6 Sigma and Controlling

Six Sigma Approach to Quality
Six sigma is a new approach to process

control first practiced by companies such as
General Electric and Motorola to achieve near
zero defects in processes
Elements of six-sigma
Understanding customer needs well
Appropriate and disciplined use of data and
statistical tools
Statistical analysis and a closer attention to
managing and improving business processes using
a set of tools
Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education
Why near zero defects

Examples of 99% quality
Sl.
No.
Process
Description
Impact of 99% quality
Guest Check
out
Every three days one guest checks out

without paying the bill
Quality of food
served
Every day 20 orders of fried eggs have

human hair in them
Facilities up
keep
Every day 15 tables in the restaurant

have soiled linen
Training & Skill

Development
Every day 250 plates are broken
Order taking &

Delivery
Every day the drinks of 40 guests gets

mixed up
Laundry
Every day 20 guests do not get back the

right laundry
How is it different from

traditional approach?
A new metric, Defects Per Million Opportunities, to
predict/assess the quality of a business process
A new methodology, DMAIC (Define-MeasureAnalyze-Improve-Control), to ensure that very
high levels of quality could be assured in the
chosen business processes thereby generating
favourable outcomes to both the business and the
customers
An organizational framework for ensuring the
above outcomes are generated on a sustained
basis
Defects Per Million Opportunities

(DPMO)
It indicates how many defects a process
generates in a million opportunities
While service industries find it convenient to use
DPMO, manufacturing organizations use Parts Per
Million (PPM). Both are conceptually same.
If in a process
k Denotes the number of opportunities for making a
defect per unit of execution of that process
n Number of units of observation of the process
d Number of defects that occurred in that process
during the observation
The defects per opportunity = d * 1,000,000
k *n
DMAIC Methodology
Define
Measure
Analyze
Control
Improve
DMAIC Methodology
Define
Define the problem, the requirements, project scope, project

charter
Set goals for improvement
Measure
Identify variables to be measured, the type of measurement

Data collection and synthesis
Analyze
Develop a set of tools for analysis

Apply graphical tools of analysis
Identify possible sources of variation and vital few root
causes
Explore means of eliminating them
DMAIC Methodology
Improve
Generating and validating improvement alternatives

Creating new process maps for the process
Control
Develop control plan

Establish revised standard measures to maintain
performance
Develop relevant raining plans to maintain standards
Organization for six sigma

Process Owner
supervisor or a manager who takes responsibility for
various steps of a process that is responsible for
delivering some output to the customer. It could be
the in a particular work area where the improvement
project has been identified
Team Leader & Members

Team leader (the project leader) and the members
will comprise of the employees in the chosen work
area
They will have day-to-day operational control of
activities
In six sigma, three terminologies are used to indicate these organizational entities. This
includes Master Black Belt, Black Belt and Green Belt. The depth of training and experience
differentiates these three.
Organization for six sigma

Six sigma coach
A consultant or a senior person in the organization who
offers expert knowledge on various aspects of six sigma.
This includes statistical tools, process design & analysis,
change management, small group improvement, use of
QC tools for improvement etc.
Sponsor
A member of the senior management who oversees the
overall progress and implementation
Helps the team refine the project scope, sorts out issues
cutting across other parts of the organization, approves
projects and provides the necessary support in terms of
resources
Statistical Process Control

Collective set of tools & techniques used to
develop a quality assurance system when
business processes exhibit variations is known
as Statistical Process Control (SPC)
Key issues addressed in SPC based quality
assurance system:
How does one ensure that the random events are

indeed rare events?
How do we know whether the observed changes are
due to random variations or assignable causes?
Common & Assignable Causes

Two types of variations occur in business processes
Chance variations due to common causes
Common causes are those due to random events that
cannot be controlled
Non-random variations due to assignable causes
When observed variations are not statistically found to be
due to random events, it clearly points to the existence
of assignable causes
Errors due to operator skill level differences

Changes in the operating condition of an equipment
Changes introduced in the standard operating procedures
In the case of assignable causes, the system will

drift from desired level of performance over time
Quality Assurance using SPC

Some terminologies
Designed Standard
Centre of specification
limits (Target)
Upper Specification Limit
(USL)
Lower Specification Limit
(LSL)
(USL LSL): Desired
tolerance
This represents the voice
of the customer
Status of process
Centre of the process
(Process Average)
Upper Control Limit
(UCL)
Lower Control Limit
(LCL)
(UCL LCL): Spread of
the process
This represents the voice
of the process
Control Chart
A generalised representation
Upper Control Limit (UCL)
Plot of
sample data
Process Average
Lower Control Limit (LCL)
Setting up a process control

system
Choose the characteristic
for process control
Choose the
Measurement method
Choose an appropriate
Sampling procedure
Choose the type of

Control Chart
Calculate
control limits
Plot the data & Analyse
Characteristics for process control

Some examples
Sl. No.
1
Type of Applications
Component Manufacturing
Characteristic for Measurement
Conformance of physical measurements of

components and sub-assemblies to specifications
Conformance to operating characteristics of
machines and other resources involved in the
process
Final Assembly
Number of defects in the product

Conformance to test specifications
Number of missing elements
Process Industries
Temperature, Pressure and Heat specifications

Conformance to product specifications
Conformance to equipment specifications
Vibrations and other variations in equipments and
sub-systems
Conformance to specifications of the automation &
control system
Service Systems
Number of defects in various business processes

Errors in processing documents
Conformance to waiting time/lead time related
specifications
Choosing a characteristic
Examples from service industry
How long does it take to complete the

patient admission process in a hospital?
How dissatisfied were the customers when
they stayed in a hotel for a holiday?
Does our process of understanding
customer requirements needs
improvement?
How capable are my sub-processes in
software development?
Measurement Methods
Attribute Based
simple clustering of the characteristic into a few categories

(such as good or bad)
Two frequently used attribute measures are:
Proportion of defects (denoted as p)
Number of defects (denoted as c)
measurements are easy to make, quick & less expensive,

but reveal very little information about the process
Variable Based
Detailed observation of the characteristic (such as length,

diameter, weight)
measurement will be expensive and more time consuming
but will provide a wealth of information about the process
Types of Control Charts

Variable based control chart
X bar and R Charts
Attribute based control chart

P chart
C chart
Criterion
Sub-group size
Sub-group measures
Notations
for control
charts
Number of subgroups
Mean of the
sampling distribution
of the sub-groups
Notation
n
Variable measures
Mean - X
Range R
Attribute measures
Proportion of defects p
No. of defects c
m
Variable measures
Mean - X
Range R
Explanation
Each sub-group consists of n
observations
Based on the n observations, each of
these measures can be computed for
each sub-group
m measurements are used for

establishing the sampling
distribution and control chart
These means are nothing but the
process average (center line) of the
respective control charts formed
using each of these measures.
Attribute measures
Proportion of defects
p
p
m
No. of defects - c
Standard deviation of
the sampling
distribution of the
sub-groups
Attribute measures
p
p (1 p )
n
No. of defects - c c
Three standard deviations on either

side of the center line are the control
limits for the respective charts.
X bar and R Chart

Setting control limits
Computations for the X chart
X
Process average or center line:
Upper Control Limit : UCL X X A2 R

Lower Control Limit: UCL X X A2 R
Computations for the R chart
R
m
Upper Control Limit : UCL R D4 R

Lower Control Limit: UCL R D3 R
* The values A2, D3 and D4 can be read directly from tables (see table 6.3)
Coefficients for computing LCL and UCL

in X-bar and R charts*
Sample size (n)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
A2
1.880
1.023
0.729
0.577
0.483
0.419
0.373
0.337
0.308
D3
0
0
0
0
0
0.076
0.136
0.184
0.223
D4
3.268
2.574
2.282
2.114
2.004
1.924
1.864
1.816
1.777
Source: Juran, J.M. and F.M. Gryna, (1995), Quality Planning and Analysis, Tata McGraw-Hill, 3 rd Edition, New
Delhi, pp 385.
X bar Chart
An example
X-bar Chart
Mean Diameter (cms)
Sample Means
Centre Line
UCL
LCL
12.50
12.49
12.48
12.47
12.46
12.45
12.44
12.43
12.42
12.41
12.40
12.39
12.38
12.37
12.36
12.35
12.34
1
7
8
9
Sample Number
10
11
12
13
14
15
R Chart
An example
R Chart
Mean Range (cms)
Sample Range
Centre Line
UCL
LCL
0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0.20
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
1
Sample Number
10
11
12
13
14
15
P chart
Setting the control limits

Computations for p chart
p
m
Upper Control Limit : UCL p p 3
p(1 p)
n
Lower Control Limit: LCL p p 3
p (1 p )
n
P Chart
An example
p Chart
p
Centre Line
UCL
LCL
0.21
0.18
0.15
0.12
0.09
0.06
0.03
0.00
1
6
7
Sample No.
10
11
12
C Chart
Setting up the control limits

Computations for c chart
c
Process average or center line: c

m
Upper Control Limit : UCLc c 3 c

Lower Control Limit: LCLc c 3 c
C Chart
An example (with an outlier)

c Chart
c
Centre Line
UCL
LCL
24
Number of defects
21
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
1
5
6
Sample No.
10
C Chart
Is this process behaving normally?

c Chart
c
Centre Line
UCL
LCL
24
Number of defects
21
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
1
5
Sample No.
10
When to stop the process?

15 points in a row in Zone C
+3
Zone A
+2
Zone B
+1
Zone C
Zone C
-1
Zone B
-2
Zone A
-3
14 points in a row alternating up and down

+3
Zone A
+2
Zone B
+1
Zone C
Zone C
-1
Zone B
-2
Zone A
-3

Additional rules
One point beyond Zone A

Nine points in a row in Zone C or beyond
Six points in a row, steadily increasing or
decreasing
Fourteen points in a row, alternating up and
down
Two out of three points in a row in Zone A or
beyond
Four out of five points in a row in Zone B and
beyond
Fifteen points in a row in Zone C
Predictive capability of processes

Which process is better?
Spread of a
process is
indicative of
its capability
Predictive capability of processes
Offset
Which process is better?
A process that is
aligned closer to
the desired
target is likely to
be more capable
Process B
Process A
LSL
Target
USL
Process Capability
Process Capability is defined by the spread of
the process
Potential capability (Cp) is defined as the
ratio of the difference in specification limits
to the process spread
Cp =
Specification Range (USL LSL)
Pr ocess Capability
6
Actual capability (Cpk) takes into

consideration the extent to which the
process has deviated from the desired target
Cpk =
Pr ocess Centre LSL

Min
USL Pr ocess Centre
Process Capability & Defects

Process Capability Index
(Cpk)
Total Products outside twosided specification limits
0.25
453,255 ppm
0.50
133,614 ppm
0.60
71,861 ppm
0.80
16,395 ppm
1.00
2,700 ppm
1.20
318 ppm
1.50
7 ppm
1.70
0.34 ppm
2.00
0.0018 ppm
Source: Quality Planning & Analysis, Juran & Gryna, Chapter 17, 3e
Six sigma quality
A graphical representation
Cp
(USL LSL)
2 (USL LSL) 12 A spread of 6
6
Acceptance Sampling
A method in which the decision with regard to
acceptance or otherwise of a lot of incoming material
is based on the observations made using a sample
Setting up a system for acceptance sampling
requires addressing the following questions:
What is the size of the sample required for assessing the
quality?
What should be the criteria for acceptance of the lot?
Is it enough to have just one sample or is it desirable to go
for multiple samples
How do we assess the impact of the choice of the above
parameters on the quality level in the long run?
Sampling Plan
A sampling plan describes
the Lot size (N)
size of the sample to be assessed (n)
the acceptance number (c): the number of defects
permissible in the observed sample
Therefore, a single sampling plan is denoted by
(N, n, c)
In the case of multiple sampling plans, for each

of the plan, the sample size (n1, n2 etc.) and
the acceptance number (c1, c2 etc.) needs to
be specified
Acceptance Sampling
Operating Characteristics
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL): the percent defect that the

buyer is willing to tolerate in the lot delivered by the supplier
Lot Tolerance Percent Defective (LTPD): the worst quality
beyond which the manufacturer is not willing to accept the
incoming lot
Producers risk: the risk supplier faces in getting his/her lot
rejected when indeed it was conforming to the agreed terms
Consumers risk: the risk that a manufacturer faces of
accepting a lot with poor quality beyond his/her tolerance
level
Operating Characteristics (OC) Curve: A graphical
representation of a sampling plan that reveals the above
aspects of a sampling plan
Operating Characteristics Curve

Example 18.5
1.000
Producers
Risk 0.900
OC Curve for n=500, c=2
Probability of acceptance
0.800
0.700
0.600
0.500
0.400
0.300
0.200
0.20
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.00
Consumers 0.100
Risk
0.000
Percent defective
AQL
LTPD

Chapter Highlights
Six sigma is a new approach to process control based

on as set of principles that enable organizations
improve their quality to near zero defects level
Six sigma quality control differentiates itself from the
traditional quality control methodology on the basis
of three features:
A new metric, Defects Per Million Opportunities, to
predict/assess the quality of a business process,
A new methodology, DMAIC (Define-Measure-AnalyzeImprove-Control)
An organizational framework for ensuring the above
outcomes are generated on a sustained basis

Chapter Highlights
All processes exhibit variations on account of two causes

Common causes of variations happen on account of
random events
Assignable causes introduce variations that can be
detected and eliminated
Setting up a process control system involves

choosing a characteristic to control
identifying a measurement method and
developing a relevant control chart
A plot of the data helps a quality manager to assess if

the process is in control and also helps her to detect any
impending shift in process parameters

Chapter Highlights
Superimposing the specification limits on the control

chart helps an organisation to assess the process
capability and the likely number of defects that the
process will produce. It also helps to target for a sixsigma quality improvement programme.
Acceptance sampling is used to accept a lot of items
based on the observed number of defects in the sample
drawn out of the lot
The performance of an acceptance sampling plan could
be judged by developing an Operating Characteristics
(OC) curve for the plan
An acceptance sampling design results in a certain
amount of risk for both the customer and supplier

6 Sigma and Controlling

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Six Sigma Approach to Quality

Six sigma is a new approach to process

Why near zero defects

Impact of 99% quality

Every three days one guest checks out

Every day 20 orders of fried eggs have

Every day 15 tables in the restaurant

Training & Skill

Every day 250 plates are broken

Order taking &

Every day the drinks of 40 guests gets

Every day 20 guests do not get back the

How is it different from

Defects Per Million Opportunities

Define the problem, the requirements, project scope, project

Identify variables to be measured, the type of measurement

Develop a set of tools for analysis

Generating and validating improvement alternatives

Develop control plan

Organization for six sigma

Team Leader & Members

Organization for six sigma

Statistical Process Control

How does one ensure that the random events are

Common & Assignable Causes

Errors due to operator skill level differences

In the case of assignable causes, the system will

Quality Assurance using SPC

Lower Control Limit (LCL)

Setting up a process control

Choose the type of

Plot the data & Analyse

Characteristics for process control

Characteristic for Measurement

Conformance of physical measurements of

Number of defects in the product

Temperature, Pressure and Heat specifications

Number of defects in various business processes

How long does it take to complete the

simple clustering of the characteristic into a few categories

measurements are easy to make, quick & less expensive,

Detailed observation of the characteristic (such as length,

Types of Control Charts

Attribute based control chart

m measurements are used for

Three standard deviations on either

X bar and R Chart

Process average or center line:

Upper Control Limit : UCL X X A2 R

Upper Control Limit : UCL R D4 R

Coefficients for computing LCL and UCL

Mean Diameter (cms)

Mean Range (cms)

Setting the control limits

Upper Control Limit : UCL p p 3

Lower Control Limit: LCL p p 3

Setting up the control limits

Process average or center line: c

Upper Control Limit : UCLc c 3 c

An example (with an outlier)

Is this process behaving normally?

When to stop the process?

When to stop the process?

14 points in a row alternating up and down