The elements in lean six sigma training
The principles of “lean manufacturing” are mostly used by the engineers, managers, supervisors, and individuals responsible for the implementation of lean six sigma methodologies with in an organization.
Lean six sigma is a methodology of business improvement, which is the combination of lean manufacturing and six sigma tools. The aim of lean six sigma is the production of products which yields the “better quality faster”.
An organization implement the use of lean six sigma in order to reduce the time of production with the high quality expected. This is possible through the combination of the lean manufacturing and the traditional six sigma methodology. While lean manufacturing pays attention towards the speed, the traditional six sigma focuses on the quality of the product. Both action results in the production of a “better quality faster”.
The implementation of lean six sigma acts as an inter process inspections, in order to find out and eliminate the defective units. Lean six sigma gives importance in finding out the cause of defective units rather than further processing. Here lean manufacturing is the systematical approach of identification and the elimination of waste through continuous improvement by the flow of products, which meets the demand of the customer.
The philosophy of lean manufacturing is derived from the “Toyota Production System”. Lean manufacturing is a generic process of management, for the production of goods through the removal of waste and implementing the flow. The operational strategy in lean manufacturing gives importance in the achievement of better production of goods that meet the customer’s satisfaction, through the process of shortest possible cycle time by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work. Lean manufacturing is a technique which helps in decreasing the time between the customer need and the shipment. It is designed in a way that there is a rapid improvement in the profit, gaining the customer satisfaction, reducing the production of time and sustaining the employee emotions. In general it is said that lean manufacturing is considered as a company’s “half human effort, the half manufacturing space, the half investment in tools and the half engineering hours for the development of a new product with in the half time scheduled”. It is clear that the benefits gained through the implementation of lean manufacturing is the lower costs, higher quality and shorter lead time for the production.
The participants are given training about the importance of lean six sigma manufacturing. Along with this they are trained how and when to implement the methodology of lean manufacturing with in an organization, for the profit and to meet the customer satisfaction. The training starts with the characteristics of lean processes and the approaches.
The characteristics of lean processes are:
-Single-piece production
-Repetitive order characteristics
-Just-in-time materials or pull scheduling
-Short cycle times
-Quick changeover
-Continuous flow work cells
-Collocated machines, equipment, tools and people
-Compressed space
Lean manufacturing approaches:
Lean manufacturing is used under two approaches. The first approach is used for the identification and the continuous elimination of the waste. It is clear that as the waste is being eliminated, the quality of the product improves, while the production time and cost is reduced. The second approach to lean manufacturing, is focusing on improving the “flow” of the work. By the word flow means, the smoothness of the work. in the second approach the focus is given in the smoothening of the work, through the system and not the waste reduction. The second approach was promoted by Toyota.
The difference between the two approaches lies not on the attainment of the goal, but achieving the goal at the first time itself. In the second approach, the smooth flow of the work helps in exposing the defects or the quality problems which is there in the work already. This exposing of the defects leads to the reduction of the waste naturally.
once the lean processes and the approaches are cleared it is essential to make the participants know about the types of waste. this is because the aim of lean manufacturing is the elimination of wastes for the production of good quality products with reducing the time and costs.
Types of wastes:
The elimination of waste is the goal of lean manufacturing and Toyota defined that there are three types of waste like: “muda, muri and mura”.
MUDA: muda is process of activity that results wasteful or which does not add any value to the production of goods which meets the customer satisfaction. There are seven types of muda. They are as follows:
Overproduction: production of goods beyond the demand
Transportation: moving the products that is not required for the processing
Waiting: wasting the time waiting for the next production step
Inventory: all the necessary steps like components, work-in-progress and finished products not being processed
Motion: movement of the people or the equipments more than it is needed for the processing
Over Processing: the result of poor tool or product design creating activity
Defects: the efforts used in inspecting and fixing the defects.
MURI: The pushing of a person or a machine beyond its natural limits with in a work is referred as muri, which is another type of waste. All types of unreasonable works that the management is imposing towards the workers and the machines comes under this category. This is because of the poor management organization. Poor management organization such as making carry heavy weights, moving things around, dangerous tasks, even working faster than usual
MURA: This is the action which focus on the implementation and elimination of fluctuation at the scheduling or the operational levels. This includes the levels of quality and volume.
The above said are the basis of lean trainings. The training centre also pays attention to the topics like:
Overview of lean
Value stream mapping
Flow
Pull
Cellular manufacturing
5S
Quick changeover
Eight wastes
Standard work
Kaizen
Visual management
Total productive maintenance
Overall equipment effectiveness
From the word certification, it is clear that Certification usually refers to the qualification or the ability of a person in a specified field or a job. Same as six sigma certification is a designation owned by a person to ensure that he/ she is capable and qualified for the performance of the job. Under six sigma certification, it indicates the confirmation of a person’s ability in performing specific competencies. Six sigma certification differs from other type of certifications in the sense, that other types of quality certifications ensure a person’s capability in the performance of unlimited process improvement. But in the case of six sigma certification it ensures an individual’s capability with respect to specified competencies
Lean six sigma certification provides the professionals with both techniques of service and manufacturing in industries. Along with this lean certification makes an individual attain the following requirements:
According to six sigma the word belt refers to the level or the position, of a person in an organization at the time of performing a work or at the time of implementation of a project. Several personalities take part at the time of the implementation of a work, so as to meet and make sure that the project is launched with zero defects and is able to meet the customer satisfaction. Hence results in sustaining the quality and profit of the company or the organization.
Lean six sigma certification provides the professionals with both techniques of service and manufacturing in industries. Along with this lean certification makes an individual attain the following requirements:
The aim of each organization is bring out the best of its products, with reduced coast and time, to meet the customer satisfaction and to compete the global marketing. This is possible only through the production of defect-free products. If the products developed are defect-free, then it is sure that the result of the project is equipped to meet the customer needs. This defect-free products can be made through the quality improvement with in an organizational processes. The implementation of six sigma methodology helps an organization in quality improvement.
Six sigma gives important in the selection of project, which is the basis of quality improvement. It is important to select the correct project or else it will effect the employees and the team feeling ineffective and the end result will be less than ideal. Once the right process is identified, then the duty of quality manager is to chart the team, select the team, team leader and the members of the team for the working out of the projects.
Six sigma metrics are the different types of measurements used in six sigma methodology, in order to measure the success of the company’s product quality. It doesn’t means, the simple collection and calculation of the data and defects are enough for the attainment of the success. In order to get the right measurement through the use of six sigma metrics, a successful business should apply these metrics in the right context in a innovative ways so as to solve the customer’s critics to the quality of the products. Therefore there are certain steps and six sigma metrics, in six sigma methodology to be applied for the defect-free products.
The third section includes the presenting of the metrics in a clear format which gives a line of clear sight. This helps the upper management to get a quality metrics. More over it also helps the upper management to know about the actions taken to improve the metric, because this information is critical to the success of the business. Through this the upper management is able to find out the high-level metric and drill down the business to gain a better understanding about the root cause of the problems
Six sigma tools are the techniques and approaches used by six sigma methodology, in the every day development process, of an organization. Implementation of these tools in a justified manner, lead to an amazing result. This investment tools and techniques act as a good place to start a new process. There are several tools and techniques to be used, but it has to be used in an appropriate way to get the better quality results. The brief description of some of the major tools and techniques are as follows.
PRIORITIZE REQUIREMENTS: When a new project is done it is important to categorize the requirements according to its importance. Commonly people act as if it is not necessary to do this at the bottom level and gives importance in doing everything. Until the delivery date, prioritizing the requirements are not done, and then the importance will be given to the product to be released instead of the requirements needed for the production of the products. The use age of six sigma tools will help in prioritizing the requirements from simple to the analytical hierarchy process. This ensures the quality functional deployment.
PROCESS CAPABILITY EVALUATION (Cp): The performance measures of the projects must be tracked and measured as a part of control plan. Data like online response times, reliability numbers, restore cycle times etc can be used as the process capability numbers to validate these measurements.
Training the professionals about the methodologies of six sigma, which is a flexible system, is the aim of the six sigma training. This training provides the professionals and the companies with skills of achievement, supporting, and maximizing business profits. The training is based on the understanding the needs of the customer, systematical use of the data and the facts, improving and reinventing the organizational processes using statistical analysis. The training is designed in such a way that it provides the trainees a full resources to help them to explain, simplify and set the right path in the implementation of the six sigma methodology for the better achievement of the organization to meet its better quality.
The head of the departments and above position personalities like the senior business executives are considered as the champions of the organization. They are the person, who is responsible in the selection of the right projects, finding out the project scope, assigning the project, pointing out the right person for the position of black belt, greenbelt, and as the team members. The responsibilities includes charting the project, finding and resolving the roadblocks for the progress of the project. In wide sense it is the overall responsibility of a champion for the success of the project. The champion is link between the top management and the project teams. Often the DMAIC process is followed
The candidate who had undergone six sigma black belt certification is a professional who is capable in the explanation of six sigma philosophies and the principles. His knowledge also includes the supporting systems and the tools. This certification also deals with the training of the candidate in developing the demonstrating of the team leadership, understanding team dynamics and assigning team member roles and responsibilities. A six sigma black belt will be well versed will all the aspects of the DMAIC model in accordance with the six sigma principles. These professionals have basic knowledge of lean enterprise concepts. They are capable in identifying non-value added elements and activities. They are also capable in the use of specific tools
Six sigma program offers an in-depth knowledge on the theories and applications of six sigma methodologies in specific business environment and organizations. The program focus on the systematical use of statistical methods in a scientific manner, for the purpose of solving critical problems with in an organization or the business. As far as, six sigma program is concerned, the program focus on the training of the statistical methods where in other training programs the attention is paid on the training of the functionality of software.
The professionals who had undergone the master black belt certification are considered as a six sigma quality experts and they are responsible for the strategic implementations within an organization. The training is given for the improvement of the responsibilities of a master black belt, which includes training and mentoring of black belts and the green belts. Moreover the responsibilities or the duties of a master black belt extend to the range of helping the both belts in prioritizing, selecting and charting high impact projects.
“The quality performance” is the foundation stone of all types of industries. The growth of an industry depends on its performance quality. So checking out of the performance quality of an industry is something which is inevitable. “SIX SIGMA” – The statistical representation, is a process of quality measurement, which helps the organization in the improvement of their quality.
According to six sigma the word belt refers to the level or the position, of a person in an organization at the time of performing a work or at the time of implementation of a project. Several responsibilities take part at the time of the implementation of a work, so as to meet and make sure that the project is launched with zero defects and is able to meet the customer satisfaction. Hence results in sustaining the quality and profit of the company or the organization.
The methodology of the lean six sigma is to bring about the maximum result with less time in the inventory, space, people and money. The lean aims about speeding up the process and getting the right product at the first time. Here lean manufacturing is the systematical approach of identification and the elimination of waste through continuous improvement by the flow of products, which meets the demand of the customer.
MURI: The pushing of a person or a machine beyond its natural limits with in a work is referred as muri, which is another type of waste. all types of unreasonable works that the management is imposing towards the workers and the machines comes under this category. This is because of the poor management organization. Poor management organization such as making carry heavy weights, moving things around, dangerous tasks, even working faster than usual