (internal and external)
deliverables
Measure:
Analyze:
Analyze the process options to meet the customer
needs
Design:
Design (detailed) the process to meet the customer
needs
Verify:
Verify the design performance and ability to meet
customer needs
 When To Use DMADV
The DMADV methodology, instead of the DMAIC
methodology, should be used when:

 A product or process is not in existence at your

company and one needs to be developed.

 The existing product or process exists and has

been optimized (using either DMAIC or not) and
still doesn't meet the level of customer
specification or six sigma level
 SIX SIGMA & DESIGN FOR SIX SIGMA
Improving the bottom line results in Manufacturing,
Engineering, and Service Organizations through
continuous improvement and the elimination of
waste.
Does your Six Sigma effort face these challenges:
 Trouble selecting projects or calculating their
potential for financial success?
 Difficulties quantifying and forecasting the
effects of variation in your new process or design?
 Inability to identify the key factors (CTQs) that
drive uncertainty in your process?
 Problems optimizing your processes to improve
efficiency and reduce waste?
 Need to maximize the probability of meeting
design elements without excessive testing costs?
 Trouble explaining the effects of variation in a
clear, concise manner?
 Six Sigma Organizational Architecture
Six Sigma is a quality methodology that can
produce significant benefit to businesses and
organizations. Not much text, however, has been
written about the structure needed to successfully
implement Six Sigma quality within the business or
organization. This article will focus on roles and
responsibilities, as well as required rewards and
recognition for a successful Six Sigma quality
program.
Roles and Responsibilities
Quality Leader/Manager (QL/QM) –
The quality leader's responsibility is to represent the
needs of the customer and to improve the
operational effectiveness of the organization. The
Quality function is typically separated from the
manufacturing or transactional processing functions
in order to maintain impartiality. The quality manager
sits on the CEO/President's staff, and has equal
authority to all other direct reports.
Master Black Belt (MBB) –
Master Black Belts are typically assigned to a
specific area or function of a business or
organization. It may be a functional area such as
human resources or legal, or process specific area
such as billing or tube rolling. MBBs work with the
owners of the process to ensure that quality
objectives and targets are set, plans are determined,
progress is tracked, and education is provided. In
the best Six Sigma organizations, process owners
and MBBs work very closely and share information
daily.
Process Owner (PO) - Process owners are exactly as
the name sounds – they are the responsible
individuals for a specific process. For instance, in
the legal department there is usually one person in
charge -- maybe the VP of Legal -- that's the process
owner. There may be a chief marketing officer for
your business -- that's the process owner for
marketing. Depending on the size of your business
and core activities, you may have process owners at
lower levels of your organizational structure. If you
are a credit card company with processes around
billing, accounts receivable, audit, billing fraud, etc.,
you wouldn't just have the process owner be the
chief financial officer, you would want to go much
deeper into the organization where the work is being
accomplished and you can make a big difference.
Black Belt (BB) –
Black Belts are the heart and soul of the Six Sigma
quality initiative. Their main purpose is to lead
quality projects and work full time until they are
complete. Black Belts can typically complete four to
six projects per year with savings of approximately
$230,000 per project . Black Belts also coach Green
Belts on their projects, and while coaching may
seem innocuous, it can require a significant amount
of time and energy.
The Toyota Story about quality
Toyota started out in 1933 as the
automobile department of Toyoda Automatic
Loom Works, Ltd., in Japan. In 1937 the
Toyota Motor Company was founded, and by
1947 over 100,000 vehicles had been
produced. The first Toyota arrived in the U.S.
in 1957. Today more than half of the Toyotas
sold in America are produced there. Over 80
million Toyota vehicles have been built, with
vehicles currently marketed in North America
through approximately 1,200 dealerships.
Back in 1957 Toyota brought two
cars to America. And took them
home again.
They were the best cars we had ever made. They had
been best sellers in Japan. But how would they do in
the big time - in America?

We did not know, we could nor know, until we

brought them here.

We brought them in August, 1957. And showed

them with great hope. And even greater fear. What
The Toyota Land Cruiser had its first deput in
1951 as a Japanese version of the Willys Jeep
We had to start all over
The message was painful and very clear: if we
wanted to sell cars in a place like America, we had to
started all over. And make a better car.
So we started over. And worked very hard for many
frustrating years.
We stretched our technology farther than we had
ever stretched it before.
We tried out ideas that had never been tried before.
We made every mistake that we could possibly
make.
And one day we did it: we made a better car.
And the rest, as they say, is history.

And now comes the future

Toyota is now, and has been for years, America’s
leading auto import.
But soon this import will be made right here.
On May 5 we broke ground for new Toyota
manufacturing plant in Kentucky.
The plant will cost $800,000,000 and will employ
3,000 and will produce 200,000 cars years.
It is a major investment in the future of the American
automobile industry, and in the future of the
American economy.
It is also a down payment on our debt.
We owe a lot to America. America gave us chance
when we were small and scared. It gave us a
challenge that helped us become who we are.
This is something we will never forget.

TOYOTA
Toyota Motor Company
What began as the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works
became the Toyota Motor Company in 1937. By 1957,
Toyota began shipping vehicles to the U.S. Now over
half of the Toyota models sold in the U.S. are
produced in the U.S.
Japan-based Toyota Motor made its mark by
targeting the entry level consumer and flourishing in
international markets. Japan's largest industrial
company, Toyota has found the U.S. to be the top
market for its economical Tercels, Camrys and
Corollas and 4Runner light trucks. The battle for
foreign success has been uphill for Toyota, not
unlike the company's first U.S. entry, the Toyopet
Crown – which couldn't make it up a steep incline to
a showroom in 1957. And, like its early cars, the
solutions to Toyota's initial problems proved to be
more power.
Moving up in the market
Sakichi Toyoda opened the doors to the Toyoda
Automatic Loom Works in 1926, four years before
his death. With earnings from the loom company, his
son, Kiichiro Toyoda entered the automotive
business. The company changed its name to Toyota
in the 1930s and implemented strategies to continue
domination of the Japanese market. Its network of
supplier companies have been roundly praised.
Following the 1957 Crown debacle, the company
scored a hit with the Corolla subcompact, the best-
selling car of all time. Toyota flourished in the U.S.
market during the oil crisis - its cars were far more
efficient than the behemoths being produced by
Ford and General Motors. Toyota rode the wave of
success from energy crisis days through the
present. Currently, Toyota's Lexus line is one of the
most critically acclaimed of the luxury auto market.
The company conducts a large percentage of its
manufacturing in the U.S. and exports about 70,000
vehicles annually from America.
HISTORY OF JAPAN'S QUALITY MOVEMENT
The quality movement in Japan began in 1946 with
the U.S. Occupation Force's mission to revive and
restructure Japan's communications equipment
industry. General Douglas MacArthur was committed
to public education through radio. Homer Sarasohn
was recruited to spearhead the effort by repairing
and installing equipment, making materials and
parts available, restarting factories, establishing the
equipment test laboratory (ETL), and setting rigid
quality standards for products (Tsurumi 1990).
Sarasohn recommended individuals for company
presidencies, like Koji Kobayashi of NEC, and he
established education for Japan's top executives in
the management of quality. Furthermore, upon
Sarasohn's return to the United States, he
recommended W. Edwards Deming to provide a
seminar in Japan on statistical quality control (SQC).
Deming's 1950 lecture notes provided the basis for a
30-day seminar sponsored by the Union of Japanese
Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) and provided the
criteria for Japan's famed Deming Prize. The first
Deming Prize was given to Koji Kobayashi in 1952.
Within a decade, JUSE had trained nearly 20,000
engineers in SQC methods. Today Japan gives high
rating to companies that win the Deming prize; they
number about ten large companies per year.
Deming's work has impacted industries such as
those for radios and parts, transistors, cameras,
binoculars, and sewing machines. In 1960, Deming
was recognized for his contribution to Japan's
reindustrialization when the Prime Minister awarded
him the Second Order of the Sacred Treasure.
In 1954, Dr. Joseph M. Juran of the United States
raised the level of quality management from the
factory to the total organization. He stressed the
importance of systems thinking that begins with
product designs, prototype testing, proper
equipment operations, and accurate process
feedback. Juran's seminar also became a part of
JUSE's educational programs. Juran provided the
move from SQC to TQC (total quality control) in
Japan. This included company-wide activities and
education in quality control (QC), QC circles and
audits, and promotion of quality management
principles. By 1968, Kaoru Ishikawa, one of the
fathers of TQC in Japan, had outlined the elements
of TQC management:
•quality comes first, not short-term profits
•the customer comes first, not the producer
•customers are the next process with no
organizational barriers
•decisions are based on facts and data
•management is participatory and respectful of all
employees
•management is driven by cross-functional
committees covering product planning, product
design, production planning, purchasing,
•manufacturing, sales, and distribution (Ishikawa
1985)
By 1991, JUSE had registered over 331,000 quality
circles with over 2.5 million participants in its
activities. Today, JUSE continues to provide over
200 courses per year, including five executive
management courses, ten management courses, and
a full range of technical training programs.
One of the innovative TQC methodologies developed
in Japan is referred to as the "Ishikawa" or "cause-
and-effect" diagram. After collecting statistical data,
Ishikawa found that dispersion came from four
common causes, as shown in Figure
 What can Six Sigma do
Six Sigma performance is:
•3.4 defects per million opportunities or less.
•Less than 5% of gross sales to correct defects.
Defects include anything that is not perfect. Often
the biggest opportunities are outside manufacturing.
Some examples of defects:
•Service that did not meet the customer's
expectations.
•Unanswered phone.
•Invoice errors.
•Missed discounts.
•Late or early delivery.
•Overtime.
•Scrap or waste.
•Rework or recycle.
•Typos.
•Late filing of reports or applications.
•Low yields.
•etc.
 Six Sigma – The New Industry Standard
What is Six Sigma?
Continuous improvement in quality for increased
customer satisfaction is the fundamental objective
of Six Sigma. The term "sigma" is taken from a
symbol in the Greek alphabet; this symbol is used in
statistics as a measure of variation. Specifically, the
sigma value estimates how often variations, or
anything that dissatisfies a customer, are likely to
occur. The higher the value of sigma, the less likely
variation is expected to occur. "Six Sigma is a
statistical measurement, allowing you to measure
the quality of your products and services. A level of
Six Sigma represents the apex of quality—the virtual
elimination of defects from every product and
process in a company (about three defects out of
every million). It is estimated that companies
operating at three to four sigma (today's U.S.
average) lose 10-15% of their total revenue due to
defects." Along with Six Sigma is a Six Sigma
Performance Challenge; this challenges committed
companies to set short and long term goals for
reaching the apex of highest quality. The short-term
goal is to reach a one-sigma improvement within the
next two years. Next, attain a two-sigma
improvement after 4 years. Finally, reach the long-
term goal of attaining Six Sigma by the end of the
sixth year.
How can it improve your process?
Today most companies currently operate at between
two and three sigma. At two-sigma, an average
company will generally lose 40% of sales revenue
because of the cost of poor quality. At six-sigma the
cost of poor quality will dramatically decline to
around 10% of sales revenue. This is a huge savings
in profit that can then be split among shareholders.
Table 1 shows the statistical meaning of 3 sigma
values and also gives an example of each.
Table 1. What is the difference between 3 and 6
sigma?

Sigma % without flaws Example

3 sigma 93.32% 1.5 misspelled words per
page in a book
4 sigma 99.38% 1 misspelled word per 30
pages in a book
6 sigma 99.99966% 1 misspelled word in all of
the books in a small
library
Currently it might seem that stopping at three or four
sigma is more than adequate. Having a product that
is of good quality 99.9% of the time seems pretty
respectable doesn’t it? Not always. 99.9% seems
pretty inadequate when you consider that with this
kind of quality goal there are:
500 incorrect surgical procedures each week
2,000 lost articles of mail each hour
1 bad airplane landing in 1,000
By reducing variation in the processes to a value of
six-sigma, waste is greatly reduced. Less is thrown
away because less is needed to produce the same
quantity of satisfactory product, and at the same
time the quality of the product is increased as well.
Time and money spent on reworking and recycling
nonconforming products is immediately reduced
since the overall numbers of nonconforming
products are reduced.
In attaining Six Sigma production performance, most
companies have noticed other perks than reduction
of nonconforming products. Most companies have
noticed they are now maximizing machinery use,
optimizing production time and there is a faster
response time for customer inquisitions. Along with
reduced costs due to scraping and reworking
products, cost management is also seen in the
reduced cost due to the need for fewer inspections,
less maintenance and smaller inventory. "Excess
costs related to poor quality include excess
manufacturing steps, excess people to do the job,
overtime and excess equipment," says Joseph A.
DeFeo, executive VP and COO of the Juran Institute
Inc., a management consulting and training firm in
Wilton, Conn., which helped develop the Six Sigma
concept. "By using Six Sigma to reduce those areas
of waste, you can often reduce your total costs by 15
percent to 20 percent annually.“
Is Six Sigma right for your company?
The six sigma quality standard is not worth the extra
investment for all companies. For example, if you are
a company that makes styrofoam packing peanuts,
quality is not as important as having a low cost.
Generally a customer is not too worried about
whether every peanut has the perfect shape and
color. Chances are they will perform the job as long
as they are soft, absorb shock and will not scratch
the product. The low cost will keep customers
satisfied and thus drive the success of your packing
peanuts, not the perfect color of every peanut ever
made. So in this business, if to attain an extra two
sigma’s in quality twice the capital cost is going to
be needed, the higher quality does not outweigh the
higher production cost. This is just the opposite of a
company making regulators for SCUBA diving
equipment. Here, quality drives the success of the
product and company. If 1 in every thousand of your
regulators fail when diving down 150 feet below the
surface of the water and people die, your company
will not be in business for much after the nearest
lawyer finds out about the incident. This is the same
for a high tech company that makes computer chips
for the space shuttle. In these cases the company
can justify going to large expenses to reduce
nonconforming parts by just a few percent.
As has been seen, six sigma is not for every
company. Yet for companies trying to keep ahead in
the ever-increasing technological age, reaching six
sigma production standards may be the only way to
stay competitive with the competitors. Six sigma can
greatly cut down in unneeded expenses, loss of
production time and cost of reworking due to
nonconforming parts. Companies can also save
capital costs by optimizing use of machines thus not
needing to buy new equipment when increasing
production. Unfortunately the cost of increasing
quality to six sigma standards is expensive and not
all production lines necessitate standards where
only 3 in a million parts are nonconforming.
 Six Sigma Versus Three Sigma
The traditional quality model of process capability
differed from Six Sigma in two fundamental
respects:
2. It was applied only to manufacturing processes,
while Six Sigma is applied to all important
business processes.
3. It stipulated that a "capable" process was one
that had a process standard deviation of no more
than one-sixth of the total allowable spread,
where Six Sigma requires the process standard
deviation be no more than one-twelfth of the total
allowable spread.
These differences are far more profound than one
might realize. By addressing all business processes,
Six Sigma not only treats manufacturing as part of a
larger system, it removes the narrow, inward focus
of the traditional approach. Customers care about
more than just how well a product is manufactured.
Price, service, financing terms, style, availability,
frequency of updates and enhancements, technical
support, and a host of other items are also
important. Also, Six Sigma benefits others besides
customers. When operations become more cost-
effective and the product design cycle shortens,
owners or investors benefit too. When employees
become more productive their pay can be increased.
Six Sigma's broad scope means that it provides
benefits to all stakeholders in the organization.
The second point also has implications that are not
obvious. Six Sigma is, basically, a process quality
goal, where sigma is a statistical measure of
variability in a process (see Chapter 7). As such it
falls into the category of a process capability
technique. The traditional quality paradigm defined a
process as capable if the process natural spread,
plus and minus Three Sigma, was less than the
engineering tolerance. Under the assumption of
normality, this Three Sigma quality level translates
to a process yield of 99.73%. A later refinement
considered the process location as well as its
spread and tightened the minimum acceptance
criterion so that the process mean was at least four
sigma from the nearest engineering requirement.
Six Sigma requires that processes operate such that
the nearest engineering requirement is at least Six
Sigma from the process mean.
Six Sigma also applies to attribute data, such as
counts of things gone wrong. This is accomplished
by converting the Six Sigma requirement to
equivalent conformance levels, as illustrated in
Figure
One of Motorola's most significant contributions was
to change the discussion of quality from one where
quality levels were measured in percent (parts-per-
hundred), to a discussion of parts-per-million or
even parts-per-billion. Motorola correctly pointed out
that modern technology was so complex that old
ideas about "acceptable quality levels" could no
longer be tolerated. Modern business requires near
perfect quality levels.
One puzzling aspect of the "official" Six Sigma
literature is that it states that a process operating at
Six Sigma will produce 3.4 parts-per-million (PPM)
non-conformances. However, if a special normal
distribution table is consulted (very few go out to Six
Sigma) one finds that the expected non-
conformances are 0.002 PPM (2 parts-per-billion, or
PPB). The difference occurs because Motorola
presumes that the process mean can drift 1.5 sigma
in either direction. The area of a normal distribution
beyond 4.5 sigma from the mean is indeed 3.4 PPM.
Since control charts will easily detect any process
shift of this magnitude in a single sample, the 3.4
PPM represents a very conservative upper bound on
the non-conformance rate.
In contrast to Six Sigma quality, the old Three Sigma
quality standard of 99.73% translates to 2,700 PPM
failures, even if we assume zero drift. For processes
with a series of steps, the overall yield is the product
of the yields of the different steps. For example, if
we had a simple two step process where step #1 had
a yield of 80% and step #2 had a yield of 90%, then
the overall yield would be 0.8 x 0.9 = 0.72 = 72%.
Note that the overall yield from processes involving
a series of steps is always less than the yield of the
step with the lowest yield. If Three Sigma quality
levels (99.97% yield) are obtained from every step in
a ten step process, the quality level at the end of the
process will contain 26,674 defects per million!
Considering that the complexity of modern
processes is usually far greater than ten steps, it is
easy to see that Six Sigma quality isn't optional; it's
required if the organization is to remain viable.
The requirement of extremely high quality is not
limited to multiple-stage manufacturing processes.
Consider what Three Sigma quality would mean if
applied to other processes:
•Virtually no modern computer would function.
•10,800,000 healthcare claims would be mishandled
each year.
•18,900 US Savings bonds would be lost every
month.
•54,000 checks would be lost each night by a single
large bank.
•4,050 invoices would be sent out incorrectly each
month by a modest-sized telecommunications
company.
•540,000 erroneous call details would be recorded
each day from a regional telecommunications
company.
•270,000,000 (270 million) erroneous credit card
transactions would be recorded each year in the
United States.
With numbers like these, it's easy to see that the
modern world demands extremely high levels of
error free performance. Six Sigma arose in response
to this realization.
Learning to Think Lean: Six Steps with Review Points
Organizations can profit from learning to think in
terms of Lean, a philosophy that aims to eliminate
waste (in Japan, where Lean was developed, the
term is muda). Lean attacks waste mainly by
shortening the time between the customer order and
shipment. Based on a customer-focused view,
six steps can provide a strong foundation for any
organization that wants to incorporate Lean into its
operating philosophy. These steps in Lean thinking
can be best evaluated at the producer end by
verifying and reviewing each step one at a time.
1. Value
2. Value Stream
3. Flow
4. Pull
5. Perfection
6. Replication
Lean thinking can best start by giving due
consideration to value, which ultimately is the
customer's requirement. The value of any product
(goods or services) is defined by customer needs
and not by any non-value-added activity at the
supplier or producer end. That is, the customer is
prepared to pay for operations by producers or their
suppliers that transform the product in a way that is
meaningful to the customer. Customers do not want
to pay for waste at the producer end.

2. Value (Specifying)
Value is determined by the customers who want to
buy the right product with the right capabilities at
the right price. That is, the product must be
"right" every time – from design to manufacture,
from delivery to error-free operation. Lean
companies work on making their processes right
by eliminating waste – something no customer
wants to pay for.
While linking the term "value" generally with
customer requirements, the following questions
can be asked to review the value for the customer
as it relates to any specific product issue:
•What is the problem that impacts the customer?
•What is the problem that the team is going to take
action on?
•Why is the project so important that the
organization should address it?
•Why is the project being done?
•Do all the stakeholders understand and agree to the
problem and its impact on business? Do they all
agree that fixing it is critical for the business? Do
they all support the project?
•Are the roles and responsibilities of the project
team members clearly defined?
•Are the needs of the customers clearly identified?
•What's in it for the customers? How do they
benefit?
•What's in it for the business? How does the
business benefit?
•Were the key parameters or the most important
thing to be fixed identified?
•Does everyone describe what will be measured in
the same way?
•Can the primary metric be manipulated? How does
it drive the right behavior?
•What can go worse as a result of the project?
•Where does the problem occur? Did the team
identify it correctly? Did the team work on this
particular issue to completion?
•What does success look like? How will success be
quantified?
2. Value Stream Mapping (Identifying)
Once value is specified by the customers, the next
Lean step is to identify the right process – a process
that only adds value to the product, in other words, a
waste-free process. The value stream for a product
has three categories of activities:
1. Process steps that definitely create value: In any
manufacturing process, the steps that are actually
transforming the fit, form or function of the raw
material, and bring it a step closer to the finished
product.
2. Process steps that create no value but are
necessary, due to current state of the system: In any
manufacturing process, activities like inspection,
waiting and some transportation steps.
3. Process steps that create no value and can be
eliminated: Any activity that does not fall into the
above two categories.
While the parts of a process that create no value
should be eliminated, any action or activity that is
recognized as non-value-added but currently
necessary should be targeted for improvement. At
this point a detailed process flow diagram should be
generated for each product or product category. To
ascertain which steps in the process are
unnecessary, an intense questioning and re-
examining method (Japanese term is kaikeku) is
applied to every aspect of the process under
consideration.
The review points at this stage are:
•Does the team understand how the whole process
works?
•Did the team manage to complete a detailed
process flow diagram at this stage?
•Did the team identify the waste in the process?
•Did the team follow kaikeku – the radical
improvement approach?
•Were there any particular processes that did not
support the customer need?
•Did the team make use of the knowledge and
experience within the business to establish this?
The review points at this stage are:
•Does the team understand how the whole process
works?
•Did the team manage to complete a detailed
process flow diagram at this stage?
•Did the team identify the waste in the process?
•Did the team follow kaikeku – the radical
improvement approach?
•Were there any particular processes that did not
support the customer need?
•Did the team make use of the knowledge and
experience within the business to establish this?
•What constraints/flow problems exist in the process
that are hurting the business?
•Can the team quantify any difference in people,
shifts and days causing hidden constraints/flow
problems?
•Does the team know the causes of the
constraints/flow problems?
•What impact on the business and customers are
these constraints/flow problems causing?
•When will the team have enough information/data
about the issues that could be causing the problem?
•Does the information reveal anything new about the
problem?
•Did the team understand the type of problem that is
being faced?
•Can the team state what the current performance of
the process is?
•Is it clear yet what the business entitlement is from
the process?
•Is there a need to go back and refine or change
what was learned in the two value steps?
3. Flow
This Lean step focuses on rapid product flow (RPF).
The specific process waste is identified at each
stage of process flow and is eliminated. The team
involved in Lean will physically walk the process
and write down the distance the product travels
during its process flow. The non-value-added
distances are eliminated by physical layout change,
which involves both human and machine. Factory
floors are laid out in cells rather than in functional
groupings, which reduces the distance the parts
travel in the process flow.
It is at this point that the Lean enterprise implements
5S, a tool developed for reducing the slack hidden in
manufacturing processes. 5S is the basis for Lean
manufacturing and the foundation for a disciplined
approach to the clean workplace. The five steps
of 5S are (in Japanese and English):
• Seiri/Sort: Meaning sorting or segregating
through the contents of the workplace and
removing all unnecessary items.

2. Seiton/Straighten: Meaning putting or arranging

the necessary items in their place and providing
easy access by clear identification.
3. Seiso/Shine: Meaning cleaning everything,
keeping it clean and using cleaning to inspect the
workplace and equipment for defects.
4. Seiketsu/Standardize: Meaning creating visual
controls and guidelines for keeping the workplace
organized, orderly and clean, in other words,
maintaining the seiso, or shine.

5. Shitsuke/Sustain: Meaning instituting training and

discipline to ensure that everyone follows the 5S
standards.
Questions to be asked at this point are:
•How is the impact of customer demand on the
process being translated or understood?
•Did the team physically visit the process to realize
the process steps?
•Did the team identify the non-value-added distances
traveled by parts?
•Did the team identify the movements and
transportations?
•Have the hot spot(s) that are constraining the
process been identified?
•What steps have been initiated to stabilize the
constraints before the main improvement is made?
•Has the Lean team done enough to build 5S culture
in the organization?
•Has the team taken the right steps to close the loop
of each 5S step?
4. Pull
The benefits of Lean Steps 1, 2 and 3 allow a
company to produce more than before and in a way
that value is added at every step in the production
process. The fourth Lean step can be directed
toward either removing excess capacity (inventory)
or increasing the rate of pull.
Lean, which identifies the seven deadly wastes as
defects, over-production, transportations, waiting,
inventory, motion and processing (or the acronym,
DOTWIMP), lists inventory as a source of waste.
Hence, producing anything that is not sold
immediately and is waiting at any point of time for
delivery is waste. A pull system, which on the
production side is making a product at the same rate
at which it is being sold, also is a waste-eliminating
step. On the supply side, a pull system is flowing
resources into a production process by replacing
only what has been consumed.
The review points here are:
•Did the Lean team define the sequence of
operation?
•Did the team manage to achieve the balance of
operation times?
•What can be put in place to support the customer
supply needs?
•How will this be managed through the business?
•How will the internal inventory needs be managed?
5. Perfection
This Lean step emphasizes that continuous
improvement has to be a part of the organization and
is always possible. This is the desired state of any
change in any environment. The organization should
always try to achieve what is the perfect system for
that kind of operation and should aim at
continuously improving the present system. The
word for this in Japanese is kaizen.
Questions to be asked here are:
•Have all stakeholders acknowledged and accepted
that the process has been improved?
•What process will be put in place to further improve
the process?
•What risk is there that these causes will come back
and disturb the process again?
•Did the team document the project in a form that
anyone can understand?
•Has the team identified the next stage of continuous
improvement?
6. Replicate (Repeat or reproduce)
This Lean step is a confirmation of the system
implemented and improvements achieved, and
determining that these same system procedures,
tools and techniques can be deployed anywhere in
the operation or in any business process. The main
benefit of this step is that any time spent in analysis
is reduced.
Now is the time to ask these questions:
•How will the team ensure that the business learns
from its experience?
•Can this process improvement be replicated in
other parts of the business?
•Is the control set true enough for a similar type of
operation?
 strategic planning & goal setting.
Strategic planning and goal setting can move the
organization to world class performance.
Strategic planning, facilitated by Adams Associates,
is done by organizational leadership. Strategic
planning is a process that determines the future of
an organization. Goal setting determines resource
allocations needed. Having a well-proven process
for strategic planning and goal setting makes the
effort more efficient. It assures that a strategic plan
will provide a frame that will shape an organization's
future.
 Well organized strategic planning and goal setting
involve distinct steps.
Agreement among the leadership on the values
and beliefs that are the foundation of the strategic
plan.
Understanding current conditions both inside and
outside an organization. Some assessments may be
appropriate before starting formal strategic
planning.
Visualizing the future, as you want it.
Setting goals you must achieve and having a goal
achievement process for those goals.
Implementing the strategic plan.
 Customer Satisfaction
Six Sigma Plus starts and
ends with the CUSTOMER.
Key to the success of an
organization is customer satisfaction. Before we can
satisfy customers we need to ask ourselves:
•Who is the customer
•What does the customer really want

To meet customer requirements you need to define

and control the influences on the business process
(people, raw materials, supplies, waste, incidents,
etc)
•What is the current performance?
•What are the proven causes for dissatisfaction?
•What are the few simple solutions that will generate
lasting results?
Decision Making
Decision making can be a simple process when
based on reliable data. Measuring alone is not
enough. It is important to analyze the data and to
identify the real causes of problems. This will bring a
focus to the decision making and enables a
selection of the vital projects and solutions. This
focus on key projects and solutions will result in an
efficient and effective route to customer satisfaction.

Decision making with Six Sigma means:

•Working on the real and few vital causes
•Getting away from politics, hobbies and old
 Adams Six Sigma
Adams Associates using six sigma plus specializes
in synergistic combination of strategic planning,
leadership and total quality management (tqm) so
clients achieve more goals more often. Six sigma
plus is a planned use of strategy, total quality
management (tqm) and leadership development. It is
the plus in six sigma plus that cause people to align
for goal accomplishment. This is a major difference
between six sigma plus and a statistical approach or
a teaching of total quality management (tqm) tools.
The plus is often the catalyst that allows all other
concepts to be a success.
Issues are selected for special attention as six sigma
plus projects. Projects with significant importance
are assigned to Black Belts as six sigma projects.
Thus each six sigma plus project is assigned a
leader trained in six sigma and total quality
management (tqm) tools. These Six Sigma Plus
Black Belts' duties include teaching other members
of the six sigma plus project team appropriate total
quality management (tqm) philosophy, interfacing
with management, coaching, leadership skills,
teaching total quality management (tqm) tools and
changing systems to sustain six sigma plus projects
improvements.
 World Class
Performance

6σ+
Systems People

Strategy
Senior Leadership is responsible for the strategic
plan, and selecting potential six sigma plus project
areas. Once a six sigma plus project is understood
using total quality management (tqm) tools, total
quality management (tqm) techniques generate
alternatives. Improvements are then implemented.
Six sigma plus projects maintain improvements
using control tools of total quality management
(tqm). This is the define, measure, analyze, improve
and control sequence (DMAIC) of six sigma.
Six sigma training is recommended for the
management and champions as well as for any six
sigma black belt or green belt.
 DMAIC is define measure analyze improve and
control in the six sigma approach to projects.
DMAIC six sigma approach.
The six sigma approach for projects is DMAIC
(define, measure, analyze, improve and control).
These steps are the most common six sigma
approach to project work. Some organizations omit
the D in DMAIC because it is really management
work. With the D dropped from DMAIC the Black Belt
is charged with MAIC only in that six sigma
approach. We believe define is too important be left
out and sometimes management does not do an
adequate job of defining a project. Our six sigma
approach is the full DMAIC.
Define (DMAIC).
Define is the first step in our six sigma approach of
DMAIC. DMAIC first asks leaders to define our core
processes. It is important to define the selected
project scope, expectations, resources and
timelines. The definition step in the six sigma
approach identifies specifically what is part of the
project and what is not, and explains the scope of
the project. Many times the first passes at process
documentation are at a general level. Additional
work is often required to adequately understand and
correctly document the processes. As the saying
goes “The devil is in the details.”
Measure (DMAIC).
Many think when they start a journey the most
important thing to know is where they are going.
While we agree knowing where you want to go is
very important, we believe some of the first
information you need before starting any journey is
your current location. The six sigma approach asks
the Black Belt project manager to quantify and
benchmark the process using actual data. At a
minimum consider the mean or average performance
and some estimate of the dispersion or variation
(maybe even calculate the standard deviation).
Trends and cycles can also be very revealing. The
two data points and extrapolate to infinity is not a six
sigma approach. Process
capabilities can be calculated once there is
performance data,
Analyze (DMAIC).
Once the project is understood and the baseline
performance documented and verified that there is
real opportunity, it is time with the six sigma
approach to do an analysis of the process. In this
step, the six sigma approach applies statistical tools
to validate root causes of problems. Any number of
tools and tests can be used. The objective is to
understand the process at a level sufficient to be
able to formulate options for improvement. We
should be able to compare the various options with
each other to determine the most promising
alternatives. As with many activities, balance must
be achieved. Superficial analysis and understanding
will lead to unproductive options being selected,
forcing recycle through the process to make
improvements. At the other extreme is the paralysis
of analysis. Striking the appropriate balance is what
makes the six sigma Black Belt highly valuable.
Improve (DMAIC).
During the improve step of the six sigma approach
ideas and solutions are put to work. The six sigma
Black Belt has discovered and validated all known
root causes for the existing opportunity. The six
sigma approach requires Black Belts to identify
solutions. Few ideas or opportunities are so good
that all are an instant success. As part of the six
sigma approach there must be checks to assure that
the desired results are being achieved. Some
experiments and trials may be required in order to
find the best solution. When making trials and
experiments it is important that all project
associates understand that these are trials and really
are part of the six sigma approach.
Control (DMAIC)
Many people believe the best performance you can
ever get from a process is at the very beginning.
Over time there is an expectancy that slowly things
will get a little worse until finally it is time for another
major effort towards improvement. Contrasted with
this is the Kaizen approach that seeks to make
everything incrementally better on a continuous
basis. The sum of all these incremental
improvements can be quite large. As part of the six
sigma approach performance tracking mechanisms
and measurements are in place to assure, at a
minimum, that the gains made in the project are not
lost over a period of time. As part of the control step
we encourage sharing with others in the
organization. With this the six sigma approach really
starts to create phenomenal returns, ideas and
projects in one part of the organization are
translated in a very rapid fashion to implementation
in another part of the organization.