Thursday, February 7, 2008

The term Six Sigma-Definition

This article explains a few things about Six Sigma, the term, and if you're interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don't know.

See how much you can learn about Six Sigma, the term when you take a little time to read a well-researched article? Don't miss out on the rest of this great information.

We have all heard of the term sigma which is a Greek alphabet letter used to describe variability. Defects per Million Operations or DPMO are the common measurement in Six Sigma, the term. This may include anything from a component, piece of material or line of code, to an administrative form, time frame or distance. When you apply a sigma quality level it is meant to indicate how often defects are likely to occur. A higher sigma quality level is supposed to indicate a process that is likely to create defects. The function of Six Sigma, the term in an organization varies with its quality level. As the sigma level of quality increases, the product reliability improves.

Six Sigma reduces or even diminishes the need for testing and inspection. The work in progress wanes and the cycle time also goes down with the costs while the customer satisfaction goes up. There are two perspectives of Six Sigma, the term. There is the short-term and the long-term process capabilities. The short term process of Six Sigma, the term is classified as defective if the desired measurement, denoted by X, is outside the customer-supplier specification limit (USL). The same occurs if the desired measurement denoted by X is outside the lower specification limit (LSL).

The customer needs to specify a target value besides specifying the USL and the LSL. This will typically be the midpoint between the USL and the LSL. The long term process capability of Six Sigma, the term shifts and drift in the mean of the distribution of a component value happens due to the nature of the process. This occurs for a number of reasons just like the changes that occur in other parameters of the distribution. If you were to think then lets say tool wear is one source of a gradual drift, differences in raw material or change of suppliers can also cause shifts in the distribution. There is a solution provided by D.H. Evans that focuses on high production rates and low cost components.

The solution suggests that one should use 1.5 as the standard deviation to calculate the percentage of out of tolerance responses. The data driven management philosophy developed uses the Six Sigma, the term for eliminating defects, waste and quality-control problems in manufacturing. The primary idea behind this process is that if one can identify the defects and measure them in order to systematically determine how to eliminate them. The breakup of Six Sigma, the term is into two different processes. One is the Six Sigma DMADV that defines, measures, analyzes, designs and verifies new processes or products aiming to achieving a target. The Six Sigma DMAIC is the process that defines, measures, analyzes, improves and controls existing processes that fall below the six sigma specification. It is one of the most popular business improvement and strategy tools in the market today.

The professionals carry out the Six Sigma processes.They are either Six Sigma green Belts or Six Sigma Black Belts. The Black Belts suggestively have more expertise than in the Six Sigma process.

Take time to consider the points presented above. What you learn may help you overcome your hesitation to take action.

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