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Quality Improvement-The Six-Sigma way
Prepared by Shaik Annu Ahmed (9533607434) Page 1
1.Introduction to Six Sigma:
It is important to recall that every customer always values consistent and predicable
services and/or products with near zero defects. Therefore, they experience the variation and not
the mean. Mean is their expectation, and our target.If we can measure process variations that
cause defects i.e. unacceptable deviation from the mean or target, we can work towards
systematically managing the variation to eliminate defects.Six Sigma is a methodology focused
on creating breakthrough improvements by managing variation and reducing defects in processes
across the enterprise.Sigma is a Greek symbol represented by "σ".Why is Six Sigma called Six
Sigma, and not Four or Five Sigma or Eight Alpha (another Greek symbol)? Sigma is a statistical
term that measures process deviation from the process mean or target. Mean is also referred to as
average in common language. The figure of six was arrived statistically by looking at the current
average maturity of most business enterprises. We would like to revise this figure to 8 or may be
9, provided the world becomes a more orderly and predictable (even with increasing entropy or
chaos) place to live in!
1.1. Features of Six-Sigma:
 Six Sigma's aim is to eliminate waste and inefficiency, thereby increasing customer
satisfaction by delivering what the customer is expecting.
 Six Sigma follows a structured methodology, and has defined roles for the participants.
 Six Sigma is a data driven methodology, and requires accurate data collection for the
processes being analyzed.
 Six Sigma is about putting results on Financial Statements.
 Six Sigma is a business-driven, multi-dimensional structured approach for:
o Improving Processes
o Lowering Defects
o Reducing process variability
o Reducing costs
o Increasing customer satisfaction
o Increased profits

The word Sigma is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from
perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma: If you can measure how many "defects" you
have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to
"zero defects" as possible and specifically it means a failure rate of 3.4 parts per million or
99.9997% perfect.
1.2. Key Concepts of Six-Sigma:
At its core, Six Sigma revolves around a few key concepts.
 Critical to Quality: Attributes most important to the customer.
 Defect: Failing to deliver what the customer wants.
 Process Capability: What your process can deliver.
 Variation: What the customer sees and feels.
 Stable Operations: Ensuring consistent, predictable processes to improve what the
customer sees and feels.
 Design for Six Sigma: Designing to meet customer needs and process capability.
Our Customers Feel the Variance, Not the Mean. So Six Sigma focuses first on reducing
process variation and then on improving the process capability.
1.3. Myths about Six-Sigma:
There are several myths and misunderstandings surrounding Six Sigma. Some of them few
are given below:
 Six Sigma is only concerned with reducing defects.
 Six Sigma is a process for production or engineering.
 Six Sigma cannot be applied to engineering activities.
 Six Sigma uses difficult-to-understand statistics.
 Six Sigma is just training.

1.4. Benefits of Six-Sigma:
Six Sigma offers six major benefits that attract companies:
 Generates sustained success
 Sets a performance goal for everyone
 Enhances value to customers
 Accelerates the rate of improvement
 Promotes learning and cross-pollination
 Executes strategic change
1.5. Origin of Six-Sigma:
 Six Sigma originated at Motorola in the early 1980s, in response to achieving 10X
reduction in product-failure levels in 5 years.
 Engineer Bill Smith invented Six Sigma, but died of a heart attack in the Motorola
cafeteria in 1993, never knowing the scope of the craze and controversy he had touched
off.
 Six Sigma is based on various quality management theories (e.g. Deming's 14 point for
management, Juan’s 10 steps on achieving quality).

2.1. Key elements of Six-Sigma:
There are three key elements of Six Sigma Process Improvement:
 Customers
 Processes
 Employees
2.1.1. The Customers
Customers define quality. They expect performance, reliability, competitive prices, on-
time delivery, service, clear and correct transaction processing and more. This means it is
important to provide what the customers need to gain customer delight
2.1.2. The Processes
Defining processes as well as defining their metrics and measures is the central aspect of
Six Sigma.In a business, the quality should be looked form the customer's perspective and so we
must look at a defined process from the outside-in.
By understanding the transaction lifecycle from the customer's needs and processes, we
can discover what they are seeing and feeling. This gives a chance to identify weak areas with
in a process and then we can improve them.
2.1.3. The Employees
A company must involve all its employees in the Six Sigma program. Company must
provide opportunities and incentives for employees to focus their talents and ability to satisfy
customers.It is important to Six Sigma that all the team members should have a well-defined
role with measurable objectives.
2.2. The Six-Sigma Organization:
2.2.1 Leadership
A leadership team or council defines the goals and objectives in the Six Sigma process. Just
as a corporate leader sets a tone and course to achieve an objective, the Six Sigma council sets
the goals to be met by the team. Here is the list of leadership Council Responsibilities:

 Defines the purpose of the Six Sigma program
 Explains how the result is going to benefit the customer
 Sets a schedule for work and interim deadlines
 Develops a mean for review and oversight
 Support team members and defend established positions
2.2.2.Sponsor
Six Sigma sponsors are high-level individuals who understand Six Sigma and are
committed to its success. The individual in the sponsor role acts as a problem solver for the
ongoing Six Sigma project. Six Sigma is generally led by a full-time, high-level champion, such
as an Executive Vice President.
Sponsors are the owners of processes and systems, who help initiate and coordinate Six
Sigma improvement activities in their areas of responsibilities.
2.2.3.ImplementationLeader
The person responsible for supervising the Six Sigma team effort, who supports the
leadership council by ensuring that the work of the team is completed in the desired manner, is
the implementation Leader.
Ensuring success of the implementation plan and solving problems as they arise, training
as needed, and assisting sponsors in motivating the team are some of the key responsibilities of
an implementation leader.
2.2.4.Coach
Coach is a Six Sigma expert or consultant who sets a schedule, defines result of a
project, and who mediates conflict, or deals with resistance to the program.
Duties include working as a go-between for sponsor and leadership, scheduling the work
of the team, identifying and defining the desired results of the project, mediating disagreements,
conflicts, and resistance to the program and identifying success as it occurs.
2.2.5.TeamLeader
It is an individual responsible for overseeing the work of the team and for acting as a go-
between with the sponsor and the team members.

Responsibilities include communication with the sponsor in defining project goals and
rationale, picking and assisting team members and other resources, keeping the project on
schedule, and keeping track of steps in the process as they are completed.
2.2.6.TeamMember
An employee who works on a Six Sigma project, given specific duties within a project,
and has deadlines to meet in reaching specific project goals.
Team members execute specific Six Sigma assignments and work with other members of
the team within a defined project schedule, to reach specifically identified goals.
2.2.7.ProcessOwner
The individual who takes on responsibility for a process after a Six Sigma team has completed
its work.

3.The Six-Sigma Approach:
The Six Sigma Approach is customer-driven. For a business or a manufacturing process,
the Sigma Capability is a metric that indicates how well the process is being performed. The
higher the Sigma Capability, the better, because it measures the capability of the process to
achieve defect-free-work (where a defect is anything that results in customer dissatisfaction).
The Six Sigma Approach is also data-driven. It focuses on reducing process variation, centering
the process and on optimizing the process. The emphasis is on the improvement of process
capability rather than the control of product quality, which includes
theimprovementofqualityandreductionofcostofquality.
In short, the Six Sigma Approach focuses on: Customer needsData-driven
improvements The inputs of the process and this results in:Reducing or eliminating
defects Reducing process variation Increasing process capabilityin this context, the
customer requirements for us are
On-Time, Accurate and Complete Customer Deliverables Customer Responsiveness
Marketplace Competitiveness
To achieve these goals, the Six Sigma approach was adopted in all the projects to
pinpoint sources of errors and ways of eliminating them
SixSigmaStart-up
Now you have decided to go for Six Sigma. So what is next? Deploying Six Sigma within
an organization is a big step and involves many activities including define, measure, analyze,
improve, and control phases. Here are some steps, which are required for an organization at the
time of starting Six Sigma implementation.
 Plan your own route: There may be many paths to Six Sigma but the best is the one that
works for your organization.
 Define your objective: It is important to decide what you want to achieve, and priorities
are important.
 Stick to what is feasible: Set up your plans so that they can match your influences,
resources and scope.
A defect is anything that
results in customer
dissatisfaction

 Preparing Leaders: They are required to launch and guide the Six Sigma Effort.
 Creating Six Sigma organization: This includes preparing Black Belts and other roles
and assigning them their responsibilities.
 Training the organization: Apart from having black belts, it is required to impart
training of Six Sigma to all the employees in the organization.
 Piloting Six Sigma effort: Piloting can be applied to any aspect of Six Sigma including
solutions derived from process improvement or design redesign projects.
ProjectSelectionforSixSigma
One of the most difficult challenges in Six Sigma is the selection of the most appropriate
problem to attack. There are generally two ways to generate projects:
 Top-down: This approach is generally tied to business strategy and is aligned with
customer needs. The major weakness is they are too broad in scope to be completed in a
timely manner (most six sigma projects are expected to be completed in 3-6 months).
 Bottom-up: In this approach, Black Belts choose the projects that are well-suited for the
capabilities of teams. A major drawback of this approach is that, projects may not be
tied directly to strategic concerns of the management thereby, receiving little support
and low recognition from the top.
SixSigma-Methodology
Six Sigma has two key methodologies:
 DMAIC: It refers to a data-driven quality strategy for improving processes. This
methodology is used to improve an existing business process.
 DMADV: It refers to a data-driven quality strategy for designing products & processes.
This methodology is used to create new product designs or process designs in such a
way that it results in a more predictable, mature and defect free performance.

4. Deployment:
All employees are trained on Six Sigma Quality to increase their awareness,
understanding, and the day-to- day use of Six Sigma tools and processes, and their application
to projects. Six Sigma projects (quality projects) are chosen, based on customer feedback and
analysis of the process metrics.
Projects that have a significant customer impact and financial savings are given top
priority. To successfully execute these Six Sigma projects, an organization structure as shown in
Figure 4-1 has been formulated. This structure consists of the following roles:
4.1. Champion:
The Center Manager is the Champion, who facilitates the implementation /
deployment of the Six Sigma Program. The Champion creates the vision, defines the path to
Six Sigma Quality, measures the progress and sustains improvements.
Figure 4-1 Organization structure for Six Sigma
4.2. Master Black Belt:
The Master Black Belt is a Mentor, who develops a Six Sigma network, provides
support on utilization and dissemination of Six Sigma tools, and supervises the Six Sigma
projects. The Master Black Belt also facilitates sharing of best practices and actively
participates in the change process.

4.3. Black Belts / Green Belts:
Black Belts / Green Belts lead process improvement teams, demonstrate credible
application of Six Sigma tools, train their team members and are accountable for Six Sigma
project results. While Black Belts work full-time on Six Sigma projects, the Green Belts
work only part-time on the Six Sigma projects and devote the rest of their time to other
projects.
The Black Belts report the progress of their projects to the Master Black Belt and the
Green Belts report the progress of their projects to the Black Belts. The Green Belts are
expected to complete two Six Sigma projects while the Black Belts are to complete five.
The criteria for a successful Six Sigma project could be any one of thefollowing
DMAICMethodology:
This methodology consists of the following five steps.
Define --> Measure --> Analyze --> Improve -->Control
 Define: Define the problem or project goal that needs to be addressed.
 Measure: Measure the problem and process from which it was produced.
 Analyze: Analyze data and process to determine root causes of defects and opportunities.
 Improve: Improve the process by finding solutions to fix, diminish, and prevent future
problems.
 Control: Implement, control, and sustain the improvements solutions to keep the process
on the new course.
We will discuss more on DMAIC Methodology in the subsequent chapters.
DMADVMethodology
This methodology consists of five steps:
Define --> Measure --> Analyze --> Design -->Verify
 Define: Define the Problem or Project Goal that needs to be addressed.

 Measure: Measure and determine customers’ needs and specifications.
 Analyze: Analyze the process to meet the customer needs.
 Design: Design a process that will meet customer’s needs.
 Verify: Verify the design performance and ability to meet customer needs.
DFSSMethodology
DFSS is a separate and emerging discipline related to Six Sigma quality processes. This
is a systematic methodology utilizing tools, training, and measurements to enable us to design
products and processes that meet customer expectations and can be produced at Six Sigma
Quality levels.
This methodology can have the following five steps.
Define --> Identify --> Design --> Optimize -->Verify
 Define: Define what the customers want, or what they do not want.
 Identify: Identify the customer and the project.
 Design: Design a process that meets customer’s needs.
 Optimize: Determine process capability and optimize the design.
 Verify: Test, verify, and validate the design.

5. Methodology:
A Six Sigma Project consists of the following phases: Define: The product or process to
be improved is identified. Customer needs are identified and translated into Critical to Quality
Characteristics (CTQs). The problem/goal statement, the project scope, team roles and
milestones are developed. A high-level process is mapped for the existing process.
Measure: The key internal processes that influence the CTQs are identified and the
defects generated relative to the identified CTQs are measured.
Analyze: The objective of this phase is to understand why defects are generated.
Brainstorming and statistical tools are used to identify key variables (X’s) that cause defects.
The output of this phase is the explanation of the variables that are most likely to affect process
variation.
Improve: The objective of this phase is to confirm the key variables and quantify the
effect of these variables on the CTQs. It also includes identifying the maximum acceptable
ranges of the key variables, validating the measurement systems and modifying the existing
process to stay within these ranges.
Control: The objective of this phase is to ensure that the modified process now enables
the key variables to stay within the maximum acceptable ranges, using tools like Statistical
Process Control (SPC) or simple checklists.
5.1.SixSigma-DefinePhase
There are five high-level steps in the application of Six Sigma to improve the quality of
output. The first step is Define. During the Define phase, four major tasks are undertaken.
ProjectTeamisFormation
Perform two activities:
 Determine who needs to be on the team.
 What roles will each person perform?
Picking the right team members can be a difficult decision, especially if a project involves a
large number of departments. In such projects, it could be wise to break them down into smaller
pieces and work toward completion of a series of phased projects.

DocumentCustomersCoreBusinessProcesses
Every project has customers. A customer is the recipient of the product or service of the
process, targeted for improvement. Every customer has one or multiple needs from his or her
supplier. For each need provided for, there are requirements for the need. The requirements are
the characteristics of the need that determine whether the customer is happy with the product or
service provided. So, document customer needs and related requirements.
A set of business processes is documented. These processes will be executed to meet
customer's requirements and to resolve their Critical to Quality issues.
DevelopaProjectCharter
This is a document that names the project, summarizes the project by explaining the business
case in a brief statement, and lists the project scope and goals. A project charter has the
following components:
 Project name
 Business case
 Project scope
 Project goals
 Milestones
 Special requirements
 Special assumptions
 Roles and responsibilities of the project team
DeveloptheSIPOCprocessmap:
A process is defined as a series of steps and activities that take inputs, add value, and produce
an output.
SIPOC is a process map that identifies all the following elements of a project:
 Suppliers
 Input
 Process
 Output

 Customers
The SIPOC process map is essential for identifying:
 The way processes occur currently.
 How those processes should be modified and improved throughout the remaining phases
of DMAIC.
Conclusion
At the conclusion of the design phase, you should know who the customer or end-user is, their
resistance issues, and requirements. You should also have a clear understanding of goals and the
scope of the project including budget, time constraints, and deadlines.
5.2.SixSigma-MeasurePhase
During the Measure Phase, the overall performance of the Core Business Process is measured.
There are three important parts of Measure Phase.
DataCollectionPlanandDataCollection
A data collection plan is prepared to collect the required data. This plan includes what type of
data needs to be collected, what are the sources of data, etc. The reason to collect data is to
identify areas where current processes need to be improved.
You collect data from three primary sources: input, process, and output.
 The input source is where the process is generated.
 Process data refers to tests of efficiency: the time requirements, cost, value, defects or
errors, and labor spent on the process.
 Output is a measurement of efficiency.
DataEvaluation:
At this stage, the collected data is evaluated and sigma is calculated. It gives an approximate
number of defects.
 A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications.

 A Six Sigma opportunity is the total quantity of chances for a defect.
First we calculate Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO), and based on that a Sigma is
decided from a predefined table:
As stated above, Number of defects is the total number of defects found, Number of Units is the
number of units produced, and number of opportunities means the number of ways to generate
defects.
For example, the food ordering delivery project team examines 50 deliveries and finds out the
following:
 Delivery is not on time (13)
 Ordered food is not according to the order (3)
 Food is not fresh (0)
So now, DPMO will be as follows:
According to the Yield to Sigma Conversion Table given, below 106,666.7 defects per million
opportunities is equivalent to a sigma performance of between 2.7 and 2.8.
This is the method used for measuring results as we proceed through a project. This beginning
point enables us to locate the cause and effect of those processes and to seek defect point so that
the procedure can be improved.
FailureModeandEffectsAnalysis-FMEA
The final segment of the measure phase is called FMEA. It refers to preventing defects before
they occur. The FMEA process usually includes rating possible defects, or failures, in three
ways:
 The likelihood that something might go wrong.
 The ability to detect a defect.
 The level of severity of the defect.
You may use a rating scale. For example, rate each of these three areas from 1 to 10, with 1
being the lowest FMEA level and 10 being the highest. The higher the level, the more severe
the rating. Hence, a high FMEA indicates the need to devise and implement improved

measuring steps within the overall process. This would have the effect of preventing defects.
Clearly, there is no need to spend a lot of time on this procedure if the likelihood of a defect is
low.
5.3.SixSigma-AnalyzePhase
Six Sigma aims to define the causes of defects, measure those defects, and analyze them so that
they can be reduced. We consider five specific types of analyses that help to promote the goals
of the project. These are source, process, data, resource, and communication analysis. Now we
will see them in detail.
SourceAnalysis
This is also called root cause analysis. It attempts to find defects that are derived from the
sources of information or work generation. After finding the root cause of the problem, attempts
are made to resolve the problem before we expect to eliminate defects from the product.
Three Steps to Root Cause Analysis
 The open step: During this phase, the project team brainstorms all the possible
explanations for current sigma performance.
 The narrow step: During this phase, the project team narrows the list of possible
explanations for current sigma performance.
 The close step: During this phase, the project team validates the narrowed list of
explanations that explain sigma performance.
ProcessAnalysis
Analyze the numbers to find out how well or poorly the processes are working, compared to
what's possible and what the competition is doing.
Process analysis includes creating a more detailed process map, and analyzing the more detailed
map, where the greatest inefficiencies exist.
The source analysis is often difficult to distinguish from process analysis. The process refers to
the precise movement of materials, information, or requests from one place to another.

DataAnalysis
Use of measures and data (those already collected or new data gathered in the analyze phase) to
discern patterns, tendencies or other factors about the problem that either suggest or
prove/disprove possible cause of the problem.
The data itself may have defect. There may be a case when products or deliverables do not
provide all the needed information. Hence data is analyzed to find out defects and attempts are
made to resolve the problem before we expect to eliminate defects from the product.
ResourceAnalysis
We also need to ensure that employees are properly trained in all departments that affect the
process. If training is inadequate, you want to identify that as a cause of defects.
Other resources include raw materials needed to manufacture, process, and deliver the goods.
For example, if the Accounting Department is not paying vendor bills on time and,
consequently, the vendor holds up a shipment of shipping supplies, it becomes a resource
problem.
Communicationanalysis
One problem common to most processes high in defects is poor communication. The classic
interaction between a customer and a retail store is worth studying because many of the
common communication problems are apparent in this case.
The same types of problems occur with internal customers as well, even though we may not
recognize the sequence of events as a customer service problem.
The exercise of looking at issues from both points of view is instructive. A vendor wants
payment according to agreed-upon terms, but the Accounting Department wants to make its
batch processing uniform and efficient. Between these types of groups, such disconnects
demonstrates the importance of communication analysis.
Conclusion
Analysis can take several forms. Some Six Sigma programs tend to use a lot of diagrams and
worksheets, and others prefer discussion and list making. There are many tools that can be used
to perform analysis like Box Plot, Cause and Effect Diagram, Progressive Analysis, Ranking,

Pareto Analysis, Prioritization Matrix, Value Analysis, etc. The proper procedure is the one that
works best for your team, provided that the end result is successful.
5.4.SixSigma-ImprovePhase
If the project team does a thorough job in the root causation phase of analysis, the improve
phase of DMAIC can be quick, easy, and satisfying work.
The objective of Improve Phase is to identify improvement breakthroughs, identify high gain
alternatives, select preferred approach, design the future state, determine the new Sigma level,
perform cost/benefit analysis, design dashboards/ scorecards, and create a preliminary
implementation plan.
 Identify Improvement Breakthroughs:
o Apply idea-generating tools and techniques to identify potential solutions that
eliminate root causes.
 Identify/Select High Gain Alternatives:
o Develop criteria to evaluate candidate improvement solutions.
o Think systematically and holistically.
o Prioritize and evaluate the candidate solutions against the solution evaluation
criteria.
o Conduct a feasibility assessment for the highest value solutions.
o Develop preliminary solution timelines and cost-benefit analysis to aid in
recommendation presentation and future implementation planning.
Improvement can involve a simple fix once we discover the causes of defects. However, in
some cases, we may need to employ additional tools as well. These include:
 Solution alternatives
 Experiments with solution alternatives
 Planning for future change

5.5.SixSigma-ControlPhase
The last phase of DMAIC is control, which is the phase where we ensure that the processes
continues to work well, produce desired output results, and maintain quality levels. You will be
concerned with four specific aspects of control, which are as follows.
Qualitycontrol
The ultimate purpose in control is the overall assurance that a high standard of quality is met.
Customer's expectations depend on this, so control is inherently associated with quality.
Since the purpose of Six Sigma is to improve the overall process by reducing defects, quality
control is the essential method for keeping the whole process on track; for enabling us to spot
trouble and fix it; and for judging how effectively the project was executed and implemented.
Quality is at the heart of Six Sigma philosophy. Reducing defects has everything to do with
striving for perfection. Whether we reach perfection or not, the effort defines our attitude
toward quality itself.
Standardization
Standardization enables processes to go as smoothly as possible. In a manufacturing
environment, the value of standardization has been proven over and over.
We need to devise a control feature to processes so that the majority of work is managed in a
standardized manner.
ControlMethodsandAlternatives
The development of a new process of any change to an existing process requires the
development of procedures to control work flow.
When a process cannot be managed in the normal manner, we need to come up with
alternatives, short of forcing compliance to the standardized method.
RespondingwhenDefectsOccur
The final step in a control process is knowing how to respond once a defect is discovered. The
weak links in the procedure, where defects are most likely to occur, can and should be
monitored carefully so that defects can be spotted and fixed before the process continues.

6. Six Sigma project on qualitycompliance:
This section discusses a Six Sigma project on the improvement of product quality
compliance, which will give a better understanding of the approach, methodology and benefits
of Six Sigma.
6.1. Define phase
The project teams had the problem of field errors being reported in the deliverables. Based
on the metrics for 1997, the long-term process capability for product quality was at 3.48 ,
while the short-term capability was at 4.98 , and the Defects Per Million Opportunities
(DPMO) were at253.
A Six Sigma approach was initiated to improve the quality of deliverables. The goal of the
project was to improve the long-term process capability to more than 4 and to reduce the
DPMO by more than 50%.
6.1 High-Level Process Mapping of the Existing Process
The project started the Define Phase with the identification of Product Quality as the
CTQ. Team members from different levels namely Project Leaders, Module Leaders, Team
Members and the Quality Team were identified for the Six Sigma project.

6.1.1 Measurement of defects in Key Process
A high-level process mapping for the existing process was made as shown in Figure
6.1.1. The next step was to define the measurement system. Any attribute in the deliverable sent
to the customer, which does not meet the customer’s requirements, or which is not as per the
Customer’s Standards was defined as a defect.
6.2. Measure phase
During this phase, the key processes in the project lifecycle that affect the CTQ (in this case,
product quality), were identified to be project study, execution and delivery. Measurements
related to the CTQ were made in these phases.
The field errors reported by the client were classified as defects that have occurred in each of
these processes as shown in Figure 6.2 In each of these processes, theinputprocessvariables
(controllable or critical-those thatshowThe Input Variable — Quality of Inputs, had various
attributes namely, clarity of scope definitions completeness of inputs, and conformance of
inputs to standards

6.2 Input Process variables in the Key
This variable became a critical variable that affected the product quality, since the inputs
for the projects were obtained from the customer. The projects that were affected by poor
quality of inputs were measured. As depicted in Figure 5-5, a substantial number of projects
were affected by poor quality of inputs in 1998 statistical significance) that affect the CTQ were
identified as shown in Figure 6.2.1.)
6.2.1 Projects affected by poor input-Quality in1998

6.3 Analyze phase and 6.4. Improve phase
Process performance was assessed using Cause-and- Effect diagrams, to isolate key problem
areas, to study the causes for the deviation from ideal performance to identify if there is a
relationship between the variables. Extensive brain-storming sessions were held with team
members to evolve these diagrams. Figure 6.3 shows the Cause-and-Effect diagrams for one of
the project teams. The probable causes that can lead to quality non- conformance in a project
during different phases of a project life cycle were listed
The Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) was subsequently carried out to arrive at a
plan for prevention of causes for failure. FMEA is a tool that helps prevent the occurrence of
problems by: Identifying the potential failure modes in which a process or product may fail to
meet specifications, and rating the severity of the effect on the customer. Providing an
objective evaluation of the occurrence of causes Determining the ability of the current system
to detect when those causes or failure modes willoccur. Based on the above factors, a Risk
Priority Number (RPN) for each failure mode is calculated
6.3 Cause and Effect diagram for poor Quality
Based on the recommended actions from FMEA, several process improvements were
introduced in the phases - Project Study, Execution and Delivery. These improvements include
developing process control and error proofing tools amongst others. Figure 6.4 shows some of
the improvements carried out in different phases.

6.4 Process Improvements
In addition to this, a customer feedback form was introduced. The various quality
attributes of the deliverables are rated by the customer on a 1 to 5 scale. Causal analysis is
carried out by teams when the rating is below 4 and preventive actions isinitiated.
6.5 Control phase
The process improvements that were introduced resulted in the reduction of field errors.
The process capability for quality of deliverables improved from 3.48 t3.98 in the long-
term and from 4.98 to 5.48 in the short-term by the end of 1998, and the DPMO reduced
from 253 to 34.
6.5 Trends in Quality Compliance
This trend continued in 1999 and 2000, resulting in the improved trend in the quality compliance
as shown in Figure 6.5. The best practices and lessons learnt in this Six Sigma project for
engineering design were applied in other project teams and other types ofprojects.

6.5.1 I-MR Chart for Rework Index
Figure 6.5.1 shows the Control charts drawn over a period of time for rework index for one
of the project teams. The assignable causes for variations from the target values were analyzed,
and corrective actions were initiated to remove the causes and to prevent them from occurring
again. From the control charts, it is evident that the process improvement initiatives have been
effective in reducing the rework index.

7. Conclusion:
The thrust on Six Sigma Quality has helped in creating and sustaining customer focus in
the TCS — GEDC, leading to improved customer satisfaction as indicated in the feedback from
the customer. At the same time, active participation of the team members from all levels in the
Six Sigma projects has evolved a culture of effective and creative team work.
The goal is to achieve Six Sigma level not only in product quality, which is currently at
5.85 , but also in the other client specified metrics of on-time delivery and estimate
compliance. To achieve this goal, TCS — GEDC plans to have about 60 Six Sigma projects
completed by the second quarter of2001.

8. References
[1] Paulk M, Weber C, Curtis B, Chrissies M.B. (1995) The Capability Maturity
Model: Guidelines for Improving the SoftwareProcess. Addison WesleyPublishing
Company, Reading,MA.
[2] Forrest W.Breyfogle Implementing SixSigma:Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods:
[3]. 6 OJT Six Sigma Application – GEPS Playbook, GE Power Systems

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