Techshore Inspection Services-Kochi-official blog of Techshore Kerala: TECHSHORE INSPECTION SERVICES : ALERT IMPROVEMENT USING SIX SIGMA TECHNIQUES

Six Sigma Overview

Six Sigma is a generally accepted methodology that focuses on civilizing an organization’s operational performance, business practices and systems by identifying and avoiding defects and inconsistencies in processes

If we have a procedure operating at 3sigma then we are allowing 66801.7 errors per million opportunities. Achieving six sigma funds that the process is delivering only 3.4 defects per million opportunities, in other words they are functioning nearly perfectly

The selection of six sigma project should be aligned with strategic business ambitions which could be any of the following

· Cost Reduction

· profitability improvement

· Increased customer satisfaction

· Improvement in product , service quality

· Reduction in lead time of product

· Improved employee performance

In this white paper, DMAIC, the most roughly used six sigma methodology will be explained through the case study of civilizing Test Productivity. By humanizing test productivity we can guarantee Cost Reduction and Customer Satisfaction.

Six Sigma Process

DMAIC Methodology

DMAIC is used when a manufactured goods or process already exists but is not meeting requirement or performance expectations. The DMAIC methodology is comprised of five phases:

Define the project goals and customer requirements
Measure the process to determine the current performance
Analyze and determine the root causes of the defects
Improve the method by eliminating defect root causes
Control future method performance

Case Study -Implementation of DMAIC

Definition– This step recognizes the customer requirements and the Critical to Quality (CTQ) potentials of the customer. This CTQ concept in six sigma allows to focuses on quality from the perspective of the customer.

In our example, the CTQ is Test Productivity. The key components of test productivity are shown below in fig 1

Though to understand the component most critical to the customer, the Voice of the Customer (VOC) requirements to be captured.

The VOC can be obtained in several ways –

Interviews
Focus Groups
Surveys and Organizational Metrics
CTQ Drilldown
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
Involves rating customer requirement, to find out the most critical requirement.

In this example the customer provides QFD rating as shown in table 1– Here the customer gives significance ratings to each of these requirements. Higher rating resources higher importance.

Based on the QFD rating, we now know that the CTQ to get better is Execution Productivity

Measure – In this stage, we measure the capability of the current process to meet the customer requirements. This phase consists of the following steps

Set Performance Standard
Prepare data collection plan
Collect data
Measure Process Capability

Set Performance Standards

Here we found specification limits, our target for improvement in the CTQ or Y, setting an aim that is aggressive but attainable

Now, that we have set our target for development as 40, the next step is design a data collection plan and collect data

Data Collection Plan

Sampling – When data to be composed is huge, resulting in prohibitive costs .we will go in for Sampling. This can be broadly classified as

Random sampling – Every datapoint in the populace has a equal chance of getting selected
Stratified Random Sampling - The population is divided into wide groups and then randomly sampled within
Systematic Sampling – The total population N is sub-classified into a sample population n and data collection

In this example, execution productivity of testers in 2007 is the total population N, the execution of testers for the July Release is the sample n

Now that we have the information we move onto measure the current process capability

Measure Process Capability – Here, we calculate the current process capability. This involves the following steps

Verify the process is normal
Determine the process capability in terms of standard deviation

These steps are performed using Minitab, a standard statistical surround used in six sigma projects

Conclusion

The attitude behind Six Sigma is to lessen variation in the business and take customer-focused and data determined decisions. Initially clinch as a manufacturing discipline, Six Sigma methodology is now functional to every surface of business, from production to human resources to arrange entry to technical support. Six Sigma methodologies can be worn for any activity that is anxious with cost, timeliness and quality. Research recommend typical benefits will exceed costs within 6 to 12 months from beginning of a Six Sigma program for software development, and the on-going revisit will be very substantial -- often a 15-25% reduction in software development costs in year two, with enduring reductions thereafter.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

TECHSHORE INSPECTION SERVICES : ALERT IMPROVEMENT USING SIX SIGMA TECHNIQUES