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Quality management in construction and Six Sigma
Published in Lincoln H. Forbes, Syed M. Ahmed, Lean Project Delivery and Integrated Practices in Modern Construction, 2020
Lincoln H. Forbes, Syed M. Ahmed
Six Sigma management may be described as the “relentless and rigorous pursuit of the reduction of variation in all critical processes” (Gitlow 2006). It is an organizational imperative to create an order of magnitude change in processes. The Six Sigma approach has two versions. One version is a managerial initiative for measurably improving processes to better meet customer requirements; the other version includes another approach based on statistical tools and techniques that reduce product defects with a target of 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). Both versions are based on tools and techniques that were previously developed through Shewhart, Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, and others. Six Sigma management originated in the high-volume manufacturing environment with an emphasis on measuring and reducing defects. Some construction applications may involve repetitious activities that may lend themselves to this numerical target. As much of construction is non-repetitious, it can benefit from the more general process improvement approach.
Overview of Six Sigma
Published in D. H. Stamatis, Six Sigma Fundamentals, 2019
However, what is six sigma? In the narrow statistical sense, six sigma is a quality objective that identifies the variability of a process in terms of the specifications of the product, so that product quality and reliability meet and exceed today's demanding customer requirements. Specifically, six sigma refers to a process capability that generates 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Most organizations today operate in the four-to-five sigma range (6,000-67,000 defects per million opportunities); moving to six sigma is a challenge. The DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control) process is the key to achieving this breakthrough improvement in performance. It is a nonlinear process—if any step yields new information, earlier steps in the process must be reevaluated.
What Is This Thing Called Six Sigma?
Published in Bob Sproull, Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma Improvement Methodology, 2019
One of the key teachings of Six Sigma is the concept of sigma levels which, in a nutshell, refer to the quality level of the product produced, or service delivered. Quality is measured and tracked as defects per million opportunities (DPMO). In Table 3.1, Harry and Schroeder estimated the cost of quality as a percent of sales for each level of sigma [1]. Harry and Schroeder believe that a typical corporation operates at a three to four sigma level with DPMO levels ranging from 66,807 down to 6,210. They also believe companies that operate below three sigma usually don’t survive, clearly because their cost of quality prevents them from being competitive.
Waste reduction of polypropylene bag manufacturing process using Six Sigma DMAIC approach: A case study
Published in Cogent Engineering, 2021
Muhammad Hamad Sajjad, Khawar Naeem, Muhammad Zubair, Qazi Muhammad Usman Jan, Sikandar Bilal Khattak, Muhammad Omair, Rashid Nawaz
Most of the companies are struggling hard to reduce this high rejection rate by using different quality tools to remain competitive in the market (Srinivasan et al., 2016a). One of the recognized and powerful strategies to speed up improvements in product, service, and all types of processes and to enhance competitiveness is the (6ẟ) DMAIC methodology. This tool relentlessly focuses on reducing variation and eliminating wastes to improve the process, reduce variation, and enhance competitiveness (Schmidt et al., 2018). Six Sigma is statistically defined as a process having less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO) where the term sigma is used to represent the variation about the process average (Seow & Antony, 2004). A high sigma value indicates an improved process with fewer defects. Graphically, Six Sigma is explained in Figure 1.
Construction and fuzzy hypothesis testing of Taguchi Six Sigma quality index
Published in International Journal of Production Research, 2020
Kuen-Suan Chen, Tsang-Chuan Chang
Six Sigma () was introduced by Motorola Inc. in 1986 (Noguera and Nielsen 1992) as a set of techniques and tools aimed at improving processes, reducing costs, and increasing profits. Six Sigma was initially developed to express a quality goal of 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). According to Pandey (2007) and Linderman et al. (2003), Six Sigma achieves 3.4 DPMO by limiting the tolerance for a shift in the process mean by only from the process target. This has led to the application of Six Sigma in a variety of manufacturing industries to eliminate the causes of defects and minimise variability in the production of high-quality products (Anderson and Kovach 2014; Gijo and Scaria 2014; Srinivasan et al. 2016).
Six Sigma for workplace safety improvement: improving hazards and unsafe conditions in a metallic packaging manufacturing company
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2022
María-Victoria Sánchez-Rebull, Angels Niñerola, Ramon Ferrer-Rullan, Ana-Beatriz Hernández-Lara
Six Sigma is a business process improvement strategy, based on the principle of measuring, monitoring and controlling processes, that provides an organizational structure for continuous improvement [15]. It is also a logical and methodical approach to achieving continuous improvements in areas critical to the success of any manufacturing or service-oriented business [14]. Its main objective is to achieve business goals and improve company performance through controlling defects and reducing variation in processes [8]. Six Sigma means that the company offers only 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO), which means a high quality that reaches 99.99966%.