During the last couple of decades small, mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies have embraced Six Sigma to generate more profit and greater savings. So what is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a data-driven approach for eliminating defects and waste in any business process. You can compare Six Sigma with turning your water faucet and experiencing the flow of clean, clear water. Reliable systems are in place to purify, treat, and pressure the water through the faucet. That is what Six Sigma does to business: it treats the processes in business so that they deliver their intended result.

What is "Sigma"? The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. Sigma is a way to measure quality and performance. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how many "defects" you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to "zero defects" as possible. This workshop will give participants an overview of the Six Sigma methodology, and some of the tools required to deploy Six Sigma in their own organizations.

Course Outline

INTRODUCTION
Course Objectives

MODULE 1
Understanding Lean
About Six Sigma
About Lean
History Behind Lean
Toyota Production Systems
The Toyota Precepts
Knowledge Check

MODULE 2
Liker’s Toyota Way
Philosophy
Process
People and Partners
Problem Solving
Knowledge Check

MODULE 3
The TPS House
The Goals of TPS
The First Pillar: Just In Time (JIT)
The Second Pillar: Jidoka (Error-Free Production)
Kaizen (Continuous Improvement)
The Foundation of the House
Knowledge Check

MODULE 4
The Five Principles of Lean Business
Value
Value Stream
Flow
Pull
Seek Perfection
Knowledge Check

MODULE 5
The First Improvement Concept (Value)
Basic Characteristics
Satisfiers
Delighters
Applying the Kano Model
Knowledge Check

MODULE 6
The Second Improvement Concept (Waste)
Muda
Mura
Muri
The New Wastes
Knowledge Check

MODULE 7
The Third Improvement Concept (Variation)
Common Cause
Special Cause
Tampering
Structural
Knowledge Check

MODULE 8
The Fourth Improvement Concept (Complexity)
What is Complexity?
What Causes Complexity?
How to Simplify?
Knowledge Check

MODULE 9
The Fifth Improvement Concept (Continuous Improvement)
The PDSA Cycle (Plan, Do, Study, Act)
The DMAIC Method
Knowledge Check

MODULE 10
The Improvement Toolkit
Gemba
Genchi Genbutsu
Womack’s Principle
Kaizen
A Roadmap for Implementation
Knowledge Check

ASSESSMENT
Post-Test