New Standard for Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a systematic method for improving business performance, has been published as a two ISO standards; ISO 13053-1:2011 and ISO 13053-2:2011.
Six Sigma was originally developed by Motorola in the 1980s with the goal of process improvement. A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the products manufactured are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million).
Today, the methodology is applied in many organizations for all types of process and services in order to:
- Drive process improvement and make statistically based decisions
- Measure business results with a level of reliance
- Prepare for uncertainty
- Combine high returns and benefits in the short, medium, and long-term
- Remove waste, defects, and errors
Six Sigma projects follow a defined sequence of steps with quantified goals and financial targets (cost reduction and/or profit increase), and rely on statistical tools to deal with uncertainty.
The New Standards…
The new standard, ISO 13053:2011, Quantitative methods in process improvement – Six Sigma, deals exclusively with the application of Six Sigma to improve existing processes and is published in the following two parts:
Part 1: DMAIC methodology
This describes the five-phased methodology DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control), and recommends best practice, including on the roles, expertise, and training of personnel involved in such projects.
Part 2: Tools and techniques
This describes tools and techniques, illustrated by factsheets, to be used at each phase of the DMAIC approach.
