Six Sigma Quality for Business and Manufacture

Joseph M J Gordon

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN: 9780444510471
• eBook ISBN: 9780080541259
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Industrial & Technical Chemistry

Six Sigma is Business and Industry's newest recognized quality program. This text provides information and instructions for new and current quality professionals in order to help employ methods to attain Six Sigma defect quality assurance within their company.All areas of business and manufacture are covered. Detailed checklists, questionnaires and forms assist personnel in developing their own programs to 'prevent' problems from occurring and to solve new and long-term problems in services and manufacturing. Examples and formulae are provided for use to determine if, when and then how much a process may be adjusted for reaching higher quality assurance levels. Knowledgeable readers will be able to use this comprehensive text immediately in the workplace.

Chapter 1

How Companies Use Six Sigma to Improve Processes and Prevent Problems

The use of Six Sigma methods to reduce cost and continually improve product quality, business operation, and customer service and support begins with a defined and documented quality system. A company with ISO9000 or QS-9000 certification has the basic system built on their current prevention quality system that meets the IS09000-1984 certification criteria. Their quality system should be able to assure the company’s customers of obtaining repeatable product quality and service, order to order.

This quality level is not guaranteed as always being the highest, only that the quality system in place meets the requirements of the certification process. If the quality provided is minimal to their industry it will not change or improve, unless continued change and improvement are incorporated into the quality system during the pre certification process. ISO9000 is not a judge and jury to ensure the customer obtains the highest quality possible, only that the company quality system in place during certification, meets the 20-certification section requirements. At the start of the year 2000, ISO9000-2000, updated quality prevention and documenting version of ISO9000, will add 34 new and required statements to the existing ISO9000 standard. These new requirements will be discussed in greater details in follow on section.

A companies quality system is historically driven by their customer’s quality requirements. This implies the quality obtained is only sufficient to meet their customer’s product or service requirements, no more! The problem exists if no quality improvements are added such as metrics, charting for defects, yields, problem elimination, etc., the company’s ‘cost of quality’ may be misdirected into correction, not prevention. As a result, cost of quality and Risk Management may waste personnel time and company assets in their business operations. Therefore, the Six Sigma quality program can show management where savings are possible to further reduce their cost of rework and scrap plus prevent problems from occurring.

This opens up a new unexplored and potential area for savings and expanding their customer base.

Programs That Can Be Initiated

1. Customer order entry problems

2. Purchasing order problems

3. Contract problems

4. Engineering for manufacture

5. Manufacture and processes

6. Materials meeting compliance

7. Maintenance for repeatable operations

8. Assembly reduction and savings

9. Decoration and coding

10. Packaging for protecting product

11. Shipping on time at reduced cost

12. Repair for service-ability

13. Service cost and requirements reduced

14. Warranty and liability considerations

The list continues for all and any operations performed by the company. Under each listed problem area there can be a future breakout of each individual problem with a count of occurrences, (Pareto charts), severity in time lost and money, plus solution analysis and if they were effective. The true solution to any problem is preventing it from occurring. Until a company makes a concentrated effort to identify, quantify, and document problem areas, real preventive solutions cannot be implemented. Problem areas must be tracked for ensuring the solution effectively corrected the problem. Also, monitoring the correction in “Real Time” to be sure a solution has not created another problem prior to or further down the line. By monitoring solutions, hopefully discussed, and approved by all involved departments and personnel, including finance, the solution and its monetary effects can be judged if it was successful. Any solution must be continually monitored in “Real Time” for ensuring it is still effective and variables in the process are within specification limits required to control the process and product.

QUALITY IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

In all fields of business there are many identified and unidentified variables that affect the input and output of the operation. Fortunately there are simple and very effective quality tools to use to identify these variables. These tools essentially QFD (quality function deployment), FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis), check lists, and Ishikawa (fishbone) plus manufacturing process control plans and procedures are used to analyze, identify, quantify, and document all the business and process variables. Then after these variables are identified other personnel from different departments can be called on to discuss these variables, reliability for the process maintaining control, and how they are controlled and monitored in the new procedure for improvement. This is a form of a pre-audit as before a redesign is implemented to verify all questions and answers were obtained and discussed. A second pair of eyes and ears to offer suggestions from the perspective of their department in the program analysis.

This may involve employment of reverse engineering techniques to fully comprehend, determine, and access the variables and their effects on the system. In some cases, climatic and time of day effects may have to be considered on the variables control and stability if the process is sensitive to these items. The depth of involvement should extend to the point where the variable is known to be and if it can remain stable. Often during these discussions variables are listed that never had a tolerance established for them even though they can affect the process. If so, establish an acceptable tolerance for the variable. These and all variables should then be monitored to ensure they remain within tolerance or specifications for the operation. Personnel considerations should also be considered as management style, knowledge and caliber of training for personnel performing these operations.

SIX SIGMA PROGRAMS

Six Sigma must not be mystified as being so unique or special that only certain people can perform the tasks. A competent leader, trained in the knowledge and application of quality improvements can effect positive change within any organization. This has been proven by successful completion of Six Sigma improvement programs in companies both large and small.

The Six Sigma designate can be selected within the company or an outsider, already trained in Black Belt methodology; a person trained and certified in Six Sigma knowledge and program operations can be hired. This is management’s decision to make, and results have shown a Black Belt from a similar industry is a very good fit as they know the industry problems already, possibly now occurring at this company. Black belts from outside their industry can bring in very good suggestions but can cause problems if they do not learn the business mentality and operating procedures of their new company.

SIX SIGMA RISK AND FAULT ABATEMENT

The basic definition of Six Sigma for each level of management can elicit a different response. Six Sigma is still being redefined in the business and manufacturing community. Some define it as cost savings, others as process improvements, and still others as defect reduction. All of these are part of the definition for Six Sigma.

Six Sigma is even more than these definitions! It can lower business risk while improving customer satisfaction and product and service reliability. It can provide a significant risk reduction for each group, department, team, and individual for a business and company.

Six Sigma is an organized method to strategically and tactically manage the total capability of a business enterprise in all its basic forms and operations. It has the capacity to deliver to both the supplier and customer a higher degree of business satisfaction not attainable before at a reasonable cost and input of effort to complete the assigned tasks. All levels of management and their employees easily and quickly understand six Sigma methodology and requirements, as there is a commonality of quality output at all levels of employees in the business.

This mutual goal is often defined as value entitlement for customer and supplier in all forms of the business relationship. This exemplifies that Six Sigma is more than defect reduction; it is a method, not an actual new one, of how companies can do business yielding the ideals for business success while optimizing the control of functions within an enterprise.

Six Sigma in its basic definition is having only 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO) for producing a defect. By this definition Six Sigma is related to a single opportunity or single critical to quality item that does not meet the customers requirement or specification. This is a 20,000 times reduction in defects from three sigma performance.

Six Sigma therefore has different goals for employees and business unit management in an organization. Each department sets their goals and vision for attaining Six Sigma capability differently within their structure; business, operation, or process. It assists them in establishing their long and short-term goals and how they are going to achieve this vision using Six Sigma, strategy, tactics and tools. These methods are shown in Figure 1 across the entire organization of the company.

Figure 1 Six Sigma from an organizational perspective. (Adapted from reference [1])

To be successful, each level of the organization must be keyed into the total company vision for achieving Six Sigma results within a set time period. The key is to lower and eliminate “RISK” levels in everything an organization does and delivers to their customer. Six Sigma’s basic premise is all errors and defects represent risk. But, not all risk represents a defect in output, product, or service.

Six Sigma is now being recognized more as a business initiative for success, not just a new quality program. It is more aggressively aligned with the ideas of risk elimination and prevention than with the initial quality definition of defect reduction as illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Relationship between risk and defects. (Adapted from reference [1])

DEFECT REDUCTION

Defect reduction focuses on risk reduction. Management must assess the potential results to attain the changes supplier and customer must achieve to yield positive results versus the input of cost for training and improvements in business, operations, and processes.

A supplier company focusing on the source of risk in their departments operations can reduce customer risk for the products and services they provide. The supplier benefits and gains by their reduction...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: How Companies Use Six Sigma to Improve Processes and Prevent Problems
• Chapter 2: Six Sigma Implementation Process
• Chapter 3: Reasons for Implementing Six Sigma
• Chapter 4: Design Your Operations for Six Sigma Manufacture
• Chapter 5: Six Sigma Education and Using the Existing Quality Methods and Procedures
• Chapter 6: Achieving an Effective Six Sigma Deployment Plan
• Chapter 7: Six Sigma Improvements in Business and Manufacturing
• Chapter 8: Six Sigma Keys to Success are Control, Capability and Repeatability
• Glossary
• Appendix A: Check Lists for Business and Manufacture
• Appendix B: DOE (Design of Experiments) Statistical Troubleshooting Process Screening for Reducing the Number of Variables
• Appendix C: Six Sigma Quality Control SPC Forms and Data
• Index