The objective of DMAIC by phases:

Example of Six Sigma tools in each phase in DMAIC:

Six Sigma in DMAIC is not only concentrated at the technical aspect as mentioned above. During the implementation of a Six Sigma project, official documentation also required. Project Charter for instance, needs to be constructed before the project kick off. Below is an example of Six Sigma Project Charter:

Obviously, Six Sigma not only emphasize on the technicality but also in the project management. With the project charter, the whole lot relate with the project will be documented with signatures from concern parties as shown in the “Project Initiation Sign Off” of the project charter.

Once a Black Belt or Green Belt completed the Six Sigma project, 1 year audit plan is an obligation. The purposes of the audit are to ensure the control plan is executed accordingly and also to compute the actual saving in monthly basis that is gained from the project optimization effort.

With the combination of Six Sigma’s technical and management approach, many organization that really look into Six Sigma in a stern mode, gained a lot, not only the economic value it bring into the organization but also it helps to cultivate the mindset of people in the organization for a good way of problem solving.

]]> http://leanapplied.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1278 http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1274 http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1274#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:30:00 +0000 azrin http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1274

Ideally, we want information on the entire population. Since, this is not always possible or economically viable, we use statistics. Statistics enable us to take a sample from the population and estimate certain characteristics about the whole population; this is the meaning of inferential statistics.

When describing a frequency distribution, the most basic concepts are the location or central tendency, and the variation or dispersion.

In general, static statistics provide you with a snapshot of the situation. This enable us to describe the situation in a meaningful way, in other word, static statistics plays the role as descriptive statistic. There are two important measures of location and variation which are the mean and the standard deviation.

Measures of location allow us to estimate the central tendency of the population. There are three principal estimators, the arithmetic mean, the median, and the mode. The mode is mainly used for data coming from a nominal scale of measure and represents the most frequently observed measurement in the sample. The median represents the middle point in the observed ranked data points and is not influenced by extreme values. It is used for data coming from an ordinal, interval or ratio scale of measure. The mean (or average) is the most common measure because it considers all of the values of a distribution.

Measures of variation allow us to estimate the deviation or the variance of the population. There are three principle estimators, the sample standard deviation, the variance, and the range. The range is the simplest measure and is most effective for a small amount of data. The variance and the standard deviation are more precise and representative of the data in a sample than the range.

The variance is the average of the sum of squares. It is an overall indication of the variation in our data points. However, it is difficult to interpret because it is not in the same units of measure as the sample points. To standardize the unit of measure, we take the square root of this value. This value is known as the standard deviation, one of the most important measures of variation. The standard deviation is a ruler that describes the variation. The size of the standard deviation represents the distance between the point of inflection and the mean. This measure will also allow us to evaluate our process capability.

By calculating static statistics, it is possible to determine how well a process performs on a given point in time. The static probability that a characteristic will exceed its performance limits can be estimated with statistical distributions. The probability of defect can be estimated for a discrete characteristic with the Binomial or Poisson distribution. Distributions such as the Normal curve or bell curve, can be used to estimate whether a continuous characteristic falls below or above the specification limits or standards. The standard normal deviate or “Z” is a useful tool to define probability of defect for a process.

To improve process capability, the amount of static variation in a characteristic can be reduced by identifying and controlling the vital few variables which control the mean or the variation.

Static statistics can be calculated with Minitab software.

]]> http://leanapplied.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1267 http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1263 http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1263#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:55:26 +0000 azrin http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1263

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Training Calendar Training Calendar 2010 Visit Our 3rd Annual Lean Six Sigma Summit Gala Dinner, Xin Cuisine Concorde Hotel Shah Alam Encouraging Results Due to Government Transformation Programme, says Mukhriz - Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia SHAH ALAM, July 27 2010 (Bernama) — The government is sensitive to the plight of Malaysians and encouraging results are beginning to trickle in due to the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said Tuesday. The GTP which was launched last year outlines key focus areas like enhancing the overall business climate in Malaysia, fighting corruption, improving public infrastructure, streamlining government procedures and strengthening Malaysia’s education system, Mukhriz said. He said this at the Third Annual Lean Six Sigma Summit on “Internalising Innovation and Performance Excellence in Alignment with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)” organised by Sirim Training Services Sdn Bhd and Lean Applied Sdn Bhd. >>read more Mukhriz: Encouraging Results Due to Government Transformation Programme - Malaysian Digest SHAH ALAM, 27 JULY, 2010: The government is sensitive to the plight of Malaysians and encouraging results are beginning to trickle in due to the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said today. The GTP which was launched last year outlines key focus areas like  enhancing the overall business climate in Malaysia, fighting corruption, improving public infrastructure, streamlining government procedures and strengthening Malaysia’s education system, Mukhriz said. He said this at the Third Annual Lean Six Sigma Summit on “Internalising Innovation and Performance Excellence in Alignment with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)” organised by Sirim Training Services Sdn Bhd and Lean Applied Sdn Bhd. >>read more Encouraging Results Due To Government Transformation Programme, Says Mukhriz - Bernama SHAH ALAM, July 27 (Bernama) — The government is sensitive to the plight of Malaysians and encouraging results are beginning to trickle in due to the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said Tuesday. The GTP which was launched last year outlines key focus areas like enhancing the overall business climate in Malaysia, fighting corruption, improving public infrastructure, streamlining government procedures and strengthening Malaysia’s education system, Mukhriz said. He said this at the Third Annual Lean Six Sigma Summit on “Internalising Innovation and Performance Excellence in Alignment with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)” organised by Sirim Training Services Sdn Bhd and Lean Applied Sdn Bhd >>read more Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Session The Champion or Sponsor is the person(s) who is accountable for and authorizes Six Sigma project(s). Champion act as the “Vision Communicator” manages Six Sigma deployment at the “actionable level”. They are responsible for selecting Six Sigma projects that have clear views to the organization’s objectives. Their involvement in project team chartering, reviews progress, help remove Organizational Barriers to project success, are crucial in deploying Six Sigma successfully. Date : 16th August 2010 Read more

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This is a typical question that I received. The answer is, it depends. If you want to compare the mean of 2 distributions by using 2 sample-T (if it is independent), than you have no other choice, you must transform the distributions so that they become normally distributed. Then you can proceed with 2 Sample-T tests. T-test, ANOVA, Z-test are all using the distributions mean for comparison purpose. But mean can only represent the center of a distribution if the distribution is normally distributed. But if your distribution is not normally distributed and you wanted to proceed with centering study without data transformation, then you can use non-parametric tests. Below is the equivalent list of parametric tests and non-parametric tests

The non-parametric tests mentioned above are using median as the center of tendency, and median is robust towards skewed distributions.

However, if you still insist to go for Sample-T test or ANOVA without any data transformation take place even though the distributions are not normal, you need to increase more data. This is based on Center Limit Theorem.

Sigma is a Greek letter used to express variation. There are 2 types of variation; SPECIAL CAUSE and COMMON CAUSE. A special cause effect is something that we need to eliminate in our process, where else special cause effect is something that cannot be eliminate but can only be minimized. Since 6 sigma is concentrating on eliminating the special cause and minimizing the common cause, yet the variations of the common cause still exist in the system or in other word, it is inherit by the system. Thus that is the reason why, even though a process is entitled as 6 sigma processes, yet it is not 100% perfect.

But it is really worth it to embark on 6 sigma methodology to improve a process cause with the minimum level of variation, obviously a process is able to satisfy the customer in the aspects of delivery on time, products or services sold at affordable price to the customer (since lower rework rate during manufacturing that directly improve the operation cost) and also a nearly perfect reliable products or services can be delivered to the customer.

Other than that, an organization that embraces 6 sigma, they will gain soft skill benefits. Their employees will be more mature in making decision, where they are able to make decision to some extend of confident level, resulted from the hypothesis tools used, they can even work in more structure way in solving any routine jobs related problem, they will appreciate their process more, because they study the data thus they know the Voice Of Process better.

]]> http://leanapplied.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1236 http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1227 http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1227#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:07:06 +0000 azrin http://leanapplied.com/blog/?p=1227

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July Public Program Quality Functional Deployment Date : 1st July 2010 Read more Lean for Higher management Date : 5th July 2010 Read more Basic Minitab Training Date : 5th July 2010 Read more Lean Six Sigma Awareness Date : 7th July 2010 Read more Lean Six Sigma for Higher Management Date : 8th July 2010 Read more Lean for Executives This workshop is to expose executive personal on the benefit of doing Lean for their own organization. They will also see Lean as the most important continuous improvement tools for them. Participants will be exposed to lean about this proven methodology and how it can bring competitive advantages including lower production costs, higher profit, superior quality, shorter order-to-delivery time, greater flexibility, and improved response to changing client demand. They will look at the best Lean tools and practices that would appropriately applicable to their own environment. They will see how they will contribute Date : 12th July 2010 Read more Six sigma(DMAIC) via Sigma XL Improve the time required for quality statistical analysis training by learning to navigate SigmaXL’s windows quickly and structure data properly. Learn how to use and interpret SigmaXL graphs, including histograms, and plots. Assess the normality of your data using graphs & basic statistics, such as measures of center & spread. Gauge your measurement using statistical method to ensure repeatability and reproducibility. Date : 14th July 2010 Read more Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Session A 20-day program spread over four months. The class is held once every week per month for four months. By learning to define critical to quality characteristics (CTQ’s), participants will be able to focus on “closing the value gaps” that exist within the business, operations and process levels of an organization. This in turn will create the source of financial gains as well as creating value for both the company and its customers. Examples are provided for both transactional (commercial) and non-transactional (industrial) areas allowing a Black Belts to apply their knowledge across divisional boundaries within all industries. Black belts are at the core of every Lean Six Sigma implementation, considered as the Improvement Specialist, Change Agent and primarily as project leaders. Date : 19th July 2010 Read more Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Session Green Belts are one of the critical key elements of every Lean Six Sigma implementation. As part time ambassador (typically ranges from 20% to 50% of the current workload), they also lead project teams in their specific functional field, support Black Belt functions, and act as cultural change agents within the organization. Green Belt is focused on “closing the value gaps” that exist within their business and operations area. In addition to that Green Belts act as project supporters, Date : 29th July 2010 Read more

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