Page 14 - Six Sigma Advanced Tools for Black Belts and Master Black Belts

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Preface

The only place where Quality comes before Statistics is in the dictionary.
(T. N. Goh)

Six Sigma has come a long way since its introduction in the mid-1980s. Our association
with the subject began in the 1990s when a number of multinational corporations in
Singapore began to deploy Six Sigma in pursuit of business excellence. Prior to this,
some of us had been working on statistical quality improvement techniques for more
than two decades. It was apparent at the outset that the strength of Six Sigma is not in
introducing new statistical techniques as it relies on well-established and proven tools;
Six Sigma derives its power from the way corporate mindsets are changed towards
the application of statistical tools, from top business leaders to those on the production
floor. We are privileged to be part of this force for change through our involvement
in Six Sigma programs with many companies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Over the last decade, as Six Sigma has taken root in a number of corporations in the
region, the limitations of existing tools have surfaced and the demand for innovative
solutions has increased. This has coincided with the rapid evolution of Six Sigma as
it permeated across various industries, and in many cases the conventional Six Sigma
toolset is no longer sufficient to provide adequate solutions. This has opened up many
research opportunities and motivated close collaborations between academia and in-
dustrial practitioners. This book represents part of this effort to bring together practi-
tioners and academics to work towards the common goal of providing an advanced
reference for Six Sigma professionals, particularly Black Belts and Master Black Belts.
The book is organized into five parts, of five chapters each. Each of the parts rep-
resents respectively the define, measure, analyze, improve and control phases of the
traditional Six Sigma roadmap. Part A presents a strategic assessment of Six Sigma
and its SWOT analysis, followed by discussions of current interests in Six Sigma, in-
cluding Design for Six Sigma as well as a new improvement roadmap for transactional
Six Sigma.
In Part B, basic concepts of variability and some useful qualitative tools such as
mind maps and reality trees are presented. Capability analysis for non-normal data is
also discussed in two chapters focusing respectively on the theoretical and practical
aspects.
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