Six Sigma DMAIC- Process Improvement Methodology

How to address chronic defects in manufacturing operations

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Apr, 26

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Too many defects, internal complaints and external customer complaints never gets resolved in organisations when it is not addressed in scientific way.  Some of the issues get resolved and keep coming back time and again.

One of the proven and  best solution to address these business challenges is a structured, systematic and data driven approach that gets a cross function team to focus to a common objective to discover root causes and implement solutions that sustain over a long time. That is Six Sigma DMAIC solution.

  • A typical Six Sigma Solution implementation starts with a focus on a Business challenge that is defined and scoped to a problem and goal statement. A cross functional team is created and a charter is developed and approved by the business sponsor to ensure committed talent and other resources are available to execute the project.
  • In the next step all relevant metrics are defined which are derived from the problem / goal statement. To avoid any inaccuracies in base data collection either due to method or individuals who are engaged in it we conduct a method or a gage study. Finally a data collection plan is created that detail out the list of data items to be collected, the frequency, the schedule and individuals who will actually collect data.
  • Once data is collected it is analysed to discover any relationship between the process input and output variables through tools like Fish bone Diagram, Pareto Charts, Failure Modes Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Hypothesis Tests. We exit the analysis phase after we have shortlisted the key root causes that are leading to high variability in Process result metrics.
  • In the improve phase the team brainstorms using techniques like Affinity diagrams, effort impact matrix, and Design of Experiments (DoE) to prioritize solutions which are implementable. Since any change to the current operational procedures may be met with challenges from the workforce usually the suggested changes are tried out for a limited period in a controlled setup called pilots to test the efficacy.
  • Once the solutions are found to be successful in the pilots a full scale roll out is planned which includes all changes impacting systems, technology and workforce. This plan may also include tools and process training needed to be imparted to the workforce. The process input metrics are now monitored after implementing system, process and people changes through control charts and standard operating procedures are developed for sustainability of gains. All changes including project lessons learnt are documented. A project executive review is done to brief the sponsor and other stake holders about business impact following which the team is rewarded and recognized for their effort and formal project closure is announced.

For implementation of Quality initiatives in organisations, it makes sense to upgrade knowledge levels and learning from experienced faculties who have vast knowledge and working experience in Quality improvements in various organisations.

  • For this,  enrolling for the ASQ GB/BB Training provided by Seven Steps Academy of Excellence, a skill enablement and enhancement division of Seven Steps Business Transformation Systems a business excellence consulting and training team of committed quality professionals with more than 300 person years of diverse industry experience across Manufacturing, Healthcare, Retail and Food chain, IT and IT enabled services.
  • The assessment typically consists of 100 / 150 multiple choice questions (MCQ) for green / belt certification respectively. These questions are both objective and subjective drawn from the ASQ Body of Knowledge (BoK). The objective questions form a significant percentage of the total number of questions to determine the pass criteria for certification. It is a mandate by ASQ that no computers, mobile phones or any other analytical software may be carried into the assessment centre. However the use of printed material and hand held non programmable calculator is permitted.
  • The training program is delivered by senior certified faculty with almost 3 decades of industry application practice experience. For analytical skills enhancement to solve numerical questions in the exam participants are taught the use of simple hand calculators (allowed in the exam), the use of standard tables on various topics as prescribed by ASQ for the purpose. Several numerical problems are discussed and step by step procedure to carry out the computation using a hand held calculators along with all the most frequently needed and used statistical functions are demonstrated. Further numerical may require the use of statistical tables for problems related to distributions, hypothesis testing and process capability computation which are also explained in step by step process along with practical problems.
  • Seven Steps Academy of Excellence precisely address this requirement of working professionals who can attend this customised training programme which is conducted on weekends through case studies, problem simulation, group exercises, videos and hands on workshops on all topics related to the ASQ BoK. To address operational industry challenges it may not always be feasible to solve using tables or hand calculators. The data may be voluminous and using conventional approaches to statistically analyse them may be too complex and time consuming. This may also lead to erroneous outcomes as it is a manual process.  To address this requirement the use of MS Excel and Minitab (Analytical software) is also done to help working professional who have access to these tools to solve their day to day business problems.
  • Practical business application challenges are carried out both as individual exercises and there is case study learning / workshops to further enhance the use of software tools like MS Excel and Minitab. The uses of statistical add ons in MS Excel and most frequently used functions are demonstrated. Minitab is a user friendly customised statistical analysis package with a rather easy to understand and apply User Interface which is demonstrated through problem solving exercises.
  • To drive the fundamental understanding of statistical tools the same example is solved by hand calculator, standard statistical tables, MS Excel and Minitab. This is a significant value addition from the Seven Steps Academy of Excellence to working professionals who are interested to get certified by ASQ or eager to implement Six Sigma improvements in their operational areas.

Seven Steps Academy of Excellence provides training services in the field of Lean manufacturing, Lean Services, Lean Hospitality, Lean hospitals, Lean Supply Chain, Lean warehousing, Lean retain.  As part of this, tools and methodologies for training includes Applied 5S, Lean Experiential Learning programmes, TPM Training, Six Sigma Green Belt and black belt training, Lean Six Sigma Yellow belt, green belt and black belt, Kanban supermarket. Apart from this, Campus to corporate programmes in precision engineering is also offered to aspiring engineering and diploma graduates through focussed skill development programme.

Through their group company – Seven Steps Business Transformation Systems, we also offer consulting services.  We have consultants specialised in various methodologies and has worked as Lean consultants, Lean Six Sigma Consultants, TPM Consultants, 5S consultants, Lean layout consultants.  We operate all over India and having branches in Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore, Hosur, Pune and have customer base in Delhi, Calcutta, Gurugram, Neemrana, Pant Nagar, Nashik, Pune, Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam, Vijayanagaram

Some of the flagship training programmes conducted at Seven Steps Academy of Excellence are:

Six sigma Green Belt

Six Sigma Black Belt

Six Sigma Yellow Belt

Skill development programme – Campus to Corporate – Precision Engineering

Applied 5S

TPM

Lean Experimental Learning Programme

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