What is the methodology behind Six Sigma?

This article will discuss Six Sigma, and the methodology that is behind Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a quality control and management methodology and approach that should be seriously studied and considered by any business manager or owner. If you are thinking about implementing quality management tools in your business, you will run across six sigma, so you should know everything that you can about it before you make a decision whether or not you want to use a six sigma approach yourself.
Six Sigma is a management approach and methodology that was developed by Motorola in the 1980s. One of the main differences behind six sigma and other quality management tools and methodologies, like TQM, is that six sigma defines quality based on the customer's definition of quality and the customer's perception of the value of your products and processes. Six sigma strives to improve customer satisfaction with your company's processes, products, and services by finding, analyzing, reducing, and finally getting rid of defects and variation in your processes. By increasing customer satisfaction through decreasing defects, your company or any company that uses six sigma can increase profitability.

Underlying the six sigma approach is a way of viewing a business statistically, an approach called statistical thinking. In statistical thinking, the following three observations are seen as cardinal rules: 1. Everything is a process. 2. Any and all processes will have variability. It's unavoidable. 3. To understand the variability, data must be gathered, analyzed, and understood. This data will be the main consideration when discussing and deciding how to improve processes.
Now that we know the basic approach that is the foundation of six sigma, let's move on to the general methodology that underlies the six sigma approach. The framework that six sigma uses to improve processes is called DMAIC. DMAIC stands for:
1. Define the process. Where does this particular process begin? Where does it end? What is its purpose and its ultimate goal? 2. Measure the process and the data. 3. Analyze the data gathered from different departments, different parts of the process, anywhere and everywhere something happens that concerns this process. 4. Improve the process by analyzing the data and collaborating on finding a solution that will reduce defects and variability. 5. Control the process. Constantly reevaluate the process and whether or not it is continuing to perform at the level that you want to see.
The first step of this DMAIC process-Define-is one of the differences between six sigma and other quality management approaches. When you initiate the six sigma process and start to analyze a process, when you go through the Define step, you will take the actual process itself and break it into subgroups and subprocesses. Then you will define particular goals to be met for each subprocess. Once you have come up with goals for each subprocess, then you will work to establish an infrastructure that will help you reach those goals. The Define step also requires a thorough evaluation of the organization and the culture of your business and works to change that culture in any way that is necessary to help reduce and hopefully eventually eliminate defects and variability. After you Define the process, then the next steps are brought in so that the processes defined-and their defects-can be worked on in a way that will eventually help you reach your larger business goals that you have already set. Six sigma requires a pretty hefty financial investment, but it must be remembered that six sigma is not a quick fix one time only approach to quality improvement. Six sigma is a complete transformation of the way tat your company does business, and when viewed that way, can be a successful and meaningful way to increase both customer satisfaction and profitability.

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