SUMMARY
Six Sigma Roadmap Step 5 involves expanding and integrating the Six Sigma system. This is the part where you ensure the four previous steps into an ongoing, cross-functional management approach. To achieve this, you need to do the following substeps:
The first step puts some control on the system so that sustained improvement will take place. You need to build support for the solution. To build such support, you should work with those who manage the process, or participated in its creation. Then, you need to use a “storyboard” with facts and data. Being able to show the effect of the process change on your customers will go a long way to convince people that the new approach is the right one. Next, you need to treat the people managing and using the new process as your customers. If you are able to tailor your pitch and product to the internal group, the group will better understand the initiative. Last, you should create a sense of purpose and enthusiasm. There is value in creating a sense of participation in the solution building.
Another way to ensure control is to document the changes and the new methods. A successful Six Sigma organization should know how to make documentation, or stored facts and data, usable and accessible. To be able to do that, make your documentation simple, brief, clear, and inviting. Write in direct, jargon-free sentences and may include pictures and flowcharts. Include options and instructions for “emergencies,” and have a process for updates and revisions.
In other words, you Establish meaningful measures and chart. You have already learned how to categorize measures into Input, Process, and Output; Efficiency and Effectiveness; Predictors (Xs) and Results (Ys).
After having categorized your measures, you need to strike a balance among them so you will see the full picture of the organizational system. Next, consider the rate of change. Observe the things that change more frequently—especially factors that can impact customers, product, or service quality, and costs/profits. You should measure what’s important at a particular time. Some will need long-term “maintenance:” defects, cycle time, cost per unit, etc. Others will be “situational” –those that may need attention at the outset and then regular checkups to know if it is working well. Still others may be “improvement-focused” –those that began during a DMAIC project or a new-product launch.
A common observation is that sooner or later something will go wrong in any process, that’s why you need to prepare for this by building process response plans. A process Response Plan includes three major elements:
Your ongoing measures and controls should develop good documentation; select a balanced mix of measures; create measurement reports conveying information quickly and safely; and develop a plan to take action in case problems arise in the process. Do not leave documents to gather dust nor forget the process maps.
The next important step at this point is to define responsibility for process ownership and management. You may start by positioning your organization to adopt the most promising solution to cross-functional barriers and organizational “silos:” a process management approach. You need to go back to the goals of the Six Sigma system.
The most important step in the transformation to process management is to assign the “Process Owners.” Process Owners maintain process documentation, measure/monitor process performance, identify problems and opportunities, launch and sponsor improvement efforts, and coordinate and communicate with other Process and with Functional Managers.
The task of the Process Owners focuses on measuring, improving, and coordinating broader flows of work calls. They should therefore be results-oriented, respected by all levels in the organization, highly knowledgeable in the business, has excellent people skills, skilled in Six Sigma concepts, measurement, and Process Improvement and Design methods, and ready to share credit for success and setbacks or failures.
The final important step in expanding and integrating the Six Sigma system is executing the “closed-loop” management and drive. Establishing process management is both the end of your Six Sigma Roadmap and the beginning of becoming a real Six Sigma organization. To review the steps, put in mind the following:
You have two tools for Process Management: process scorecards and dashboards, and customer report cards. The former provides you a summary update on key indicators of process performance. The latter provides you a timely feedback of the VOC system.
You are now ready to move toward Six Sigma. To successfully manage your Six Sigma performance, you must document the steps and lessons in Process Improvement and Design/Redesign Projects; develop a complete plan to Control the process and maintain the gains; carefully define the role and responsibilities of a Process Owner for your organization. You must not take on process management without careful upfront consideration nor create process reports and documentation that end up being just as under-used as your current ones.
COMMENTARY
Like in any activity or program, the biggest challenge is not really how to achieve your objectives but rather how to sustain it, or more importantly how to enhance it. The chapter discusses the how, focusing on measures to sustain improvement and emphasizing responsibilities and process ownership.
There are however several significant items that should have been likewise discussed to address the challenge. First, it should have been pointed out that like its predecessors—TQM and other quality management programs—this “how to sustain” problem became their pitfall, which led to their eventual failure. After achieving initial success, the initiative slowly, or in some instances suddenly, failed. Why it happened should have been a relevant item for discussion in this chapter.
Second, before immediately discussing measures, a good introductory topic should have been the concept of continual improvement. The closed-loop system of Six Sigma through the DMAIC cycle method allows avenue of continuing efforts toward improvement. By continual improvement, objectives are raised once initial goals are met. We should always be reminded that quality improvement is not a destination. It is a journey or like a let-loose arrow where quality is always a moving target.
Documentation was appropriately mentioned under ongoing measures to restore improvement. It is in fact a critical factor. We manage by data or facts. Everything should be documented in an appropriate manner, time, and frequency. Anybody who is familiar with the ISO Quality Management System will tell you to document what you do and do what you document.
Finally, business is a process or a set of various processes and subprocesses. To say define responsibility and identify process owners is an understatement.
