Week 2 - Incroduction To Six Sigma Flashcards
Define six sigma
Is a business improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service processes by focusing on outputs that are critical to customers and a clear financial return
What is the relationship between six sigma and variation? (2)
• Refers to a measure of average variation (I.e standard deviation)
• Is about a never-ending effort to continuously variation
What is the relationship between six sigma and defects
• Signifies a generic quality level of at most 3.4 deflects per million opportunities
• Defects have an impact on product or service quality and customers’ satisfaction
What are the key factors in six sigma project selection? (5)
• Financial return - measured by minimising costs associated with quality and process performance and impacts on revenues and market share
• Impacts on customers and organisational effectiveness
• Probability of success
• Impact on employees
• Fit to strategy and competitive advantage
7 Tools for six-sigma and quality improvement
• Elementary statistics (mean, mode, various diagrams)
• Measurement methods
• Process control
• Product design and reliability
• Process improvement
• Implementation and teamwork
• Advanced statistics
3 key characteristics of six sigma
• Problem to be solved
• process in which the problem exists
• One or more measures that quantify the gap to be closed and can be used to monitor progress
Different types of problems that are suitable for six sigma (5)
• Conformance problems - are easily described and well specified
• Efficiency problems - wasted resources when delivering what customers want
• Unstructured performance problems
• Product design problems - creating a product that fulfils what customers demand
• Process design problems - processes that cause problems or result in defects
What is DMAIC? (Six sigma methodology)
• Define
• Measure
• Analyse
• Improve
• Control
Explain the define stage in DMAIC (Six sigma methodology) (2)
• Identify what the problem is that we are trying to solve?
• Launch team, Plan project, Plan change, Understand customer needs
Explain the measure stage in DMAIC (Six sigma methodology) (2)
• Identify what data can we collect to understand the problem
• Document the process, collect baseline data, narrow project focus
Explain the analyse stage in DMAIC (Six sigma methodology) (2)
• Analyse the collected data to know where to focus efforts
• Identify root cause, identify and remove wastes
Explain the improve stage in DMAIC (Six sigma methodology) (2)
• Identify what improvements we should be prioritising to improve performance for customers
• Generate, evaluate and optimise solutions then plan and implement
Explain the control stage in DMAIC (Six sigma methodology) (2)
• How can we ensure that improvements are sustained
• Validate project benefits, control the process
What are the different six sigma teams (5)
• Champions - senior level managers who promote and lead the deployment of six sigma
• Master black belts - full time six sigma experts responsible form six sigma strategy, training, mentoring, deployment and results
• Black belts - fully trained six sigma experts with extensive technical training who perform much of the technical analysis required in six sigma projects
• Green belts - functional employees trained in introductory six sigma tools and methodology working part time and assist black belts
• Team members - Individuals from various functional areas who support specific projects
Where does variation come from? (5)
• Machine (equipment)
• Method (process/inspection)
• Material (Raw, consumables etc)
• Man power (people)
• Environment (external effects that are out of control)
