Kaizen and Six Sigma

Kaizen

Kaizen is...
... a system of continuous improvement in quality,
technology, processes, company culture, productivity,
safety and leadership
Kaizen was created in Japan following World War II. The
word Kaizen means "continuous improvement". It comes
from the Chinese characters 改 ("kai") which means
"change" or "to correct" and 善 ("zen") which means
"good".
Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)
 Focus on gradual and continuous
improvement
 A whole business philosophy
 Importance of EVERYONE buying into
the concept and the vision
Six Sigma Methodology

Six Sigma relies heavily on advanced statistical methods

that complement and reduce the process and product
variations. It is a new way of doing business that would
eliminate the existing defects efficiently and would
prevent defects from occurring.
 Coined by Motorola Engineer Bill Smith
 Now a major influence on production
methods and quality assurance
 Data and statistical driven approach to
eliminate defects in production
 Aims to improve processes and reduce
variations in quality
 Necessitates organisational change,
training and planning
"Zero Defect"
 "Defect" – any product or service that
does not conform to the set standards
or satisfaction of the customer.
 Now, Six Sigma is a concept that tries
to achieve a near zero defect with 3.4
defects in a million events.
 Early adopters include Bank of
America, Caterpillar, Honeywell
International (previously known as
Allied Signal), Raytheon, Merrill Lynch
and General Electric.

What Is Six Sigma? 7

What is Six Sigma?
 A methodology to improve a business process by
constantly reviewing, updating and re-tuning the
existing process.
 Six Sigma improves the process performance,
decreases variation and maintains consistent quality
of the process output. This leads to defect reduction
and improvement in profits, employee morale,
product quality and finally customer satisfaction.
 Six Sigma Strives for perfection. It allows for only
3.4 defects per million opportunities for each product
or service transaction.
 Six Sigma relies heavily on statistical techniques to
reduce defects and measure quality.

What Is Six Sigma? 8

Evolution of Six Sigma
 Japan has been credited with the evolvement of
Quality Systems like TQM, Kanban, Kaizen, etc.
 Pioneered in the U.S. by Bill Smith at Motorola in
1986; originally used as a metric for measuring
defects for improving quality; a methodology to
reduce defect levels <3.4 Defects Per Million
Opportunities (DPMO). Motorola has reported
>US$17b savings as of 2006.
 Early adopters include Bank of America, Caterpillar,
Honeywell International (previously known as Allied
Signal), Raytheon, Merrill Lynch and General Electric.
 Six Sigma was originally centered around
manufacturing improvements. The reason for this
was knowledge of the statistical tools in the
manufacturing functions and the ease with which we
can quantify the benefits.

What Is Six Sigma? 9

Six Sigma levels and Process
 The Greek letter for Sigma,  , represents one
standard deviation from the normal or average. The
higher the sigma level the better the quality level.
 Levels of Sigma Performance

What Is Six Sigma? 10

 Three levels of Six Sigma:
 As a Metric
 As a Methodology
 As a Management system
 Essentially, Six Sigma is all three at
the same time.

is a registered service mark and

trademark of Motorola, Inc.

What Is Six Sigma? 11

1. As a Metric
 The term “Sigma” is often used as a
scale for levels of "goodness" or
quality.
 Equates to 3.4 defects per one million
opportunities (DPMO).
 Six Sigma started as a defect reduction
effort in manufacturing and was then
applied to other business processes for
the same purpose.

What Is Six Sigma? 12

2. As a Methodology
 A business improvement
methodology that focuses an
organization on:
 Understanding and managing customer
requirements
 Aligning key business processes to
achieve those requirements
 Utilizing rigorous data analysis to
minimize variation in those processes
 Driving rapid and sustainable
improvement to business processes

What Is Six Sigma? 13

The DMAIC model
 Motorola developed a five phase approach to the Six
Sigma Process called DMAIC which is a continuous
process as the diagram shows until the highest level
in the Six Sigma is achieved, i.e., 3.4 defects per
million.

What Is Six Sigma? 14

 At the heart of the methodology is the
DMAIC model for process
improvement
 Define opportunity
 Measure performance
 Analyze opportunity
 Improve performance
 Control performance

What Is Six Sigma? 15

What Is Six Sigma? 16
3. As a Management system
 A top-down solution to help organizations:
 Align their business strategy to critical
improvement efforts
 Mobilize teams to attack high impact projects
 Accelerate improved business results
 Govern efforts to ensure improvements are
sustained
 Framework to prioritize resources for
projects that will improve the metrics, and it
leverages leaders who will manage the
efforts for rapid, sustainable, and improved
business results.

What Is Six Sigma? 17

Levels of Six Sigma Implementation
1. Six Sigma Champion: Champions undergo five
days of training and are taught how to manage
projects and act as advisors to various project
teams.
2. Green Belts: They undergo two weeks of training
that includes project-oriented tasks. They act as
team members to the Six Sigma project team. Their
cooperation and involvement is necessary for
projects success.
3. Black belts: They receive four weeks of trainings
and are directly involved in the implementation of
Six Sigma Projects. They are the project leaders and
go through in-depth training on Six Sigma approach
and tools and work full time on the project.
4. Master Black Belts: These are the people who
conduct Six Sigma Training and also have on the job
training and experience

What Is Six Sigma? 18

Some Six Sigma Tools 
Quality Function Deployment
 QFD helps Six Sigma Black Belts drive
customer-focused development across the
design process.
 QFD is a system and set of procedures to
identify, communicate, and prioritize
customer requirements.
 Did you know? With QFD, Six Sigma teams
can more effectively focus on the activities
that mean the most to the customer, beat
the competition, and align with the mission
of the organization.

What Is Six Sigma? 20

Cause and Effect Matrix
 The C&E Matrix helps Six Sigma project
leaders facilitate team decision-making.
 The C&E Matrix is a tool that helps Six Sigma
teams select, prioritize, and analyze the data
they collect over the course of a project to
identify problems in that process.
 Six Sigma teams typically use the C&E
Matrix in the Measure phase of the DMAIC
methodology.
 The C&E Matrix is particularly great for
obtaining team consensus on the potential
relationships between factors that affect a
process and the output of that process.

What Is Six Sigma? 21

Failure Modes Effects Analysis
 FMEA helps Six Sigma teams to identify and
address weaknesses in a product or process,
before they occur.
 Before implementing new products,
processes, or services, Six Sigma teams use
FMEA to identify ways their new
introductions might fail, and then to develop
preventative measures targeted at the
failure scenarios.
 Did you know? An effective FMEA identifies
corrective actions required to prevent
failures from reaching the customer and will
improve performance, quality, and reliability.

What Is Six Sigma? 22

t-test
 The t-test helps Six Sigma teams validate
test results using small sample sizes.
 The t-test is used to determine the statistical
difference between two groups, not just a
difference due to random chance. Six Sigma
teams might use it to determine if a plan for
a comparative analysis of patient blood
pressures, before and after they receive a
drug, is likely to provide reliable results.
 Did you know? Guinness Brewery is the work
environment that led to W.S. Gossett's
creation of the t-test. While an executive at
the brewery in Dublin, Gossett created the t-
test to help select the best barley for
Guinness beer.

What Is Six Sigma? 23

Control Charts
 Six Sigma teams use Control Charts to
assess process stability.
 Control Charts are a simple but highly
effective tool for monitoring and improving
process performance over time because they
help Six Sigma teams to observe and
analyze variation.
 The three basic components of any control
chart are a centerline, upper and lower
statistically determined control limits, and
performance data plotted over time.

What Is Six Sigma? 24

Design of Experiments
 DOE helps Six Sigma Black Belts make the
most of valuable resources.
 DOE is a statistical technique that
encompasses the planning, design, data
collection, analysis and interpretation
strategy used by Six Sigma professionals.
 Did you know? Six Sigma teams use DOE to
determine the relationship between factors
(Xs) affecting a process and the output of
that process (Y).

What Is Six Sigma? 25