Implementing lean six sigma for process improvement Essay

The driving factors for a success or failure of implementing Six Sigma is largely dependent on the inputs set forth at the conception and duration of the integration. This whitepaper will compare and contrast these critical inputs for a successful deployment. In order to accomplish this five various companies: GE Electric, W.R. Grace, Royal Chemicals, Diversified Paper and Lemforder. Some of these organizations had very successful results while others failed to reach their full potential. What is clear is the similarities of those that succeed and those that failed.

In this document we have done a detailed study of Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma and how they help Business Analysts to maximize their skill sets to attain maximum process improvements in their activities. We introduce the topic, provide a historical timeline and disucuss its relevance to the topic. After that, we analyze current state and use the information to provide results in Analysis and Synthesis section.

Six Sigma is a measurement based strategy for process improvement and problem reduction. It is completed through the application of the Quality Improvement project and accomplished with the use of two Six Sigma models. One model is DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control), which is designed to examine

Six Sigma was first introduced in the 1980’s by none other than Motorola. It was not however necessarily a novel concept at the time so much as it drew from a conglomerate of proven manufacturing principles. It is strikingly similar to the scientific method in design. Six Sigma approaches areas that may not necessarily be viewed as problematic with an open mind. It seeks to analyze problems or questions with a stepwise, statistical, and quantitative focus in order to discover, fix, or disprove problems that may or may not exist within a process. By doing this Six Sigma can improve efficiency and therefore improve positive outcomes for whatever the endpoint may be (Mast, Bisgaard, & others, 2007).

Six Sigma is defined as highly controlled and well-ordered process to focus on developing and delivering perfect products and services .

In last 25 years many companies are adopting Six Sigma methodology as a process excellence tool. Few of them are GE, Motorola, Siemens, ABB, Citi Bank, Ford etc. Many Japanese and Korean companies like LG, Toshiba, Honda, Sony and Samsung have also implemented Six Sigma. Many organizations are implementing Six Sigma in India. ICICI, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata motors, HDFC are some major organizations implementing Six Sigma. Due to globalization world market is opened to Indian organizations and to compete with other countries they want to bring their products & services to world class level. To achieve this along with various methodologies Six Sigma is becoming popular in India.

This chapter reports related literatures to describe the methodology and implementation of six sigma. The literature review in this paper is divided into four parts viz: Basic concept, DMAIC methodology, DFSS approach, and Quality deployment.

In last 25 years many companies are adopting Six Sigma methodology as a process excellence tool. Few of them are GE, Motorola, Siemens, ABB, Citi Bank, Ford etc. Many Japanese and Korean companies like LG, Toshiba, Honda, Sony and Samsung have also implemented Six Sigma. In India many companies are implementing Six Sigma. Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata motors, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC are some of them. Due to globalization world market is opened to Indian organizations and to compete with other countries they want to bring their products & services to world class level. To achieve this along with various methodologies Six Sigma is becoming popular in India.

The goal of Six Sigma is to increase profits by eliminating variability, defects and waste that undermine customer loyalty. (iSixSigma, 2016)

Now a day's global market in the world and all companies are looking up making new improvements that drive bottom line results. In that process all organizations and companies are turning to process improvement methodologies such as Lean six sigma (LSS). Continual improvement, as one of the objectives of a quality management system is achieved by the improvement of all processes and activities at a particular stage of the production cycle. Continual process improvement is also the only way how to survive and succeed among competitors. The management of the company will always be looking for opportunities that will enhance the effectiveness of the company’s processes. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is one of the significant methodologies of quality management, this seeks to increase productivity and improve quality of process outputs. As a customer oriented managerial strategy, it emphasizes that imperfection is an opportunity for improvement. The Lean Six Sigma (LSS) system helps to effectively reduce any defective process, it improves the quality of the provided services

(Greg. 2002). The manufacturing industries as well the service sector in India are placing greater emphasis on six sigma deployement to improve operational efficiencies. Although many research has been done on various quality systems like ISO, TQM, TPM etc but Six Sigma being new concept, very less work has been carried out, thus for any organization looking to deploy six sigma, it is important to understand the vaious key success factors. The best answer to the question – what are the critical success factors for six sigma success in business organization can be given by the professionals who have the first hand experience in deploying six sigma in their business areas. This study has made the attempt document the key success factors based on the experience of the working professionals and six sigma consultants.

In today’s fast paced and competitive marketplace, many organizations explore different methodologies to give their company an advantage. Businesses must adapt to the increased demands of technology and shorter project lifecycles with the purpose of gaining a viable edge over their competition (Sony & Naik, 2012). Adapting to the changing environment by integrating a systematic method that encourages learning, organizational innovation, and quality within a company can produce a competitive advantage that can secure the organization’s future. The Six Sigma process offers a business a process that helps minimize defects, improves organizational processes, and opportunities to learn from each project that the company completes.

"If you do just Six Sigma, you 're not going to maximize the potential of your organization. You have to do both," - Mike Carnell, President of Six Sigma Applications

Six Sigma has two different focuses which includes Management and technical [1]. The Management focus deals with Project metrics, identifying goals, approving/selecting projects and selecting the workforce on the project [1]. The technical focus primarily deals with minimizing the variation and improving process performance. Six Sigma predominantly depends on the management team inorder to complete the assigned projects in timely manner and to ascertain meeting specific objectives. The Business improvement involves five different stages. Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Six Sigma gives at most importance to detailed results at the bottomline and predict the impact on the Business environment before the Project is approved. The four significant aspects of Six Sigma are customer satisfaction, understanding of the Process, critical decision – making and Business results. Six Sigma is advantageous for companies that rely on bottom-line results and minimizing the number of defects in the Production process. Six Sigma serves as the common technique or mode in order to measure quality gains of different organizations and also to compare one

The case deals with the evolution of Six Sigma, talks of its implementation and gives an understanding of Consultancy in Six Sigma at Wipro.