Six Sigma

What is it? A highly disciplined process that helps focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services

Where it started 1920’s – word ‘sigma’ is used commonly as symbol for a unit of measurement in product quality variation 1986 – used and developed with Motorola Inc. in the USA to reduce variation in electronic manufacturing processes 1995 – General Electronics implemented Six Sigma 1998 – General Electronics claimed to have generated three quarters of a billion dollars in cost savings because of Six Sigma 2000 – Six Sigma is established as an industry in its own right

Key Concepts – According to General Electrics Critical Quality – Attributes most important to the customer Defect – Failing to deliver what customer wants Process Capability – What the process can deliver Variation – What the customer sees and feels Stable Operations – Ensuring consistent, predictable processes to improve what the customer sees and feels Design for Six Sigma – Designing to meet customer needs and process capability

Six Sigma Quality In order to achieve ‘Six Sigma Quality’ a process must produce no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO) ‘Opportunity’ = a chance for non conformance or not meeting required specification

One to Six Sigma Conversion Long Term Yield (%)Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO) Process Sigma , , ,4621

DMAIC Model D efine opportunity M easure performance A nalyse opportunity I mprove performance C ontrol performance