The Leadership Alchemist

What is 6 Sigma ?

Six Sigma is a rigorous, focused and highly effective implementation of proven quality principles and techniques. Incorporating elements from the work of many quality pioneers, Six Sigma aims for virtually error free business performance. Sigma, s, is a letter in the Greek alphabet used by statisticians to measure the variability in any process. A company's performance is measured by the sigma level of their business processes. Traditionally companies accepted three or four sigma performance levels as the norm, despite the fact that these processes created between 6,200 and 67,000 problems per million opportunities! The Six Sigma standard of 3.4 problems per million opportunities is a response to the increasing expectations of customers and the increased complexity of modern products and processes.

Where did it come from ?

For Motorola, the originator of Six Sigma, the answer to the question "Why Six Sigma?" was simple: survival. Motorola came to Six Sigma because it was being consistently beaten in the competitive marketplace by foreign firms that were able to produce higher quality products at a lower cost. When a Japanese firm took over a Motorola factory that manufactured Quasar television sets in the United States in the 1970s, they promptly set about making drastic changes in the way the factory operated. Under Japanese management, the factory was soon producing TV sets with 1/20th the number of defects they had produced under Motorola management. They did this using the same workforce, technology, and designs, making it clear that the problem was Motorola's management. Eventually, even Motorola’s own executives had to admit “our quality stinks,”

Finally, in the mid 1980s, Motorola decided to take quality seriously. Motorola’s CEO at the time, Bob Galvin, started the company on the quality path known as Six Sigma and became a business icon largely as a result of what he accomplished in quality at Motorola. Today, Motorola is known worldwide as a quality leader and a profit leader. After Motorola won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1988 the secret of their success became public knowledge and the Six Sigma revolution was on.

The Actors

(What) Executive Leadership: Project Champions:
(How) Master Black Belts: Black Belt:
(Support) Green Belt

Combining people with process

Spectacular big ticket performance versus consistent yardage. If you can't win make sure you don't lose through giving the game away as a result of mistakes regarding errors, wastage and talent maximisation (efficiency and effectiveness)

1 sigma 700,000 per million (dpmo defects per million opportunities)

2 sigma 300,000 dpmo: 3 67,000 dpmo: 4 6,000 dpmo

3.8 dpmo 99% dpmo

1 happy customer = 3 people
1 unhappy customer = 20 people

numerical measurement important

Critical focus is on customer retention and giving them what they want.

Address the error at source, make the customer happy by listening and improve profitablity

Start with the customer and work backwards towards the source in a piecemeal tactical approach

Black Belt criteria: considerable intellect: out of the box thinking: mgmt and technical skills: ability to inspire and have confidence of top mgmt: turn vision into reality: frustrated with company's existing operation: boldness

Technical people do well in 6 Sigma. Black Belt tour=2/3 years.

Tell me, I forget: Show me, I remember: Involve me, I understand.

Tell people 'what' and let them surprise you with 'how' within a laid down framework (people like frameworks)

Tell people what you want and that they are doing a good job.

Define the probem:
Measure where you stand:
Analyze where the problem starts: Improve the situation:
Control and monitor the process

Over time things change and we have to change too

Process Power: focus on the process that creates the outcome and understand the component linkages.

Focus on what can be fixed rather than what can't by measuring various processes to determine the right target

Defects Frequency Test: Opta fantasy football index to determine capability.

Determine CTQ Factors: critical to quality

Need to statiscally prove or disprove that a process is good

Reaching the Summit is easier than staying, but the latter is where the real value lies. Processing CONTROL is used to lock in performance.

Measure the value: set deadlines: assign people to specifics: put it in writing and distribute as required.

Have to demonstrate benefits using pilot programs. Key point is mgmt allowing reinvestment from previous sigma deliverables