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How Does Six Sigma Work?

Last Updated April 10, 2020

Close up of the hands of three business professionals reviewing a six sigma contract.

If you’re having trouble wrapping your arms around the concepts of Six Sigma, or you’re having difficulty trying to explain it to others, then a review of fundamentals may be helpful.

Boiled down to basics, Six Sigma consists of several key elements:

  • Focus – An undeviating pursuit of continuous business process improvement
  • Philosophy – Process outputs are determined and controlled by process inputs
  • Measure of Success – 3.4 defects per million opportunities
  • Approach – Known as DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control)
  • Fuel – The methodology is driven by people with a hunger for constant improvement

Six Sigma’s Belt System Provides Structure

You may have heard that Six Sigma makes expert use of statistical measurement and quantitative analysis, and while this is true, Six Sigma’s greatest strength may be the way it organizes people. Six Sigma’s greatest asset in coordinating and managing the people who employ it may just be its belt system.

The belt system is composed of a ranking system similar to the hierarchy in some martial arts disciplines. The belt system helps establish a chain of command among employees with Six Sigma training. Belt rankings help employees understand the role they play on project teams and what will generally be expected of them.

There are several roles in Six Sigma belt ranking. Among them:

  • Champions – These individuals typically come from upper management. Champions act as sponsors and leaders to conduct and implement Six Sigma projects. As part of the leadership team, Champions help remove obstacles and acquire resources for Six Sigma project teams.
  • Master Black Belts (MBB) – These individuals have more Six Sigma training and experience than any other member of the organization. MBBs maintain a close relationship with upper management and often provide advice and counsel regarding Six Sigma. MBBs also provide training and mentoring to Black Belts and Green Belts.
  • Black Belts – Black Belts are full-time Six Sigma professionals. They help select Six Sigma projects and prepare project charters. They train team members and help them design experiments and analyze data. Black Belts are responsible for communicating progress to Champions and process owners. They may be tasked with recommending additional Six Sigma projects.
  • Green Belts – Green Belts are typically part-time Six Sigma practitioners who spend about 25% of their time working on Six Sigma projects. They select project team members and provide training on the fundamentals of Six Sigma. Green Belts communicate progress to Black Belts and Champions as the project advances.

Two Different Approaches to Six Sigma

Six Sigma can improve new or existing processes using its defined methodology.

  • DMAIC – This method improves existing processes. The acronym stands for the stages of define, measure, analyze, improve and control. It requires teams to look objectively at problems and use fact-based statistical analysis to find ways to improve them.
  • DMADV – This acronym stands for define, measure, analyze, design and verify. It is used to develop a new product or service or to redesign a process that has reached its limits. This model forces project teams to identify and translate customer needs into a product or service that satisfies the customer.

How Can Companies Benefit from Six Sigma?

Six Sigma gives organizations seeking continuous quality improvement an objective method to diagnose problems, a system to organize employee efforts and an improvement methodology that can be applied to new or existing processes.

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