Sigma 6: An Introduction
Sigma 6: an introduction
Sigma 6: an introduction to the concepts
In Sigma 6: an introduction, the goal is to help you understand what Sigma 6, or as it's commonly called Six Sigma or 6 Sigma, is all about. Sigma 6 is a process by which businesses can improve their bottom line. It's actually got a very precise mathematical concept at its core. Most people have heard of a bell curve. The Sigma is a bell curve that represents changes between numbers and a set of data. These changes and that curve give six Sigma data to work with and show how the numbers can affect the outcome when processes are improved.
Sigma 6 is called the Sigma six instead of just Sigma because it uses six levels of improvements. Each level of Sigma is supposed to reduce the chances of missed opportunities and mistakes and effects by a certain percentage. By the time a company has reached Sigma 6, they're supposed to be at a defect rate or failure rate of only 3.4 parts per million. What that means in terms of business processes and success, is that the objective should be achieved and success should be achieved 99.9997% of the time. Now these numbers are collated from the mathematical base at the core of Sigma six. And companies claim you can achieve this type of success in increasing profits and production. Whether that is always perfectly measurable according to the Sigma six process depends a lot on the company and the people implementing the process. The major point is that using Sigma six can increase your businesses productivity and profits by an astounding rate.
Sigma 6: an introduction to the methodologies
There are two different methodologies that you can use essentially in Sigma six. An introduction to each one can't really go in depth but can give you a general idea of what you do with them in which situations you use them in. The two methodologies are summed up in the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV.
DMAIC represents Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. Define means defining the project goals or other goals to be reached. Measure means to measure the current process to understand what's happening now. Analyse is the step for you to analyse the problem and discover what's happening to hold things back. Improve is a step for you improve the process of the product or whatever needs to be improved to let the process move forward. And control stands for controlling the process in the future to keep it where you want it to be. This is the process you use when you use Sigma 6 to take a product or process that's not performing well and improve it.
DMADV is similar up through defining, measuring and analysing. But this methodology is used when what's needed doesn't already exist and you have to create one. So the first three steps are all about discovering what needs to be created to meet in need and then the final steps of Design and Verify or to design the process to meet the need and verify that it's working properly. Sigma 6: an introduction to these processes and methodologies is much more detailed than can be summed up in a short article but this is the basic process.
