SigmaWay Blog

The Six Sigma approach makes the work both flexible and focused. Six Sigma training helps entrepreneurs to assess process cycle of operations. The essential factor in entrepreneurship is that they are not afraid of taking risks. Six Sigma practices also help them in business planning. Entrepreneurs also realize that there is a need to move slowly and work on the service models for better consistency. Read more at: http://www.business.com/entrepreneurship/a-new-look-at-entrepreneurship-where-six-sigma-aligns-personality-with-process/

The use of the statistical software R in healthcare analytics is growing and has become quite widespread. Some reasons for appreciating R as the statistical tool are: It is an open-source software. There are several graphical user interfaces like R Studio. The R user community is very large and always there to answer any conceivable question. The availability of numerous packages that add capabilities ranging from machine-learning to Six Sigma quality improvement; if you need it done, chances are that somebody’s built a package that does it. The capabilities and features of R are to expand and has future scope due to its active user base. To know more the use of R in healthcare analytics, follow the link: healthcareanalytics.info/2014/05/get-up-to-date-with-r/#.U95q6OOSyBk

Continuous Improvement includes different methodologies and disciplines  including Business Process Management, Performance Management,  Compliance, Quality Management, Lean, Six Sigma and more. In spite of all the different terms,  methods and techniques  available, there are commonalities between these different approaches -all of them seek to continuously improve business processes to improve business results. But often companies are their own worst enemies when it comes to process improvement. Here are the main barriers to continuous improvement:

• Difficult to foster collaboration among multiple stakeholders

• Difficult to recognise which processes to prioritize improvement efforts on

• tooling of ill-suited Process Management

        Process Management tooling is inadequate

        Process Management tooling is too complicated

• Governing change to meet compliance obligations

• Lack of employee engagement

Read more at: 

http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-transformation/articles/five-barriers-to-continuous-improvement-vote-for-t/

Six Sigma has been the key driver for performance improvement for many companies. One of the structured innovation techniques that can be used for tactical innovation within the DMAIC cycles is the TRIZ methodology. One necessary aspect of the definition of innovation from our point of view is that it must result in a significant improvement for customers or some segment of society. One thing is certain, and that is the repeatable, reliable and predictable application of innovation is going to require putting some structure around it.  For an organization or company to be competitively excellent, innovation will be required of all and the only way to make that happen is to put structure into the innovation process. And of course, structure connotes Six Sigma. There's that cycle again-one leading to or needing the other.  According to Mikel Harry, a legitimate founder of Six Sigma, Six Sigma was designed and introduced to generate breakthrough improvement. And that is going to require innovation. Clearly, a balance is needed, for Six Sigma may not have been implemented as it should have been, or maybe the necessary structure for the realization of repeatable and reliable innovation has not yet been established. Nonetheless, it is both clear and proven that Six Sigma needs innovation and that innovation needs Six Sigma, and when they are united, innovation and Six Sigma are an unbeatable force. Read more at: 

http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/innovation/articles/six-sigma-and-innovation/

Business leaders understand the strengthg and usefulness of managing the improvement of business results through process improvement teams. There is no better approach to process improvement than the application of Six Sigma tools and methods. Moreover, the disciplines of project management and Six Sigma are substitutes but they are complementary. The similarities between project management and Six Sigma include:

• Utilization of established project management techniques to efficiently manage a project and project teams.

• Necessity of proactive project sponsors or champions to help ensure project success.

• Life cycle and phases.

• Need for a well-experienced project facilitator to lead the effort.

Six Sigma adds additional dimensions to project management: 

• Powerful set of process improvement tools.

• Statistical and process thinking to understand and improve results.

• Understanding of variation, to eliminate knee-jerk reactions.

• Quantitative analysis for base decisions on facts and data.

Read more at: 

http://www.microsoft.com/project/en/gb/six-sigma.aspx

Nowadays, it is very essential to learn various skills and practices of Six Sigma for improvement of business processes.  It basically helps a company in enhancing performance by establishing the employees and management strategies. The main focus of Six Sigma is to identify defects or errors in business, remove these errors and decrease variation in manufacturing as well as business processes. During six sigma projects there are mainly two project methodologies that a company usually follows.  They are DMAIC and DMADV. Both consist of five phases; however, DMAIC is implemented on projects that focus on improvement of the existing process of business, whereas DMADV is implemented on projects which aim to develop new product and process designs. To understand the importance of Six Sigma in business processes, please follow this link: http://goarticles.com/article/Six-Sigma-Benefits-for-Businesses/6646247/

This article tells us why both Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) are needed.  Please go through the link for more details: http://qfd-institute.blogspot.in/2013/03/dfss-dfls-and-qfd-why-we-need-both.html

An article in iSixSigma magazine points out the basic similarities and differences between DFSS and DMAIC. It is a well written article which explains highly technical term in layman’s language. The DMAIC methodology is almost universally recognized and defined as comprising of the following five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and control. DFSS is the acronym for Design For Six Sigma. Unlike the DMAIC methodology, the phases or steps of DFSS are not universally recognized or defined. 

For more information please visit:-

Design for Six Sigma is a design methodology. It works if properly instituted and executed. Wrongly designing and forcefully applying can cause more harm than help. If we need to implement Design for Six Sigma we should do it at the primary levels and not during the mid or operating level. To know more about this topic, go through Alan Nicol (Executive Member, AlanNicolSolutions)'s article link: http://www.manufacturing.net/articles/2012/04/wrongly-doing-design-for-six-sigma

The market is becoming more competitive nowadays. Companies like General Electric, Honeywell, Raytheon and IBM have managed to save billions of dollars in cost savings by process and quality improvement through Six Sigma. The majority of companies like to implement DMAIC methodology because they have existing processes. The remaining minority of Six Sigma practitioners is using a Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) approach to design a new product. DMAIC mainly focuses to improve the existing processes in such a way that final products can be produced with extremely low defects i.e. 3.4 defects in 1 million opportunities. Design for Six Sigma on the other hand, is about the design, development and commercialization of new products and processes for Six Sigma quality. To know more about DMAIC and DFSS, please go through the link: www.isixsigma.com/new-to-six-sigma/design-for-six-sigma-dfss/design-six-sigma-dfss-versus-dmaic/

Offshore outsourcing will make sense only when customer needs, business requirements and offshore supplier's capabilities are properly aligned. In an article, "The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing", it was noted that around 72% of stated cost savings on offshore projects was lost at the start-up stage, transition, productivity and maintenance phase. DFSS can effectively reduce the risk of offshore outsourcing failure by quickly deploying a road map. Combination of various tools and behaviors are designed to reduce defects and cycle time to complete the requirement phase of a typical software project. Design for Six Sigma provides a structure, a strong deployment option to better manage business plan for profit maximization. Please go through the link for more details: http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/c060301a.asp

In words of Mahatma Gandhi:
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory”.

In sync with the above said words we find a case study which describes the efforts which were taken by a hospital to enhance its efficiency and productivity by using Lean & Six Sigma. Through this, management was able to reduce average door-to-physician time, outpatient length of stay and overall satisfaction level of their patients.
Please go through the link for more details: http://www.projmasters.com/project-management-consulting-services/project-management-case-studies/enhance-hospital-operation-using-lean-six-sigma/

What is Six Sigma? 'Sigma' is a statistical term for measuring how far a product differs from perfection. 'Six Sigma' means six standard deviations between mean and nearest specific limit. The main goal for applying Six Sigma is to reach as close to zero defect as possible. Six Sigma can be approached on three levels: Metrics, Methodology, Philosophy

Read more at http://www.surveymethods.com/glossary/article_six_sigma_seg_l.aspx

Taiwan is in a seismically active zone as it is situated on the earthquake prone Pacific ring of Fire. The cracks in the lightweight partition walls cause customer dissatisfaction as repairing cost is higher. To increase customer satisfaction, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is applying Six Sigma in construction technology. Application of C&A (Cause and Effect) and FMEA (Failure Modes and Effect Analysis) is being used to determine the reason of cracks. To know more on this please go through the following link.

http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000155

Lean and Six Sigma are popular techniques used in production industries to improve efficiency and quality. Now these process improvement techniques are also applied in healthcare and in software development. To read more about how Lean and Six Sigma can be applied in clinical and translational research, visit Sharon A. Schweikhart (Ph.D.) and Allard E Dembe (Sc.D.)’s, article link as given below

For more please visit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2835466/

Different financial services suffer high operational risks when there is market failure and industry transformation. In order to reduce the cost of risk management operations, financial organizations are seeking new models and methodologies. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) and Control charts are two very powerful Six Sigma tools which not only help to identify and prioritize risks but also monitor the risks. To know how FMEA and Control charts help in risk management, please go through the following article written by Abhishek Soni, a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Management Professional.

http://www.isixsigma.com/industries/financial-services/leverage-six-sigma-to-manage-operational-risk-in-financial-services/

Legal firms are adopting Continuous Process Improvement as a part of their excellence program.

Yes, you have read it right.

Though Continuous Improvement, Lean and Six Sigma tools have touched almost every industry, legal firms are new ones to join. In fact, global giant Clifford Chance has rolled out training in Continuous Improvement methodologies as it is bringing up the concept of law in a more process oriented approach. The company is already reaping benefits from it. Their efficiencies have improved in several areas of operation – ranging from document review to reducing the cost of customary asset disposals for a client.

Sounds interesting? Read more at http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-transformation/articles/lawyers-jump-into-process-improvement.

Six Sigma is not just a toolbox. It is a way of thinking about business, about processes and about cause-and-effect relationships. To ensure success, the application of Six Sigma relies on traditional scientific methods to examine processes, remove undesirable causes and their effects. Six Sigma also seeks to innovate through the discovery of truth with refined, rational cognitive skills and the objective analysis of empirical data. It is a collection of tools. It is a methodology. It is a thought process that dissects the large picture into smaller parts and reassembles it into a more efficient configuration.

Many of the tools used for Six Sigma also proved useful in conjunction with TQM and other process improvement methodologies. While some of the tools are new to process improvement activities, it is important to note that Six Sigma also provides a new way to use existing tools. This leads to a debate about whether Six Sigma is something new or a new way to employ existing tools!

An article by Robert Tripp, Scot Shank and Mike Carnell, emphasizes on this debate and speaks about DMAIC phases of six sigma methodology. Visit the following link to access the article:

http://www.isixsigma.com/new-to-six-sigma/dmaic/six-sigma-toolbox/

In order to become premier international financial company in the next millennium, Citibank, a Citigroup company, implemented quality initiatives to provide quick customer service anywhere in the world. They took the challenge of implementing Six Sigma to improve customer satisfaction by using methodologies like cycle time reduction (CTR), coupled with detection of defects using Six Sigma methods which resulted in significant improvements in process timeline, cash management and customer loyalty and satisfaction. To read more about this aspect please visit Rochelle Rucker’s (a freelance writer and publicist for Motivators Inc) article link as given below.

http://www.qualitydigest.com/dec99/html/citibank.html