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22 August 31, 2006 2:53 A Strategic Assessment of Six Sigma
the ad hoc or one-off nature of on-the-job training in the past, where there was no
commonly recognizable way of designating an individual’s competence or experience
in effecting quality improvement.
All these features -- framework, approach, application, focus, organization, results
and personnel -- are important contributors to the effectiveness of Six Sigma. Coupled
with project management techniques, together they provide a comprehensive frame-
work for effective application of statistical thinking and methodologies for problem
solving and demonstrable measures of improvement.

2.4 SIX SIGMA: CONTRASTS AND POTENTIAL

As pointed out, statistical thinking and statistical methodologies constitute the back-
bone of Six Sigma. MINITAB, a commonly used software package, describes Six Sigma
as ‘an information-driven methodology for reducing waste, increasing customer sat-
isfaction and improving processes, with a focus on financially measurable results’. 48
The idea of information-based improvement has now been extended to design activ-
ities, in the form of design for Six Sigma (DFSS). 46,49 DFSS -- typically in the form of
identify--design--optimize--validate (IDOV) -- aims to design products, services and
processes that are ‘Six Sigma capable’, emphasizing the early application of Six Sigma
tools and the fact that as far as defect elimination goes, prevention is better than cure.
The results are a far cry from the days when quality had to depend on testing and
inspection (T&I), or perhaps SPC.
It can be seen that the emphasis of quality improvement has been moving gradually
upstreamovertheyears:fromT&IontheproducttoSPContheprocess,thenSixSigma
on the system, and finally DFSS as a pre-emptive move for achieving the desired
performance. Without delving into the details, which are available elsewhere, 49−52
the differences among these approaches are summarized in Table 2.1. Certainly Six
Sigma and DFSS represent a far more fundamental approach to problem solving and
problem anticipation, respectively, in any given situation.
There are many factors that contribute to the potential of Six Sigma, of which the
critical ones are as follows:

1. top-down initiation of a serious quality journey (not a book-keeping exercise);
2. hierarchy of expertise and execution (Champions, Black Belts, etc.);
3. structured deployment of tools (DMAIC);
4. customer focus (in contrast to inward-looking standardization);
5. clear performance metric (sigma levels; defects per million opportunities
(DPMO));
6. fact-based decisions (not procedure- or judgment-based);
7. application of statistics (analytical, not will power);
8. service as well as engineering applications (thus extending the horizon of statis-
tical thinking);
9. recognized time effects in process analysis (with explicit provisions for short-term
and long-term variations);
10. result-oriented (project by project; project duration of 3--6 months makes progress
tangible);