Six Sigma Terms (Chapters 1 - 8)

Key Objective

'Critical few' goals that an individual needs to focus on in performing his/her job.

SDSA Model

(Standardize-Do-Study-Act). Model that helps employees standardize a process. Includes 4 steps: (1) Standardize: Employees study the process and develop best practices methods with key indicators of process performance. (2) Do: Employees conduct planned experiments using the best practice methods on a trial basis. (3) Study: Employees collect and analyze data on the key indicators do determine the effectiveness of the best practice methods. (4) Act: Managers establish standardized best practice methods and formalize them through training.

Binary Key Indicator

(Yes / No by Date) Used when a key indicator monitors whether an action has been accomplished by a given date.

Master Black Belt

A Six Sigma professional who takes on a leadership role of keeper of the Six Sigma process and advisor to executives or business unit managers, and mentor to projects led by Black Belts and Green Belts. Has successfully supervised two or more Black Belts while leading at least two Six Sigma projects that led to dramatic revenue enhancements or cost reductions in their organization.

Decrease Project or Task

A Six Sigma project that tries to get the value of a key indicator to be X units or Y percentage points lower than the current value of the key indicator.

One-way Kano Category (O)

A cognitive image in which user satisfaction is proportional to the performance of the feature; the lower the performance, the lower the user satisfaction, and the higher the performance, the higher the user satisfaction.

Black Belt

A full-time change agent and improvement leader who ma not be an expert in the process under study. A Black Belt is an individual who possesses a deep understanding of statistical methods and has successfully led two or more Six Sigma projects that have led to dramatic quality improvements and cost reductions.

Green Belt Certification

A green belt is an individual who understands statistical methods and is a member of one or more Six Sigma process improvement teams. Is not sufficiently trained to lead a complex Six Sigma process improvement team, bu is trained to lead a simple project. Has passed the Green Belt and Champion examinations, and has successfully led a Six Sigma Project.

Process Sigma

A measure of the process performance determined by using DPMO and a stable normal distribution. Process sigma is a metric that allows for process performance comparisons across processes, assuming all comparison are made from stable processes whose output follows the normal distribution.

Task

A process improvement activity in which the necessary process change is known by the Process Owner but he or she has not yet had an opportunity to effectuate the process change.

Marketing Mix

A unique combination of a version of the product or service; a pricing structure; a promotional strategy; and a place or distribution strategy.

Defective

A unit that does not meet specification limits. It is a nonconforming unit.

Lead and Heavy User Characteristics by Market Segment Matrix

Aids management in identifying the characteristics of lead and heavy users, the market segments for regular users, and the names and addresses of lead and heavy users in each feasible cell of the matrix.

Factorial Designs

An experimental design in which more than one factor (X) is examined simultaneously to determine the effect on a CTQ.s

Reverse Kano Category (R)

Cognitive Image in which a user offers responses opposite the response expected by individuals conducting the Kano survey.

Indifferent Kano Category (I)

Cognitive image in which a user does not care about the feature.

Questionable Kano category (Q)

Cognitive image in which a user's response does not make sense.

Attractive Kano Category (A)

Cognitive image in which user satisfaction is not proportional to the performance of the feature; low levels of performance create feelings of indifference to the feature, but high levels of performance create feelings of delight to the feature.

Must-be Kano Category (M)

Cognitive image in which user satisfaction is not proportional to the performance of the feature; the lower the performance, the lower the user satisfaction, but high performance creates feelings of indifference to the feature.

Process

Collection of interacting components that transform inputs into outputs towards a common aim, called a mission statement.

Quality (old definition)

Conformance to valid customer requirements. Led to Goalpost view of quality.

Lead Users

Consumers of a product, service, or process who are months or ears ahead of regular users in their use of item and will benefit greatly by an improvement or innovation of the item.

Heavy User

Consumers who purchase relatively large quantities of a product, service or process.

Measurement Data

Continuous data represent a characteristic of a product, process, or service. Results from a measurement taken on an item or person of interest.

Six Sigma Management (technical)

Creates processes that are twice as good as the customer demands so that if the process mean shifts by 1.5 standard deviations it will not generate more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

Critical to Quality (CTQ)

Critical to Quality Characteristic for a product, service, or process; measure of what is important to customers. Six Sigma projects are designed to improve one or more CTQs.

Defects per million opportunities (DPMO)

DPO multiplied by 1 million

Cognitive Images

Detailed, unambiguous, qualitative statements of needs and wants in the language of design engineers that are translations from focus points (users' underlying and unexpressed needs and wants.

Voice of the Process (VoP)

Distribution of measurements of the outputs from a process over time.

Voice of the Customer (VoC)

Domain of characteristics of a product, service, or process that is included within the lower specification limit and upper specification limit.

Defect Opportunity

Each circumstance in which a CTQ can fail to be met. There may be many opportunities for defect within a defined unit.

Full Factorial Designs

Experimental design used when researchers want to understand all interactions between the high-risk Xs necessary to optimize the CTQ or when are only a few Xs to be studied in the experiment.

Taguchi Loss Function

Explains relationship between cost and variation (deviation from nominal) within the specification limits for a characteristic of a product, service, or process.

Continuous Improvement View of Quality

Expresses view that it is always economical to reduce variation and center a process on nominal, absent capital investment.

ISO 9000 and ISO 14000

Families of standards that are among ISO's most widely known and successful standards. ISO 9000 has become an international reference for quality requirements in business-to-business dealings, and ISO 14000 appears set to achieve at least as much, if not more, in helping organizations to meet their environmental challenges.

DMAIC Model

Five phase model: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. Utilized in Six Sigma management to move from the existing system to the revised system. Is an alternative to the SDSA and PDSA models.

Strategic Objective

Goals that must be accomplished to pursue the presidential strategy of an organization. Its purpose is to use decreased within strata variation to reduce sample size.

Business Objective

Goals that must be routinely pursued within an organization if it is to function (making paper in a paper mill; answering calls in a call center)

Project Scope

Identifies the boundaries of the Six Sigma project.

Product Related Data

Identities the current expectations and perceptions of lead users and heavy users. Product-related data is useful for improving existing products, services, or processes.

Process Improvement Key Objectives

Include: 1) consistency and uniformity of output; 2) high productivity; 3) products, services, and processes that exceed the needs and wants of current and future stakeholders; 4) products, services, and processes that are easy to create and of low cost to provide; 5) products and services that meet technical specifications; 6) products and services that do not incur warranty costs; and 7) products that are easy to distribute throughout the channels of distribution.

Goalpost View of Quality

Individual unit of product or service is considered to possess good quality if it is at or inside the upper and lower specification limits

Yellow Belt

Individual who is aware of the theory and practice of Six Sigma and can provide support to team members (e.g. data collection), but is not sufficiently trained in statistical methods to perform the duties of a Si Sigma team member. Has passed the Green Belt certification but has not completed a Six Sigma Project.

Control Phase (DMAIC)

Involves avoiding potential problems with the Xs with risk management and mistake proofing, standardizing successful system revisions, controlling the critical Xs, documenting each control plan, and turning the revised system over to the system owner.

Improve Phase (DMAIC)

Involves designing experiments to understand the relationship between the CTQs and Xs, determining the levels of critical Xs that optimize the CTQs, developing action plans to formalize the level of Xs that optimize the CTQs, and conducting a pilot test of the revised system.

Measure Phase (DMAIC)

Involves developing operational definitions for each CTQ, performing studies to determine the validity of the measurement procedure for each CTQ, and establishing baseline capabilities for each CTQ.

Analyze Phase (DMAIC)

Involves identifying the upstream variables (Xs) for each CTQ using a flowchart. Upstream variables are the factors that affect the performance of CTQ. Additionally, the analyze phase involves operationally defining each X, collecting baseline data for each X, performing studies to determine the validity of the measurement systems for each X, establishing baseline capabilities for each X, and understanding the effect of each X on CTQ.

Define Phase (DMAIC)

Involves preparing a business charter (rationale for the project), understanding the relationships between Suppliers-Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers (SIPOC analysis), and analyzing VoC data to identify CTQs characteristics important to customers and to develop a project objective.

Unit

Item (e.g. product or component, service or service step, or time period) to be studied with a Six Sigma project.

List Key Indicator

Key indicator that monitors a list of people or items for compliance to some deadline or standard.

Feedback Loop

Key indicator that relates information about outputs from any stage or stages back to another stage or stages to make analysis of the process.

Measurement Key Indicator

Key indicator using measurement type data over time.

Upper specification limit (USL)

Largest acceptable value for a CTQ or X.

Tollgate

Management review by a Process Owner and a Champion at the end of each phase of the DMAIC model.

Standard Deviation

Measure of variation around the arithmetic mean

Key Indicators

Measurement that monitors the status of a key objective.

PDSA Model

Method used by employees to improve and/or innovate a process by reducing the difference between customers' needs and process performance. Consists of 4 stages: Plan, Do, Study, and Act. Initially, a revised flow chart is developed to improve or innovate a standardized best practice method (plan). The revised flowchart (plan) is tested using an experiment on a small-scale or trial basis (do). The effects of the revised flowchart are studied suing measurements from key indicators (study). Finally, if the study phase generated positive results, the revised flowchart is inserted into training manuals, and all relevant personnel are trained in the revised methods (act). If the study phase generated negative results, the revised flowchart is abandoned, and a new plan is developed by employees. THE PDSA cycle continues forever in an uphill progression of never-ending improvement.

Nominal Value

Nominal value for a quality characteristic (CTQ or X) is its target or desired value.

Defect

Non-conformance on one of many possible quality characteristics of a unit that causes customer dissatisfaction

Yield

Number of units within a specification divided by the total number of units. (a probability)

Attribute Data

Occurs when an item is either classified into two or more categories (e.g. defective or conforming) or is used as an area of opportunity to count occurrences of a phenomenon (e.g. number of defects per item)

Financial Key Objective

Organizational objectives that focus on the financial health of an organization. They include management and stockholder's desire for more profit, market share, dominance, and growth, and the desire for less waste, turnover, financial loss, and customer defection.

Flowchart

Pictorial representation of the decisions, steps and their interrelationships in a process.

Circumstantial Data

Presents emotions, images, and circumstances that come to mind for lead and heavy users when they think about a product, service, or process. Useful for identifying major new features of existing products, services, or processes, or for creating entirely new products, services, or processes.

Project

Process improvement activity in which the necessary process change is unknown by the Process Owner. Generally, the Process Owner and Champion forms a Six Sigma project team to identify and test the necessary process change.

Rolled Throughput Yield (RTY)

Product of the yields from each step in a process, if all the steps are independent of each other. The probability of a unit passing through all k steps of a process and incurring no defects.

Zero Project or Task

Project or task in which the ideal value of a key indicator is zero or the optimal difference between the current value and the ideal value of a key indicator is zero.

Increase Project or Task

Project or task in which the ideal value of the key indicator is X units or Y percentage points higher than current value of the key indicator.

Senior Executive

Provides the impetus, direction, and alignment necessary for Six Sigma's ultimate success in an organization.

Quality (modern definition)

Quality is a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability, at low cost and suited to the market.

Defects per Opportunity (DPO)

Refers to the number of defects divided by the number of defect opportunities.

Six Sigma Management (nontechnical)

Relentless and rigorous pursuit of the reduction of variation in all critical processes to achieve continuous and breakthrough improvements that impact the bottom and or top line of the organization and increase customer satisfaction.

Gantt Chart

Simple Scheduling matrix that plots tasks and subtasks against Time. Indicates which tasks are on or behind schedule.

SIPOC Analysis

Simple tool for identifying the Suppliers and their Inputs into a Process, the high-level steps of a process, the Outputs of the process, and the Customer segments interested in the outputs.

Lower Specification Limit (LSL)

Smallest acceptable value for a CTQ or X.

Mission Statement

Statement presenting the reason for an organization to exist.

Champion

Take a very active sponsorship and leadership role in conducting and implementing Six Sigma projects. Is an individual who is aware of the theory and practice of Six Sigma project teams while able to adequately review projects, remove impediments, and secure adequate resources and support.

Brainstorming

Technique o elicit a large number of ideas from a team using its collective thinking power.

Mistake proofing

Technique used to create "robustness" for the optimized settings of Xs; such that the optimized settings of Xs are not susceptible to human error

Market Segmentation

The Division of a market into homogeneous subsets of customers where any subset may conceivably be selected as a target market to be reached with a distinct marketing mix.

Dependent Variables

The Y, or response variable, in a designed experiment

Process Owner

The manager of a process and has the authority to change the process.

Dashboard

Tool used by management to clarify and assign accountability for the 'critical few' key objectives, key indicators, and project/tasks needed to steer an organization towards its mission statement.

Flag Diagram

Tool used to track the contributions of subordinate key objectives to the pursuit of a superior key objective.

Executive Committee

Top management of an organization.

Focus Points

Underlying themes for one or more circumstantial data points. Team members determine the focus point for each key circumstantial data point or group of key circumstantial data points using an affinity diagram. Focus points are the initial statements of the CTQs.

Quality Project Tracking (QPT) System

Used by a master Black Belt to spread improvements and innovations throughout an organization.

Risk Management

Used to identify the risk elements of the proposed settings of the Xs

Affinity Diagram

Used to organize verbal and pictorial data consisting of facts pinions, intuition, an experience into natural clusters tat bring out the latent structure of the problem under study.

Gantt Chart Key Indicators

Used when a key indicator is a record-keeping device for following the progression in time of the task required to complete a project

Attribute key indicator

Used when a key objective is being monitored using attribute data (classification or count data) over time

Special Variation

Variation in a process due to external forces.

Common Variation

Variation in a process due to the process itself, e.g. variation due to policies and procedures.

WIP

Work in Progess

Green Belt

Works on projects part time (25%), either as a team member for complex projects or as a project leader for simple projects.

International Standards Organization (ISO)

World's largest developer of technical standards. Its principal activity is the development of technical standards.

Independent Variable

Xs, or factors in a designed experiment that may or may not affect a CTQ

Run

a consecutive series of similar items that are preceded or followed by items of a different type

Run Test

a statistical test that determines whether a particular sequence has a random pattern

Defects per Unit (DPU)

refers to the average of all the defects for a given number of units, that is, the total number of defects for n units divided by n, the number of units