An Introduction to

Lean Six Sigma (6σ) in Higher

Education
Dr. Andrew Luna Stan DeHoff
Director University Project Portfolio Manager
Institutional Research and Planning Office of Decision Support
University of West Georgia Medical College of Georgia
Six Sigma - As Easy to Understand As
Parking Your Car

2
 Agenda

• History of Quality in Higher Education

• The World We Live In
• Six Sigma Defined
• DMAIC
• Lean Defined
• Example: Using Statistical Measures for
Quality Control in higher education
• Example: Using Lean Six Sigma at MCG

3
 History of Quality in Higher Education

• In 1980, NBC aired “If Japan can…Why

can’t we?” and the Quality movement took
off in the U.S.
• In 1991, IBM offered $1 million ($3 million
in IBM equipment) to those colleges and
universities that could adapt quality
management initiatives
• In 1992 all of higher education went TQM
“crazy”

4
 History of Quality in Higher Education,
cont.

• TQM failed in higher education because of lack of

knowledge.
• TQM lost its appeal to many business because of
increased labor and documentation costs and
decreased reliance on Statistical Process Control
• Six Sigma was an effort by Motorola and GE to
bring back statistical measurement to quality
• Six Sigma is now slowly entering the halls of
academe

5
 The World We Live In

Sonny Perdue
• Governor, State of Georgia
– Changing the culture of state government
• Principle-centered, people-focused, customer-friendly
– Commission for a New Georgia
• Best managed, growing, educated, healthy, safe

“Our government needed new thinking

from a fresh perspective to see better
ways to manage our assets and services
and map our future.”

6
 The World We Live In

Erroll B. Davis, Jr.

• Chancellor, University System of Georgia
– Ongoing series of changes to improve System
communication and institutional engagement
• Reorganization, new System Strategic Plan, more
unified System
– Focus on accountability and quality and “Six Sigma”

“I want our actions and decisions to be

based upon knowledge. So that is an
initial expectation; that we will focus on
data-driven decision-making.”

7
 What is Six Sigma (6σ)?

• Sigma (σ) is a statistical concept that represents how much

variation there is in a process relative to customer
specifications.
• Sigma Value is based on “defects per million opportunities”
(DPMO).
• Six Sigma (6σ) is equivalent to 3.4 DPMO. The variation in
the process is so small that the resulting products and services
are 99.99966% defect free.

Amount of Variation Effect Sigma Value

Too much Hard to produce output within Low (0 – 2)
customer specifications
Moderate Most output meets customer Middle (3 – 5)
specifications
Very little Virtually all output meets High (6)
customer specifications
8
 Six Sigma Concept

Every Human Activity Has Variability...

Customer
Specification
Customer
Specification

defects
Target

Reducing Variability is the Key to Understanding Six Sigma

9
 Six Sigma Concept

Parking Your Car in the Garage

Has Variability...

Customer Customer
Specification Target Specification

defects defects

10
 Six Sigma Concept

A 3 process because 3 standard deviations

fit between target and spec
Before
Target Customer
3 Specification

1

2

3
After

Target 6 Customer

Specification

By reducing the variability,

we improve the process 1 No Defects!
3

6

11
 What’s Wrong With 99% Quality?

3.8 Sigma Six Sigma

99% Good 99.99966% Good
 20,000 articles of mail lost per hour  7 articles of mail lost per hour

 Unsafe drinking water for almost 15  Unsafe drinking water for 1 minute
minutes each day every 7 months

 5,000 incorrect surgical operations  1.7 incorrect surgical operations

per week per week

 2 short or long landings at most major  1 short or long landing at most

airports each day major airports every 5 years

 200,000 wrong drug prescriptions  68 wrong drug prescriptions

dispensed each year dispensed each year
12
 Why Use Sigma as a Metric?

 Focuses on defects
• Even one defect reflects a failure in your
customer’s eye

 Establishes a common metric to make

comparisons easier

 Is a more sensitive indicator than percentage

or average-based metrics …

13
 Limitations of Average-Based Metrics

FOXTROT BY BILL
AMEND

14
 Where Did 6σ Come From?

• Started at Motorola Corporation in the mid-1980’s,

when the company discovered that products with a
high first-pass yield (i.e., those that made it through
the production process defect-free) rarely failed in
actual use, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.
• Popularized by former General Electric CEO Jack
Welch’s commitment to achieving Six Sigma
capability (realized $12 Billion savings over 5 years).
"Six Sigma is a quality program that improves your
customers' experience, lowers your costs and builds
better leaders."

15
 Isn’t 6σ Just For Manufacturing?

• No, Six Sigma is good for ANY business.

– Has been successful in industries such as
banking, retail, software, and medical
– Has been successful in improving processes
throughout operations, sales, marketing,
information technology, finance, customer
services, and human resources
• Why?
– Because every business suffers from the two key
problems that Six Sigma can solve: defects and
delay

16
 Six Sigma (6σ) in Academia
Institutions which have implemented some form of Six Sigma
methodology within their operations:
Health Sciences: Other:
Medical College of Pennsylvania Alabama Jackson State South Carolina
Medical College of Virginia Boston University Johns Hopkins South Dakota State
Medical College of Wisconsin Cal Poly State Kettering Tennessee
Medical U of South Carolina California Michigan Texas
St. Louis U Health Sciences Center Carnegie Mellon Mississippi Texas A&M
U of Michigan Health System Central Florida Mississippi State Tulane
U of Tennessee Health Science Center Central Michigan NC State UNC Chapel Hill
U of Texas Health Science Center Clemson Ohio Vanderbilt
U of Texas Medical Branch Coastal Carolina Penn State Vermont
University System of Georgia: Colorado Purdue Villanova
University of Georgia Connecticut Rockhurst Washington
University of West Georgia Florida Tech Rutgers Western Illinois
Valdosta State University Illinois Central San Diego Western Kentucky

USG Institutions Teaching Six Sigma

Abraham Baldwin Columbus State Kennesaw State
Armstrong Atlantic State Darton College Southern Polytechnic State
Bainbridge College Georgia State University of Georgia
Clayton State Georgia Inst of Tech Valdosta State

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 Six Sigma (6σ) Methodologies

DMAIC: This method is used to

Control Define improve the current capabilities of an
existing process. This is by far the most
Improve Measure
commonly used methodology of sigma
Analyze
improvement teams.

DMADV: This method is used when you

need to create or completely redesign a
Verify Define
process, product, or service to meet
Design Measure customer requirements. DMADV teams
Analyze are usually staffed by senior managers
and Six Sigma experts.

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 DMAIC Methodology

DEFINE Identify, prioritize, and

select the right project(s)

MEASURE Identify key product

characteristics & process
parameters, understand
processes, and measure
performance

ANALYZE Identify the key (causative)

process determinants

IMPROVE Establish prediction model

and optimize performance

CONTROL Hold the gains

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Six Sigma Toolbox

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Box Plots
Brainstorming
Cause-effect Diagrams
Correlation & Regression
Design Of Experiments
Graphs and Charts
Histograms
Hypothesis Testing
Pareto Analysis
Process Capability Studies
Process Control Plans
Process Flow Diagrams
Quality Function Deployment
Response Surface Methods
Scatter Diagrams
Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs)
Statistical Process Control

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 Project Focus

Define The right project(s), the right team(s)

Characterization

Measure
 Process
Problems and
Process

Y 
Symptoms
Process outputs
 Response variable, Y
Analyze
 Independent variables, Xi
Optimization

Process inputs
X’s

Improve
Process

 The Vital Few determinants

 Causes
Control  Mathematical relationship

Goal: Y = f ( x ) 21
 Different Views of the Organization

30,000 Ft. – View of Entire Organization

5,000 Ft. – View of One Process

22
 So, What is Lean?

• The methodology of increasing the speed of

production by eliminating process steps
which do not add value
– those which delay the product or service
– those which deal with the waste and rework
of defects along the way

23
 Where Did Lean Come From?

• Lean thinking originated at Toyota with the Toyota

Production System (TPS). The original ideas were
formulated by Sakichi Toyoda in the 1920s and
1930s, but only made the leap to full
implementation in the 1950s.

• Many of the principles of lean came from a

surprising source: American supermarkets where
small quantities of a vast selection of inventory is
replenished as customers "pull" them off the shelf.

24
 Core Ideas of Lean

• Determine and create value

– What does the customer want?
• Use “pull” instead of “push” systems to avoid
overproduction
– Inventories hide problems and efficiencies.
• One piece flow
– Make the work “flow,” so that there are no
interruptions and no wasted time or material
• Eliminate the seven speed bumps (non-value
adds) caused by waste
• Use the “five whys?” and Six Sigma problem
solving to eliminate defects
25
 The Seven Speed Bumps of Lean
Non-value added waste – is any activity which
absorbs money, time, and people but creates no
value.
1. Over production which creates inventories that take up
space and capital
2. Excess inventory caused by over production
3. Waiting for the next value-added process to start
4. Unnecessary movement of work products
5. Unnecessary movement of employees

6. Unnecessary or incorrect processing

7. Defects leading to repair, rework, or scrap.

26
 The Antidote to Waste: The 5 S’s

1. Sort
– Keep only what is needed
2. Straighten
– A place for everything and everything in its place
3. Shine
– Clean systems and work area to expose problems
4. Standardize
– Develop systems and procedures to monitor conformance
to the first three rules. (Six Sigma’s Define and Measure
phases)
5. Sustain
– Maintain a stable workflow. (Six Sigma’s Analyze,
Improve, and Control phases)

27
 Synergy of Lean and Six Sigma

# of
±3 ±4 ±5 ±6
Steps
Lean reduces non-value-add steps

1 93.32% 99.379% 99.976% 99.999%

7 61.63% 95.733% 98.839% 99.997%

10 50.08% 93.96% 99.768% 99.996%

20 25.08% 88.29% 99.536% 99.993%

40 6.29% 77.94% 99.074% 99.986%

Six Sigma improves quality of value-add steps
Source: Motorola Six Sigma Institute 28
 The Birth of “Lean Six Sigma”

• Six Sigma improves effectiveness by

eliminating defects (improves Quality)
• Lean improves efficiency by eliminating
delay and waste (improves Speed)
• Most Six Sigma efforts are incorporating
the principles of Lean. Therefore, Six
Sigma is often called Lean Six Sigma.

29
 Pareto Chart in Residence Halls

Residential Life Incident Reports – 2 Years

250 100.00%

90.00%

200 80.00%

Cumlative Percentage
70.00%

150 60.00%
Count

50.00%
100 40.00%

30.00%

50 20.00%

10.00%

0 0.00%

30
Using Pareto and Trend Analysis

Trend Analysis

31
 Control Chart for Hot Water in Residence
Hall

Problem • Define – Hot water

• Survey found that variability in high-rise
most residents in a residence hall
female hall were • Measure – Record
unhappy with the temp. of hot water on
bathrooms high, med., and low
• Subsequent focus floors for two weeks,
groups found that three times a day
residents were upset • Analyze – Plot hot
over the quantity and water on X-Bar/R
quality of hot water Control Chart

32
 Control Chart for Hot Water in Residence
Hall, Cont.

X - Bar
Hugging of the
Periodicity
14 0 Mean
13 0
Means

12 0

110

10 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2 21 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 31 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 41

R Exceeding
45 Control Limit
40

35
Trend
Run
30
Ranges

25

20

15

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2 21 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 31 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 41

33
 Control Chart for Hot Water in Residence
Hall, Cont.

• Improve – After understanding the

process and the control chart, the team
offered suggestions to control variability
• Control – A new control chart was run
after changes to the system and the
process was found to be in control
• Money – The changes decreased utility
costs and increased student retention in
the hall

34
 Regression Analysis

• Multiple Regression was used to explain

variability in academic departmental
budget allocations
• Credit hours, professors, degrees, market
of the discipline, and majors were used to
predict budget allocation
• Predicted allocations were compared to
actual allocations and significant
discrepancies were addressed.

35
 a.k.a.,
Reference Our Balanced
Master Improvement Story Scorecard

A Master Improvement Story links key measures to

improvement efforts. This linkage helps leaders and
employees focus on the customer / stakeholder and align
all of their actions to achieve desired outcomes.
Vision Long-Term Objectives Annual Objectives Measures Targets
The Medical College of I - Enhance Educational * Number of applications ___
Georgia will become Improve Program
Environment and Update * Enrollment ___
Effectiveness
one of the nation's Educational Programs * Number of Degrees conferred ___
premier health * Passage rate ___
sciences universities.

Improve Student * Grade point averages ___

Performance * Standard examination scores ___
* Fulfilled requirements ___
* % retained ___
* % promoted ___
* % graduated ___
* % certified/licensed ___

* Amount of external funding ___

II - Enhance the Research Improve Research ___
* NIH funding
Enterprise Productivity ___
* Comparative ranking

* Number of new grants ___

Improve Research * Dollar amount of new grants ___
Outcomes * Number of research studies ___
* Number of publications ___
III - X * Presentations per Faculty ___

36
 DMAIC: Define the Project
Define the project’s purpose and scope. Collect background information on
the process and your customers’ needs and requirements.

As an example project, let’s focus on the Full-Time

Instructional Faculty (FTI) Turnover Rate metric …

IV - Continuously Enhance
the Quality of Faculty and
Staff
* Incentive packages ___
Improve Recruitment
* Time to fill open reqs ___

* Competitive salaries ___

Improve Retention * Tenure status ___
* Turnover rate ___

Definition: Number of full-time instructional faculty (FTI) who left during a

fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) divided by the total number of FTI faculty
present as of June 30 of the prior fiscal year.
Source:

37
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.

Most MCG Faculty Turnover Rate

problems 20
can be
easily
15
expressed
% Turnover

as a line
graph 10
showing
the 5
current
trend.
0
991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 000 001 002 003 004 005
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2

MCG Turnover Trendline

38
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.
A Control
Chart is side
s ou t it
used to Point ntrol Lim
detect and p per Co
U
monitor
variation
over time.

This chart
tells us that
the process
is unstable.

39
 DMAIC: Measure the Current
Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.

Stop! Wait a minute! We had an early

retirement program in 2001 and 2002,
where we planned to have a high
faculty turnover rate. What if we were
to flag those years as “special causes”
and remove them from our
measurement?

Okay, let’s see …

40
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.
If we 1991-2005 Faculty Turnover Rate
remove the (excluding early retirement years 2001-2002)
“special 20
cause” early
retirement
program 15
% Turnover

years of
2001 -
10
2002, our
trend is
actually 5
downward.

0
But is the
process
stable? MCG Turnover Trendline

41
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.
The Control
Chart still
indicates an
unstable
process with
points too
close to the
Upper and
Lower Control
Limits.
e to
c los ts
But is the too Limi
ints rol
process Po ont
capable of C
meeting
specifications?

42
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.

A Histogram
measures the
process’s

ati de
capability of

s
ific tsi
on
ec ou
meeting the

Sp ints
customer’s

Po
specifications.

Our process is
not capable,
as there is
too much
variation.

The Target and Customer Specification values are examples based on peer reports. 43
 DMAIC: Measure the Current
Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.

Now that we have seen that our Faculty

Turnover process is both unstable and
incapable of meeting specifications, let’s take
a closer look at the year 2005…

44
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.

Calculating Sigma Value Worksheet

Determine the number of defect
1. O = 1
opportunities per unit
Determine the number of units
2. N = 647 = Fiscal Year End 2004 Faculty
processed
Determine the total number of
3. D = 64 = Faculty Terminations during 2005
defects made
D
4. Calculate Defects per Opportunity DPO = = 0.098918 = 2005 Faculty Turnover (9.89%)
N*O=
Calculate Defects per Million
5. DPMO = DPO X 1M = 98,918
Opportunities
= % of Units (Faculty) which went
6. Calculate Yield Yield = (1 - DPO) x 100 = 90.108% through the process (Fiscal Year)
without a defect (Termination)
Lookup Sigma in the Sigma Table
7. Sigma Value = 2.79 = 2005 Faculty Turnover Sigma
[=NORMSINV(Yield)+1.5]

In Good To Great, author Jim Collins mentions the need for a BHAG
or Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Using Six Sigma as a guide, you can
measure your current performance and set a BHAG of reaching the
next level sigma.
45
 DMAIC: Measure the Current Situation
Gather information on the current situation to provide a clearer focus for your
improvement effort.
A Pareto
Chart helps 2005 MCG Faculty Turnover
you break 95% 98%
down a big 64 86% 91% 100%
problem into 56 80%

Terminations
70% 80%
its parts and 48
identify which 40 52% 60%
are the most 32
important. 24 30% 40%
16
“Voluntary 19 20%
Collegiate 8 14 12 6 4 3 3 2 1
Employment 0 0%
Elsewhere”
caused 30%
of the Faculty
turnover, and
“Involuntary
Non-
Reappoint-
ment” caused
22%. Reasons

Pareto Principle: 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of the contributors. 46
 DMAIC: Analyze to Identify Causes
Identify the root cause of defects. Confirm them with data.

An Ishikawa (Fishbone) Cause-and-Effect diagram is used to

identify potential causes of the problem.
Resources Process/Methods

Why?
Why?

Why? Why?

Why? Why?

Why? Why? Problem Statement

During 2005, "Voluntary

Collegiate Employment
Elsewhere" accounted for
Why? 30% of Faculty Turnover.
Why?

Why? Why?

Why? Why?

Why? Why?

People Technology

47
 DMAIC: Improve
Develop, try out, and implement solutions that address the root causes. Use
data to evaluate results for the solutions and the plans used to carry them out.

A Countermeasures chart is used to identify potential solutions and rank them

for implementation.
During 2005, "Voluntary Collegiate Employment Elsewhere" accounted for 30% of
Problem Statement: Faculty Turnover.

Value ($/period)
Action (Who?)
Effectiveness
Feasibility

Overall
Countermeasure/
Root Cause Proposed Solutions Specific Actions
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Feasibility: 1-low, 5-high Effectiveness: 1-low, 5-high
1-Expensive & Difficult to implement 1-Not very effective
5-Inexpensive and easy to implement 5-Very Effective

48
 DMAIC: Control
Maintain gains that you have achieved by standardizing your work methods
or processes. Anticipate future improvements and make plans to preserve
the lessons learned from this improvement effort.
Before After
Before After Good

} Improvement

}Improvement

}Remaining Gap
A1 A2 A3 A4 A2 A1 A3 A4 Countermeasures Target
implemented

Calculating Sigma Value Worksheet

Before After
Determine the number of defect
1. O = 1 1
opportunities per unit
Determine the number of units
2. N = 647 647
processed
Determine the total number of
3. D = 64 7
defects made
D
4. Calculate Defects per Opportunity DPO = = 0.098918 0.010819
N*O=
Calculate Defects per Million
5.
Opportunities
DPMO = DPO X 1M = 98,918 10,819
v e ment
o
Impr f 1σ!
6. Calculate Yield Yield = (1 - DPO) x 100 = 90.108% 98.918%
o
Lookup Sigma in the Sigma Table
7. Sigma Value = 2.79 3.80
[=NORMSINV(Yield)+1.5]

49
 To Recapitulate Six Sigma

• Define – Choose a significant process

• Measure – Track the output of that
process
• Analyze – Determine the causes of
variability within the process
• Improve – Minimize the variability
• Control – Stabilize the process
Remember: Minimize variability, increase quality. Increase quality, decrease costs!

50
QUESTIONS?

51