The 15-Minute Guide to 6 Sigma in the Workplace

INTRODUCTION
If you were running a business where you delivered one million items or transactions per year. and of those one million, 99.9% were defect free then you may think that was an acceptable performance.
But if you consider that the remaining 0.1% amounts to 1000 defective items or transactions then you could have a lot of unhappy customers or an expensive amount of scrap or rework.

Six Sigma methodology is about reducing defects through improved process capability, and is not to be confused with ‘Lean manufacturing’ which is more about eliminating waste throughout an organisation in order to improve efficiencies.
Six Sigma methodology controls variation and improves accuracy and process control.

In this short guide we will review the origins of Six Sigma, explain why it is called Six Sigma, and take a look at some tools and techniques and the benefits of implementing Six Sigma methodologies along with some worked examples.