Change Management In Six Sigma

Change is the only constant thing in the world and businesses are no exception to this universal principle. The aim of change is bringing about continuous improvement in the competitive world through which businesses hope to surpass their competitors to meet customer needs better than the rest.

Change Meets Resistance

You need to anticipate resistance from unexpected corners while contemplating and proposing change. This could be for the first Six Sigma project or for the subsequent project, despite rigorous results with previous project implementations. Workers may respond by ignoring the change, by refusing or failing to comprehend changes, disagreeing with apparent benefits and resorting to delay tactics and tantrums. Other instances can be ignorance from other sections within the organizations and non-cooperation on projects

Managing The Change In Six Sigma

Project leaders understand that most resistance has no valid reasons.

1. For example, let us take the case of ignoring the change. People are opposed to change just because they don't want a change. Change entails doing things in a different way, which demands adoptability regardless of its simplicity. They assume ignoring the change proposal will ultimately lead to its withdrawal. Make it an irreversible change, perhaps by associating annual review to the success of the changed process.

2. Failure to comprehend is another place to manage the change assertively, although this is not intentional. Handling things can be easier in this case. Use additional sessions to explain, such as a lunch meeting, one-on-one meetings; mailers, tables, and calendars which are visible daily and can be used for tools.

3. Not accepting or ridiculing the true values of the benefits is another way of resisting change, which the Master Black Belt must anticipate. Use independent sources or/and positive results from other departments or projects to prove your point. See that the points are valid and the team can relate to them.

4. Failure to achieve speed: Slow progress in change initiatives may bog you down, forcing you to go through multiple steps, which you may want to skip, even though they are essential. But practically, this could be futile. Break the illusion of speed and build up the momentum as you progress on a scientific path only. This is more permanent and speedier than a diluted and scattered set of activities.

5. Sustaining and sharing the vision: They key to longevity of support down the line is the shared vision, the dream and positive attitudes. Following up launches with a flurry of short-lived activities achieves nothing. But the workforce needs to be galvanized regularly to keep the vision alive. Communicating and getting together regularly will help in this regard.

6. Proof of the pudding is in eating it: Shareholders look for economic benefits out of every project, although not opposed to changes as long as they see appreciation to top line and bottom line figures in the financial statement. You can only prove to them when you show increased profits riding on more volume and enhanced quality.

Managing the change in Six Sigma is no different from doing it elsewhere. But the scale of the operation and the interests concerned along with wisdom should guide the way ahead.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts

Data Collection Tools In Six Sigma

You can't imagine being able to organize the enormous amount of data and manipulate them as easily as you would be able to do without data collection tools. Then again, the task is not easily done unless you have selected the right kind of tool appropriate for the project. You need these data collection tools at all steps where you generate numerical data.

Six Sigma Data Collection Tools

The data collection tools are mostly in excel format and come as Macro Plug Ins, barring a few exceptions of stand-alone applications.

Initial Raw Data Collection Tools

1. Operational Definitions Sheet- This sheet defines the metrics so that data collection across the board is consistent. 2. Voice Of The Customer Data Collection Tool- Collect data from internal database, surveys, interviews, listening posts and observations at the point of sales and use and organize them systematically 3. Worksheet For Customer Segmentation- Worksheet for segmentation is essential to identify and concentrate on the demands of main and sub-segments which helps get down to finer details 4. Check Sheets- Very handy in collecting smaller sample data of different attributes or counts for use in defining problem areas or substantiating the outcomes. 5. Data sheets- These plain and simple datasheets are used to gather small amounts of measured or variable data to for the purpose of defining a problem or substantiating the results.

Data Assessment Tools

Data assessment tools are not decision-making tools such as the Ishikawa Fishbone Chart or the Thought Map Relation Diagram.

1. Customer Requirement Translation And Analysis Tool- Analysis of customer requirement is done to translate to an understandable and an unambiguous language. The translated and interpreted customer data converts into measurable functional requirements... thus strengthening the operating team's capability to deliver products and services that customers will immediately identify and really relish. 2. SIPOC Diagram- SIPOC diagram is rather a presentation diagram and an analysis tool at the same time. It provides an "at a glance" like overview of various processes, and helps identify the venders, inputs and outputs of a process and customers by critically contrasting the input data against each other 3. Pareto Chart- A Pareto chart is helpful in identifying those small numbers of problems which cause about 80% of all the troubles. This is a tremendous help in reducing or eliminating the avoidable waste of efforts so that you can channelize your improvement efforts on continuous productive applications. 4. Production Scheduling And Actual Scorecard- The simple production scheduling and actual score card comes handy to evaluate the production schedules and operations & sales planning as opposed to actual results. This is the same template which is used for Pareto chart, 'schedule to actual' comparison and the checklist for quality. 5. QFD House Of Quality Chart- Quality Function deployment house of quality is an all in one tool. It helps identify customer requirements vis-a-vis products or services, develop an effective blueprint, formulate strategies to eliminate faults and failures and finally implement new design.

It would be futile to work without tools, either PC based or otherwise in a Six Sigma environment.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts

The Six Sigma Method And Design Of Experiments

Six Sigma is becoming a proven approach for businesses and organizations to improve their performance. The spectrum of companies actively engaging in Six Sigma today is wide from industrials like Celanese, Caterpillar, GE, Honeywell, and 3M to service/retail organizations like Starwood Hotels, Sears, and Home Depot. Six Sigma has even started in the financial industry with Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase initiating major deployments in the past two years. Probably the most exciting area is in the public and healthcare sectors with success stories emerging from city government and John Hopkins Medical.

Six Sigma is becoming a proven approach for businesses and organizations to improve their performance. The spectrum of companies actively engaging in Six Sigma today is wide from industrials like Celanese, Caterpillar, GE, Honeywell, and 3M to service/retail organizations like Starwood Hotels, Sears, and Home Depot. Six Sigma has even started in the financial industry with Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase initiating major deployments in the past two years. Probably the most exciting area is in the public and healthcare sectors with success stories emerging from city government and John Hopkins Medical.

So what is all this excitement about? Havent these quality tools been around for years? Is it just the fact that people have strange names like Champion, Green Belt, Black Belt and for the chosen few, Master Black Belt? Okay, if it is not the names then what? Six Sigmas success revolves around the fundamental elements needed for any successful organization. Six Sigma starts with a vision of delivering products and services to customers with no defects from the eyes of the customers. For companies it is vital to deliver these products and services at a profit. Once the organization has created their own vision of Six Sigma, the business leaders need to define their organizations objectives in numerical terms. These high-level metrics, often called big Ys in Six Sigma, are the foundation for identifying project ys that Six Sigma Belts will execute projects on. With big Ys in hand, business leaders called Six Sigma Champions breakdown these organizational level Ys into smaller ys a project leader called a Green Belt or Black Belt can work from.

So whats next, do business leaders take a hands-off management by objectives (MBO) approach of, I dont care how you do it as long as you get results!? For Six Sigma organizations the answer is a loud NO. Champions do care how projects are executed and have appointed highly trained Master Black Belts to assist and mentor project leaders in applying the Six Sigma method to manage their projects. I believe this is the key to Six Sigmas success. In a past life I participated in a high-level meeting with executives from the world leader in the production of a product we all know. The purpose of the meeting and visit was to evaluate a critical new product design. All of the high-tech executives were dressed in dark Italian business suits complemented with gold and diamonds. I listened closely to each question these executives asked. I never once heard how much?, when? or even why? every question was by what method?. Methodology is what Six Sigma is about.

Six Sigma Methods

There have evolved two key methods for carrying out Six Sigma projects. The first method is the most well-defined and works best if you have a problem with an unknown solution in existing products, processes or services. This method is called DMAIC or Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. The newest method, which is in the developing stages, is called Design for Six Sigma or DFSS. The goal of DFSS is to develop a new product, process or service that is defect-free in the eyes of the customer. A number of consulting companies have invented roadmaps for DFSS like IDOV (Identify, Design, Optimize and Validate) and DMADV (Design, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify).

Six Sigma and Design of Experiments

Once an organization has decided on the method and the project ys, Belts are marched off to training waves bringing management-approved projects to class. DMAIC Green Belt training is normally two one-week sessions separated by one month. Black Belt training waves are extended by two additional months with two more weeks of training. The emphasis during the extended two weeks of Black Belt training is often on learning more details about advanced tools such as Design of Experiments (DOE).

So where does Design of Experiments fit into Six Sigma? Six Sigma is about understanding and controlling the variation of key process variables known as inputs or xs in order to obtain improved results on project outputs or ys. In Design of Experiment terms these inputs or xs are often referred to as factors and the outputs are referred to as responses. In nearly all Six Sigma projects the relationship of the project ys takes on the form of y=f(x1,x2,...xn). Wait a minute, isnt this what Design of Experiments is all about? Of course, for almost 100 years Design of Experiments has been proven to be one of the best known methods for validating and discovering relationships between responses and factors. In Six Sigma terms it is discovering the relationship between outputs called ys and inputs called xs. Todays Six Sigma Belts are primarily taught to focus their use of Design of Experiments in the Improve phase of DMAIC and the Optimize phase of IDOV. For DMAIC Six Sigma training the most common experimental designs taught are factorial and fractional factorial designs. Some curriculums introduce response surface designs and optimization designs at a high level. DFSS includes the experimental designs taught in all levels of DMAIC training and often expands to include the concept of robust designs. As an alternative to the classical approach, there are also a number of consulting companies teaching Taguchi designs as the
preferred method for robust design.

Final Remarks

Six Sigma looks as though it is here to stay and even in todays slow economy one of the few areas where there still are a number of new positions. The Six Sigma process is a great step toward creating learning organizations with its well-defined roadmaps and management structure. As with most new methodologies Six Sigma will mature and grow as it expands into new areas such as DFSS. As Six Sigma professionals learn more about the power of properly planned experiments, Design of Experiments will be integrated into most phases of the Six Sigma roadmap and not just considered an advanced tool for the improvement and optimization phases. Experienced practitioners of statistical methods like Design of Experiments should learn the language of Six Sigma and help integrate new methods into the Six Sigma process to improve its effectiveness. Peter Peterka is the leading consultant for www.6sigma.us. Peter has eleven years of experience performing as a Master Black Belt, working with numerous companies, including 3M, Dell, Dow, GE, HP, Intel, Motorola, Seagate, and Xerox. You can signup for Peter's Six Sigma Certification at www.6sigma.us.

Six Sigma And Healthcare

Six Sigma methodologies aim at improving overall quality by eliminating defects and achieving near perfection by restricting the number of possible defects to less than 3.4 defects per million. Six Sigma methodologies were originally developed for implementation in the manufacturing sector but with time their use has spread to the services sector as well. In the services sector, Six Sigma concepts are used mainly for eliminating transactional errors.

Today, the concepts and methodologies of Six Sigma are increasingly being used in the healthcare industry for improving the quality of services rendered, increasing efficiency, and eliminating human errors that can often prove fatal. However, the use of Six Sigma in the healthcare industry is a relatively new phenomenon as compared to other service industries that have undergone some type of data-supported, systematic, quality-improvement process. With medical and technological advancements, the demand and expectations for improved medical care are continuously increasing. However, due to lack of effective management systems, inefficiency is increasing, which often leads to congested emergency rooms, customer complaints, and lost revenues.

Benefits

Six Sigma concepts and methods enable a healthcare organization to offer improved healthcare services to patients by streamlining business processes. In the healthcare industry, the quality of services rendered depends a lot on human skills, which is often very difficult to measure and control. Six Sigma is effective as it is based on a comprehensive approach that focuses on improving both human as well as transactional aspects of a process. Although implementing Six Sigma concepts in the healthcare industry is a challenging task, it does help in getting quick results.

In the healthcare industry, the factors that determine the quality and efficiency are usually the flow of information and interaction between people. Six Sigma helps in streamlining the flow of information and achieving strategic business results by initiating cultural shifts all throughout the organization. Six Sigma focuses on improving processes rather than just concentrating on the task, which helps in increasing the scope of improvements. It provides the necessary tools and methodologies that help in analyzing and transforming human performance, necessary for achieving significant long-term improvements.

Process

Six Sigma helps in defining a vision for the future, identifying specific goals, and establishing quantitative measures for turning that vision into reality. It helps in formulating goal plans and setting timelines for moving from current performance levels to Six Sigma performance levels. The plans are defined only after documenting their effects on the organization’s work processes’ that may include flow of information, surgical site procedures, handling patients, and others.

The basic requirements for successfully implementing Six Sigma programs are usually long-term vision, commitment, leadership, management, and training. It is important to provide the requisite training to doctors, nurses, and the administrative staff for making them aware about the various concepts and methodologies. The training may initially appear to be expensive, but is often worth the cost when one considers the benefits such as improved quality of services and increased efficiency. It is necessary for employees working in a healthcare organization to develop an understanding about the various Six Sigma concepts. This will help them in integrating new techniques into the Six Sigma processes for improving quality and effectiveness.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.