Six Sigma is a management philosophy, first developed at Motorola, which emphasizes setting extremely high objectives, collecting data, and analyzing results as a way to reduce defects in products and services. The Greek letter sigma is used here to denote variation from a standard. The philosophy behind Six Sigma is to systematically eliminate defects in a process in order to get as close to perfection as possible. In order for a company to achieve Six Sigma, it cannot produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. (Source: Definition of “six sigma” copyrighted and used with permission of whatis.com (http://www.whatis.com/) and TechTarget Inc.)

There are two Six Sigma processes: Six Sigma DMAIC and Six Sigma DMADV. Six Sigma DMAIC is a process that Defines, Measures, Analyzes, Improves, and Controls existing processes that fall below the Six Sigma specification. The Six Sigma DMADV (Design for Six Sigma - DFSS) process is slightly different, in that it Defines, Measures, Analyzes, Designs, and Verifies new processes or products that are trying to achieve Six Sigma quality. All Six Sigma processes are executed by individuals who are trained in process improvement tools, often termed Six Sigma Green Belts or Six Sigma Black Belts, and Six Sigma Master Black Belts. These terms are taken from martial arts to signify the individual’s level of expertise, and were originally used by Motorola.

Six Sigma proponents claim that its benefits include:

** up to 50% process cost reduction,
** cycle-time improvement,
** less material waste,
** a better understanding of customer requirements,
** increased customer satisfaction, and
** more reliable products and services.

It is acknowledged that Six Sigma can be costly to implement and can take several years before a company begins to see bottom-line improvements. (Source: Definition of “six sigma” copyrighted and used with permission of whatis.com (http://www.whatis.com/) and TechTarget Inc.)

Many of the tools used by Six Sigma practitioners can be implemented without implementing a full Six Sigma program.

Course: Statistical Process Control

Statistical Process Control, or SPC, is a technique used by design, manufacturing, process, and quality engineers to determine whether a process (manufacturing, service) is being run consistently.

Course: Simplified Design of Experiments

This course is designed to minimize the complex theoretical aspects of DOE and focus on the practical uses in industry today. The simplified approach makes it useful for technicians and engineers who are not familiar with advanced statistics to apply the discipline of DOE to their investigations and studies.

Design and Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (DFMEA, PFMEA)
Course: Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA)

FMEA, is used by design, manufacturing, process, and quality engineers to determine that failure modes have been addressed in the appropriate stages (either design or process) of manufacture. FMEA also highlights potential failure modes that have not yet occurred, and designs out these modes to prevent future failures.