What is Six Sigma. This set of slides will hopefully demystify Six Sigma for you.

1. What is Six Sigma ?
www.leansixsigmacafe.com

2. Is 99% Good Enough ?
 Unsafe drinking water almost
15 minutes each day
 2 short or long landings at
most major airports daily
 No electricity for almost 7
hours each month

3. Sample Data
3.2 g 3.0 g
3.1 g3.0 g
3.1 g 3.2 g
3.2 g3.2 g
3.3 g 3.2 g
3.2 g3.0 g
2.9 g 3.4 g
3.2 g3.0 g
3.3 g 3.2 g
3.2 g3.3 g
3.1 g 3.1 g
3.2 g3.2 g
3.2 g 3.1 g
3.2 g3.3 g
3.2 g 3.1 g
2.9 g3.2 g
3.2 g 3.2 g
3.0 g3.2 g
Weight of stick gums

4. Histogram
Weight of stick gums

5. Normal Distribution
Weight of stick gums

6. Specification Limits
Weight of stick gums

7. Definitions and Examples
• Critical to Quality, an attribute
important to the customerCTQ
• Any measurable event that provides
a chance of not meeting
specification limits of a CTQ
Opportunity
• Anything that results in customer
dissatisfaction or in a non-
conformance
Defect
• Defects per million opportunitiesDPMO
• The probability of defect, a measure
of process capability, measured in
units of standard deviations
Sigma
Capability
In this example gum weight is a critical
attribute
Every stick gum produced on the shop floor is
an opportunity
Our pack weight indicates 3.0 g. We consider
getting below 3.0 g as a defect since the
customer will feel short changed. We also
consider going beyond 3.4g as a defect. While
customer will be happy getting more, we will
lose money for our material cost.
These will be the number of defective stick
gums if 1 million is produced.
Computation of sigma capability is done in the
Six Sigma Greenbelt training

8. Defects
Weight of stick gums

9. Mean and Spread
Weight of stick gums
mean
standard deviation

10. Process Capability
Poor
Good
Higher probability of defects
Lower probability of defects

11. Sigma Level vs DPMO
Sigma Level PPM
2 308,537
3 66,807
4 6,210
5 233
6 3.4
Process Capability DPMO

12. Sigma Level vs DPMO
Sigma Level PPM
2 308,537
3 66,807
4 6,210
5 233
6 3.4
Process Capability DPMO
Average Company

13. In Real World
At 99% (3.8 Sigma) At 99.99966% (6 Sigma)
Unsafe drinking water
almost 15 minutes each day
One minute of unsafe
drinking water every seven
months.

14. In Real World
At 99% (3.8 Sigma) At 99.99966% (6 Sigma)
2 short or long landings at
most major airports daily
One short or long landing at
most major airports every 5
years.

15. In Real World
At 99% (3.8 Sigma) At 99.99966% (6 Sigma)
No electricity for almost 7
hours every month
One hour without electricity
every 34 years

16. The Six Sigma Difference

17. Center
Process
Reduce
Spread
Defects
The Statistical Objective
Process Off Target Excessive Variation
Poor Process
Capability
Good Process
Capability
Reduce Variation and Center Process
USLLSL USLLSL
USLLSL
LSL Lower specification limit
USL Upper specification limit

18. Y = f (X)
DMAIC Methodology
Y = Desired
characteristic
X = Internal Process
Characteristic
• Customer expectation of the processDefine
• Frequency of the defectsMeasure
• Why the defects occur?Analyze
• How can we fix it?Improve
• How can we sustain the solution?Control
Structured, Data-driven Approach

19. Six Sigma as a Strategy
Savings of $ 940 M in 3 years
Improved Operating Margin by 4% in
5 years
Saves $100,000 - $200,00 per project

20. What is Six Sigma ?
 A process description – a measurement of a process that
has only 3.4 defects per million opportunities
 A methodology – a structured and data driven approach to
deliver improved customer quality
 A business strategy – satisfying the customer through robust
management of the end to end process