You are here: Lean Six Sigma Home » Six Sigma

Six Sigma Case Studies, Examples, and Training Material

Following the definition of Six Sigma below are articles on Six Sigma below show examples, applications, and a comprehensive definitions and application of its tools.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma originated as a set of practices designed to improve manufacturing processes and eliminate defects, but its application was subsequently extended to other types of business processes as well. In Six Sigma, a defect is defined as any process output that does not meet customer specifications, or that could lead to creating an output that does not meet customer specifications.

Bill Smith first formulated the particulars of the methodology at Motorola in 1986. Six Sigma was heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects, based on the work of pioneers such as Shewhart, Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Taguchi and others.

The term “Six Sigma” comes from a field of statistics known as process capability studies. Originally, it referred to the ability of manufacturing processes to produce a very high proportion of output within specification. Processes that operate with “six sigma quality” over the short term are assumed to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). Six Sigma’s implicit goal is to improve all processes to that level of quality or better.

In recent years, some practitioners have combined Six Sigma ideas with lean manufacturing to yield a methodology named Lean Six Sigma.

Six Sigma Trademark: Motorola and Google

by Pete Abilla on August 25, 2011

motorola six sigma, google six sigma, six sigma trademark

Last week Google bought Motorola Mobility division for $12.1 Billion dollars. Such a massive deal all p0int to Google primarily interested in Motorola’s large patent chest as a way to protect the Android operating system. As this deal made the news, what I thought about was this: what else is Google getting? Six Sigma Trademark [...]

{ 1 comment }

Six Sigma Definition

by Pete Abilla on August 15, 2011

The Six Sigma methodology is well rooted in statistics and statistical mathematics. Today, we’re not talking about the DMAIC Methodology or DMAIC Framework of Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, or Control. Rather, we’re talking about the statistical definition of “Six Sigma”. What does it mean to be “Six Sigma”? Six Sigma at many organizations simply means [...]

{ 0 comments }

Is There a Difference: Using a Paired T Test To See Significance in a Change Process

by Pete Abilla on August 8, 2011

Those involved in continuous improvement have one thing in common: our aim is to improve how things are done. That means that one common phenomena in processes is that there was a way of performing a task and a new way of performing a task. In any change process worth measuring, it’s important to determine [...]

{ 0 comments }

Crazy Correlation or Stupid Regression: Casey Anthony Murder Trial and Kmart Jobs

by Pete Abilla on July 21, 2011

Continuing our investigation into Crazy Correlations, today we look at a case that completely validates the mantra that correlation is definitely not causation; put another way, just because there appears to be a relationship between one event and another event, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are related. Today we look at Kmart Jobs and [...]

{ 0 comments }

Crazy Correlation: Lean Six Sigma Certification and Florida

by Pete Abilla on June 29, 2011

lean six sigma certification, doral florida

We know that the majority of keyword searches on Google are no longer single words, but phrases and, to a growing extent, phrases in conjunction with other phrases such as: lawn mower and honda swimming pool and contractor etc. And sometimes, a phrase is searched in conjunction with a location, which is our Crazy Correlation [...]

{ 0 comments }

Six Sigma Black Belt Training

by Pete Abilla on February 17, 2011

Six Sigma Black Belt Training and Certification usually means that you’ve completed an approved project, mentor Green Belts, and pass a Six Sigma Black Belt test. Below is a typical body of knowledge found in most Six Sigma Black Belt Training and Exams. The topics in this Body of Knowledge include additional detail in the [...]

{ 0 comments }

Six Sigma Black Belt Certification

by Pete Abilla on January 17, 2011

Not surprisingly, the term Black Belt has its roots in the exotic realm of martial arts. Like a person skilled in the Oriental sport of karate, the Six Sigma Black Belt is self-assured and knowledgeable, the result of intensive training and real-world experience. Motorola, the company that holds the Six Sigma trademark, says the data-driven [...]

{ 0 comments }

Lean Six Sigma: Elements of CONTROL

by Pete Abilla on January 14, 2011

lean six sigma, control phase, dmaic toyota

In previous posts, we covered the DMAIC Methodology in Six Sigma. Specifically, we covered: Define Phase, DMAIC Measure Phase, DMAIC Analyze Phase, DMAIC Improve Phase, DMAIC In this post, we’ll cover the final phase of the DMAIC Methodology in Six Sigma, Control. DMAIC – Six Sigma – Control If you recall, the Improve Phase of DMAIC [...]

{ 0 comments }