What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a powerful methodology that can be used to improve business processes. It is a structured approach to problem-solving that can be applied to any process - manufacturing, sales, marketing, IT, BPO, accounting, purchasing, you name it.

Six Sigma as a management methodology has helped thousands of professionals world over to reduce cycle times, increase productivity and improve quality and delivery of processes.

 

Six Sigma can also be defined as a set of extraordinary techniques that improve decision making in a wide variety of situations. Some people think that Six Sigma techniques are like rocket science. This is not true. Six Sigma methodology and techniques can be learned in a down-to-earth daily application oriented language

The most common methodology that is used to improve existing processes is called DMAIC. The acronym DMAIC stands for Define - Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control. If you think about it - this methodology is common sense.

• Before we start working on a problem, we need to have a good definition of what is the problem, why we are working on it, where is the pain area, what is in the scope of the project etc. All of these are accomplished in the Define phase.
• Secondly, in the Measure phase, we are interested in ensuring that the data used for further analysis is free of measurement errors. Six Sigma is about making decisions based on facts & data. If the data is inaccurate, we would end up making the wrong decisions. Hence, the measured phase ensures good data.
• Before making any improvements, it is also important to establish a baseline so that we can clearly communicate the benefits obtained from our project to other key stakeholders.
• The next phase, Analyze, is all about making a hypothesis and using data to either prove or disprove our hypothesis. We make a hypothesis about what is causing the problem and then establish the real root causes.
• The fourth phase, Improve, focus on getting the best possible solution to solve the root cause of the problem. The solution is optimized and any potential failure modes are resolved before the solution is deployed in the real world.
• The last phase, Control, is all about ensuring that the solution is sustainable in the long run. Any financial benefits obtained from the project are also quantified. Finally, the improved process is transitioned over to the process owner.

 

Key Characteristics of Six Sigma are -

• Business Process Improvement Methodology
• Data driven approach.
• It provides a structured step by step sequence
• It uses the best tried and tested management techniques in each phase.
• Long term objective is to reach Zero Defects.