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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.

Run Chart

by Pete Abilla on August 20, 2010

Run charts, also known as line graphs, display process performance over time. This post will explain “What is a Run Chart?”, show an example, and provide a video tutorial on how to create a Run Chart in Excel. Upward and downward trends, cycles, and large aberrations may be spotted and investigated further. In a run [...]

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Lean Six Sigma: Elements of DEFINE

by Pete Abilla on August 10, 2010

The first phase in the Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) Methodology is Define. During the Define phase, a team and its sponsors reach agreement on what the project is and what it should accomplish. The main work in the Define phase is for the project team to complete an analysis of what the project should accomplish [...]

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How To: Red Bead Experiment

by Pete Abilla on August 8, 2010

This post shows some basic instructions on how to conduct the Red Bead Experiment or Red Bead Game. The Red Bead Experiment can be conducted with a Lightning Calculator Sampling Bowl or Sampling Box. While Dr. Deming used 80% white beads and 20% red, you will find this experiment done with 80% white and 20% [...]

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Lean and Six Sigma: PDCA and DMAIC Comparison

by Pete Abilla on July 31, 2010

Integrating or reconciling the PDCA framework from Lean and DMAIC from Six Sigma is the topic of this post. Since both methodologies and frameworks share a common history, it is no surprise that integrating their respective frameworks was not difficult to do. Below is my attempt at exactly that. Below the PDCA and DMAIC comparison [...]

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Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Output, Customers (SIPOC)

by Pete Abilla on July 17, 2010

A SIPOC is a high level process map that includes Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Output, and Customers. Here’s presupposition: Quality is judged based on the output of a process. The quality is improved by analyzing inputs and process variables. How To Create a SIPOC Diagram Create an area that will allow the team to post additions [...]

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Stakeholder Analysis

by Pete Abilla on July 16, 2010

A “stakeholder” can be defined as: Any individual, group, or institution who has a vested interest in the natural resources of the project area and/or who potentially will be affected by project activities and have something to gain or lose if conditions change or stay the same. Stakeholders are all those who need to be [...]

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Voice of the Customer (VOC)

by Pete Abilla on July 15, 2010

voice of the customer, process improvement, lean six sigma

The “Voice of the Customer” is a process used to capture the requirements or feedback from the customer (internal or external) to provide them with a service or product that meets their articulated needs1. This assumes that the customer know what they want and need. Of course, this is not always true, so this common [...]

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Lean Six Sigma: The DMAIC Framework

by Pete Abilla on July 14, 2010

In an earlier post, I asked how Lean and Six Sigma can work together. In a later post, I shared that Lean and Six Sigma have a common history. In this post, I’ll explain the Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) Framework. Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) To put Six Sigma into practice, a practical framework it uses is called [...]

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