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Vol 30 - No 03 - May 2004 South West: Is Six Sigma the Sixth Sense? Things not running smoothly? Some problems to solve? Continuing our theme that’s looking at some of the tools and techniques that assist in continuous improvement, February’s event on Wednesday 25th focused on Six Sigma. The session proved popular with seventeen enthusiastic members attending an evening session hosted by Krone (UK) Technique in Cheltenham. Stephen Walsh of the Six Sigma Group enthusiastically gave us a potted history of Six Sigma; its roots with GE, Motorola and IBM, and how it’s application helped those companies survive and grow. He explaind graphically how a structured approach to problem solving undertaken by properly trained and enthused employees can use the various statistical, analytical tools of Six Sigma to identify areas of focus and to monitor the impact of controlled and managed solutions. One delegate referred to Six Sigma as the sixth sense; applied common sense. In reality, as we explored Six Sigma techniques, there was a realisation that in many cases we were already using some of them in our own organisations. We can all identify with Kiplings six honest serving men Who, What, Why, When, Where and How for instance but what we perhaps lack is the company wide ownership, commitment and understanding that a Six Sigma approach can deliver. So what does it all mean? One definition of Six Sigma is 99.999966 per cent success. Or, 3.4 parts per million failure - looks close to ‘zero process failure’. Certainly a goal to be aimed at, but it also puts into context those companies who claim to be Six Sigma companies. To simplify a little, sigma represents one standard deviation from the mean. Two sigma represents two standard deviations from the mean and so on. So, if you’re into normal distribution curves everything starts to make sense. The extremes within that distribution curve are the areas to focus on. They might represent anything from machining tolerances or temperature recordings to actual time taken to complete a task or operation. The strong message from the session was to concentrate on eliminating process variation. Finally we were all invited to break out into groups of six for some practical activity. We were asked to stretch out an arm and rest a light cane across our six outstretched fore-fingers. Sounds an easy process, but then we were asked to lower the cane to the floor whilst keeping the cane horizontal and without losing contact with our fingers. Try it! In conclusion, Six Sigma may not be for us all. It does require commitment and investment in the training of staff, and so carries a cost. However, it is also a proven technique that delivers a good pay back when applied correctly. Derrick Scott, MIOM and Nick Rose, MIOM Related Topics:
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