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The Basics of Six Sigma

1. History of Six Sigma (Define)

In today's day and age, Six Sigma is one of the most common skills that organisations look for on a resume. Likewise, many companies utilise the strategy in order to improve quality and general customer satisfaction. Although the strategy is very familiar to both you and me, under the overall continuous improvement umbrella, Six Sigma is actually quite new. In fact, Six Sigma celebrated its 30th birthday in 2016. You see, in 1986, a brilliant engineer by the name of Bill Smith was experimenting with different techniques in his efforts to improve quality and create a more stable production environment. At Motorola, entrusted with the task of improving quality, Mr. Smith was one of the best examples of continuous improvement. Bill, who was working under Mr. Bob Galvin, was persistent in developing a method that everyone could use to reduce deviations from standards and minimise variability on the shop floor. Eventually, he was able to document an excess of over $16 billion in savings for Motorola. How did he do this? Well, to start, Mr. Smith was dedicated to improving quality. He used his vast experience and knowledge, along with much trial and error. After some time, he realised that some of the same concepts used in other continuous improvement initiatives could yield positive impacts in production and improve quality on the shop floor. Notably, he recognised that by establishing measurements and analysing root causes, processes could be improved and statistically monitored and controlled. This eventually led Mr. Smith to establish newly improved standards that could be repeated. Of course, as with any other form of continuous improvement, Bill quickly discovered that by repeating his new method and controlling inputs to a process, he could produce improved outputs and results that aligned with what customers needed and wanted. Soon after the first initial development of the Six Sigma strategy, the Motorola team realised that making results quantifiable would allow them to continue improving, tracking, and controlling outputs, ultimately reducing variation. Additionally, making projects quantifiable made it much easier to show improvements and not just to claim them. Just to clarify, quantifiable results are based on actual data that is used to determine, indicate, or provide evidence of results. For instance, a quantifiable result of a cycletime reduction may show both the improved cycle time and the baseline cycle time. Given this important fact, the data and documented numbers being used on projects must gain buy-in or consensus from an entire organization. This is an important concept that allowed Mr. Smith to separate from opinion-based results and show real data, which eventually helped him to achieve buy-in on the many projects Motorola would embark on. After developing a method to improve quality, reduce variation, and prove results, Bill now needed to define some general roles and responsibilities to solidify the structure of this new strategy. Those roles and responsibilities would eventually be laid out in a belt structure that was borrowed from martial arts to show an individual's skill level and their expected contributions. within the Six Sigma strategy. Although not every employee at the time would obtain one of the five different levels of belts, there would still be a place for everyone. Some people would be designated as champions who assisted in communicating an organization's vision, mission, and overall objectives of the organization.Now, as you may have guessed, buy-in from everyone is critical to Six Sigma success. One way that Motorola achieved this was by tasking black belts with the responsibility of coordinating and developing close relationships with managers so that they could ultimately gain their support. Having now achieved a method of performing projects within the strategy and a means of documenting their results, six sigma is now a valuable system for any organisation to embark on. Although Mr. Smith may not have realised it then, he truly changed the world by persistently improving quality. Well, that wraps up this lecture on the history of Six Sigma. And as you can tell, the history of this strategy is still alive today. So until next time, keep on improving, and we will keep on giving you solutions that ignite your power.

2. Benefits of six sigma (Define)

Well, as you know by now, Six Sigma is a strategy that improves organisations through the elimination of defects and reduced variation in processes. Now, what organisation would not want those benefits? Well, believe it or not, there aremany other benefits associated with Six Sigma. But before we get started, I'd like for each of you to pause the video for about five minutes and answer the question: How can Six Sigma benefit me in my current work or personal life? Well, go ahead. We'll be right here when you get back. We'd love to hear some of the advantages you came up with. Just visit the Course Dashboard or Comments tab and put the benefits you came up with in the Q&A section under the question, "What benefits can Six Sigma provide me in my work or personal life?" While you're doing that, here's an overview of five topics we will cover in this lecture. Sticking with the theme of Six Sigma benefits, we will discuss five of the most common benefits associated with Six Sigma. Those benefits are improved quality, greater customer retention, more efficient processes, reduced firefighting, and breakthrough savings. One of the most common reasons for utilising a Six Sigma strategy is to improve the quality of processes and products. One very successful example of this was Motorola, who documented over $16 billion in savings using Six Sigma. By focusing on reducing variation and establishing stable processes, an organisation can better control the results of their activities and actions. While controlling inputs is quite important when designing or improving business processes, the sheer number of only 3.4 defects per million opportunities alone is phenomenal. Well, the next benefit of utilisingSixSigma techniques is one that oftentimes goes unnoticed until the strategy is in place. You see, oftentimes when customers are frustrated with the company, they just go find another vendor or partner to work with. It isn't very often that they call you up and say, Hey, I don't want to work with you anymore. By stabilising processes and establishing repeatable standards to support customer needs, companies often find that they retain customers for quite a bit longer. But this benefit applies to our internal customer base, too. If we stop and think for just a second about employee turnover, we learn that oftentimes it is related to frustration, overburden, or diminished morale that is diminished.That is where one of the most positive impacts of Six Sigma comes in. By developing employees and creating a stable, more predictable work environment, we are much more likely to retain experienced professionals and keep them happy, too. Now, if we borrow a quote from Mr. Taishi Ono, we learn that where there is no standard, there can be no kaisen. While this term is more often than not used in reference to lean initiatives, the concept applies quite well to Six Sigma 2. Through the establishment of standard, stable processes that can be measured, we are better able to establish a starting point for improvements in Six Sigma. The reduction of defects and opportunities are the two controllable characteristics of the measurement of defects per million opportunities. When these characteristics are reduced, we in fact end up with efficient processes that provide very little possibility for error. Finally, we address the millions of fires that good, hardworking employees put out every single day. Let's say, for example, a part comes off the line and is defective. The part is out of tolerance, but can be reworked. Now, an employee burns up his time putting out brush fires while the inferno is approaching right behind him, leaving our employees working at a steady pace and performing activities that a customer is willing to pay for. Again, we should note the benefit of customer retention. Now, having noted four critical improvements that seem to always come to pass in Six Sigma, we should note that the pattern of almost every benefit or advantage follows the trend of breakthrough results. What we mean is that you will be completing lots of projects and will feel like you're only gaining on those initiatives. And then one day you look at your dashboard and realize, wow, 16 billion in savings. Here's an example. The statistical tools that are often used in Six Sigma may lead to cost reductions and improved quality at any point in time. A process may deviate around 1.5 deviations from a standard. When we apply Six Sigma to these types of data, we track the short-term deviations and performance of the process in order to better predict the process' full capability. In this case, because the short-term capability of our critical quality characteristic is plus or minus six sigma, we can guess that the capability of that process in the long term is 4.5 sigma, which allows us to account for our deviation of one five and still accomplish three to four defects per million. This type of analysis leads to very large savings over long periods of time, resulting in what we refer to as breakthrough savings. As you can tell, Six Sigma has pages and pages of possible benefits that can be achieved. Which reminds me, how many pages of possible benefits did you write down? Well, we're about to wrap up this lecture, so if you didn't finish writing your list of benefits, go ahead and complete that. After you finish, send us a message or go to the course dashboard and leave us a comment in the Q&A or comment section. We would love to hear all the possibilities you can think of. And that wraps up this lecture on Six Sigma benefits. So until next time, my friends, keep on improving, and we will keep on giving you solutions that ignite your powers. Bye.

3. The Problem Solving Formula (Define)

Hi there. I'm Cameron Hanson with Lean Strategies International LLC. Have you heard of continuous improvement? I bet you have. But if somebody were to ask you what continuous improvement is, how would you explain it to them? Well, that's exactly what we're going to find out today. In fact, by the end of this video, you will not only be able to define what continuous improvement is, but you may be embarking on your own continuous improvement journey yourself. As we stated before, today we're going to be talking about continuous improvement. Now when we finish up the fund today, you will know just exactly what continuous improvement is. why others embark on continuous improvement journeys. You'll also have an understanding of what the four major improvement strategies are. We will also mention some of the more common tools used in continuous improvement initiatives. Lastly, we will talk about the five core principles, which are usually defined and lean but are universally applicable to all strategies. Well, first let's start off by answering a question: Why would anybody want to invest in continuous improvement? One of the first and most well-known reasons is that no matter what business you are in or part of, your industry is most likely in no way at a standstill. They're actually quite dynamic. Given this universal knowledge, processes need to be relentlessly refined over and over again. The next reason can be compared to a high jumper. If you broke a record in the high jump, it wouldn't make any sense at all to not try and jump even higher than before. Similarly, organisational processes must be improved rather than simply reviewed and audited. Unless, of course, you don't mind the next big company jumping a little bit higher than you. Another fairly common purpose is to achieve defined objectives and goals that may have fallen off track somewhere in your journey. As a side note, continuous improvement is often associated with quantitative measures that track progress toward objectives and the end goal. Along with this common reason to embark on continuous improvement, oftentimes companies do it just to get better and improve productivity. One last purpose for embarking on continuous improvement is for the way it improves worker satisfaction, workplace safety, and your unique approach to developing and empowering your most important resource, your employees. Now there are most likely many other reasons to embark on one of the four major strategies under the continuous improvement umbrella. But in general, the main reason is: given the opportunity, who doesn't want to improve? Well, now that we understand some of the key purposes of embarking on and investing in continuous improvement, let's answer the question: Just what is continuous improvement? Now continuous improvement can be defined as the act of making regular, incremental improvements that assist organisations in transforming, evolving, and upgrading processes, products, and services in pursuit of excellence. Continuous improvement was originally noted for its absolutely powerful effect on manufacturing. But today it has evolved into many industries, such as health services, government, and just about any other industry that you can think of. Now, with that said, try to think of continuous improvement like an umbrella. When you open up an umbrella, there are a few prongs that cause it to hold its shape when the rain falls. Those prongs represent the strategies that fall under the continuous improvement umbrella. Our umbrella needs only four prongs, or strategies. Those four strategies of continuous improvement are lean six sigma, total quality management, and the theory of constraints. Lean can be described as an excellent strategy that includes both quality and process, product and service, as well as a heightened ability to remove waste from every aspect of an organization. Lean does this by attacking eight major forms of waste in service and manufacturing. Those eight forms of waste are referred to as "mooda" in a lean environment. Additionally, Lean bases its activities on five core principles. These five core principles are as follows: identifying value from the customer's perspective; mapping out the value stream; making value flow at the customer's poll; responding only to the customer's needs; and striving for perfection. By implementing lean, and we mean really implementing it, organisations can reduce the need for working capital, increase inventory turns, gain more market share, increase profit margins, develop a highly skilled, empowered workforce, and produce products with absolute perfect quality. Along with Lean, Six Sigma is a strategy that aims at achieving absolutely zero defects. In other words, near perfect processes, products, and services. We can define Six Sigma as a strategy that entails the use of tools and methodologies for the improvement of organisational processes. Now, additionally, we should add that the intention of Six Sigma is to decrease process variation and improve quality. Now, to become a Six Sigma organization, the goal is to produce no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Three key elements to reach the Six Sigma level are your customer, your processes, and your employees. Companies that begin implementing Six Sigma in their organisation can expect to see reduced process variations, significant improvements in quality, and savings that could put everyone on a six-figure salary. Well, the next strategy in our continuous improvement umbrella is total quality management. Now, officially, Total Quality Management is an approach that management takes to maintain or improve customer satisfaction. Like the other strategies, TQM, or Total Quality Management, requires the participation and involvement of the entire organisation to change processes, products, and the culture within your business. There are four key ideas in total quality management. Those four ideas are number one: a commitment for management and participants to strategy no. Two, the concept of continuous improvement is understood by everyone, and the culture of continuous improvement is embraced by everyone. Third, appropriate metrics have been implemented to measure and track your progress toward objectives. And lastly, number four, there are no adversarial relationships. Customers and suppliers are connected and strive to support one another. The final piece of our umbrella is the theory of constraints. The theory of constraints is widely accepted. In fact, it can be applied to just about any organisation that has humans in it. The core idea behind the theory of constraints is that just about any system or process will contain at least one constraint that will limit the maximum output of that process or system. Since it makes no sense to operate any part of the process quicker than the slowest part, the theory of constraints seeks to remove constraints so that processes can operate at their full speed. The general strategy of the theory of constraints focuses on five repeatable steps. Those five steps are number one: identify the constraint. Number two, expose or exploit the constraint. Number three, adjust other processes to function with the newly removed constraint; number four, elevate the constraint; and number five, repeat the cycle over and over again. Well, those are the four major continuous improvement strategies used in transforming organizations. Keep in mind that each of these strategies uses a set of highly developed methodologies and tools to help them accomplish the tactical side of the strategy. We would like to mention five different tools that are commonly used in Six Sigma so that you have a general idea of what some of the tools may be. Now, as we develop into later courses, your skillset will undoubtedly transform as we dig into many important tools within the continuous improvement umbrella. The five tools we will introduce today are the first of the seven basic tools. Number two is the five-S system. Number three: value stream mapping. There are four pull systems. And Kanban. And lastly, we'll introduce the single-minute exchange of Die, also known as Smed. Well, to start, if you haven't seen our Seven Basic Quality Tools video, go and watch it. Or take our Lean Six Sigma White Belt course, which introduces and includes an overview of the seven basic quality tools, just to keep you up to speed. The seven basic quality tools are: number one, the process map; number two, the control chart; number three, the paradochart, also known as the parado diagram. Number four is the Cause-and-Effect Diagram, commonly referred to after its founder as the Ishikawa Diagram number five. the histogram number six, the check sheet, and last but not least, the scatter chart. The tools can be defined as seven and, when applied appropriately, assist organisations in understanding and evaluating their processes with the intention of improving them. The next tool we will introduce to you is a more common one that you may have heard of already. The tool is called Five S, and it's really more of a system than just a tool. The Five S is referred to as a form of workplace organisation that assists workers in optimising the efficiency and effectiveness of their area while creating a safe, neat, and orderly environment. Additionally, if you have an area that is in good Five-S condition, any abnormality will stand out right away. The five S stand for Sort Set In Order, sometimes referred to as Simplify, Shine, Standardize, and last but not least, Sustain. Along with efficiency and tidiness, the five Ss create the basis for lean thinking and are often great tools to begin bringing people together and breaking down the silos that sometimes form in organizations. Last but not least, Five S pairs very well with many other tools, such as SMED or Kanban customers. The value stream map identifies value-added and non-value-added activities while capturing other key pieces of information within the value stream. Some common reasons to use a value streammap would be to lead a waste reduction project, decrease cycle times, and make the process flow more efficiently and effectively. There are three different levels of value stream mapping, which are process-level value stream mapping, door-to-door level value stream mapping, and the extended enterprise value stream map. Our Treat One, Two, Three, and Reduced methodologies are very effective for the process level. They provide a simplified method of building the value stream so that anyone can do it. Additionally, the treat one, two, three method and the reduced methodology are universal at the other levels of your value stream too. The Pole system is the next most popular and constantly improving system. A poll system assumes that we only produce or develop items or services in response to a demand or to replace those taken for use elsewhere. One very effective tool used in a pull system is the kanban. Conban is a method of triggering or signalling the withdrawal of parts and sometimes information that will feed into an already established operation or system. Some of the different types of Kanban are the two-card system, the single-card system, and finally, possibly the best yet, the two-bin system. Now, SMED stands for Single Minute Exchange of Die and is a very effective system for reducing setup and changeover times. SMED was developed by a brilliant industrial engineer by the name of Shigayo Shingo. He documented improvements of over 94% using SMED on a consistent basis. The method that we use to attack internal and external elements of a setup is called the reduced methodology. So keep an eye out for this simple method of improving setup times as it evolves. Well, we hope you've enjoyed this introductory course on continuous improvement. Be on the lookout for more courses by Lean Strategies International LLC. So, there's only one last thing to decide. Are you going to start your continuous improvement journey with the Lean Six Sigma theory of constraints? Or maybe total quality management, or even a combination of two or more? Whatever you choose, we are here to support. And as always, I am looking forward to hearing from you. So we'll talk to you soon.

4. The Voice of the Customer, Business and Employee (Define)

In both Lean and Six Sigma strategies, there is one very important skill that everyone must develop. You most likely use this skill on a daily basis already but aren't aware of it quite yet. A skill is called listening. Yeah, you got it. Listening. Oftentimes, in strategic initiatives, the voice of the customer, business, and employees calls out to us, but sometimes we don't hear them or understand what they are calling for. When we fail to execute on customer, employee, and business voices, the results can sometimes be deadly. On the other hand, when we keep our ears pointed to the customer, business, and employee, we are much more likely to understand what their perception of value actually is. Knowing how value is defined for your customers can help you select appropriate initiatives and create opportunities for more profitable futures. Well, the first concept we will discuss is the voice of the customer. As you probably understand by now, everything starts with the customer. Understanding how the customer defines value by understanding their perception of value can be a very important and powerful piece of knowledge that will affect many business aspects. The voice of the customer, coupled with their behavior, will help your organisation clarify the direction of strategy and projects. One common vehicle for this is a survey, which you may have heard of. It's called the Voice of the Customer Survey. This is one method of collecting anonymous data from your customers. Three things you should keep in mind if you choose to use a Voice of the Customer survey: keep it simple, focus on relationship building, and create a consistent, continuous metric you can track responses with. As noted, the survey is completely anonymous. No name or any personal information is needed. Okay, while you're getting experience with that survey, let's look at another important voice we need to pay special attention to. That voice is the voice of the business. The voice of the business is different than the voice of the customer in the sense that we are attempting to gain clarity as to what areas of the organisation we can grow in, how we will continue to add economic value, and what exactly our market value is. We gather this information by collecting a seriesof financial information and data such as lead,time, level of effort, and capability to deliver. Although this information can be difficult to keep track of at times, the voice of the business frequently does not require data validation. Typically, when a business gathers data pertaining to the voice of the business, it is to analyse areas of the organisation that may have opportunities to improve. An analyst might be looking for a market share, which means how much of the market do we own or how much have we lost. An analyst may also look into how capital in the organisation is being invested, and they almost certainly will look at how processes within the business are performing. After analysing this data, analysts can often find opportunities for improvement projects and help align or realign the organisation as it travels along the strategic path towards the company's vision. Now, there is one other voice we need to talk about before we move on. This voice is probably the most critical element in accomplishing an organization's mission. The voice we are referring to is the voice of the employee. The employee voice is a personal connection with the organization. When effectively monitored, listened to, and cared for, the voice of the employee can influence culture and positive behaviour changes. Employees become advocates of the organization's vision and pull together, creating a team that is committed to accomplishing their vision. Additionally, employees often are able to provide valuable information related to process inefficiencies, resource allocation, and the talents of their co workers.While continuous improvement is no doubt a driving force in today's day and age, we must acknowledge that waste, variability, and other elements of business can be overwhelming. By pulling together the voice of the customer, business, and employees, we gain a deeper understanding and greater visibility of the entire picture. Additionally, this understanding allows us to optimise business outcomes and helps us achieve those breakthrough results we mentioned earlier. There is no doubting that keeping our senses aligned and in touch with business, customers, and employees will go a long way towards reaching your vision. Well, that wraps up our look at the voice of the customer, business, and employee. Oh, I almost forgot. I'm going to go take a look at the voice of the customer survey you took. Thanks for the feedback, friends. It really helps us to know how you feel and continue to create value and solutions that ignite your power for many years to come. See you in the next class.

General Roles and Responsibilities (Define)

1. Overview of Lean Six Sigma Belt System (Define)

One critical concept in lean and six sigma is determining an individual's skill level or capability. An organisational chart similar to the martial arts chart distinguishes an individual's dedication to specific initiatives or their skill level in both lean and six sigma. There are five different belts in both Lean and Six Sigma. Those belts are white belt, yellow belt, green belt, black belt, and master black belt level. A master black belt is usually trained to black belt capability, but takes on more of a teaching role in the organization's strategy. Although it's not uncommon to see a master black belt at events, generally they are helping to develop individuals for the next stage of their own personal journey. Oftentimes you will hear master black belts referred to as "sensei" or "coach." The black belt and green belt are additional belts in both lean and Six Sigma. Individuals who hold black and green belts have a strong understanding and sufficient knowledge of quality standards, design, as well as the development of procedures and processes. With a keen understanding of statistical analysis and process improvements, those black belts will oftentimes be fully engaged in improvements, and green belts will oftentimes be engaged in projects as they develop too. Throughout their journey, these individuals will be engaged in identifying waste and process variations and then turning those identifications into improvement initiatives and Kaizen events. Yellow Belts will be involved in activities such as collecting data and building the measurements that will be used in improvement initiatives. Yellow Belts are oftentimes subject-matter experts in the process or project they are involved in. Remember that one of the goals of a yellow belt is to progress to an agreen belt and help build a lean and six sigma community within your organization. The final belt is the white belt. In mature lean Six Sigma organizations, 100% of the employee base is trained to at least the white belt level. Maybe that's why you're taking this course today. The white belt should have a good understanding of Lean Six Sigma and some of the methodologies that support the strategy. Along with understanding methodologies, they should be able to recognise variations and forms of waste that can be improved or eliminated.

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