Six Sigma aims to reduce defects to 3.4 defects per million opportunities through a methodology focused on eliminating process variation. It was pioneered by Motorola and GE and involves defining processes, measuring quality, analyzing sources of defects, improving processes, and controlling variation. Implementing Six Sigma requires leadership commitment, communication, and training to drive change. Benefits include cost reduction, less waste, improved quality and understanding of customer needs. It has been successfully applied across industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace.

1. In Manufacturing Industry
PRATEEK CHHAJER
SAMTA PUROHIT
MBA-PM-05
IIHMR, Jaipur

2. What is Six Sigma?
• Quality objective that specifies the variability
required of a process in terms of the specification of
the product so that the products quality and
reliability meets and exceeds the customers
requirements
– Process of eliminating defects
• Operate with defect levels below 3.4 defects per million
opportunities
– Improvement to all company processes
• Decrease process variation
• Increase stability in design

3. Relationship to Statistical Analysis
• Sigma (σ)
– Used to represent standard deviation in a process
(standard deviation is a measure of variability)
• Based on the perception that most processes
follow the normal distribution
– Mean (or expected value) = μ
– Standard Deviation = σ

4. Sigma Correlation to Defects
691,462
308,538
66,807
6,210
233
3.4
1
10
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Sigma Value
Defectpermillionopportunities
Sigma % Good % Bad
Defects per million
opportunities
1 30.90% 69.10% 691,462
2 61.80% 30.90% 308,538
3 93.30% 6.70% 66,807
4 99.38% 0.62% 6,210
5 99.977% 0.023% 233
6 99.9997% 0.00034% 3.4
**graph shown on logarithmic scale**

5. Origin of Six Sigma
• Companies that early embraced Six Sigma in manufacturing were
Motorola & General Electric. Their version of Six Sigma is focused on six
key principles which are discussed by Bicheno (2006).
• Critical to Quality: The customer is the start and what is important for the
customer needs to be identified.
• Defect: Anything that does not deliver exactly what the customer wants
• Process Capability: The processes need to be able to deliver what the
customer wants
• Variation: As it is experienced by the customer
• Stable Operations: The goal is to secure reliable, robust processes that
improve the customer’s experience.
• Design for Six Sigma: The design must meet all the customer requirements
and the capability of the process.

6. Six Sigma- Implementation and Use
• Examples of pharmaceutical companies that have
implemented Six Sigma are Baxter, Eli Lilly, Johnson &
Johnson and Novartis (Stückrath 2006).
• One barrier to a successful implementation of Six
Sigma is the inbuilt natural resistance to change in
people
• The best way to handle the resistance to change is
increased communication, motivation and education.
• Communication is also crucial to success with the Six
Sigma implementation.
• This focus on communication ensures that all
employees are aware of the Six Sigma activities even
though not everyone is involved in the actual projects.

7. • Snee (2004) states, that the most important element when
implementing Six Sigma is the commitment of organization
leaders, since they have the greatest opportunity to affect
the outcome.
• O´Rourke (2005) describes three specific activities that
need to be performed by the top management to facilitate
the implementation.
1. Engagement and commitment from the start with a firm
belief that this is the strategic effort that will address the
needs of the business.
2. A long-term plan with performance goals that reflects the
gains of the implementation.
3. Resource allocation ensuring that the right people get the
responsibility and authority to drive the implementation.

8. Benefits of Six Sigma
• Reduction in costs
• Reduction in waste chain
• Better understanding of customer
requirements
• Improves quality performance
• Develops robust products and processes
• Provides critical process inputs

9. Stages of six sigma process
Define
Measure
Analyze
Improvement
Control

10. Sectors where Six Sigma is used

11. Companies Currently Implementing Six
Sigma:
• Motorola
• 3M
• Lockheed Martin
• Texas Instruments
• Bell Helicopter
• Apple Computer
• Chevron
• Citigroup
• Hewlett Packard
• Ford Motor Company
• Honeywell
• General Dynamics
• Adolph Coors
• Eastman Kodak
• United States Army
• Xerox
• NASA
• Etc.

12. Summary
• Six Sigma integrates the principles of business,
statistics and engineering to achieve tangible
results
– Customer satisfaction
– Lean processes (with minimal variation)
– Quality as a way of doing business

13. THANK YOU