Page 33 - Six Sigma Demystified

14 Six SigMa DemystifieD

black belt roles, utilizing consultants as master black belts, particularly for the
first year or two of deployment. When part- time black belts are used, manage-
ment assumes a risk in losing project focus to daily operational issues. These
resources must be managed effectively by the Six Sigma champions.
Sponsors are middle- to upper- evel managers, trained as champions, who
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authorize, fund, and support the projects through allocation of resources.
Six Sigma project team members will be excused periodically from daily
operational duties to work on project- related activities. Other resources (such
as equipment and materials) will be diverted from daily operations to gather
data. Line managers will need clear signals that upper management not only
authorizes this reallocation of resources but also requires it.
Each Six Sigma project should include an estimate of the costs related to
deploying the project. These costs are calculated by the accounting department
and include labor, materials, and lost production time. Costs are debited against
the financial benefits of the project, which also are calculated by the accounting
department.

Data- Driven Decision Making

Management needs to lead by example. Managers need to walk the talk. Deci-
sions regarding project selection, incentives to sales or production units, re-
source allocation, and so on all must be based on sound data analysis. Consider,
for example, project selection. If line supervisors have sole authority to allocate
resources for projects, then projects might not be aligned with the strategic
direction of the business unit or the needs of the external customer simply
because line supervisors lack access to that information.

Instead, project selection is a management activity that needs to consider a
variety of factors: benefit to customers, probability of success, cost to imple-
ment, and time to implement, to name just a few. (See also “Project Selection”
in Chapter 3.) By quantifying these factors, management is able to choose proj-
ects objectively that use the company’s limited resources effectively.
The DMAIC problem- solving methodology introduced earlier typically is
used to acquire data and glean information from the data in the context of a
Six Sigma project. The DMAIC methodology is designed to

• Define the problem
• Measure the extent of the problem
• Analyze the sources of variation