Six sigma

Lessons
in

Six Sigma

Lessons
in

Six Sigma
Truths 72 Must-know Truths for Managers

Debashis Sarkar

Response Books A division of Sage Publications New Delhi l Thousand Oaks l London

Copyright © Debashis Sarkar, 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recordingor by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 2004 by

Response Books A division of Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave New Delhi 110 017 Sage Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 Sage Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP

Published by TejeshwarSingh for Response Books, typeset in 10.5 pts Palatino by Innovative Processors, New Delhi, and printed at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sarkar, Debashis. Lessons in Six Sigma: 72 must-know truths for managers/ Debashis Sarkar. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Total quality management. 2. Quality circles. 3. Six sigma (Quality control standard) 4.Project management—Quality control. 5. Industrial management. I. Title. HD62.15.S26 2004 658.4¢013—dc22 2004003805 Six Sigma is a registered trademark of Motorola, Inc. ISBN: 0-7619–9843–8 (US-PB) 81–7829–367–6 (India-PB)

Production Team: Roshni Basu, R.A.M. Brown and Santosh Rawat

In the memory of my late father Shri. Subhendu Sarkar Who led a life of Six Sigma Excellence. This book isdedicated to the following people who worked silently to make me a better human being Fr Joseph Lombart Dr R K Patel Mr Ashok Mittal

Contents

Preface Lesson 1 Six Sigma is a structured problem-solving methodology which is a powerful lever for business improvement Lesson 2 It’s the CEO and only the CEO who can make Six Sigma successful in an organization Lesson 3 Take the members of the seniormanagement team on board with a champions workshop Lesson 4 Precede Six Sigma deployment with an organizational assessment Lesson 5 Create a deployment platoon for the execution of Six Sigma projects Lesson 6 The responsibility for the success of Six Sigma projects lies with the champions

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Lesson 7 Improvement with Six Sigma entails finding and working withcritical X’s in a process Lesson 8 Build solid infrastructure pillars to support Six Sigma in the organization Lesson 9 Appoint a marketing manager for selling and marketing Six Sigma as a product to the employees of the company Lesson 10 The quality council should drive Six Sigma Implementation across the organization Lesson 11 Bolster Six Sigma projects with a solid Review Framework Lesson 12Becoming a master Black Belt requires a practical demonstration of adeptness in coaching, teaching, facilitation, consulting and mentoring Lesson 13 When hiring a Consultant for Six Sigma deployment, ensure that all laid down criteria are met Lesson 14 Beware of the Consultant who gives a Proposal to improve an Organizational
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42Business Process all by itself, without the involvement of employees Lesson 15 Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of Six Sigma teams Lesson 16 The composition of the Six Sigma project team is critical to its success Lesson 17 During the First Year of Six Sigma implementation, focus of deployment should be on Value and not Volume Lesson 18 Appoint a Dashboard Manager who is entrusted with theresponsibility of tracking process metrics Lesson 19 Six sigma deployment should precede with the identification of Core Business Processes Lesson 20 Do not take up Improvement Projects in the cafeteria during the early days of Six Sigma journey Lesson 21 Black Belts should not carry out small improvement projects (read: Green Belt projects) in the garb of those being Black Belt projects...