TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION: - A role of management is to lead an organization in its

day to day operations as well as to maintain it as a viable entity into the
future. Quality has become an important factor to success in this latter
strategic responsibility.
Total Quality Management is a management approach that originated in the
1950's and has steadily become more popular since the early 1980's. Total
Quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a
company that strives to provide customers with products and services that
satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the
company's operations, with processes being done right the first time and
defects and waste eradicated from operations.
In the late 1980s, providing customer satisfaction in customer terms
becomes a specific goal of business organization. Providing high quality was
recognized as a key element for success. At the end of the twentieth century,
business organizations were involved in what has become a quality
revolution. It began in Japan and has spread to other parts of the world. It
involves an entirely new way of thinking about and dealing with quality that
encompasses the entire organization. This new approach has been given a
variety of names viz., “SIX SIGMA” at Motorola, “Leadership through
quality” at Xerox, “Perfect design quality” at Intel and “Total quality
control” at Hewlett-Packard, but more often referred to as “Total Quality
Management”.

DEFINITION: - Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy that

involves everyone in an organization in a continual effort to improve quality
and achieve customer satisfaction.

SALIENT FEATURES OF TQM APPROACH

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 1. Intense focus on the customer- both external and internal customers.
2. Concern for continuous improvement- quality can always be
improved.
3. Improvement in the quality of everything the organization does- not
only related to final product, but also to services, response to
complaints and the like.
4. Accurate measurement of every critical performance variable in the
company’s operations.
5. Empowerment of employees- TQM involves the people on the line in
the improvement process. Teams are empowered for finding and
solving problems.

SIX BASIC CONCEPTS OF TQM

1. A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to-

bottom organizational support.
2. An unwavering focuses on the customer, both internally and
externally.
3. Effective involvement and the utilization of the entire workforce.
4. Continuous improvement of the business and production process.
5. Treating suppliers as partners.
6. Establish performance measures for the processes.

PRINCIPLES OF TQM

Total quality management stresses on three principles:

1. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: - It is a relative that varies from one

customer to another. Also a customer may be satisfied with today’s
products but not satisfied in the future. For example, while one
customer may consider a FORD automobile perfectly satisfactory,
another may not. Each person defines quality in relation to his or her
own needs and means at a particular point of time.

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DIMENSIONS FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

• Fitness for use

• Reliability and life of product
• Value for money
• After-sales-services and support
• Packaging
• Customer information and transit
• Maintainability
• Speed of service(delivery)
• Company image
• Customer confidence in the organization

2. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT: - This in quality management is

crucial in achieving and sustaining high levels of quality. Employees
may have to be empowered to take preventive and if necessary
corrective actions without management approval. Employees must be
involved in quality management by encouraging them to use quality
controls tools and techniques to track performance and identify areas
needing improvement. Employee training and motivation are essential
for achieving and sustaining high levels of service quality.

3. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: - It is a never ending process

and is driven by knowledge and problem solving.
From the producer’s viewpoint, variation from specifications cannot
be tolerated. The producer must specify quality attributes of the
product or the service as carefully as possible and then strive to meet
those specifications. While improving the process overtime, producers
should continuously strive to improve quality that is doing a better job
of meeting customer needs by reducing variability in all processes and
by introducing new products when needed. As producers gain a better
understanding of customer expectations and as better technology
becomes available, quality can be continuously improved.

SEVEN UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES OF TQM

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 1. Strive for quality in all things
2. The customer is the criterion of quality
3. Improve the process or system by which products are produced
4. Quality improvement is continuous, never ending activity
5. Worker involvement is essential
6. Ground decisions actions in knowledge
7. Encourage team work and cooperation

ELEMENTS OF TQM

To be successful implementing TQM, an organization must concentrate on

the eight key elements:

1. Ethics
2. Integrity
3. Trust
4. Training
5. Teamwork
6. Leadership
7. Recognition
8. Communication

Key Elements

TQM has been coined to describe a

philosophy that makes quality the
driving force behind leadership,
design, planning, and improvement
initiatives. For this, TQM requires the
help of those eight key elements.
These elements can be divided into
four groups according to their
function. The groups are:

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I. Foundation - It includes: Ethics, Integrity and Trust.

II. Building Bricks - It includes: Training, Teamwork and Leadership.

III. Binding Mortar - It includes: Communication

.
IV. Roof - It includes: Recognition.

I. Foundation

TQM is built on a foundation of ethics, integrity and trust. It fosters

openness, fairness and sincerity and allows involvement by everyone. This is
the key to unlocking the ultimate potential of TQM. These three elements
move together, however, each element offers something different to the
TQM concept.
1. Ethics - Ethics is the discipline concerned with good and bad in any
situation. It is a two-faceted subject represented by organizational and
individual ethics. Organizational ethics establish a business code of ethics
that outlines guidelines that all employees are to adhere to in the
performance of their work. Individual ethics include personal rights or
wrongs.
2. Integrity - Integrity implies honesty, morals, values, fairness, and
adherence to the facts and sincerity. The characteristic is what customers
(internal or external) expect and deserve to receive. People see the opposite
of integrity as duplicity. TQM will not work in an atmosphere of duplicity.
3. Trust - Trust is a by-product of integrity and ethical conduct. Without
trust, the framework of TQM cannot be built. Trust fosters full participation
of all members. It allows empowerment that encourages pride ownership and
it encourages commitment. It allows decision making at appropriate levels in
the organization, fosters individual risk-taking for continuous improvement
and helps to ensure that measurements focus on improvement of process and

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are not used to contend people. Trust is essential to ensure customer
satisfaction. So, trust builds the cooperative environment essential for TQM.

II. Bricks

Basing on the strong foundation of trust, ethics and integrity, bricks are
placed to reach the roof of recognition. It includes:
4. Training - Training is very important for employees to be highly
productive. Supervisors are solely responsible for implementing TQM
within their departments, and teaching their employees the philosophies of
TQM. Training that employees require are interpersonal skills, the ability to
function within teams, problem solving, decision making, job management
performance analysis and improvement, business economics and technical
skills. During the creation and formation of TQM, employees are trained so
that they can become effective employees for the company.
5. Teamwork - To become successful in business, teamwork is also a key
element of TQM. With the use of teams, the business will receive quicker
and better solutions to problems. Teams also provide more permanent
improvements in processes and operations. In teams, people feel more
comfortable bringing up problems that may occur, and can get help from
other workers to find a solution and put into place. There are mainly three
types of teams that TQM organizations adopt:
A. Quality Improvement Teams or Excellence Teams (QITS) - These are
temporary teams with the purpose of dealing with specific problems that
often re-occur. These teams are set up for period of three to twelve months.

B. Problem Solving Teams (PSTs) - These are temporary teams to solve

certain problems and also to identify and overcome causes of problems.
They generally last from one week to three months.

C. Natural Work Teams (NWTs) - These teams consist of small groups of

skilled workers who share tasks and responsibilities. These teams use
concepts such as employee involvement teams, self-managing teams and
quality circles. These teams generally work for one to two hours a week.

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 7. Leadership - It is possibly the most important element in TQM. It
appears everywhere in organization. Leadership in TQM requires the
manager to provide an inspiring vision, make strategic directions that
are understood by all and to instill values that guide subordinates. For
TQM to be successful in the business, the supervisor must be
committed in leading his employees. A supervisor must understand
TQM, believe in it and then demonstrate their belief and commitment
through their daily practices of TQM. The supervisor makes sure that
strategies, philosophies, values and goals are transmitted down
through out the organization to provide focus, clarity and direction. A
key point is that TQM has to be introduced and led by top
management. Commitment and personal involvement is required from
top management in creating and deploying clear quality values and
goals consistent with the objectives of the company and in creating
and deploying well defined systems, methods and performance
measures for achieving those goals.

III. Binding Mortar

7. Communication - It binds everything together. Starting from foundation

to roof of the TQM house, everything is bound by strong mortar of
communication. It acts as a vital link between all elements of TQM.
Communication means a common understanding of ideas between the
sender and the receiver. The success of TQM demands communication with
and among all the organization members, suppliers and customers.
Supervisors must keep open airways where employees can send and receive
information about the TQM process. Communication coupled with the
sharing of correct information is vital. For communication to be credible the
message must be clear and receiver must interpret in the way the sender
intended.
There are different ways of communication such as:

A. Downward communication - This is the dominant form of

communication in an organization. Presentations and discussions basically

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do it. By this the supervisors are able to make the employees clear about
TQM.

B. Upward communication - By this the lower level of employees are able

to provide suggestions to upper management of the affects of TQM. As
employees provide insight and constructive criticism, supervisors must listen
effectively to correct the situation that comes about through the use of TQM.
This forms a level of trust between supervisors and employees. This is also
similar to empowering communication, where supervisors keep open ears
and listen to others.

C. Sideways communication - This type of communication is important

because it breaks down barriers between departments. It also allows dealing
with customers and suppliers in a more professional manner.

IV. Roof

8. Recognition - Recognition is the last and final element in the entire

system. It should be provided for both suggestions and achievements for
teams as well as individuals. Employees strive to receive recognition for
themselves and their teams. Detecting and recognizing contributors is the
most important job of a supervisor. As people are recognized, there can be
huge changes in self-esteem, productivity, quality and the amount of effort
exhorted to the task at hand. Recognition comes in its best form when it is
immediately following an action that an employee has performed.
Recognition comes in different ways, places and time such as,

 Ways - It can be by way of personal letter from top management. Also

by award banquets, plaques, trophies etc.

 Places - Good performers can be recognized in front of departments, on

performance boards and also in front of top management.

 Time - Recognition can be given at any time like in staff meeting, annual
award banquets, etc.

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NEED FOR TQM

1. TQM adds value to the services offered to the customers.

2. All personnel are involved, which improves motivation and
commitment.
3. TQM provides assurance that performance and processes are well
understood.
4. TQM is economic in the long term to both the company and its
customers.

THE SCOPE OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

The three core principles of the total quality namely (a) focus on the
customer (b) participation and team work and (c) continuous
improvement and learning are supported and implemented by:

(i) An integrated organizational infrastructure

(ii) A set of management practices and
(iii) A wide variety of tools and techniques

INFRASTRUCTURE: It refers to the basic systems of management that

are necessary to function as high-performing organization. The elements
of an infrastructure that support the core principles of the total quality
are:

(i) leadership
(ii) strategic planning
(iii) human resource management
(iv) process management
(v) data and information management

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PRACTICES: Practices are those activities that occur within a management
system to achieve high performance objectives. Examples of activities and
the corresponding practices are listed below:

ACTIVITIES PRACTICES
Reviewing company Leadership
performance Human resource management
Determining employee Process management
satisfaction
Co-ordinating design and
production/delivery processes to
ensure trouble-free introduction
and delivery of products and
services

TOOLS: Tools include various graphical and statistical methods to plan

work activities, collect data, analyze results, monitor progress and solve
problems. For example, a chart showing trends in defects in manufacturing
as workers progress through a training program is a simple tool to monitor
the effectiveness of the training program.
BENEFITS OF TQM

TANGIBLE BENEFITS INTANGIBLE BENEFITS

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 • Better product quality
• Productivity improvement
• Reduced quality costs
• Increased market
• Increased profitability
• Reduced employee
grievances
• Effective team work
• Enhancement of job
interest
• Improvement in human
relation work area morale
• Participation culture
• Customer satisfaction
• Enhanced problem solving
capacity
• Improved corporate health
and character of the
company

Continuous • Better company image

quality
improvement

Higher prices
Improved Increased
competitive Increased revenue
position market share Increased
profits
Increased defect-free Reduced
output cost of
operations

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TOOLS OF TQM: There are various tools for total quality management.
But the researcher has focused on three aspects viz. six sigma, daily work
management and 5s.

T Q –MF o c u s A r e a s

5S

S ix S i g m a G r e e n D a i ly W o r k
B e lt P r o je c t s M anagem ent

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 SIX SIGMA

Sigma is the GREEK letter statistician use to represent the “standard

deviation”. The sigma or standard deviation, tells how much variability there
is within a group of items. More variation the bigger is the standard
deviation.

The term “Six Sigma” is reference to a particular goal of reducing defects to

near zero. In statistics terms, therefore, the purpose of Six Sigma is to reduce
the variation to achieve very small standard deviation so that almost all
products or services meet or exceeds customer expectations.

Six Sigma is a statistical concept that measures a process in terms of defects.

Achieving Six Sigma means that processes are delivering only 3.4 defects
per million opportunities. In business use, it indicates defects in output of a
process, and helps to understand how far the process deviation from
perfection.

The central idea of Six Sigma management is that if one can measure the
defects in process, it can systematically figure out ways to eliminate them, to
approach a quality level of zero defects.
So, short, Six Sigma is several things:

 a statistical basis of measurement: 3.4 defects per million

opportunities
 A philosophy and a goal: as perfect as practically possible
 a methodology
 a symbol of quality

SIGMA LEVEL DEFECTS PER MILLION

OPPORTUNITY

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 2 308,537
3 66,807
4 6,210
5 233
6 3.4
BENEFITS OF USING SIX SIGMA

Six Sigma allows achieving the constancy of purpose that is the secret to
success, by focusing efforts on understanding the variations in processes and
defects that results. Basic results are:
• Money
• Customer satisfaction
• Quality
• Impact on employees
• Growth
• Competitive advantage

Money:

Money is generally most important reason for using Six Sigma for processes
that are inefficient, waste time and other resources.
Here are few questions to consider:
 What is the value of scrap?
 What is the cost of rework?
 What is the cost of excessive cycle times and delays?
 What is the cost of business lost because customers are dissatisfied
with product or services?
 What is the cost of opportunities lost because one didn’t have time or
resources to take advantage of them?
 What is the total cost of poor quality in an organization?

One should know the answers of these questions in terms of dollars. By

knowing the answers one realizes importance of reducing process variation

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and defects. If the person does not know the answers then he need to get
knowledge that gives the power of making necessary changes.

Customer satisfaction:

The better any organization handles its customers (current & potential) the
healthier its revenue will be. But how can one satisfy customer most
effectively?
Six Sigma focuses on critical to quality (CTQ) expectation of customers:
that what matters most. By using Six Sigma management methods, company
can target the vital few factors in processes that are allowing variations and
defects that keep organization away from meeting the CTQ expectations of
customers. Organization can better align business goals with the requirement
and expectations of customers.
Six Sigma helps to get there by showing how to find the “breakthrough
points” in processes. That means not only identifying the waste streams in
processes, but also understanding all elements that create them.

Quality:

Another reason for using Six Sigma is the value and impact of committing to
quality as a goal in a very practical way. People who might not understand
and appreciate other quality initiatives are more likely to recognize the value
of Six Sigma, because the focus is essentially simple-to reduce or eliminate
mistakes.
Quality is an ideal of extreme power. The following advantages on
considering on quality:
 It inspires employees.
 It instills a culture and an attitude
 It creates an image in market and the community.
 It attracts investors.

And Six Sigma is not just quality, but a Six Sigma level of quality. That is
closed to perfect 99.997% perfection

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Why not just 99.379% four sigma? That’s level of quality achieved by many
major companies. Because that goal is not high enough. It’s been calculated
that if 99% were good enough, we would be accepting the following:

 Every hour the postal service would lose 20,000 pieces of mail.
 Every day our drinking water would be unsafe for almost 15 minutes.
 Every week there would be 5,000 surgical operations that go wrong
in some way.
 Every month we would be without electricity for almost seven hours.

Impact on employees:

There are also benefits of six sigma that don’t translate into dollar- at least
not directly. The effect on employees can be powerful. Let’s briefly consider
a few of those effects.
Six Sigma inspires employees. When the company is committed to
improving processes, to meeting customer expectations, to cutting coasts,
employees will naturally feel motivated to do better. After all how many of
employees want to do their jobs badly, to waste time and money, to fail to
meet the expectations of his customers?

Six Sigma promotes morale and a sense of self-esteem. It gives employees

opportunity to make a difference. Every employee is important in Six Sigma.
Some will be involved in special roles, of course, as black belts or green
belts and so forth. But all of them will be encouraged to provide input on the
processes around them. Every one of them has the opportunity to contribute
significantly to Six Sigma efforts.

Six Sigma instills a culture and an attitude. It emphasizes the importance of

viewing processes, products, and services from the perspective of the
customers. Since all employees are customers when they are away from
work, they can identify with customers and particularly with their
dissatisfaction and frustration when there are problems with products and

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services. They naturally empathize with customers, so they’ll feel more
positive about the company when it focuses on the customers.

Six Sigma promotes professional development for employees. The more

employees know about six sigma techniques and tools and the more
management can encourage them to think critically about processes, the
more competent they become. That competence not only helps company, but
also makes employees more valuable on the job market which is an
increasingly important consideration.

Six Sigma concentrates on systematic improvement of processes. That

approach will appeal to the logic of employees, many of whom have
problem wondered why certain processes work in ways that seems illogical.
How many employees have managers heard complaint about inefficient
processes? Through six sigma, manager’s providing them with opportunities
to improve those systems that confuse and frustrate them.
Those are some basic benefits of six sigma for employees. And definitely
have an impact on bottom line.

Growth:

As one meets the requirement and expectation of the customers more

effectively and achieves higher customer satisfaction, one increases his
income-which means money to invest in growing his business.
The key to transforming costs into growth is in identifying the waste streams
in cost of goods or services sold (COGS or COSS) and making correction in
the processes.
Competitive advantage:

Six Sigma allows one’s to become more competitive-regionally, nationally

or globally. At this point, one probable don’t need any justification for that
statement. A company that reduces its cost of doing business, meets the
expectations of its customers more effectively, earns a reputation for quality,
and fosters a culture of dedication and pride will certainly enjoys advantages
over its competitors. It can provide higher quality outputs at a lower cost.

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If one needs further proof of competitive advantages of Six Sigma, just
check out the gains achieved by the companies that have invested in
implementing Six Sigma.

 At GENERAL ELECTRIC, Six Sigma added more than $ 2 billion to

the bottom line in 1999 alone.

 MOTOROLA saved more than $15 billion dollars in the first 10 years
of its Six Sigma efforts.

 ALLIEDSIGNAL reports saving $1.5 billion through Six Sigma.

Nobody can promise that one can cut costs by billions; performance results
through Six Sigma are unique for each company. But it’s been estimated that
one should expect a return on investment of three or four times the cost of
implementing Six Sigma. That should give company a significant
competitive advantage.

SIX INGREDIENTS OF SIX SIGMA

1) Genuine focus on customers:

Although companies have long proclaimed that “the customer is number

one” or “always right”, few businesses have actually succeeded in improving
their understanding of their customers processes and their requirements.
Many companies claim to meet the customer’s requirement when they
actually spend lots of time trying to convince the customer that what they
bought is really what they wanted. Customer focus is the top priority in six
sigma. Performance measurement begins and ends with the voice of
customer (VOC). “Defects” are failures to meet measurable customer
requirements. Six Sigma improvements are defined by their impact on
customer satisfaction and the value they add to the customer.

2) Data and fact driven management:

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Although computers and internet have flooded the business world with data
one won’t be shocked to learn that many important business decisions are
still based on gut level hunches and unfounded assumptions. Six Sigma
terms clarifies which measures are key to gauging actual business
performance, then they collect and analyze data to understand key variables
and process drivers.

3) Process focus, management and improvement:

Six Sigma focus on the process as the key means to meeting customer
requirements. One of the most impressive impacts of Six Sigma has been to
convince leading managers- particularly in service based functions and
businesses that mastering and improving processes is not necessary evil, but
an essential step towards building competitive advantage by delivering real
value to customers. In one of its first meetings the Six Sigma team must
identify the core business processes on which customer satisfaction stands or
falls.

4) Proactive management:

To be proactive means to act ahead of events, the opposite of being reactive,

this means to be behind the curve. In the world of business, being proactive
means making a habit of setting and then tracking ambitious goals,
establishing clear priorities, rewarding those who prevents fires at least as
much as those who put them out, and challenging the way things are done
instead of blindly defending old ways. Six Sigma provides the tools and
practices to replace reactive with proactive management. Considering the
slim margin for error in today’s business world, being proactive is the only
way to fly.

5) Boundary less collaboration:

Coined at GENERAL ELECTRIC “boundarylessness” refers to the job of

smashing the barriers that block the flow of ideas and action up and down
and across the organization. Six Sigma requires increased collaboration as
people learn about their roles in the big process picture and their relationship

47
to external customers. By putting the customers at centre of the business
focus, Six Sigma demands an attitude of using processes to benefit
everyone, not only one or two departments.

6) Drive for perfection, tolerate failure:

As a consequence, Six Sigma teams often find themselves trying to balance

different risks. The biggest risk teams can take is to be afraid to try new
methods, spending time on data collection may seem risky at first glance,
but usually it results in better, more effective decisions. Not changing a
process means work will go on as it always has, and result won’t get better.
Fortunately Six Sigma builds in a good dose of risk management, but the
truth is that any company shooting Six Sigma must be ready for occasional
setbacks.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

It takes courage to decide to do Six Sigma. It takes courage to implement it.

To use the Six Sigma techniques and tools, to preserve, to make changes.
One can’t find that courage in a methodology: one has to encourage and
promote it in the people who use Six Sigma.
The success of Six Sigma relies on the people who are responsible for
implementing. Six Sigma provides some powerful techniques and tools, but
success depends on the people who play the primary roles and assume the
central responsibilities for putting those techniques and tools to work for
organization. Dennis Sester, senior vice president of MOTOROLA services
has put it very succinctly: “Six Sigma is not a product you can buy, it is a
commitment.”
Six Sigma necessarily upsets the status quo. After all, if one says that they
are doing Six Sigma, there’s going to the major interruption or even uproar-
as job descriptions are redefined and activities are radically changed. This
must happen to make any real, permanent changes. Six Sigma cannot be
managed on the sidelines: it’s a full contact sport that sets new rules and
aims for much higher scores. Everyone is a player, regardless of individual
company positions.

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However it’s important to point out that not everyone is slated for full Six
Sigma responsibilities one has to choose well who will run projects,
participate on teams, and pursue the objective using various Six Sigma tools
like metrics and other statistical measurements. Company needs the right
mix of the right talents to refocus on Six Sigma projects.

KEY PLAYERS

So who are the key players and what their roles. Basically they are five:
 Executive leaders: to commit to Six Sigma and to promote it
throughout the organization.
 Champions: to fight for the cause of black belts and remove barriers.
 Master black belt: to serve as trainer, mentor and guide.
 Black belts: to work full time on project.
 Green belts: to assist black belts part time.

It’s vital to understand and define key operational roles from the start. All
the key players should know what’s expected of them and how all the roles
work together in the Six Sigma initiative. Each of the roles has a clearly
defined set of responsibilities.

EXECUTIVE LEADER

The key role of executive leaders is to decide to do Six Sigma and, to

publicly endorse it throughout the organization. Company leaders must kick
off and reinforce the comprehensive scope of Six Sigma to engage
everyone’s support and participation. It’s important of Six Sigma to be a
company wide initiative that point cannot be over emphasized and as they
begin this business changing enterprise. It rallies the employees, it ends
legitimacy to their projects, and it sends the clearest signal that Six Sigma
and targeted outcomes are major company priorities.

There are few essential aspects that help build and round out the foundation
for successful executive leadership responsibility.

 Determination: for starters, they need to show determination. They

need to be resolute in believing that Six Sigma will succeed. So after

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 the initial fanfare of introducing Six Sigma, executive should be
determined to get the training, understand the savings, perpetuate the
use of metrics, showcase black belt achievements, mark key
milestones, and keep the overall initiative on track. From the top
down and throughout all points in the organization, executive leaders
can inspire and promote a Six Sigma culture that continually
produces results.

 Confidence: executives need to actively display confidence not only

in the Six Sigma method, but also in the people charged with making
it work. By actively showing their confidence with rewards and
incentives, company leaders inspire sustained commitment and effort
on the part of employees. When an executive lets employees know
that he or she believes in them, supports their success, and applauds
their talents, employees will respond in kind. Confidence is a
powerful motivator.

 Integrity: executive must back it all up with integrity. They need to

do what they say they’re going to do. This inspires ever increasing
confidence among project teams that an executive’s word is good and
that there’s substance behind the statements. By following through on
commitments and staying true to a stated purpose, executives
demonstrate a high standard of ethical leadership. Integrity stimulates
loyalty, and respect, both of which are motivators for employees
across the organization.

 Patience: executive leaders are responsible for practicing and

modeling patience. This may seems obvious, but it’s very hard to do
in a business environment that demands instantaneous result and
immediate answers. Six Sigma projects take time; skipping steps or
rushing the process will jeopardize the results.

CHAMPIONS

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Champions are critical to success or failure of any Six Sigma project. The
concept of “Champion” dates back to the Middle Ages, to a word for field or
battleground. A champion was someone who took the field to battle for a
cause. In Six Sigma, a champion is an advocate who fights for the cause of
black belts and to remove barriers functional, financial, personal or
otherwise- so that black belts can do their work.
Champions are closest to the project and it’s not wrong in saying that they
“own” it in every respect. Depending on the size of the company, champions
are drawn from the rank of the executives and managers. Champions have
responsibility for the daily oversight and management of each critical
element. They need to report up to senior management about project and
they need to support their teams.
Champion select black belt candidates, identify project areas, and establish
clear and measurable goals for project. They must be fully engaged in the
process, allotting at least 20% to 30% of their time to ensuring that black
belts can continue to focus on their projects and achieve the bottom line
outcomes.
The champion acts as advocate and defender, as mentor and coach. The
champions are ultimately responsible for Six Sigma projects. The black belt
and project teams are on the hunt of defects and waste, but it is the champion
who selects the project and monitors its performance. Champions must
thoroughly understand the strategy and discipline of Six Sigma and be able
to educate others about its tools and implementation.

MASTER BLACK BELT

The master black belt serves as trainer, mentor and guide. He or she teaches
the roles; helps to select the right people and assists in screening and
selecting projects that will best achieve the hidden dollars.
Once organization has Six Sigma initiative well under way, once they’ve
established all necessary elements, designated and trained people in their
roles, started projects, and garnered some results, they can graduate
members of teams to the ranks of the master belts.
The master black belt is an expert in Six Sigma tools and tactics and a
valuable resource in terms of technical and historical expertise. Teacher,

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mentors and lead agent of change, the master black belt ensures that the
necessary infrastructure is in place and that black belts are trained.
A master black belt is an invaluable asset as company begins Six Sigma
initiative coordinating and collaborating with upper management, advising
and coaching black belts, and ultimately keeping- champions- focused on
what’s important in selecting projects and implementing Six Sigma.

BLACK BELTS

Black belt work full time on selected projects. As team leaders and project
heads, black belts are central to Six Sigma success. They are trained to dig
into the chronic and high impact issues and fix them with Six Sigma
techniques and practices. They fix the problem, get rid of defects and find
the money. The black belt’s role is one of the great responsibility and
discipline; it is the backbone of Six Sigma culture.
Although champions are responsible for getting the bottom line results, since
they select the projects and monitors progress, black belts are responsible for
doing the work. They relentlessly pursue the project objectives, they strive
to understand the causes and effects of defects, and they develop the
necessary steps to permanently eliminate them. They are selected to solve
problems within the Six Sigma framework and they are trained to be
technical leaders in using Six Sigma tools and methods to improve quality.
Black belt manages risks, help set directions, and lead the way to quantum
gains in product or service quality.

SELECTING BLACK BELTS

First of all not every employee is a black belt candidate. It’s a full time
discipline that combines leadership ability, technical skills, some statistical
knowledge, the ability to communicate clearly and motivated curiosity. If
one know the members in staff, their skills sets, and their performance one
can accurately determine who might be a good candidate. The sidebar,
“Rating a Black Belt candidate” provides and organized approach to
evaluate employees in terms of their black belt potential.

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GREEN BELTS

Green belts assist black belts in their functional area. They work on projects
part time usually in a limited specific area. They apply Six Sigma tools to
examine and solve chronic problems o projects within their regular jobs. In
this way, knowledge is being transferred and used in even narrow
applications. They also help black belt to accomplish more in less time.
They may help collect or analyze data, run experiments or conduct other
important tasks in project. Working in a complementary fashion with the
charter of executive leadership champions and black belts green belts are
essential worker beesz , driving bottom line results.

THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING SIX SIGMA

(PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH)

After six sigma roles and responsibilities here’s the heart of the matter- the
steps of doing six sigma. Like the proverb says, even a small deviation in a
process can have big consequences, deviation variation, defects or waste
whatever one calls it, the end result is same: it costs no matter that business-
manufacturing, distribution or other services- ant hidden waste streams in
any of processes ultimately siphon off dollars that should be going to bottom
line.
As one implement the core Six Sigma methodology he will be armed with
the tools that enable him to identify, correct and control the critical –to-
quality (CTQ) elements so important to customers and reduce the cost of
poor quality (COPQ). Once started implementing the method full time with
black belts and project teams, projects will start revealing costs that are
hidden and returning that money to the company.

The DMAIC method:

 Define

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  Measure
 Analyze
 Improve control
 Control

Sometimes the methodology is applied without the define phase. People

generally prefer using a four phase MAIC sequence, but one should be
familiar with the five phase DMAIC sequence as well.
MAIC as “magic without G for guess work” as it is capable of creating and
sustaining remarkable data driven results that continually boost profitability
levels. MAIC/DMAIC is the key to the Six Sigma problem- Sigma solving
method infact, it’s fair to say it is the problem solving method.
Six Sigma, DMAIC/MAIC involves necessary steps in a sequence each of
which is essential to achieving the desired outcome. One can’t skip or jump
around with the four or five phases and expect to get credible results. By
following each step in proper order and completing the task for each. One
can accurately understand, evaluate and work on all aspects of the CTQ
element influencing the given process answer.

D- Define:

It’s important that one start Six Sigma by clearly defining the problem.
That’s the purpose of the define phase.
First define the chronic “big” issues existing in department or organization.
It’s often useful to map processes, in order to better understand them locate
the problems. Then select a project to combat one or more of them it’s
critically important to define parameters of the project. One needs to scope
out the project and understand at the outset what one wants to accomplish
with it. Understanding its scope and sequence exactly defines project’s rules
how long it will run what are goals, and the tools and personnel in place to
achieve them.

Next, to hand over the project to black belts. They will build the project
team to further scope out the CTQ elements and then start solving the issues.
Even though any project necessarily is a limited event don’t limit the quality
of results by not fully knowing its scope and goal criteria. The more one
know, the more likely they are to find what they are looking for.

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Central to the six sigma methodology is the use of a key equation that
defines which vital few factors need to be measured, analyzed, improved,
and controlled for bottom line results. The vital few factors are those factors
that directly explain the cause and effect relationship of the process output
being measured in relation to the inputs that drive the process. Typically,
there are half a dozen or fewer factors that most affect the quality of outputs
in that process, even if there are hundreds of steps in which a defect could
occur.

M-Measure phase:

For starting measure phase, one must first identify the crucial internal
processes that influence the CTQ measurements, which are the Y’s, the
process outcomes. Once people working know what they are, then they can
measure the defects generated in the process that profoundly affect the CTQ
standard.
So the example, if your customer expects a certain standard at a certain
price, you need to identify the vital few factors that affect that expectation.
This is crucial, since determining the vital few allows you to concentrate
your efforts and resources. Then you must measure the impact of defects in
those areas. Defects are measurable characteristics of a process or its outputs
that are not within the acceptable customer limits or specifications.
Once team members identify the defects, they can then ask how much
money company would save if they were eliminated. In doing so, impact-
relating improved quality with improved profitability. There is a direct and
measurable relationship between defects and dollars. In the measure phase,
one can figure out that relationship exactly.
The measure phase is completed when a black belt can successfully measure
the defect generated for a key process that affects the CTQ characteristics. In
the measure phase, the black belt conducts a measurements system analysis,
which includes gauge studies, and a through evaluation of capabilities of the
process.
The purpose of a gauge (gage) repeatability and reproducibility study (gauge
R & R) is to ensure that measurement systems are statistically sound. A
gauge R&R measures how is one measuring? So one know all aspects that

55
measurement systems are functioning properly and that they are getting
maximum value for their efforts. After all, company is going to be investing
a lot in rooting out the problems that measurements reveal so it makes sense
to be sure that they are accurate and appropriate. Gauge R&G repeats
measurement under various conditions to test the measure against these four
essential criteria:

 Accuracy – How precise is the measurement?

 Repeatability – if the same person or piece of equipment measures
the same item, will the result be the same?
 Reproducibility – if other person or piece of equipment measures the
same item, will the result be the same?
 Stability – will accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility change
over time?

The measure phase is all about mapping the process, evaluating the
measurement system, using metrics, and estimating the process baseline
capability.

A-Analyze phase:

At the point, one tries to understand why defects are generated and then
break down what multiple reasons (again, the X’s) are identified as causing
them. Put another way, managers are their black belt teams will ask which
inputs are affecting the outputs.
In mapping and measuring process and identifying input variables that may
affect critical to quality attributes, teams probably come up with some
assumptions about relationship between business metric(critical to quality)
that would affect it. So now one formulates hypotheses and statistically test
them to determine which factors are critical to the outcome.
This where the Analyze phase becomes a cycle as long one goes through a
series of hypotheses testing. The cycle consists of the following steps:

 Develop hypotheses about cause(s)

 Analyze process and/ or data

56
  If a hypothesis is correct, add cause to the list of vital few. If the
hypothesis is incorrect, refine it and go to step or reject it and do the
step one.

Hypothesis testing uses a series of detailed analyses to calculate the

probability that the factors that team’s identified as the vital few truly have
must important impact on the critical to quality outcomes. Then move from
statistical conclusions to devising practical solutions developing plans for
taking corrective action. When managers and their projects teams are in the
Analyze phase, they are continually brainstorming in a statistical sense they
are challenging the status quo and really looking into what vital few factors
are influencing the outcome of a given process eliminating the trivial many
to reveal the significant few.

I-Improve phase:

After one have carefully (sometimes painstakingly) measured and analyzed

the situation they arrive at the existing point of actually testing theory to find
an equation to solve the problem. In the improve phase one confirms key
variables and quantity the effects of those variables on critical to quality
outcomes. As a result one can identify the maximum acceptable range of
each variable to ensure that measurement system can actually measure that
variation.

When one reaches the Improve phase they can modify each variable so that
is stays within the acceptable range. When one can turn a defect on or off to
truly improve both sides of the Y=Y equation they can manipulate the vital
few factor(X’s) to achieve the outcome(Y) they want.

C-Control phase:

The control phase is where one maintains the changes made in the X’s in the
equation in order to sustain the improvements in the resulting Y’s. In this
phase, they continue to document and monitor processes via defined metrics
and other measurement to asses their capability over time. In some cases, the
control phase never exists, because one eliminates the problem entirely.

57
Following the logical sequence of DMAIC the control phase allows to
maintain a higher level of quality and productivity. By mapping processes
and then measuring and analyzing each factor, one knows how to improve
and control them. These control mechanisms can be both macro and micro in
scope.

DAILY WORK MANAGEMENT

Daily work management relates to management of activities pertaining to

area of responsibility & which are repeated on daily/routine basis.

Daily work management is the act of ensuring that the activities:-

for which each individual work area is responsible,
which are repeated regularly on the basis of standards, etc.,
are performed reliably.

NEED FOR DAILY WORK MANAGEMENT

1. To avoid fire fighting/managing crisis:-We do fire fighting for

58
 • planning/frequent changes in schedule
• Tool maintenance
• No action on feedback of operator
• Absenteeism
• Material quality
• Training of operator
• Inter-department coordination
• Change control
• SOP not followed
• Inadequate facility
• Equipment maintenance
• Responsibility
• Delayed delivery from supplier
• Rain…

2. To avoid quick fix:-It means

• To depend primarily on experience, common sense, or past practices
for the solution to a problem.
• To attempt to solve problems without data collected & analyzed to
test a theory.
• To believe that methods used successfully by others will solve the
problems of this organization.
• To focus problem solution related to end product or on another unit of
the organization.
• To believe that the solutions to most problems are immediately
apparent.

3. Need to maintain current level of performance and simultaneously aim for

small small gradual improvements.

4. Enabling senior people focus their time on improvement/future planning.

5. Management of regular/routine/transactional activities.

6. Avoiding the DRIP phenomenon.

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PRINCIPLES OF DAILY WORMANAGEMENT

• Built in quality

• Determine CTQ of the process to reduce variation

• Understand and eliminate WASTE-unnecessary variation is a waste

• Anything which does not satisfy Customer/add value is a loss

• Other losses
- Mistakes which require rectification
- Production of items- not as per customer requirement
- Processing steps - which aren’t actually needed
- Unnecessary movement of people
- Transport of material from one place to another without any
purpose
- Waiting for upstream activity output
- Producing for no customer
- Adherence to quality characteristics along with other needs of
fulfillment of a satisfied customer.
- Daily management starts with education and ends with
education.
- PDCA(plan,do,check,act)
- Attitudinal problem
# We have no problems
# This is the best in the given circumstances
- “We have lot of problems”- make problems visible.
- Solve root cause of problem(5 Whys)

HOW TO INITIATE DAILY MANAGEMENT

60
1. Formation of departmental team

2. Collection of initial sectional information

3. Determining treatment for each section (production/service)

4. Setting standards
• Performance
• Work methods

5. Developing decision tree to facilitate corrective actions

6. Training to concerned staff for the above

FLOW CHART FOR DAILY MANAGEMENT

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 Clarifyjob
Clarify jobobjective
objective
andand job description
job description

Establish
Establishjob evaluation
job criteria
evaluation (control
criteria points) and
(control
targets for control points
points) and targets for control points

Define job flow in relation to others (use

functional deployment maps) & establish job
standards like SOP, check-sheets etc.

Implement job standards

Are results as
Take actions per targets in
to prevent control
recurrence points?

Continue to control process using job

standards.
Review performance on control points
as per defined frequency.

Update job standards/control points

based on customer feedback/internal
problems.

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 DAILY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR STAFF
FUNCTIONS

Job description Interface areas Develop process

e
objectiv
job
Develop

Management Decision areas flow charts/SOPs

points & targets

Set of management
points to be
monitored

Trends against
targets

Monitor as
defined

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 5-S

Goal:

“To make clean & safe working environment by continuous

improvement in 5-s system and its implementation”

Objectives:

• creating a neat & clean workplace

• systematize day to day working
• improving work efficiency
• standardize work practices
• improve work discipline

Concept:

5-s system consists of:

1. S-1 SEIRI (Separation ) Clean up(sort out)

2. S-2 SEITON (Systematize) Make convenient-
a. identify location
b. put in place
3. S-3 SEISO (Sweeping out) Cleanliness
4. S-4 SEIKETSU (Sanitation) Health & Hygiene
5. S-5 SHITSUKE (Self-Consciousness) Promote a good
habit

Meaning of 5-s:

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1. S-1 Clean up (sort out):- Segregate items that are necessary v/s those
that are unnecessary.

2. S-2 Make convenient: - Place all selected items in proper location

keeping in view the quality, safety etc.

3. S-3 Cleanliness: - Clean all working area/machines/tools for a better

working atmosphere. Eliminate all dirt which would be the first step
of the preventive maintenance.

4. S-4 Health & Hygiene: - Keep the environment clean in a way that
health & hygiene conditions always exist.

5. S-5 Promote a good habit: - All employees participate in setting 5-s

standards and adhere to those standards.

Importance:
• A clean workplace is high in PRODUCTIVITY.
• A clean workplace has high QUALIYI.
• A clean workplace keeps COST down.
• A clean workplace ensures DELIVERY on time.
• A clean workplace is SAFE for people to work.
• A clean workplace boosts employees MORALE.

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 3rd stage
Promote good
habits/autonomous or
discipline (S5)
SHITSUKE
Stages of 5-s development
Final stage
Create
management
effectiveness

1st stage
Implementation

S (1) S (2) S (3) 2nd stage

Health & hygiene/
SEIRI SEITON SEISO standardization (S4)
SEIKETSU

Use with material/equipments

& working area

What do we get from practicing 5-s activities?

Employees Organization
1. create work effectiveness 1. increase productivity rate
2. create a congenial working 2. ideal inventory
atmosphere 3. low production cost

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 3. cheerful/good mood 4. more storage place
4. safe & friendly environment 5. image- role model
5. job satisfaction & higher work 6. heading towards becoming
efficiency world class
6. all working areas are in proper
order

5-s Activities – Procedures & Methods

Members of the 5-s team conduct meeting

Choose topic/action plan in each month

Every member participate in the activities

Action plan to be suitable for working place

Implement

Evaluate

Set standard

5-s Activities Day

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  The activities are done according to the plan/topic set out for that
month

 Apply 5-s activities in your responsible areas

 Maintain good implementation of each topic

 Every team shall fix 5-s activities day in their area at least twice in a
month & maintain 5-s activity record

CLEAN UP PROCEDURE (SEIRI)-S 1

Seiri (organization) means to distinguish the necessary and the

unnecessary items in the accordance with following guidelines.
Distinguish between what is necessary and what is unnecessary and get
rid of what you do not need. Preserving unwanted things and information
which are not needed consume extra space and create more work. Clear
cut guidelines may be devised for deciding materials which are required
and not required.

HOW TO START?
o Inspect all material in the working area.
o Serrate the utilities out of junk and/or waste.
o Get rid of the excess which are over kept /stored and get rid of all
unnecessary items.

 Materials you have not used in the past one year, and
which do not have further use may be thrown away.
 Materials which were used once in the past six
months should be kept at a distant location.
 Materials which are of use once in three to six months
should be kept in a central place.
 Things are of use once in a month should be kept at
convenient locations.

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  Things are of use weekly, daily or hourly should be
kept at a very close distance near the work table.

 Ensure that there is a place for every thing and every thing is in its
place.

 Clarify standards/prepare check list to judge the necessary things

from the unnecessary.

MAKING CONVENIENT PROCEDURE (SEITON) – S 2

Convenience principles:
o Arrange suitable location, with identification for all
materials/equipment and put them back to their places after being
used.
o Emphasize in putting all material/equipments in proper place
where they belong.
o Material/equipment frequently used must be put near and or next to
the user.
o Grouping the same kinds of material/equipment in the same
location.

Procedure for creating Convenience

Get rid of unnecessary things

Put in proper position

Fix suitable location for materials/equipments

Tag/sign/label is required for each location of materials/equipment

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 All materials, equipment need to be labeled

All fixed location of materials, equipment should be documented

Frequent inspection is required

Benefits from convenience procedure:

 Helps in reducing time of finding materials for use.
 Easy to inspect and recognize when materials are taken out from their
original location.
 Creates work effectiveness
 Creates safe working atmosphere.

CLEANLINESS (SEISO) – S 3

o Use brooms/water in cleaning process

o Paint or draw lines around fixed area
o Eliminate all the original resources of dirt
o Clean up even small spots

Benefits from the cleanliness method:

 Creates congenial working conditions
 Create more efficiency of machines and equipments
 Enhances machines equipment life

HEALTH & HYGIENE (SEIKETSU) – S 4

Healthy & congenial working environment will be created through the

implementation of the 3 Ss. Keep practicing all 3s activities.

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Benefits from the healthy environment:
 Neat, clean and nice working area
 Create excellent physical and mental health

PRMOTE A GOOD HABIT (SHITSUKE) – S 5

Keep practicing all the 4s activities through their procedures until they
become habits.
Strictly follow the 5-s guidelines and the standards set.

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