Chapter 1 :-

*
P

Introduction

ressures continue to increase on boards of directors and CEOs to maintain

a competitive edge in everything their companies do to achieve complete customer and

shareholder satisfaction. Many organizations think they are as good as they can be, or if they
acknowledge that there is room for improvement, do not realize there is a solution. Evidence
related to an advanced concept called Six Sigma is proving that major progress can be made
toward reducing defects, raising the quality of products and services to unheard of levels and
improving customer satisfaction. Six Sigma is a statistical term that refers to 3.4 defects only
per million processes undertaken by, or products made by, a company. Sigma, from the Greek
alphabet, denotes standard deviation or the measure of variation in a process. Most
organizations design or produce parts or products, or provide customer services, at the Three
Sigma levelor 66,000 defects or mistakes per million units or service operations. Resting
on reputation or frustrated with failed attempts at a variety of quality efforts, many boards
and managers have wasted massive resources in people and funds trying without success to
reduce rejects and improve quality to acceptable levels.
The name Six Sigma, coined by Motorola in the 1980s,represents what is now
the most advanced quality initiative available. Faced with aggressive Japanese competition,
Motorola began a formal effort to reduce defects in its products. Company management set its
target on the Six Sigma level of quality needed to achieve competitive advantage. Once
implemented, it became a continuous program for improving quality in virtually everything
Motorola does .Six Sigma has become the world standard for improving all kinds of product
and service operations. Dr. A. Blanton Godfrey, chairman and CEO of Juran Institute, has
said, We are entering another and an entirely new world of quality management with
Internet-focused businesses. In a world where customers can compare prices, quality and
service offerings from several competitors in a matter of minutes, companies are rethinking
their entire quality strategy and systems. If there is any doubt about the urgency to begin
the development of a sustained process like Six Sigma, one must remember the realities
underlying strategic planning for most organizations. Powerful forces are propelling
inevitable changes in all levels of the work force, with customers, suppliers, governments,
shareholders and other groups with vested interests, as well as with competitors.

Chapter 2 :

* The SIX Sigma culture *

An important feature of the Six Sigma culture is the existence of what
could best be described as management by fact. This is clearly apparent in the way that Black
Belt projects are managed and progress is reported. Typically, the performance of the process
at the start of the project is recorded in a run chart or a control chart. Additional lines on this
chart show the target for the project and a world class benchmark. As the project progresses,
further points are plotted. At the completion of the project, the improvement is clear. The
charts are prominently displayed alongside other diagrams and a clear explanation of what is
being measured and how the chosen improvement actions were arrived at. Managers have
been trained to expect, indeed demand, this style of reporting. Furthermore, managers
themselves are expected to present data as charts. There is evidence of a readily accepted
self-discipline in this style of communication, a discipline that often surprises visitors and
alarms suppliers. Consequently, in some of the Six Sigma companies, the performance
appraisal system is designed to encourage the commitment of middle management to the
success of Black Belt projects. However, the company will benefit from this only if the
objectives of middle management are aligned with the vision, values and objectives of the
company. It is not surprising to find, therefore, that the senior management team have
established a clear sense of direction throughout the company, by publishing a meaningful
vision and values, then deploying these to create objectives at all levels that are specific,
meaningful, agreed, realistic and time based. To conclude, Six Sigma is best described by
listing the characteristics that are common to the companies that have attributed their success,
at least in part, to having adopted a Six Sigma management strategy. These essential elements
are: 1) A focuses on processes and, therefore, a focus on customers.
2) A n interest in process performance, at all levels, and a company-wide
Measure of process capability (in many cases DPMO).
3) B lack Belts, Master Black Belts and Green Belts.
4) Black Belt projects that focus on the reduction of defects and/or the reduction of
variation
5) M anagement by fact.
6) B lack Belt projects are related to business objectives.
7) Senior management has clear vision, values and objectives.
8) Senior management objectives are deployed right down to the customer
Contact levels.

Chapter 3:

* What is Six Sigma ?*

Six Sigma is a financially - driven and data-driven set of methodologies for
achieving near-perfect performance to meet or exceed customer expectations. The standard that it
aims for is no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Performance measures in cost,
quality and/or time dimensions are improved via projects through the disciplined application of
quality engineering, process management and statistical tools, armed with the power of todays
computing capabilities. In his now classic book, Managerial Breakthrough, first published in
1964 (a 30th Anniversary edition was published by McGraw-Hill in 1994), Dr. Juran called such
improvement breakthrough improvement to contrast it with incremental improvement in the 5
to 10 percent range. And referring to breakthrough improvement, he noted All improvement
takes place project by project... and in no other way. This project approach to improvement has
proven itself over the past 30 years to be the most effective way. Why? Because projects are
organized efforts focused on achieving specific, measurable objectives. Assigned by management,
project resources people, time, materials, budgets, training, and re-assignment of existing duties
to free up key resources become legitimate and accountable. It is this legitimacy and
accountability by all parties concerned which makes improvement happen effectively and
efficiently.

Six Sigma is an information-driven methodology for reducing waste

increasing customer satisfaction and improving processes, with a focus on financially
measurable results ." This definition of Six Sigma is taken from a sales brochure published
by Minitab Inc, who produces and distributes the well known statistical analysis software that
is used by many of the companies listed above. An alternative definition, which was used in
Motorola, offers a rather different perspective:

" Six Sigma is a business philosophy of driving behavior by making an

organizations values explicit in its compensation system and a business strategy of
cutting costs and boosting customer satisfaction." One of the founders of Six Sigma,
within Motorola, was Mikel Harry. His opinions are widely sought. Also, the Six Sigma
Breakthrough Strategy is defined as:

"...A disciplined method of using extremely rigorous data gathering

and statistical analysis to pinpoint sources of errors and ways of eliminating them ."
Each of the three definitions focuses on important aspects of Six Sigma, but none of them is
complete. Perhaps it is not possible to define Six Sigma in one simple sentence and it would
be easier to define Six Sigma by describing the characteristics that are shared by the
companies in which it has succeeded. One of these common characteristics is a widespread

focus on processes and the existence of a company-wide language for describing the
capability of processes.
Six Sigma is an important structured program for improving business
Processes and, as many voices pretend, it represents the latest incarnation of the quality
movement. The program, grounded in efforts to improve manufacturing quality during the
1980s, brings the methods and analytic tools of engineers to bear on the questions, what is

really important for customers? And where will changes to work processes must
improve these points? The basic idea behind the Six Sigma philosophy is to continuously
reduce product and process variation. Therefore an important part of Six Sigma work is to
define and measure variation with the intent of discovering its causes and to develop efficient
operational means to control and reduce the variation. The expected outcomes of Six Sigma
efforts are:
1) Faster and more robust product development,
2) Imore efficient and capable manufacturing processes,
3) More confident overall business performance.
In order to reduce the variation to a very low level, the first step is to "design
for productivity". This means that designers configure a product in such a manner that its
performance is "shielded" against variation. By doing this, the organization can be sure that
its products will consistently perform to the specified levels as so all of the product will be on
target with minimum differences between units of product. The next step is to find out,
control and eventually eliminate all main causes of variation in the manufacturing processes
involved in both the supplied parts and the final assembly. This is done using statistical
process control and other tools including

1) Computer simulation,
2) Short cycle manufacturing,
3) Part standardization and supplier qualification,
4) Supplier statistical process control,
5) Participative management practices,
6) Design of experiments, measurement system analysis,
7) Failure mode and effect analysis.
With this basement already built, it can be considered that
The Six Sigma companies are concerned with the reduction of variation and
with the reduction of defective products and services. However, they often focus on defects
per million opportunities or DPMO as metric, and their performance standards are:
1. A 3 Sigma process produces less than 66 810 DPMO.
2. A 4 Sigma process produces less than 6 210 DPMO.
3. A 5 Sigma process produces less than 233 DPMO.
4. A 6 Sigma process produces less than 3.4 DPMO.
But, as a Polaroid executive pointed out, Six Sigma practitioners do not simply focus on
defects, they concentrate on improvement of the processes that produce the defects. This
focus demonstrates the amount of change required and the kind of improvement in quality
that has to be achieved by firms.

Chapter 4:

* Why Sigma ? *
Sigma, (...,is a letter in the Greek alphabet. It is used as a symbol to denote
the standard deviation of a process (standard deviation is a measure of variation). A process
with six sigma capability means having six standard deviations between the process mean
and either specification limit. Essentially, process variation is reduced so that no more than
3.4 parts per million fall outside the specification limits. Hence, as a metric, the higher the
number of sigmas, the better. In most companies, processes operate between Three and Four
Sigmas. At the Three Sigma level, there are about 66,800 dpmo or defects per million
opportunities (as in opportunities for error). At Four Sigma, it is 6,210 dpmo. And at Six
Sigma, it is 3.4 dpmo. The table above compares the Sigma level with yield and dpmo from
One Sigma to Six Sigma. (Table1)

Chapter 5:

* The Methodologies *
Six Sigma methodology breaks down into 12 steps:
a) MEASURE
1. Select the characteristic critical-to-quality (CTQ)
2. Define performance standards
3. Validate measurement system

b) ANALYZE
4. Establish product capability
5. Define performance objectives
6. Identify variation sources

c) IMPROVE
7. Screen potential causes
8. Discover variable relationship
9. Establish operating tolerances

d) CONTROL
10. Validate measurement system
11. Determine process capability
12. Implement process controls
There are basically two Six Sigma methodologies. One for improvement, and
one for the design of a product, service or process. Six Sigma Improvement follows
The D-M-A-I-C cycle, as follows:
1:- Define identifying, prioritizing, and selecting the right project(s)
2:- Measure key product, service or process characteristics, parameters and
performance

3:- Analyze by identifying key causes and process determinants,

4:- Improve by changing the process and optimizing performance
5:- Control by holding the gains.
Six Sigma Design of a new product, service or process follows the D-M-A-D-V
cycle. DMADV is different from DMAIC in many ways.
1:- Define Provides direction, with the development of the Team Charter.
2:- Measure Translates several customer needs into several CTQs.
(Critical-To- Quality i.e.
Whats critical to quality in the eyes of the customer). DMAIC typically
focuses on one CTQ.
3:- Analyze Identifies alternative design concepts and then develops one or
more into a high level design.
4:- Design DMAIC focuses on identifying root causes of a problem
Develops a retained
Design with associated design elements and critical to process variables
identified.
5: - Verify: - implement the pilot and prepare for full-scale rollout and put
control mechanisms in place.
There is a third methodology, called Six Sigma for Transactional Processes which is
an adaptation of DMAIC and DMADV to processes which do not have a manufactured
product. Examples include the billing process at an American Express, or the logistics and
maintenance processes for airlines. Six Sigma starts at the top
It is essential that commitment to Six Sigma starts and remains with direct and wellpublicized involvement of the CEO. Experience has proven that it is a waste of valuable
resources if the CEO does not express his or her personal vision, provide steady and
enthusiastic encouragement, and assess results and reward participants. He or she must
articulate what it means to the companys bottom line and make clear that full participation is
the only choice. Experience shows that, once involved, employees
become its biggest boosters. Six Sigma begins with an executive briefing to help executives
gain a common understanding of Six Sigma. Following this is a two-day Champion
workshop that generates excitement among the management ranks.
Next comes the selection of a small number of employees whom outside specialists will train
as Black Belts. Many of them will devote full time in carrying out each project. Four
interactive sessions off our days each over a period of about 16 weeks are conducted for these
employees who will be certified as Black Belts. During the intervening weeks, these
participants apply what they learn to their respective selected projects. In order to be certified
Black Belts, the candidates must show cost
savings of at least US$100,000 from their first project. Black Belts become on-site Six
Sigma implementation experts who develop, coach and lead cross-functional
teams, mentor and advise management on prioritizing, planning and launching Six Sigma
projects and share their knowledge with Green Belts and team members. Green Belts are
employees who are usually members of a project team. The Black Belt candidates are already
professionals in the fields of design, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain management,

finance, marketing and information technology. During their two to three year stint as fulltime Black Belts, they report to Master Black Belts, and there are Green Belts to support
them in their project work. Literally everything a company does is a candidate for Six Sigma.
Whether it is design, yield, productivity, communication, paperwork, training, response time,
attitude or organizational structure it is all of those and more. Six Sigma is already making
a strong impact in a wide range of functions and processes, including design and
manufacturing processes, supply chain and e-business processes, and transactional processes
such as procurement, writing an insurance policy or training new workers. At Honeywell, its
Six Sigma implementation is called Six Sigma Plus. It is positioned as the companys
principal engine for driving growth and productivity across all its businesses, as well as
administrative functions. Honeywell has realized $2.2 billion in cumulative savings from Six
Sigma-related activities. It saved more than $600 million in 2000 and this year it expects Six
Sigma Plus cost savings to total at least as much. At its corporate website, Honey-well states,
Through Six Sigma Plus, Honeywell empowers its employees with the skills and tools
necessary to create more value for its customers; improve its processes, products, and
services, and grow the company by capitalizing on the power of the Internet through eBusiness. For instance, a Six Sigma Plus team met a critical customer need by creating the
first and largest Internet auction site for used truck and automotive parts. The site could
generate more than $100 million in additional high margin revenue for Honeywell within five
years. Another Six Sigma Plus team uses the Internet to accelerate the retrieval of customer
payments.
By using Six Sigma Plus methodologies, it has seen an improvement in cash
flow worth $6 million over 14 months. The possibilities for improvement and cost savings
are significant, but Six Sigma requires a commitment of time, talent, dedication, disciplined
persistence and of course, financial investment. It is a pervasive effort that creates
unprecedented focus and teamwork at all levels throughout a company.

Chapter 6:

* Implementation *
Six Sigma can be a great success or an expensive failure, depending on how it is deployed.
Successful implementation should be viewed as on going process of infusing the Six Sigma
methodology into an organizations culture such that employees use Six Sigma techniques when they
approach their everyday work
Six Sigma implementation process (fig 1), requires up front work to develop awareness and
generate buy in before projects are started. The key steps in overall process are: -

1) Executive Level Training: The process of implementing Six Sigma begins with the training of executives. For true
success with Six Sigma, Executive Level leadership is needed
That asks the right questions leading to a wise application of statistical tools & other Six Sigma
methodology across organizational boundaries. Six Sigma should not be considered just another
initiative but should integrate other programs as an overall business strategy at executive level

2) Establish A Customer Focus Mindset : Establishing a customer focus mindset within organization goes hand in hand with senior
management leadership when creating a successful Six Sigma business strategy
Every complaint from customer should be viewed as an opportunity for growth and
increased market share, a spot light on areas needing process improvement focus. The key to
success in this initial step is to make it easy for your customers comments to be heard. Learning
through customer feedback of what works & what does not will help to established a mindset of
continual process improvement within your organization

3) Define Strategic Goals :Six Sigma must be viewed as a method to meet strategic goals, these goals need to be
measurable & have the focus of executive management. It requires communicative to your
employees what is strategic & why & following up those statements with executive focus & metrics
Six Sigma should create an infrastructure that offers a tactical approach to determine the
best solution for a given project. There has to be accountability.
There must be enthusiasm. It is just similar to self-help program. What you put into it is what you
will get out of it. If it is utilized as a business strategy, it becomes a focused approach for meeting
the strategic goals defined by management, allowing the application of resources in critical areas to
the bottom line.

4) Mitigate Cultural Barriers To Success : 9

Many companies attempt to improve products with numerous small changes, however
changes are frequently not documented & the associated results not reported. Substantial results are
rarely obtained with this halfhearted method of change. When employees in this type of corporate
culture hear of a new initiative such as Six Sigma
They wonder what will be different.
Companies who not only master the technical side of Six Sigma but also overcome the
cultural challenges associated with change can realize bottom line benefits. Launching Six Sigma
business strategies is an excellent opportunity to access current culture in organization by verifying
the following things
How does your company historically dealt with change initiatives?
Does company make consistent changes that doesnt last?
How effective are your project teams?
Are you frequently focusing on the same problem?
How do your employees attack problems & conduct their daily work?
What is required within your company culture to make continual process improvement a lasting
change?
What will prevent your company from achieving success with Six Sigma?
A Force Field Diagram can be created to facilitate the understanding of how well Six
Sigma integrates with current culture in an organization (fig2)
By evaluating and weighting the key cultural drives and restraints to embracing Six
Sigma, organization can develops action plans that enhance key drivers and mitigate critical restraints.
Organization need to have a direction that ingrains a process focused productive mindset into the way of
all your employees who approach their everyday work. When successful Six Sigma becomes part of
your culture.

5) Determining Strategic Six Sigma Metrics : There is no one size fits all metric applicable to every Six Sigma project effective
metrics are cross functional, providing a holistic view of the process an contributing insight to the
project team. Many resources can be wasted if Six Sigma metrics are not applied wisely.
a. Sigma Quality Level: A basic goal of a Six Sigma program might be to produce at least
99.99966 %
quality at process step or part level within an assembly .A Sigma Quality Level Metric can
be deceiving. Determining the number of opportunities for any given process can be
dramatically different individuals.
The Sigma Quality Level Metric can only be determine when there are
specifications so it is not useful in service or transactional situation
b. Process Capability Indices: Another Six Sigma Metric that is used to describe how well a process meets
requirement is process capability. A Six Sigma Quality level process is set to translate to
process capability index value requirement of 2.0

10

Six Sigma training should also address the wise use of statistical
Methodologies, providing insight to how one can best determine what is truly causing
problem.

6)

Project Execution : -

From the process map it is evident that there is much upfront work required to establish a
support infrastructure and strategic goals before project work begins. It is the job of executive & the
steering committee to integrate the voice of customer into strategic goals of organization. Much
work is done before project are even started to transform comprehensive customer feedback &
internal business goals into strategic Six Sigma goals.

* Implementation Strategies :There are three general strategies of Six Sigma deployment:
1 - Six Sigma organization;
2 - Six Sigma engineering organization;
3 - Strategically selected projects and individuals.
The first strategy, "Six Sigma organization" uses a methodology of training all
individuals, in all areas, in the fundamental concepts and tools involved in the application of
Six Sigma. Using this method, a high level of awareness can be created throughout an
organization, and a common language and problem-solving approach adopted. The "Six
Sigma engineering organization" strategy focuses on training and development within the
design and manufacturing engineering departments of the firm. In this case, resources are
more focused and there is an emphasis on project applications. The third category, "Strategic
selection", refers to the development of strategically - selected employees. "These individuals
are assigned complex projects identified by needs and objectives critical to the site or
organization"
Here there is a great amount of flexibility in training in comparison to the
previous two approaches. Training is provided as required by the very strong project focus.
As with other quality programs such as TQM, defining SIX Sigma varies between
organizations. For some firms, implementing SIX Sigma means solely using the specific
problem-solving stages involved; others use one or more of the strategies outlined in Table I,
while other companies may have different ways of deploying SIX Sigma concepts and tools.
Following the examination of how different companies approach SIX Sigma implementation
it will attempt to categorize the companies in one or other of the above categories. In order to
set the discussions of the companies in context it will be first examined what is meant in
general by a "Six Sigma Black Belt".

11

Master Black Belts and Green Belts :Perhaps the most striking feature of the Six Sigma companies is that they
have among their employees a high profile group known as Black Belts. (Most of the
companies also have Master Black Belts and Green Belts). The term Six Sigma Black Belt
was first introduced by the Motorola Corporation to describe employees who are trained and
experienced in applying statistical techniques to business processes and procedures so that
they can make major positive contributions to the bottom line . A Black Belt devotes much, if
not all, of his/her time to the important task of leading process improvement projects. Black
Belts are high potential employees who have received extensive training in statistics,
interpersonal skills, problem solving, project management, etc. Black Belt trained employees
are used to assist in measuring how well their present business strategies are meeting
company objectives, as well as developing strategies to reduce costs, cycle times and defects
while increasing profitability and competitive advantage . Typically, the Black Belt training
has duration of four weeks: it may consist of 2 two-week courses, or 4 one-week courses, or a
succession of shorter courses. In many cases, the Black Belt does not become qualified until
he/she has completed the training and also led one or two projects to a successful conclusion.
Training to become a Black Belt includes a rigorous learning schedule of different statistical
techniques, as well as the practice of applying these tools in real-life business situations .
Allied to these criteria, before being awarded Black Belt status, the person must demonstrate
problem-solving, project management and team leadership skills. The systematic training
approach followed typically involves the five (sometimes only the last four are mentioned)
problem solving-steps of: define, measure, analyze, improve and control . Black Belts use the
five-step approach to instigate cost-saving projects as follows :
1. definition of problem,
2. measurement of characteristics that are critical-to-quality (CTQ),
3. analysis using benchmarking and gap studies,
4. improvement
5. control.
As with the introduction of TQM and other projects involving major change,
the way in which Six Sigma Black Belts are trained and utilized has important repercussions
for the success or otherwise of the initiative. Black Belt projects often last for four to eight
months, with each Black Belt having two or more projects running in parallel. Many Black
Belts appear to enjoy high job satisfaction and high status within their company. But it does
not last forever. It may well be company policy that a certified Black Belt should move on
after two years. A small number would become Master Black Belts, but many would return to
line management with enhanced prospects of promotion. Consequently, the most noticeable
features of the Six Sigma companies are the company-wide discussion of process capability
and the existence of Black Belts who are charged with the responsibility for improving the

12

processes. If these were the only characteristics shared by these successful companies,
anybody would wonder if Six Sigma was the root cause of this success. However, a closer
examination of the less visible features reveals, in every case, a company culture that strongly
supports the work of the Black Belts and their project team members.

13

14

Index
1

Introduction

Six Sigma Culture

W hat Is Six Sigma ?

W hy Sigma ?

Methodologies

Implementations

Certification

Points & Counterpoints

Conclusion

10

References

Chapter 10:
15

* References *
*
Sr
No

Papers :Publication

Paper

Paper Name

Author

Six Sigma Quality

PDCA Methodology

G.Michael Smith

SAE

2001-01-1117

Six Sigma Implementation

Process

Forrest W.Breyfogle
Becki Meadows

SAE

2001-01-1109

Six Sigma Quality

Points & Counterpoints

Hans J. Bajaria

SAE

2001-01-1116

Six Sigma Certification

Hoax Or Benefits

D.H.Stamatis
R.A.Munro.

SAE

2002-01-0895

Six Sigma A New approach

To Quality Management

Joseph A DeFeo

Juran
Institute

-------

* Websites:www.juran.com
www.isixsigma.com
www.qualityamerica.com
www.smartersolutions.com

16

Fig 1.

17

18

Chapter 8:

* Six Sigma Quality :Points And Counter Points *

We only hear about one side of Six sigma coin. We should hear about both sides of Six
sigma coin. The key idea is to treat every new quality initiative including six sigma as a two-sided coin.
This enables us to examine points and counter points before we get to committed quality initiative.

Point 1:Short term PPM associated with six sigma is 0.001 long term PPM is 3.4.

Counterpoint 1:There is nothing outside 3 sigma.

Key Idea 1:The principal idea is to solve problems rather than becoming to concerned
about reporting achievements in terms of process sigma lever.

Point 2:Main emphasis in on reducing variation

Counterpoint 2:Main emphasis should be on reducing variability. Variability has

three components in stability variation and off target.
Key Idea 2:If variation is the only component to be resolved, you could actually be
working on wrong problem.

Point 3:More attention is paid to reducing variation. Less attention is paid to

developing robustness.

Counterpoint 3:Robustness can altogether eliminate the need for reducing variation.

Key Idea 3:Robustness is first option. Variation reduction is 2 nd option.

Point 4:Six sigma techniques in include a wide variety of methods that can handle
any problem situation.

19

 Counterpoint 4:The specific absence of methods multivariate methods, observational

studies and robustness methods are noticeable in six sigma techniques.

Key Idea 4:The understanding of problems and development of effective solution

require a larger collection of strategies and methods. Six sigma methods are
only a subset.

Point 5:Six sigma is a breakthrough strategy to solve a broader class of problems.

Counterpoint 5:Industry evils, which have consuming large amounts of money, are not even
considered.

Key Idea 5:Six sigma strategy has not been directed at creating a breakthrough in the
class of industry money gobblers. Any breakthrough strategy must in include
attack on industry evils.

Point 6:Six sigma is a vertical system. It starts with situation to be resolved and ends
with permanent solution. Simultaneously, it proves that the benefits of such
an encounter far outweigh the resources expended.

Counterpoint 6:Creators of six sigma system have never discussed the difference between
horizontal systems and vertical systems. Industries need a well defined and
well managed balance between the two.

Key Idea 6:Organizations actually need both vertical and horizontal systems. Vertical
system acts as drivers whereas horizontal systems are driven. Vertical
systems solve problems. Horizontal systems hold solution in place.

Collectively, these counterpoints issue a warning to potential users of six

sigma methods. The usefulness of six sigma philosophy methods and breakthrough can
be realized only if we are conscious of the counterpoints.

20

Chapter 7:

* Six Sigma Certification *

In early days, the focus of six sigma was actually +-36 (for cp=1). As the process
evolved, the need for improved process caused concept of six sigma to move to +-66 (cp=2). At the
same time the idea of certifying individuals was also been discussed. American society for quality
(ASQ) provides the certification of certified quality engineer (CQE).
As the self proclaimed six sigma consultants and practioners were trying to use the basic
tools, they claimed that CQE was not meeting their requirements and was not appropriate for their
needs. Today various training organizations (see www.isixsigma.com); have grown in number and are
eagerly pushing the envelop of propaganda to stand out in general business community.
On the other hand, business managers want to have some assurance that the people they
hire will bring the six sigma process into their organizations and improve customer satisfaction and
profitability. Already two professional societies now have certification processes for six sigma
methodology and many companies have self certifications their own black belts however the other level
of champion master black belt and green belt have yet to be addressed by professional organizations.
In case of American society for quality (ASQ) the national certification board
researched the idea of black belt certification for nearly two year and held a number of meetings to
discuss the need for such process it decided to go forth with the idea and it began formulating their own
body of knowledge (BOK) and ultimately commenced with certification. Their process of certification
is to assure at least a minimum knowledge of what is described in BOK.
To receive certification from ASQ, the following requirements are very minimum
a) Proof of professionalism
b) Two completed six sigma projects document by signed affidavits or one project with a
signed affidavit and three year work experience, as it pertains to the BOK (No
education wavier is given) and
c) Successful passage of a four hour 150 multiple choice question examination.
The other professional organization offering certification is International Quality
Federation (IQF). Their exam is computer based & can be offered to any one on demand
The major difference between ASQs & IQFs certifications is the emphasis of once
organization. For IQF it is imperative that a certification be based on tangible results.
As such, the candidates own organization is in the best position to determine how effective a
candidate is in applying Six Sigma Methodology. Thus IQF certification model requires that the
individual be co-certified by both the IQF & sponsoring organization.

21

Chapter 9:

* Conclusion *
Six sigma is a long term commitment treating deployment as a process allows objective
analysis of all the aspects of the process including project selection and scooping projects should be
selected that meet the goals of an organizations business strategy six sigma can then be utilized as a
roadmap to effectively meet those goals.
Utilizing lessons learned and incorporating them into subsequent waves of an
implementation plan creates a closed feedback loop and real opportunities for improvement. Deploying
six sigma through projects, can lead to dramatic bottom line benefits. If organization inverts the time
and executive energy necessary to implement a process to create a successful six sigma infrastructure.
Through wise implementation of six sigma, the success of individual projects can build
upon each other gaining the sustained attention of executive management and resulting in a corporate
culture change from a reactive or fire fighting environment to a learning organization. Understanding
threats and recognizing new opportunities for growth, not only to survive but to actually thrive within
competitive environments.

22