The Black Belt is the team leader
responsible for the operation and outcomes
of major Six Sigma projects. To achieve
Black Belt status it is necessary to demonstrate
mastery of the tools, through an examination
and completing a project in industry.
The important high level business
result that the Six Sigma project seeks
to improve. The 'Big Y' should be linked
to the critical customer requirements.
The Big Y is often used to
generate 'little y' operational objectives
that must be improved to achieve Big Y improvements.
The Big Y might be to reduce lead times,
the Little y could be the inventory performance
at the warehouse.
Broadly defined, anybody in
the organization who 'champions' a Six Sigma
project. Usually refers to a senior managers
who champions the project, ensuring that
they are properly resourced and obtain support
in the organization.
A person who leads change
within an organization, by championing the
change, and managing and planning its implementation.
The role can be official or voluntary.
See Project Charter
A document that specifies
the process variables and the required characteristics
of the product. Associated documents are:
- FMEA is used to identify the risks and
so generate the control plan
- The Work Instruction is the specific
instruction used by production
Cost of Poor Quality; synonymous
with COQ (Cost of Quality)
Any cost that would not be incurred if
the quality were perfect. The costs are
categorized into:
prevention, appraisal, internal failure
costs and external failure costs.
| Critical
to Quality (CTQ) |
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The key measurable characteristics of a
product or process that are critical to
meeting the customer expectations.
A key measurable characteristic that is
'Critical To' the performance of a particular
aspect of the project. CTQ is Critical to
Quality, or to the customer expectations.
Other common 'x' are:
CTC, Cost; CTD, Delivery; CTP, Process;
CTS, Safety
A design should be manufacturable, maintainable,
cost effective, high quality and so on.
Design for X refers to the use of a formal
methodology to optimize a specific aspect.
For example, the characteristics that make
a design easy to assemble (Design for Assembly)
have been systematically codified. The design
team can review the design concept in the
light of these rules and methods.
The five main steps in a Six Sigma Program
stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve,
Control. A Six Sigma project works through
each of these steps:
| Define |
- the customer and their 'Critical
To Quality' issues and expectations
- the business processes that are
involved, the boundaries of the
project
- create a process map
- decide on the metrics 'Big Y',
little y's and the x's
- form a project team and develop
a project charter
|
| Measure |
- the existing process by gathering
data from the process
|
| Analyze |
- the data
- identify the gaps between existing
and desired performance
- identify sources of variation
- decide on the processes that will
be improved
- gather more data ('measure')
if necessary
|
| Improve |
- propose solutions
- carry out pilot studies, design
of experiments etc. to test and
evaluate the proposed solutions
- develop an implementation plan
|
| Control |
- implement systems and procedures
to ensure the improvements are sustained
- develop procedures, control plans,
staff training etc.
|
A member of an organization who has been
trained on the improvement methodology of
Six Sigma, and participates in Six Sigma
process improvement projects as part of
their full time job. They may either work
as part of a team, led by a Black Belt,
or lead smaller projects, with a Black Belt
acting as mentor.
In process improvement the customers can
be internal or external. An internal customer
is somebody in the organization to who you
provide product or service. It can be anybody
who relies on you to complete a task, or
function, or to provide information they
need to do their job.
An approach that combines the process improvement
benefits of the Six Sigma method with the
cost reduction benefits of lean manufacturing.
See "Big Y"
A Six Sigma expert with extensive experience
and technical expertise in all aspects of
Six Sigma. They are responsible for selecting,
training and mentoring black belts within
an organization. The Master Black Belt will
often be involved in the selection of and
approach to projects. They will also be
responsible for ensuring that the standards
of the Six Sigma program are maintained.
The person normally responsible for the
process that is being addressed by a Six
Sigma project.
A document that summarizes the Six Sigma
project, and is the basis for the official
authorization, it includes:
- details of the project team
- the stakeholders
- the mission statement
- the problem statement
- the business need
- the scope
- the resources, and their authorization
- the target completion date for each
phase
The senior manager who signs off on the
resources, who will define the objectives
and evaluate is the outcomes.
Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology
pioneered by Motorola (initiated by engineer
Bill Smith, known as the 'father of Six
Sigma'). It became prominent through the
success of General Electric, during the
tenure of CEO Jack Welch who was an advocate
for Six Sigma.
The methodology uses process improvement
methods, with an emphasis on statistics
to achieve a quality level of better than
3.4 defects per million opportunities. Key
elements are:
- the organizational structure, including
the roles of Champion. Master Black Belts,
Black Belts and Green Belts
- the DMAIC/DFSS structured problem solving
approach
In its classical form, Six Sigma is a project
based approach, tackling projects that will
return $100,000+ savings and take several
months. Many companies now use an approach
that involves more, but smaller, projects,
and is less statistically intensive. These
are often led by Green Belts rather than
Black Belts.
A display, created and maintained by the
project team, that tells the story of the
project. If possible it should be permanently
displayed and tell the story of the project.
It should follow the DMAIC process, be understandable
by management, highlight questions, key
learnings, issues and risks.
A review that takes place at the end of
each stage (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve
and Control) of a Six Sigma project. The
project cannot continue on to the next stage
until it has satisfied the tollgate review.
The review is usually carried out by the
Master Black Belt or a Quality Council.
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