Project Outline

Project title:

Managing people and change to achieve lasting improvement using six-sigma

Introduction:
Six-Sigma is an extremely popular improvement focused program that and has evolved and developed
from the past quality programs. The basic objective of six-sigma is to try and reduce the variation to as
small as possible in order to make all the products and services provided meet and hopefully exceed the
expectations of the customer. The results of a successful six sigma project include improved profits for
businesses while always improving the customer satisfaction. While attempting to achieve
improvement, there is bound to be a lot of change involved and as result of which, there arises a need
to manage the process of change. The importance of managing the change in any organisation, in
whichever scenario, cannot be over emphasised. In this dissertation, I hope to relate and review both
these management concepts from the available information from books, thesis, etc and also supplement
this review with a real world industrial experience if possible.
Research Objective/Question:

What is the objective of the dissertation and what I hope to achieve on completion?

 Gain comprehensive understanding of both managerial concepts, six-sigma and change

management and the relationship between them
 Attempt to supplement the above primary goal by looking at the major common factor that
affects the success of a six sigma project and the management of change in an organisation.
 In order to achieve the two main goals above, it is hoped that I would be able to spend some
time in the aerospace industry to gain some valuable experience and use some of the data made
available for the project.
 With the analysis of the literature and practical data, a framework is hoped to be developed that
will help in order to better handle changes in organisations and much better results from six-
sigma projects. Other concepts such as organisational learning and lean, etc could be included.

Available Literature:

Six-Sigma was developed in the 1980’s at Motorola. As technology developed, the existing benchmarks
and ideas about the acceptable levels of quality became outdated resulting in this new quality
methodology. Motorola’s launch of six-sigma in the mid 80’s and the awarding of the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award to Motorola in 1988 brought Six Sigma to the forefront.

The term sigma is a Greek word that means standard deviation. The basic objective of six-sigma is to try
and reduce the variation to as small as possible in order to make all the products and services provided
meet and hopefully exceed the expectations of the customer. In order to achieve these objectives, small
incremental improvements are useless. What is required are breakthroughs in all aspects of the
operation. Six-sigma provides the desired benefits for everybody, right from the customers, to the
employees to the shareholders while always continuously delivering and meeting the continuously
changing needs of the market and its customers.
Six -sigma minimises wastes and resources by continuously designing and monitoring everyday activities
resulting in improving the profits of businesses all the while increasing customer satisfaction. If the aim
is to achieve six-sigma that means that your process delivers only 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
Hence Six-sigma is not only a quality symbol but is also a methodology and is used for measurements
with the goal being achievement of perfection.

DMAIC is a common model followed to implement the six-sigma process, consisting of a set of phases
that need to be implemented sequentially.

DMAIC is the abbreviation for the following

Define:

To start the six sigma process it is necessary to start by clearly defining the problem faced. This phase of
the improvement process establishes the boundaries and provides clarity for the process of
improvement along with providing the plan for the improvement process. What are the results of this
phase?

 A business case with explanation as to why this particular problem is chosen with clear
definition of the problem and the scope of the problem
 Players and roles in the process need to be clearly defined like team members, champions,
stakeholders.etc
 Process map needs to be traced out with required details and information.
 Constraints and Assumptions understood with the development of estimates of costs,
limitations, available resources etc.
 Listening to the voice of the customer and understanding the needs of the internal and external
key process customers.

Some of the tools used in order to achieve this are Brainstorming, customer interviews, waste audits,
process flow charting

Measure:
The measure phase follows the define phase and has 2 main objectives: Gathering data in regard to
validating and quantifying the selected problem along with testing available data in order to try and get
clues about possible causes of problems. This phase helps refine the goals and statements created
earlier. Some of the results of this phase are

 Understanding the current state of the key performance measures by using existing measures
and also defining new measures where required.
 Calculating levels of waste and the financial toll taken by it. This is achieved by observation of
system in operation
 Understanding how the critical factors are faring in regard to satisfaction of customers.
 Review and refining of the problems based on information from this phase

Some of the tools used include, run charts, control charts, waste audits, pareto diagrams, measurement
plans, etc

Analyse:

This phase deals with identification of potential cause of the problem and their links. All possible types
of causes need to be considered so as to not let past experiences affect the identification. Some of the
main causes usually are the method of doing the work, the material used, machines associated with the
process, natural causes, methods associated with the process, and the people involved. The analyse
phase is the main foundation of the improvement process. The results obtained from this phase are

 List of all possible causes of problem obtained.

 Potential contributory causes with their contribution to the problem identified.
 Designing the input measures in order to reflect what is expected of the output.

The key tools involved are cause and effect analysis, control charts, scatter diagram, pareto diagram,
capability analysis, fish bone diagram, designed experiments, histograms, etc.

Improve:
Improvement is the stage where planning and achieving the results are done. Creative solutions need to
be developed for addressing the problem and this solution needs to be tested, refined and
implemented. Costs and defects are reduced and customers are satisfied as a result of the solutions
obtained from this phase. The key results obtained are:

 A list of possible solutions for the problem is obtained.

 Best Solution is selected from possibilities.
 Test improved process and revisions made where necessary after assessing the effects of the
improvement
 Proposal approved and accepted by members associated with the process
 Test the new process for a period in order to understand the stability as well as the capability of
the system.

Key tools involved are cause and effect diagram, brainstorming, process flow charting, Control charts,
pareto diagrams, histograms, etc.

Control:

The main objective of the control phase is to prevent the process from reverting back to the old habits.
In order to have a control over the process, not only are the results be monitored and measured but it is
also about selling the idea of the new process to the people involved. This phase creates the condition
for the improved conditions to be maintained as well as built upon for the future. This process could also
involve the standardisation and integration of the process around the organisation. The key outputs are

 All elements associated with the process should be documented and flow charts prepared in
order to attain clarity of the new process.
 All members of the organisation associated with the process needs to be trained in regard to the
new procedures
 These members should be able to provide their feedback in regard to the process, thus
continuously improving the process and eliminating the side effects.
 The benefits obtained by the improvements towards the business are calculated.
 The process is standardised throughout for all the operators via training, meetings, etc.
 Entire process is completed documented and easily available.
The key tools used include documentation, team briefings, benefit analysis etc.

Some of the critical factors for the success of six sigma in practice are as follows

 Commitment and involvement of management

 Open, safe learning environment where creativity is encouraged and failure is tolerated.
 Good communication throughout the organisation.
 Training is essential for the success of six sigma
 Good organisational infrastructure with good team work, communication, vision and long term
strategy is important.
 Six sigma is not a standalone process and needs to be linked with business strategy of the
organisation
 Six-sigma also needs to be linked with the needs of the customer.
 Six sigma should be linked to human resources as well as the suppliers as they are all involved
with the success of the program
 Prioritising of projects that provide maximum benefits
 Full understanding of the tools and techniques involved in six sigma

Problems are faced during every stage of implementation in reality. Some of the very common mistakes
committed by organisations are listed below

 Problem statement more of a solution for the problem faced

 Focus of project too broad and imprecise.
 Assuming what the customer’s requirements are and defining project accordingly.
 Measurement of wrong variables and ignoring key process variables
 Measurement process not constantly monitored resulting in large variations in received data
 Jumping to conclusions in regard to the cause of problem without complete analysis
 Solutions for problems not creative and not entirely suitable to tackle problem
 Lack of support for the program
 Last of test run to check the solution of the process
 Poor documentation of process which does not provide clarity for future users
 Poor standardisation and implementation.
In regard to the management of change, most of the material available in relation to the management of
change and six-sigma are related to the problems faced during the improvement process and
implementation of six-sigma. However what I wish to do is not only include the problems of change for
six-sigma projects but also consider the organisation as a whole and

 Reasons for the need of change

 Recognise the different ways people respond to change and develop strategies to gain
commitment
 Effects of culture and the structure in organisations in relation to resisting the change process
and in turn the improvement process
 Tools used to achieve smooth transition
 Learning, evolving and adapting, both as people and organisations from the results achieved
from the change

Methodology

In order to achieve the objectives, the various sources of information are as follows

 Interview: interview related members of the management, from Rolls-Royce to understand their
views and personal experiences.
 Case-study of companies in regard to the implementation and changes faced.
 Hands on experience: Spend as much time as possible In Rolls-Royce, Derby during the summer
in order to gain an understanding and see the difference from what the books say compared to
what really happens
 Journal and material available online

In addition to this, I have requested a meeting with Mr. Ramnik, to discuss the possibility of getting a
contact point in any other manufacturing organisation which might help the project.
Resources

The main resource required is access to professionals involved with change and six-sigma.