by Roderick A. Munro, Ph.D.
Editor's note: The material in this article was adapted from the author's book Six Sigma for the Shop Floor: A Pocket Guide (ASQ Quality Press, 2002).
Typically when you think about Six Sigma deployment within an organization, you think of Black Belts supported by Green Belts, with the Black Belts doing the majority of the analytical work and heavy-duty problem solving. This involves the sometimes-extensive upfront cost of training, hiring or renting Black Belts, which cuts into the Six Sigma project cost savings and stretches out the return on investment. But a growing trend for organizations new to Six Sigma is one that saves more money in the first year of implementation than has typically been achieved by the traditional approach of training Black Belts first: Train the Green Belts first (two to three years before you even consider if you need any Black Belts), and have the Champions lead, coach and direct the teams. Because Green Belt projects take less time and training preparation, projects can be started earlier and many more projects can be completed annually.
Most organizations implementing Six Sigma initially have a great deal of waste that is easily recovered using Six Sigma methodologies. These efficiencies don't typically require the advanced skills of a Black Belt. Green Belts are often able to grab this low-hanging fruit and save the company money at much lower initial investment. This newer approach allows the organization the opportunity to grow the Six Sigma methodology within its culture and gives managers the opportunity to learn and use statistical techniques that they probably didn't learn in their management training or formal schooling. As Six Sigma projects mature, the organization can decide whether or not to invest in Black Belts.
As with any Six Sigma implementation, you need a road map on how to proceed. This is particularly true when the organization is new to Six Sigma and doesn't have any seasoned Black Belts to lead the charge. The following describes one way to get your Six Sigma projects off and running, and the necessary skills that your Green Belts will need to pull it off.
Six Sigma is all about collecting data on a process and using those data to analyze and interpret what's happening so the process can be improved to satisfy the customer. Most training uses the define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) model, but just using this model may not give you the lasting results that you're seeking. You need to study your organization's culture and establish a road map for continual improvement that will become a part of what everyone does in your company.
Let's look at some of the tools, skills and/or attributes that will be needed to accomplish this goal. Your organization should modify these as needed to fit with your culture and management planning, goals and direction.
If you don't know how a process is truly performing or even if it's stable, you won't be able to sustain any changes that you make. Preparation for any continual improvement effort should always start with studying the process and working to ensure that the process is stable. Remember that the only means to demonstrate stability is through the use of control charts, sometimes called process-behavior charts. You might start by using some run charts to get a sense of how processes are running and then add control limits to those that you feel need to be studied. Sometimes, the work done at this point can resolve many of the issues that are faced in manufacturing.
• Skills/knowledge needed: Learn how to create and read control charts and procedures. Use this to spot process variation and its possible causes. For instance, does the variation seem to change depending on which operator or shift is performing a task?
This is more than just creating flowcharts of the process. You must also try to understand what the customer wants and needs. You could conduct a formal quality function deployment (QFD), which translates customer needs into detailed product requirements that are then deployed throughout design, production, marketing and support operations. But simply going to the customer and observing how they use your work can do wonders for your understanding of customer requirements. For example, if you work in an automotive parts company, go to your local dealership and talk with the mechanics who work with the parts that you manufacture.
You could also create a formal quality loss function study at this point. This is Genichi Taguchi's methodology for assigning a financial value to a customer's increasing dissatisfaction if product performance falls below the desired target performance.
Working to reduce the variation that exists in your processes should result in higher customer satisfaction.
• Skills/knowledge needed: Willingness to seek out customers (both internal and external) and talk with them about what they want and need. Also, the ability to create a basic QFD matrix that converts customer desires into engineering terms, as well as the knowledge to work on process variation.
Many organizations have a formal problem-solving process that they have either created for themselves or is required by a customer. Ensure that everyone knows how to use the method and when it should be applied. Six Sigma can then be used at appropriate times to assist in the problem-solving process.
• Skills/knowledge needed: Training and a lot of practice using your organization's problem-solving model to solve actual problems. This can be practical experience in a number of different environments, including at home.
This methodology is well documented. You might consider looking into a pocket guide for team leaders to be used as a reminder of the various tools that can be used at each step in the DMAIC model.
• Skills/knowledge needed: Training and practical application of all the standard tools and processes typically used in basic Six Sigma applications. Your organization is probably already using many of these.
After a process has been improved, how can you ensure that you're retaining the gains? By using a run chart or a control chart, you can monitor the process to watch for slight changes that could signal a shift in what is occurring.
• Skills/knowledge needed: Green Belts should learn control charting by actually creating a handwritten chart on processes over which they have some control. The use of computer programs can hide valuable information.
Operator instructions, process sheets, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and any other local documentation about the process needs to be updated with any new or changed information.
Consider the idea of creating a lessons-learned file, a record of significant problems and resolutions encountered during your project. Use this to share your successes with other people in the organization to see if similar improvements can be made in their areas.
• Skills/knowledge needed: Formal experience with FMEA, control plans, operator instructions, standard operating procedures and so forth. Know how to input, search and retrieve information from the company's lessons-learned databank.
This can be as simple as having management get the team together and sincerely thanking them when a project is completed successfully, or having some kind of formal recognition (pizza still works well in many plants). Heartfelt thanks and kudos are great morale boosters for many individuals.
• Skills/knowledge needed: The ability to work well in a team or individually as the situation directs. Humility and courage to take on the tasks that others may not want or be willing to do. Know how to sincerely thank others for their contributions to projects.
Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) and standardize-do-check-act (SDCA) are derivatives of Walter A. Shewhart's plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. PDSA should be used when reviewing a process for possible improvement ideas, and SDCA should be used to help ensure that the process is stable and maintaining the gains of previous improvement efforts.
• Skills/knowledge needed: An understanding of business and manufacturing processes and the fact that continual improvement is never finished. Know how to use Pareto charts and process auditing to identify areas that should be the next target for a Six Sigma project.
Some may say that DMAIC incorporates all of the above, but many organizations are performing only the basics of DMAIC and not really delving into some of the underlying principles of continual improvement. Regardless, using Green Belts to undertake your initial Six Sigma deployments will save time, training dollars and efforts. At the very least, you'll reach the low-hanging fruit a lot quicker than by using the more traditional four-month Black Belt process.
Roderick A. Munro, Ph.D., is a business improvement coach with RAM Q Universe Inc. and the author of the popular international books Six Sigma for the Shop Floor: A Pocket Guide and Six Sigma for the Office: A Pocket Guide, both from ASQ Quality Press.
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