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  While some companies decide to start from the very beginning with a new process in the hopes of getting fewer defects and providing better service for their customers, this is not always something that needs to be done. It is likely that your business already has a process in place. Moreover, with a few simple tweaks, you will be able to make the right changes that can make it Six Sigma compliant. This is why most companies will use the DMAIC method to help them with Six Sigma.

  The steps that are used in the Six Sigma methodology are there to help you adopt a way of doing things that is smarter so you minimize the occurrence of defects. It has an emphasis on getting rid of waste and doing things right the first time. This provides you with a better customer experience and can help you save a lot of time and money fixing the defects later on.

  While this may seem logical, you may be asking how you would do this in a way to ensure you did it right the first time. The steps in this methodology are going to ask you to adopt a simple five-stage process, which includes:

  Step 1: Define

  For this first step, you are going to look at the process or the data and find the area or the process that needs improvement. This is the nature of your problem. During this step, you will also form a team and help them train in the Six Sigma method so that they can work with you to improve the current process. You must make sure that you pick out a team that is motivated and believes that Six Sigma is important, otherwise things could get messed up a bit.

  The next thing to do is to identify the customers or the people who would be the most impacted by this project. You can also document the critical requirements for these customers. Then you can create a team charter that is going to detail things like the business case, the project scope, and the statement about the problem. This is going to help you finish up the define step.

  There are some different tools that you can use during this phase to make it a bit easier. Project Charter, SIPOC, and stakeholder analysis are all good diagrams that can help you to depict the different elements of your new project visually.

  Step 2: Measure

  You will find that the measuring step is going to take a bit more time compared to the defining stage. It is during this particular stage that you are going to define what parameters you will use in order to measure how to see whether performance has improved. You will also define the baseline performance as well as the extent to which the process can be improved.

  You may spend some time in this phase looking at and identifying the key defects in the process. Then when you define the key measures to improve, the data is going to be collected so that you can analyze the differences between the desired performance that you want and the current performance that you already have. You should also take some time to establish the process variations during this phase.

  Step 3: Analyze

  The third step that you are going to work on is to analyze. During this particular phase, the data that you collected in the past phase will be used in order to analyze what the gap is between the current and the desired performance. You can then do a root-cause analysis to help you determine what can be causing the gap between your current performance and the goals that you want to reach. This is often going to be calculated using financial terms so you can see the issue in dollars.

  Step 4: Improve

  Now that you have had some time to define the problem, measure the gap that is there with performance, and then analyze the reason for this gap, it is time to move over to the fourth step. During this one, we are going to take the steps that are necessary in order to improve the issues that are there.

  During this particular phase, you are going to devise a set of solutions that you could use. Sometimes there may be only a few options to work with, and other times there may be many different options from which to choose. From there, you can pick out the best possible solution based on the Six Sigma method and the options you have decided on.

  The main outcome that you want to get out of this phase is to design a performance improvement plan. This plan is supposed to work in order to provide you with a measured difference in your existing process so that you can really see your defects go down.

  Step 5: Control

  The final phase that you can work with in the Six Sigma methodology is the control phase. Here, you will come up with the project management plans as well as any procedures that need to be followed in order to sustain the new process you created.

  Many companies forget this step, but it is very important. How is the Six Sigma method going to work if no one follows the plan that you come up with along the way? During this phase, you will need to document the process that you revised, devise and then deploy your response plan, and then transfer this information about the new process over to the management and others who need to use it.

  When all of these parts come together, you will find that the Six Sigma method can work really well. It helps you to figure out where the problem areas of your company are and can provide you with data in order to come up with a plan to fix them. It can be time-consuming and you need to make sure that everyone in your company is on the same page when it comes to using Six Sigma so you can get the best results out of it for your company.

  Chapter 6: Scope the Perfect Project

  Now that we have some of the basics down about working with Six Sigma, it is time to help you get started with a project using Six Sigma. The best way to learn how to use this process is to actually get a project and get to work. You can read about it all that you want, but it is hard to understand until you get a project in hand and can get started on it. This chapter is going to look at the first steps that you can take when working on a Six Sigma project: scoping the perfect project.

  Scope the project

  So, a Six Sigma project is going to start out as a practical problem that is affecting a business adversely. Then it is going to end as a practical solution that can help to improve how a business is able to perform. If you can find a project where a business needs some help with their current processes, then you may have a good option for Six Sigma.

  The focus of your project with Six Sigma is going to be to solve a problem that could be hurting some key elements of performance for a company. Some examples of these could include:

  Process capability

  Costs

  Customer or employee satisfaction

  Organizational viability

  Revenue potential

  Cycle time

  Output capacity

  You will want to get started on the project by stating out what the problems with performance are. Make sure you use terms that are quantifiable and that are going to define expectations. These also need to relate to the levels of timing and performance that you desire in the end.

  As you are going through and defining the project that you want to use, you should also pay attention to some important issues. For example, some are going to be especially good for warranting a Six Sigma level of effort. Some problems that you can consider include:

  Issues that are going to have an impact on Earnings Before Income Tax, or EBIT, or Net Profit Before Income Tax, or NPBIT. You can also look at those that have a significant strategic value.

  Issues that are going to give you results that seem to exceed the effort that is required in order to see improvement by quite a bit.

  Not easily or quickly solvable if you use some of the other methods that you have seen in the past.

  Issues that are going to improve the Key Performance Indicator by more than 70 percent over the existing levels of performance where they are now.

  There can also be a type of flow that comes to your project as well. You will want to flow in the order below to help you work on a Six Sigma project in the current manner:

  Practical problem: This is a chronic or otherwise systemic problem that is affecting the success of your process.

  Six Sigma Project: This is going to be an effort that is well defined and that states your problem out in ter
ms that are quantifiable and which have known expectations.

  Statistical problem: This is a data-oriented problem that will use data and facts to help figure it out.

  Statistical solution: This is again a solution driven by data and has known risk and confidence levels. This is in comparison to “I think” solutions that may have been used in the past:

  Control plan: This is a method that you can use that will assure the long-term sustainability of your solution for the problem. You do not want to come up with a solution that seems to work today, but then does not work a few months or so down the line. You want to go with a solution that can work for in the long-term and still provide you with some great results.

  Practical solution: This type of solution is not seen as irrational, expensive, or complex. The best part is that it can be implemented without a lot of problems or a wait time.

  Results: These are the tangible results that you get. You will be able to measure it out financially or in other ways that show how it is benefiting the company.

  Getting started on a new project can sometimes be the hardest part. You want to make sure that you are working on a project that can help the business out, and that will let you use the Six Sigma methodology to get it done.

  Chapter 7: Transform Your Problem

  The first step that we talked about was to scope out the project that you want to work on in a business; it is now time to move on to the second step. After you have been able to take the particular problem or process that you want to fix in your company and framed it to be a potential project with Six Sigma, it is time for the problem to go through a change. It is going to transform from a business problem that is practical over to what is known as a statistical problem.

  The reason that it changes between these two types of problems is so that you are able to identify a statistical solution. This is easier to understand in some cases, and you will then be able to move it back to a practical solution after you receive the data and the information.

  This is why when you define the project, you need to make sure that you are stating it out using some statistical language. This ensures that you and others on the team are going to use data, and only data, to help solve it.

  Data is not going to lie to you unless you knowingly choose to read it or use it in the wrong way. You will get real results from the data, and you can make better decisions from it. Often changing the problem into some form of data is going to make a big difference in how big the problem seems to you. You may see that customers are not coming back to you, but when you can see how many customers you have lost, or how much this translates to in dollar amount, you may see that it is actually quite a bit of the problem.

  Data also helps you to use the facts at hand. Too many times in business it is easy to use your intuition, some best guesses, and even your gut feelings in order to address the problem. This is a big issue when you want to improve the efficiency of your business and get results. This is what Six Sigma can do to help you succeed.

  You will quickly realize that, in business, you are not able to solve real-life business problems simply by throwing your time and your money at them. This seems to be the way that some businesses are choosing to handle things, though, and it is not going that well in terms of customer satisfaction and profits for them.

  What you need instead is some practical solutions. A project that uses Six Sigma can provide you with a good solution that is not complex, will not be too hard for you to implement into your current business model, and will not require extensive resources in order to get it to provide you with the improvements that your business needs.

  Transforming your problem is one of the best steps that you can do. It will give you some data that will help you to see the full extent of the project and will ensure that you are actually handling the project. You will then be able to take that data and turn it back into a practical solution later on, but for now, just find ways to turn the problem that we discussed in the first chapter and turn it into a statistical solution.

  Chapter 8: Knowing Your Goals and Your Needs

  In order to get the maximum benefits from your Six Sigma projects, you need to be aware of things such as the strategic goals, objectives, and needs of the business. These always need to be in your mind when you are trying to figure out which problems should be solved with this process.

  You will start out this step by finding out which areas of the business must be improved in order to meet the specific goals of the business. Of course, if you do not know these, you will need to meet with the top management of the company in order to figure out what they are. Otherwise, you will start trying to solve problems that lead the business away from its goals.

  This approach is going to lead you to determine which problems specifically you need in order to improve the performance of a company. Then you can move on to determine the statistical solution to the problem before implementing the solution and realizing the benefits from the work.

  From here, you may be confused as to where you should start. A good place to start is with an assessment of the higher-level needs of the organization. You can also use any knowledge that you can get from the voice of the people and voice of the business. With the VOC, you are looking at all the expectations and needs that the customers already have for your products. On the other hand, the VOB is when you look at the expectations or the needs of a business.

  The basic idea that you need to keep in mind is that you should do an assessment of the VOB and the VOC in order to see where there are any gaps. These gaps are going to be areas where the expectations of the customer and the expectations of the business do not line up well together.

  Zeroing in on the problem areas is going to be key to helping you out here. You also need to have all the information organized and present to help you with this. To make things easier, you can always look for some themes in the information, such as:

  If there are any issues with invoicing or with accounts receivable

  If there are any issues with capacity constraints

  Look through any complaints from the customers and see if there are some common threads or themes with those that the company can address

  The responsiveness or the cycle time of the business and if it aligns with what the customer expects

  If there are excessive levels of inventory for the business

  If there are any services that are defective or ineffective for the customer

  If the yield or subsequent rework or scrap that you need to work on

  How many times a product is returned and the costs for warranty and how these add up for the company and could be costing them more money in the long run

  All of these can be issues for a company, but they often have one or two that seem to cause the biggest waste and loss of profits. Being able to know the goals and the needs of a company, and then zeroing in on the ones that need to be improved the most will help you to make Six Sigma work the best for you.

  Chapter 9: Determine Who is Responsible for Each Project Part

  In addition to working on the steps that we have talked about in the other chapters, you need to be able to determine who is going to be responsible for each part of the project. Problems that may start out in the functional area can transform from line managers on through to the owner.

  Project deliverables, accountabilities, and responsibilities should be divided between managers and the different Belts (the yellow, green, black, and master black that we talked about before), who are going to need to perform a variety of activities for problem-solving. Managers, including the process owner, will be in charge of figuring out the focus and the priority of this process.

  On the other hand, the non-management personnel are going to be the ones who are responsible for implementing the solution that was determined before and then seeing the benefits.

  All of these parts need to come together. The managers and the nonmanagers need to all work together through the Six Sigma methodology
in order to see success. These relationships can help ensure that the deliverables from Six Sigma are not going to end up falling through the cracks.

  As you can imagine, the whole methodology of Six Sigma needs to be a team effort. Even when you are just at the beginning and working on the Define phase, the phase where managers will identify the project to work on, the Belts are still there to assist.

  Of course, those who are the Belts are only going to have about 20 percent responsibility when it comes to defining and then managing the improvement, while their managers will be closer to 80 percent. Later, when you reach implementation, these percentages are going to reverse as the Belts do the work to make sure the solution is working to fix the problem. This is why both parts are so important and why they need to be involved in all the parts of the Six Sigma process.

  The managers, including the owner, will be able to determine who is in charge of each different part when it comes to doing each part. They can assign based on the job that needs to be done, which belts they have present in the business and more. However, before the project is even started, it is important that everyone is on board and they understand what needs to be done. This ensures that Six Sigma can be done properly and that nothing slips through the cracks.