Six Sigma Module 1.2

What actions should a Six Sigma team take to ensure their project remains aligned with organizational goals?

Continuously assess whether the project is meeting targets and is aligned with goals; Keep the executive and company leadership involved and informed about the project

Match organizational perspectives to examples of their associated balanced scorecard metrics.

Customer retention and satisfaction (customer); Throughput (internal business process);, Extent of knowledge sharing (learning and growth); Net income (financial)

In which examples is there interaction between two or more business processes?

Data from the sales team is used to establish goals for the product development team; Staff in product development tell those creating the products exactly how the products should function

Which questions should you ask to determine if your organization is ready to adopt Six Sigma?

Is change a critical business need now, based on bottom-line, cultural, or competitive needs?; Are our current improvement approaches and change management structures sufficient?

What are the characteristics of a good metric?

It is practical in terms of reflecting on-the-job reality; It is linked directly to an organizational performance goal; It is easy to collect and use

Drag the key developments in the evolution of continuous improvement methodologies so they are in the correct sequence.

Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle Statistical process control (SPC) Quality circles TMQ The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence

Label each example of a Six Sigma metric according to the type of metric it represents. Metric types may match to more than one example.

Productivity (input over output) -- Operations Defect Rates-- Process ROE-- Business Earnings per Share--Business Employee Satisfaction--Operations Cycle Time--Process

Organizations that implement Six Sigma experience many benefits.What are some of these benefits?

Six Sigma executes strategic change to move the company forward; Six Sigma accelerates the rate of process improvement within an organization; Six Sigma promotes the sharing of learned skills and knowledge between people and departments

What is the relationship between the transfer function and Six Sigma?

Six Sigma professionals always strive to find the vital few variables that have the greatest impact on processes; Six Sigma provides a structured process for analyzing the cause-and-effect relationships between variables

What impact did continuous improvement methodologies have on the evolution of Six Sigma?

Six Sigma uses many of the tools recommended by TQM; DMAIC is based on the PDCA improvement cycle; Using statistics to control processes originated with SPC

Which statements describe characteristics of Six Sigma?

The steps of the process are Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control; Six Sigma methodology aims to reduce process variation

How was the evolution of Six Sigma impacted by continuous improvement methodologies?

The use of quality circles in Japan influenced the use of independent teams in Six Sigma; Re-engineering, TQM, and ISO 9000 all advocate a process-oriented approach to organizing for quality

Match the pioneers of Six Sigma to the contributions they made.

Was instrumental in the development of TQM theory -- Joseph Juran Described reducing errors in a process in terms of deviation from the mean (Sigma) -- Walter Shewhart Coined the term "company-wide quality control" (CWQC) -- Kaoru Ishikawa Was instrumental in developing quality engineering techniques that reduce cycle time -- Genichi Taguchi Wrote the "Seven Deadly Diseases of Management" -- W. Edwards Deming

You're considering whether an upcoming project, which is linked closely to organizational goals and has high priority, is appropriate for Six Sigma. What questions should you ask?

Would we use DFSS or DMAIC as the methodology?; Are any of the team members Six Sigma Green or Black Belts?

What company attributes reflect key business drivers?

Your company is able to keep resource costs low while still achieving its strategic goals; The superior quality of your products creates high demand among affluent consumers