Collecting Data and Identifying Required Teams

Collecting Data
Remember that within a Six Sigma culture, decisions are made and programs are established based on data. If you don’t have the data that you need, establish some way to start collecting it. Keep files of why customers are complaining. If you lose a customer, follow up and get the real answer to why they went to one of your competitors.

You need data to identify where your problems are. You need data to establish a baseline of your historical performance. From this baseline, you need to set a goal of ten-fold improvement every two years. This is the Six Sigma rate of improvement standard. Then you need to monitor your performance against your goal. If you are meeting or exceeding your goal, stay the course. If you are not meeting your goal, regroup and redesign your programs.

Identifying Required Teams
You must take a cross-functional view of all parties involved in delivering product or service. If customers are chronically receiving product late, who is involved? It starts with sales receiving the order and communicating a realistic delivery date. Order entry personnel are responsible for
getting it into production. Production control people are responsible for scheduling it properly. Production is responsible for operating a predictable factory flow. Factory engineering must design the factory layout and machine centers for optimum performance. Manufacturing Engineering
must design processes that are controllable and predictable. Maintenance must keep equipment running.
Warehousing must have a system that allows product to flow through quickly. Logistics must maintain an efficient delivery system.

So, if one of your prioritized programs is to improve customer on-time delivery, then you need to form a team that includes members from sales, order entry, production control, production, factory engineering, manufacturing engineering, maintenance, warehousing, and logistics.

If this team decides that none of them are at fault, that the real problem is the lousy product design that engineering gave them to build, then you need to add a representative from design engineering to the team. Any time a team starts using the term “them,” someone from “them” needs to be added to the team.

Things that must be done prior to creating your Six Sigma program are:
❑ Determine what you want to accomplish
❑ Decide who will be black belts and green belts
❑ Define the training programs required for black belt and green-belt candidates
❑ Select the initial projects targeted for improvement
❑ Establish the required data collection systems
❑ Identify the required teams