Revolutionizing the World’s Top Corporations “SIX SIGMA” Essay

OBJECTIVEThis termination paper is knowing as a part of the curriculum. It helped me to tap into the power of the half-dozen Sigma movement thats transforming almost of the homo races most successful companies. sextette Sigma initiatives nonplus t wholeied billions of dollars in retortances, dramatic increases in speed, strong bargon-ass node relationshipsin short, remarkable cores and rave reviews.SIX SIGMA half a dozen Sigma is now according to m all an(prenominal) task development and select purifyment experts, the most popular office methodology in history. six Sigma is surely a very cosmic patience in its own right, and half dozen Sigma is now an enormous set in the world of corpo array development. half a dozen Sigma began in 1986 as a statistic on the wholey-based method to reduce interpretation in electronic manu incidenturing moti geniuss in Motorola Inc in the USA. Today, around twenty years on, sise Sigma is phthisis as an all-encompassing ar gumentation writ of execution methodology, all over the world, in establishments as diverse as local anaesthetic anesthetic governance departments, prisons, hospitals, the armed forces, banks, and multi-nationals corporations. piece six Sigma implementation continues apace in umpteen of the worlds largest corporations, m each organizations and suppliers in the consulting and instruct communities redeem excessively seized on the 6 Sigma concept, to package and provide all straighten outs of 6 Sigma branded training reapings and consultancy and services. sextuplet Sigma has likewise spawned many and various trading enterprise obliges on the subject. 6 Sigma, it skill seem, is taking over the world.Interestingly while sise Sigma has become a very widely utilize generic term, the name sixer Sigma is in reality a registered trademark of Motorola Inc., in the USA, who first pi wizered six-spot Sigma methods in the 1980s. The original and technically correct spelli ng seems to be Six Sigma, quite than 6 Sigma, although in recent years Motorola and GE give birth some(prenominal)ly since real their own sexy Six Sigma password utilise the number six and the Grecian sigma character. Six Sigma is now a international brand and some social occasion of a revolution. But what is Six Sigma? Sigma is a totalment that deputes how a swear stunned is performing. Six Sigma stands for Six Standard Deviations (Sigma is the Greek letter used to represent measuring rod deviation in statistics) from wet. Six Sigma methodologies provide the proficiencys and tools to meliorate the readiness and reduce the taints in any serve. Six Sigma is a fact-based, data-driven philosophy of remediatement that quantifys defect measure over defect detection. Philosophy The philosophical perspective views all wricks as a operation that stomach be defined,measured, analyzed, amend & control conduct (DMAIC). Processes pick out inputs & produce outputs. If you control the inputs, you entrust control the outputs. This is generally verbalised as the y= f (x) concept. Set of Tools Six Sigma as a set of tools allow ins all the qualitative and quantitative techniques used by the six sigma experts to drive summons improvement.A few such tools allow statistical process control (SPC), Control charts, misfortune mode & effects analysis, process mapping and so forth Methodology This view of Six Sigma recognizes the underlying and rigorous approach known as DMAIC. DMAIC defines the steps a Six Sigma practiti mavenr is expected to follow, starting with identifying the problem and ending with the implementation of long-lasting solutions While DMAIC is non and Six Sigma Methodology in use, it is certainly the most widely watched and recognized. Metrics In simple terms, Six Sigma part performance means 3.4 defects per zillion opportunitiesHISTORYSince the 1920s the word sigma has been used by mathematicians and engineers as a symbol for a unit of measuring rod in product quality variation. (note its sigma with a small s because in this context sigma is a generic unit of measurement.) In the mid-1980s engineers in Motorola Inc in the USA used Six Sigma an an informal name for an in-house initiative for trim wad defects in business processes, because it represented a suitably high level of quality. (Note here its Sigma with a big S because in this context Six Sigma is a branded name for Motorolas initiative.) (Certain engineers had varying opinions as to whether the very first was Mikal Harry felt that measuring defects in terms of thousands was an insufficiently rigorous normal. on that pointfrom they increased the measurement scale to parts per trillion, described as defects per million, which prompted the use of the six sigma spoken language and dragion of the capitalised Six Sigma branded name, given that six sigma was deemed to equate to 3.4 parts or defects per million.) In the former(a)-1980s follo wing the success of the above initiative, Motorola extended the Six Sigma methods to its diminutive business processes, and portentously Six Sigma became a formalised in-house branded name for a performance improvement methodology, i.e., beyond purely defectreducing, in Motorola Inc.In 1991 Motorola certified its first Black Belt Six Sigma experts, which indicates the experiencenings of the formalisation of the accredited training of Six Sigma methods. In 1991 also, every(prenominal)ied Signal, (a large avionics company which merged with H iodineywell in 1999), adopted the Six Sigma methods, and claimed significant improvements and cost savings within six months. It seems that Allied Signals recent chief operating officer Lawrence Bossidy wise to(p) of Motorolas work with Six Sigma and so approached Motorolas CEO Bob Galvin to learn how it could be used in Allied Signal. In 1995, universal galvanisings CEO whoreson Welch (Welch knew Bossidy since Bossidy once worked for Wel ch at GE, and Welch was impressed by Bossidys achievements using Six Sigma) decided to implement Six Sigma in GE, and by 1998 GE claimed that Six Sigma had generated over trio- natess of a billion dollars of cost savings. By the mid-1990s Six Sigma had developed into a transferable branded corporate direction initiative and methodology, notably in General Electric and other(a) large manufacturing corporations, tho also in organizations outside the manufacturing sector.By the year 2000, Six Sigma was in effect established as an fabrication in its own right, involving the training, consultancy and implementation of Six Sigma methodology in all sorts of organisations around the world. That is to say, in a little over ten years, Six Sigma quickly became not provided a hugely popular methodology used by many corporations for quality and process improvement, Six Sigma also became the subject of many and various training and consultancy products and services around which developed ve ry many Six Sigma hold organizationsCENTRAL CONCEPTSWe can clearly observe from the definitions and history of Six Sigma that many citizenry consider the model to be capable of leveraging huge performance improvements and cost savings. N matchless of this of flight happens on its own. Teams and group leaders ar an essential part of the Six Sigma methodology. Six Sigma is therefore a methodology which begs and encourages team leaders and teams to take province for implementing the Six Sigma processes. Significantly these mickle need to be trained in Six Sigmas methods in particular the use of the measurement and improvement tools, and in communication theory and relationship skills, unavoidable to call for and serve the needs of the internal and external guests andsuppliers that form the overcritical processes of the organizations be deporty chains. Training is therefore also an essential element of the Six Sigma methodology, and lots of it. Six Sigma teams and nota bly Six Sigma team leaders (Black Belts) use a vast array of tools at each stage of Six Sigma implementation to define measure, analyse and control variation in process quality, and to manage masses, teams and communications.When an organization decides to implement Six Sigma, first the executive team has to decide the strategy which might typically be termed an improvement initiative, and this base strategy should think on the essential processes necessary to brook node expectations. This could amount to twenty or thirty business process. At the top level these are the main processes that enable the organization to add nurture to goods and services and supply them to guests. Implicit within this is an in spotect of what the customers internal and external actually trust and need. A team of managers (Black Belts normally) who own this processes is responsible for identifying and perceptiveness these processes in detail, and also grounds the levels of quality (especially tolerance of variation) that customers (internal and external) expect, and and then Measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of each process performance notably the sigma performance ie., is the number of defects per million operations (pro-rate if appropriate of course). The theory is wholly logical understanding and then improving the most essential manner of speaking-chain processes will naturally increase efficiency, customer satisf live up to, competitive advantage, and pro conniptionability. Easily said tricky to achieve which is what the Six Sigma methodology is for.SIX SIGMA PROCESSThe term six sigma process comes from the notion that if one has six standard deviations in the midst of the process mean and the nearest judicial admission find out, as shown in the graph, practically no items will fail to meet specifications. This is based on the calculation method employed in process capability studies. Capability studies measure the number of standard deviations between the process mean and the nearest specification delineate in sigma units. As process standard deviation goes up, or the mean of the process moves away from the centre of the tolerance, fewer standard deviations will fit between the mean and the nearest specification limit,decreasing the sigma number and increasing the the likelihood of items outside specificationSCALE OF MEASUREMENTThe table below gives long-term DPMO values corresponding to various short-term sigma levels. It mustinessiness be understood that these see to its assume that the process mean will shift by 1.5 sigma toward the side with the critical specification limit. In other lyric, they assume that after the initial study determining the short-term sigma level, the long-termCpk value will turn out to be 0.5 less than the short-term Cpk value. So, for example, the Defective parts per million opportunities (DPMO) figure given for 1 sigma assumes that the long-term process mean will be 0.5 sigma beyond th e specification limit (Cpk = 0.17), alternatively than 1 sigma within it, as it was in the short-term study (Cpk = 0.33). Note that the defect percentages indicate solely defects exceeding the specification limit to which the process mean is nearest. Defects beyond the far specification limit are not included in the percentages.Sigma levelDPMOPercent defectivePercentage yield short-run CpkLong-term Cpk1691,46269%31%0.330.172308,53831%69%0.670.17366,8076.7%93.3%1.000.546,2100.62%99.38%1.330.8352330.023%99.977%1.671.1763.40.00034%99.99966%2.001.5METHODOLOGYSix Sigma flips follow deuce working class methodologies inspired by Demings Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle. These methodologies, make up of five phases each, bear the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC is used for projects aimed at improving an existing business process. DMADV is used for projects aimed at creating a new product or process construct. The DMAIC project methodology has five phases Define the problem, the voice of the cust omer,and the project deaths, specifically. Measure get word aspects of the current process and attract relevant data. Analyze the data to assignigate and see cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors fix been considered. Seek out root cause of the defect under investigation. Improve or optimize the current process based upon data analysis using techniques such as cast of experiments, poka yoke or mistake proofing, and standard work to create a new, future subject process. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability. Control the future state process to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects. carry through control musical arrangements such as statistical process control, fruit boards, visual oeuvres, and constantly monitor the process. near organizations add a Recognize step at the beginning, which is to recognize the right problem to work on, thereof yie lding an RDMAIC methodology.DMADV or DFSSThe DMADV project methodology, known as DFSS (Design For Six Sigma),features five phases Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy. Measure and identify CTQs (characteristics that are Critical To note), product capabilities, production process capability, and risks. Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design. Design flesh out, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase whitethorn require simulations. Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owner(s).THE TOOLS AND THEMESLike most great inventions, Six Sigma is not all new. While some themes of Six Sigma line up out of fairly recent breakthroughs in management thinking, others have their foundation in super acid sense. in front you dismiss that origin as no big deal, wed remin d you of a saying leafy vegetable sense is the least common of the senses. From a toolsperspective, Six Sigma is a pretty vast universe. The much we have learned over the years approximately the Six Sigma system, the more we have come to see it as a way to link togetherand steady to implementmany otherwise disconnected ideas, trends, and tools in business today. Some of the hot topics that have direct application or can complement a Six Sigma initiative include e-Commerce and ServicesEnterprise Resource PlanningLean manufacturingCustomer family relationship counsel systemsStrategic business partnershipsKnowledge managementActivity-based managementThe process-centred organizationGlobalization middling-in-time take stock/productionSix Themes of Six SigmaWell close out this introductory odor at Six Sigma by distilling the critical elements of this leadership system into six themes. These principles choke offed by the many Six Sigma tools and methods well be presenting throughou t this bookwill give you a preview of how well help you make Six Sigma work for your business.Theme wholeness Genuine Focus on the CustomerDuring the big Total Quality push of the 1980s and 1990s, heaps of companies wrote policies and mission statements vowing to meet or exceed customer expectations and requirements. Unfortunately, however, few businesses tried very hard to improve their understanding of customers requirements or expectations. Even when they did, customer data-gathering typically was a one-time or short-lived initiative that unheeded the dynamic nature of customer needs. In Six Sigma, customer focus becomes the top priority. For example, the measures of Six Sigma performance begin with the customer. Six Sigma improvements are defined by their impact on customer satisfaction andvalue. Well look at why and how your business can define customer requirements, measure performance against them, and stay on top of new developments and unmet needs.Theme Two Data- and Fac t-Driven ManagementSix Sigma takes the concept of management by fact to a new, more powerful level. Despite the forethought paid in recent years to measures, improved teaching systems, knowledge management, etc., it should come as no shock to you to hear that many business decisions are still being based on opinions and assumptions. Six Sigma discipline begins by clarifying what measures are name to gauging business performance then it applies data and analysis so as to build an understanding of key variables and optimize results. At a more down-to-earth level, Six Sigma helps managers answer two essential questions to support fact-driven decisions and solutions1. What data/information do I really need?2. How do we use that data/information to maximum benefit?Theme Three Process Focus, Management, and ImprovementIn Six Sigma, processes are where the action is. Whether designing products and services, measuring performance, improving efficiency and customer satisfactionor even run ning the businessSix Sigma positions the process as the key vehicle of success. One of the most remarkable breakthroughs in Six Sigma rides to date has been convincing leaders and managersparticularly in the service-based functions and industriesthat mastering processes is not just a necessary evil barely actually a way to build competitive advantage in delivering value to customers. There are many more people to convince with huge dollar opportunities tied up in those activities.Theme Four Proactive ManagementMost simply, being proactive signifies acting in advance of events the resister of being reactive. In the real world, though, proactive management means fashioning habits out of what are, too often, neglected business practices defining ambitious goals and reviewing them frequently setting clear priorities focusing on problem prevention versus firefighting questioning why we do things instead of blindly support them as how we do things here. Being truly proactive, far fro m being boring or overly analytical, is actually a starting point for creativity and effective counter transmute. Reactively bouncing from crisis to crisis makes you very busygiving a false impression that youre on top of things. In reality, its a sign of a manager or an organization thats lost control. Six Sigma, as well see, encompasses tools and practices that replace reactive habits with a dynamic, responsive, proactive style of management. Considering todays slim-margin-for-error competitive environment, being proactive is (as the airline commercial said) the only way to fly.Theme Five Boundary less CollaborationBoundary less is one of shite Welchs mantras for business success. Years before launching Six Sigma, GEs chairman was works to break down barriers and improve teamwork, up, down, and a tangle organizational lines. The opportunities available through improved collaborationism with in companies and with their vendors and customers are huge. Billions of dollars are rem aining on the table (or on the floor) every(prenominal) day, because of disconnects and outright competition between groups that should be working for a common cause providing value to customers. As noted above, Six Sigma expands opportunities for collaboration as people learn how their roles fit into the big picture and can recognize and measure the interdependency of activities in all parts of Process. Boundary less collaboration in Six Sigma does not mean selfless sacrifice, but it does require an understanding of twain the real needs of end users and of the flow of work through a process or a supply chain. Moreover, it demands an attitude that is committed to using customer and process knowledge to benefit all parties. Thus, the Six Sigma system can create an environment and management structures that support true teamwork.Theme Six Drive for Perfection ToleranceThis last theme may seem contradictory. How can you be driven to achieve absoluteion and yet also tolerate failu re? In essence, though, the two ideas are complementary. No company will get anywhere close to Six Sigma without launching new ideas and approacheswhich always involve some risk. If peoplewho see a possible itinerary to better service, get off costs, new capabilities, etc. (i.e. ways to be closer-to-perfect) are too afraid of the consequences of mistakes, theyll neer try. The result stagnation, putrefaction, death. Fortunately, the techniques well review for improving performance include a significant dose of risk management (if youre going to fail, make it a safe failure). The bottom line, though, is that any company that makes Six Sigma its goal will have to constantly push to be evermore- perfect (since the customers definition of perfect will always be changing) while being willing to acceptand manageoccasional setbacks. around SUCCESS STORIESSeeing the impact that Six Sigma is having on some leading companies sets the stage for understanding how it can impact your business. As we relate some of these results, well also be reviewing the history that has brought Six Sigma to the forefrontGeneral ElectricSix Sigma has forever changed GE. Everyonefrom the Six Sigma zealots emerging from their Black Belt tours, to the engineers, the auditors, and the scientists, to the senior leadership that will take this Company into the new millenniumis a true believer in Six Sigma, the way this Company now works. GE Chairman John F. Welch1 When a high-profile corporate leader* starts using words like unbalanced or lunatics in connection with the future of the companyyou might expect a plunge in the companys share price. At General Electric, however, that passion and drive fuck Six Sigma have produced some very positive results. The hard verse behind GEs Six Sigma initiative tell just part of the story. From an initial year or so of break-even efforts, the outlet has accelerated $750 million by the end of 1998, a forecasted $1.5 billion by the end of 1999, and expect ations of more billions down the road. Some Wall Street analysts have predicted $5 billion in gains from the effort, early in the decade. GEs operating marginsfor decades in the 10 percent rangecontinue to hit new records quarter after quarter. The numbers are now consistently above 15 percent, and even higher in some periods. GE leaders cite this margin expansion as the most visible picture of the financial contribution do by Six Sigma.Improvements from Services to ManufacturingThe financial big picture, though, is just a reflection of the many individual successes GE has achieved through its Six Sigma initiative. For example A Six Sigma team at GEs Lighting unit repaired problems in its billing to one of its top customersWal-Mart press cutting invoice defects and disputes by 98 percent, speeding payment, and creating better productivity for both(prenominal) companies. A group led by a staff attorneya Six Sigma team leaderat one of GE Capitals service businesses streamlined the c ontract review process, leading to faster termination of dealsin other words, more responsive service to customersand annual savings of $1 million. GEs Power Systems group addressed a major irritant with its utility company customers, simply by ontogeny a better understanding of their requirements and improving the documentation provided along with new power equipment. The result Utilities can respond more effectively to their regulatory agencies, and both the utilities and GE have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The Medical Systems businessGEMSused Six Sigma design techniques to create a breakthrough in health check scanning technology. Patients can now get a full-body scan in half a minute, versus three minutes or more with previous technology. Hospitals can increase their usage of the equipment and achieve a lower cost per scan, as well. GE Capital Mortgage analyzed the processes at one of its top performing branches andexpanding these best practices across its other 42 branchesimproved the rate of a caller reaching a live GE person from 76 to 99 percent. Beyond the much greater convenience and responsiveness to customers, the improved process is translating into millions of dollars in new business.The Actions behind the ResultsGEs successes are the result of a passionate commitment and effort. Notes Welch In nearly four decades with GE I have never seen any Company initiative move so willingly and so rapidly in pursuit of a big idea.2 Tens of thousands of GE managers and associates have been trained in Six Sigma methodsa hefty investing in time and money (which is appropriately deducted from the gains cited earlier). The training has gone well beyondBlack Belts and teams to include every manager and professional at GEand many front-line people as well. Theyve instilled a new vocabulary revolving around customers, processes, and measurement. While dollars and statistical tools seem to get the most publicity, the emphasis on customers is in all probability the most remarkable element of Six Sigma at GE. As Jack Welch explains it The best Six Sigma projects begin not inside the business but outside it, focused on answering the questionhow can we make the customer more competitive? What is critical to the customers success? . . . One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us.AlliedSignal/HoneywellAlliedSignalwith the new name of Honeywell following its 1999mergeris a Six Sigma success story that connects Motorola and GE. It was CEO Larry Bossidya long time GE executive, who took the helm at Allied in 1991who convinced Jack Welch that Six Sigma was an approach worth considering. (Welch had been one of the few top managers not to become enamoured of the TQM movement in the 1980s and early 1990s). Allied began its own quality improvement activities in the early 1990s, and by 1999 was saving more than $600 million a year, thanks to the widespread employee training in and application of Six Sigma principles.5 Not only were Allieds Six Sigma teams reducing the costs of reworking defects, they were applying the same principles to the design of new products like aircraft engines, reducing the time from design to certification from 42 to 33 months. The company credits Six Sigma with a 6 percent productivity increase in 1998 and with its record profit margins of 13 percent. Since the Six Sigma effort began, the firms market value hadthrough fiscal year 1998climbed to a compounded 27 percent per year. Allieds leaders view Six Sigma as more than just numbersits a statement of our determination to pursue a standard of excellence using every tool at our disposal and never hesitating to reinvent the way we do things. As one of Allieds Six Sigma directors puts it Its changed the way we think and the way we communicate. We never used to slop about the process or the customer now theyre part of our everyd ay conversation. AlliedSignals Six Sigma leadership has helped it earn recognition as theworlds best-diversified company and the most admired global aerospace company .IMPACTThere are many well known companies that have apply Six Sigma programs and reached astounding results. Companies like General Electric, Motorola, Ford, Honeywell and American standard have all reaped the benefits of successful Six Sigma quality programs. Motorola claims to have saved $17 billion from 1986 to 2004 by successfully implementing their strategies throughout all departments of the company. The other companies have achieved staggering results such as cutting invoice defects and disputes, streamlined contract processes, reduction in project duration, waste ejection, reduced energy costs and increased production capacity. By understanding the philosophy and deploying the program, these companies have succeeded in making themselves more efficient and more profitable for their stakeholders. Companies wis hing to make changes to their quality system should research this and consider Six Sigma as an option.BENEFITSIt is clear that many companies have capitalized on the application of Six Sigma to their business model. If we look deeper into the appeal of Six Sigma, past the historical quantitative gains, we will find several benefits that companies find attractive. 1. Generates sustained success The only way to sustain a high level of exploitation is to continually innovate and remake the organization. A Six Sigma process creates the skills and culture to achieve this straight process improvement cycle. 2. Sets a performance goal for everyone a company is made up of multiple departments with antithetical tasks and preys. Six Sigma provides a common objective for all departments to be as close to perfect as possible. The idea is that if you understand the customers requirements, then you can measure for defects. 3. Enhances Customer Value The focus of Six Sigma is understanding what the customer requirements are and delivering a product or service within those requirements. 4. Increases the rate of improvement Six Sigma helps a company stay on top of its improvement efforts by constantly updating requirements and identifying defects before they happen.5. Promotes Learning Six sigma brings experts together with novices to manage the process and teach the Six Sigma way of business. Companies that use Six Sigma view it as learning tool that is critical to their success. 6. Executes strategic change Six Sigma gives you a better understanding of your company processes. The philosophy is tied back to the company goals so when its time for change there is a higher probability of success.NEGATIVESJust like any other quality improvement initiatives we have seen in the past, Six Sigma has its own limitations. The following are some of the limitations of Six Sigma which create opportunities for future research 1. Kills Creativity Six Sigma gives emphasis on the r igidity of the process which basically contradicts the innovation and kills the creativity. The innovative approach implies deviations in production, the redundancy, the unusual solutions, insufficient study which are opposite to Six Sigma principles.2. Role of consultants The use of Black Belts as itinerant change agents has (controversially) fostered an industry of training and certification. Critics plead there is overselling of Six Sigma by too great a number of consulting firms, many of which claim expertise in Six Sigma when they have only a rudimentary understanding of the tools and techniques involved.3. Rigid A more direct criticism is the rigid nature of Six Sigma with its over-reliance on methods and tools. In most shimmys, more attention is paid to reducing variation and searching for any significant factors and less attention is paid to developing robustness in the first place (which can altogether eliminate the need for reducing variation.)4. literary criticism of the 1.5 sigma shift The 1.5 sigma shift has also become contentious because it results in stated sigma levels that reflect short-term rather than long-term performance a process that has long-term defect levels corresponding to 4.5 sigma performance is, by Six Sigma convention, described as a six sigma process.. The accepted Six Sigma scoring system gum olibanum cannot be equated to actual normal distribution probabilities for the stated number of standard deviations, and this has been a key operating system of contention over how Six Sigma measures are defined.APPLICATIONSIn pharmaceutical industry, adoption of the Six Sigma technique helped the industry reduce wastage and rework involved in the production. It was said that 5-10% of medicines produced during a period were to be discarded or modified due to the defects. The adoption of Six Sigma helped the pharmaceutical companies to reduce the errors in the production.Airline industry had to adopt the Six Sigma metrics for its survival. The increased cost of fuel, the competition driven by low budget airlines, etc has made the need for lower cost without a hit to quality the need of the hour. The number of errors in use the calls from customers, and ticketing is to be minimised drastically. It was with this intention that the airline industry adopted Six Sigma into the organisation. Indian companies like Kingfisher, Jet Airways, and Indian Airlines, all have adopted Six Sigma technique into its process.Hospitality services are another industry which benefited by the adoption of Six Sigma techniques. Providing personalised service to each and every customer by turn to their demands within a limited time without comprising the quality was aided by the Six Sigma matrices. The Six Sigma technique is adopted in every field from maintaining full occupancy to efficient housekeeping, ensuring a balanced inventory supply, and to minimise wastage in the inventory. Starwood hotels and resorts Inc was the first com pany to adopt Six Sigma in the hospitality sector.Steel industries like TISCO use this technique to minimise the inadequacies in the design, imperfect products, etc. I. Logistics, insurance, call centres, all embrace the Six Sigma techniques for improving the quality of service provided by them. Six Sigma goes in to the details of improving customer service, generating business expansion and gaining knowledge about the service sectors business processes. Most service industries revolve around field of operations of finance, human resources and sales and marketing. Hence, Six Sigma delves deeply into the subject of soft skill. Irrespective of the type of industry, all companies have to adopt Six Sigma techniques as quality and timely delivery are crucial for their survival.SOME COMMON CONFUSUIONSKAIZEN Kaizen, is a Japanese word, meaning improvement, or change for the better refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engi neering, and business management. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain. By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. It has since spread throughout the world and is now being implemented in many other venues besides just business and productivity. Six Sigma process involves employees at every level to improve a process. The theory is that a machine operator is best suited to identify the waste environ that machine. Employees participate in KAIZENS (a sort of quality circle) to eliminate all the waste along the process of delivering to customers. Everything left over is meaningful and profitable work. Generally, the employees themselves are empowered to recognize the need for an improvement, and to make that change immediately. inclination SIX SIGMA Lean Six Sigma is a synergized managerial concept of Lean and Six Sigma that results in the elimination of the seven kinds of wastes (classified as Defects, Overproduction, Transportation, Waiting, Inventory, Motion and Over-Processing) and provision of goods and service at a rate of 3.4 defects per million opportunities Six Sigma as well is far more data-driven than Lean Six Sigma (and Lean). A Six Sigma level is, again, 3.4 defects per million a Five Sigma level is 233 defects per million, and so on. As Michael L. George describes, every Six Sigma improvement requires a measure to define the capability of any process. This reliance upon precise measurement is what makes the DMAIC processl engthy a DMAIC project may require thousands of measurements before project leaders can analyze the results. Lean Six Sigma does not ignore measurement where it is required, but does not rely upon it absolutely.TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Total Quality Management or TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes. TQM functions on the premise that the quality of products and processes is the responsibility of everyone who is involved with the creation or consumption of the products or services offered by an organization. In other words, TQM requires the participation of management, workforce, suppliers, and customers, in order to meet or exceed customer expectations.TQM, as its name suggests, concerns itself entirely with quality. All efforts, finances and techniques are directed at improving quality as much as possible. While Six Sigma is certainly concerned with quality as well, it extends its focus to other issues suc h as product cycle time and cost. Because of this difference, Six Sigma can be much more complex to implement but also can create farther-reaching benefits. The goals of TQM and Six Sigma differ in significant ways. Total Quality Management has no specific goals or endpoints at which management can aim. Basically, the goal of TQM is to always become better, an objective that can become both a blessing and a curse as it continually inspires both motivation and frustration. Six Sigma, on the other hand, has the very tangible goal of 3.4 defects per million. This target gives the philosophy its name, as the amount is six standard deviations (represented by the Greek letter sigma) from the centre of a bell edit According to Six Sigma specialist Thomas Pryzdek, TQM originally featured vague and abstract guidelines that were difficult, if not impossible, for most managers to turn into tangible and implementable strategies. Six Sigma attempts to fix this problem by creating specific fiel ds to target for improvement. In topographic point of general statements about quality improvement, the Six Sigma philosophy pinpoints sectors of specialized focus.IMPLEMENTATION Analyze Is the discovery of variations Six Sigma programs are deployedfrom the Top down and implemented from the bottom up. (Cariera and Trudell, 2006) You must have upper managements buy-in and full support. This support must be communicated effectively through the organization. Upper management must be willing to invest in training for their employees and willing to embrace the changes that will come out of the initiative. Although Six Sigma can involve some complex statistical theories and measurement tools, the barriers to successful implementations usually come from behavioural resistance rather than technical issues. (Kumar, 2006) The following are what Kumar considers Fundamental rules for significant change Always include affected individuals in both planning and implementing improvements. Provide sufficient time for employees to change. Confine improvements to only those changes essential to remove the determine root cause(s). Respect an individuals perceptions by listening and responding to his/her concerns. Ensure leadership participation in the program. Provide timely feedback to affected individuals.These are all key points to implementing Six Sigma, however to a Six Sigma critics point, there is nothing really new here. This is very similar to many other management and quality philosophies. Regardless of what name you give it, these fundamentals are imperative for instituting positive change in an organization. Perhaps by applying these fundamentals under a recognized program such as Six Sigma, there will be a better chance for success. Each phase is important in its own right however the key thing for long lasting results in understanding the Control phase. The control phase must include a plan for continuous review and improvement. The DMAIC roadmap should be looked at as a circular process rather than linear. During the control phase companies must continually look for new opportunities then restart the process at Design.CASE STUDYMumbai Dabbawalas, a perfect example of SIX SIGMA.-Dr. Pawan AgrawalThe food is cooked at al-Qaeda. Tiffin is yours. They dabbawalas will simply deliver it from your home to your workplace before lunch time and deliver the exculpate tiffin box back in the flush at your home as well. Why would you want dabbawala to carry your tiffin? There are two reasons. One is that the Mumbai local trains have lines extending 60-70 km and two, they are crowded. If you have to reach office at 9, you must start at 6. But you wouldnt want to wake your loved ones at 5 and have them prepare the tiffin for you thats where Dabbawala can help you. Another reason is that even if you start at 8, you wont be able to carry your own tiffin because of how crowded the trains are. So, for these two reasons, Dabbawala has been in the business o f carrying your home food to your office for the last 120 years. Theres a group of people called Varkari Sampradaya in Maharashtra they are the devotees of Lord Vitthala and theres a place called Pandharpur, the town of the temple of Vitthala. When they go to that place, they wear a tulasi mala. And when a person wears this mala, he will never drink or reek because Lord Vitthala doesnt like it and the same principle is brought into practice here. Dabbawalas feel that their customer is their Lord Vitthala. These people are poor, they are working in difficult situations, they are not qualified and they dont use technology, and yet, they possess all these qualities and work with passion and commitment.Dabbawala was started in 1890 by Mr. Mahadeo Havaji Bachche. He was once asked by a Parsi working in the Britishers rank, Will you bring my tiffin from my home? He simply answered Yes, I will, no problem. From that day onwards, he started to collect tiffins from homes and delivering them to the respective workplaces. In 1890, there was one dabbawala and one customer, and now, there are 5000 dabbawalas and 200,000 customers, which means, one dabbawala carries approximately 40 tiffins. The maximum exercising weight comes to 65-70kg carrying that much weight in the crowded local trains is a lot of hard work. Why do they do it then? Work is worship. And, as far as qualification is concerned, you will see that the average literacy rate is eighth grade schooling which means the dabbawalas are illiterate and yet they have managed to achieve a Six Sigma quality rating, which means only one wrong service in a 6 million deliveries. Ownership is a feeling that anemployee has to instil in oneself, and unless you get that feeling of ownership you cannot work excellently. In 120 years, it has never happened that a dabbawala has failed to deliver. Its impossible. They will never tell you that the trains are late today, and even if Mumbai trains are late, the tiffins cant be late . The dabbawala knows that if hes not going in time, his customer will eat outside food, pay money for it and waste time. The dabbawala knows the consequences of going late. So he always goes on time.The people of Mumbai say with confidence that our lunch can go wrong but not the Mumbai dabbawalas. So nobody can stop you from being punctual.. Let me speak about (mukadal) group leaders. A group has 10, 20, or 25 dabbawalas, depending on the density of customers in your area, and their in-charge is the group leader. The responsibility to keep the dabbawalas and the customers smart is on the group leader. Despite the fact that he doesnt get even a rupee extra for the extra10% that he works, he feels proud to be a group leader. For example, the group leader also takes care of the train passes of the dabbawalas, to check whether they have expired or not he reminds the dabbawalas in case their passes are about to expire in the next 2-3 days and also buys the pass for the dabbawala if he fails to do so himself in order to ensure that timely delivery doesnt suffer. I will tell you an instance of how one dabbawala performs duty in one day. He collects 40tiffins from a particular area and drops them in the Vile Parle railway station because his customer is from Vile Parle. He cant deliver all of them because he would have to go all over Mumbai, so he leaves these 40 there. Thats his first assembly line. His second job is to collect 35-40 tiffins from his group leader and deliver them to Dadar. His third job is to deliver 30 tiffins to Chavani Road, and in the fourth job from Chavani Road, he delivers 30 Tiffins to Churchgate. His fifth job is to go from Church Gate to deliver 30 tiffins to NarimanPoint.Finally, in his sixth job, he delivers 30 tiffins to express Tower to the customers before lunch time and after lunch, he will reroute back to his original area and deliver the same tiffins from where he hadcollected them. After all this, Forbes has found 1 erroneous d elivery out of 6 million deliveries, but they dont accept that either. They are unhappy that thatone error has occurred. Twelve years ago, some people from Delhi came to Dabbawala and said they want to do research on Dabbawala they prepared a project and went back to Delhi. They called after 3 months and informed Dabbawala about Six Sigma. Dabbawalas didnt know what it meant. They told Dabbawala it was a big honour so Dabbawala asked them to send it across. They were told to go to Delhi and collect it. Sixteen dabbawalas went to Delhi to collect the Six Sigma certification. People work so hard for three and Four Sigma but dabbawalas got Six Sigma because they didnt care about the certification and cared only about customer satisfaction. It is a big achievement especially without the use of technology. Even if the dabbawalas use technology in the form of mobile phones, they cant because both their hands are used in delivering tiffins. Technology is useless for them for delivery. And after all this, they charge only 400 rupees per month for delivery.So, the question arises is that, why do they charge so less. They say customers are poor. If they want more income, they work extra. Dabbawala then gave me an example of a teacher, who earns only Rs 5000 per month as a government rule. He said, Despite the teachers double graduation, I earn more than him, so Im happy. For example, some customers refuse to pay bonus, but the dabbawalas dont disrupt their services. So I asked one of them why, he said, the customer is my God, he has paid me 12 months of salary so its ok if he doesnt pay me one months bonus. Despite the disputes there has never been a police or a court case. Every 15 days they have a meeting. The disputing dabbawalas adjourn their disputes and if they cant, the president takes a call and they follow his judgment without questioning. Dabbawalas feel satisfied. I asked one customer, what he thinks about the dabbawalas. He said, Excellent. When I get my sa lary I am afraid of carrying it in the local train because its so crowded and I can get robbed so instead, after I have lunch, I put the money in the empty dabba and send to my wife. Dabbawalas are very honest.If you do services consistently and with discipline, then the customer, at some point of time, will believe that you are God. In one day, one dabbawala handles 500 tiffins. There is a 79-year-old man who is a dabbawala, nobodys forcing him, but he still works because he thinks he can still provide service to his customers. The dabbawalas use bicycles. Another thing is the coding system about 100 years ago, they were using twist codes. whence when Mumbaigrew and the number of customers increased, they started using alphabets A for Andheri, B for Bandra, etc. And today, they write a proper code with details of the source, destination and all the dabbawalas involved in that particular delivery. When this tiffin is coded and then washed, sometimes the coding becomes unclear, so the dabbawala takes colour out of his pocket and overwrites the code. He doesnt complain about it, he just finishes the job. out-of-pocket to the overcrowded Mumbai local trains, some people enter the luggage department, and when they do, the tiffins stick to their heads. So they start fighting with the dabbawalas and the dabbawalas also fight with them but only till the station arrives, because after that theyre more interested in the delivery. They use carts for longer distances. In running local trains, they sort the tiffins to save time. Risk is there, but its there everywhere. You must work with the situation.For example, they lost some income and customers because of some instances. In 1969, customers stopped taking food. In 1975, there was a railway strike the dabbawalas lost one months income. In 1982, 40,000 repast workers went on strike. Till today theyre on strike. A lot of people lost their lives. Dabbawalas have gone through all this and come out shining. They have bee n featured on multiple carry and have been awarded multiple awards. These 50 Indians have influenced Mumbai Tata, Birla, Ambani, Thakarey, Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachhan and Mumbai Dabbawala. Somebody took a survey in Mumbai about the likes of people, and Dabbawala was one of them. I am not a Dabbawala. Im not involved in any of the operations at all. I have done a Ph.D. on this subject and my topic was A study of logistics in supply chain management of Dabbawala in Mumbai. It took a lot of years to stark(a) my Ph.D. But, two days into the research, I was taken aback by the passion of these people. I decided to do the research whether or not I complete my Ph.D. Prince Charles came to Mumbai in 2003. Six months before his visit, Mr. Jeetendra Jain, in the British Council of India, contacted dabbawala to arrange a visit. Dabbawala first refused and then, after realizing that Prince Charles is Britains royalty in the manner of a king, he agreed, but, with two conditions.First one was that Prince Charles should come at the Dabbawalas convenience between 11 and 11.40 because thats when theyre free. Second, Prince Charles must go to Dabbawala himself. Where to? The footpath. Prince Charles accepted these conditions. Richard Branson came toMumbai. He wanted a photo with Dabbawala to put it up in his office in London to send a message to his employees to work like Dabbawalas. Thats the impact of Mumbai Dabbawala. There was an inauguration of a book written by Shobha Bondre. This was inaugurated by the then main(prenominal) Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh. The chief minister said that for every program he goes an hour late but for a dabbawala program he came 5 minutes early because he was scared that if he came late the Dabbawalas will go away.ANALYSISHow the Dabbawalas works?1. assemblage food dabbas2. Sorting +Grouping3. Transporting4. Receiving5. Delivering6. Collecting empty dabbas1. CollectingA collecting dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas either from a workers home or from the dabba makers. The dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a colour or symbol.2. Sorting + GroupingThe dabbawala then takes them to a designated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups.3. TransportingThe grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes).4. ReceivingThe markings include the railway station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered. At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala.5. DeliveringThe local dabbawala delivers the dabbas to the respective places.6. Collecting empty dabbasThe empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses or dabba makersFactors contributing to their success1. Cost efficient and faster delivery The dabbawalas charge a no minal periodical fee which is affordable and they have an efficient delivery network which makes them deliver on time.2. Highly time-testedOn time delivery for all the dabbas and hardly any errors. All deliveries have ensured 100% customer satisfaction. There are cost best in time management and have been awarded six sigma rating.3. use Mumbais railway network Using the Mumbai sub urban railways for their daily transportation from homes to the offices. Thus making it a cheaper and more efficient system.4. StructureThey have a flat hierarchical in the organisation. Just 3 levels of organisation carriers, supervisors and committee members. This flat structureimplies a wide span of control. Every supervisor has about 4-5 carriers under him.CONCLUSIONSix Sigma looks at all work as a series of processes with entire variations, which can cause waste or inefficiency. Focusing on thoseprocesses with greatest impact on business performance, as defined by leadership teams, the methodology involves statistical analysis to quantify repeated common cause variations which can then be reduced by the Six Sigma team. Six Sigma becomes a continuous process for quality improvement and cost reduction flowing throughout the company. Originally developed from a Japanese quality control process for manufacturing electronic semi-conductors, Six Sigma developed the capability of reducing problems or issues effecting customer expectations on key business processes. Six Sigma has provided the opportunity to drive forward important customer focused initiatives across the Cummins global organisation. As an improvement and cost reduction process, Six Sigma is equally legal for marketing and product development as well as manufacturing and customer services. Six Sigma improvement projects and techniques are now the cornerstone of Cummins continued success in cost reduction and quality improvement.REFERENCESLINKShttp//www.experts123.com/q/who-invented-six-sigma.html as on 11/10/2012 ht tp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_sigma as on 11/10/2012http//www.benchmarksixsigma.com/ on 12/10/2012http//www.6sigma.us/six-sigma.php as on 13/10/2012http//www.businessballs.com/sixsigma.html as on 13/10/2012http//www.benchmarksixsigma.com/ as on 13/10/2012BOOKSPede, Peter.S (2002), Mc-Graw Hill, The Six Sigma Way (from 029-72) De Feo, Joseph A. Barnard, William (2005). JURAN Institutes Six Sigma Breakthrough and Beyond Quality Performance Breakthrough Methods. New York, NY McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0-07-142227-7 (from p235- 245). Ramias, Alan, The Mists of Six Sigma, (2005), BP Trends (from p5-9) Eckes, George, Six Sigma for Everyone, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. (p 155-169)