Scenario: In our Six Sigma program, management identifies and prioritizes the im

Question

Scenario: In our Six Sigma program, management identifies and prioritizes the improvement projects that will be scheduled and initiated each year. While individual projects are perceived to be generally successful, the overall Six Sigma program is not having the big impact on organizational performance that management is looking for. Individuals working on projects often don’t feel that they are working on things that are really important to the employees and customers. Management is beginning to doubt that initiating the Six Sigma program was a good idea for the organization.

Your management team has come to you with the above problem scenario that they need you to advise them on and plan a strategy to address. Write and submit a memo to your manager that describes something in your Standards Framework that you believe will address the problem. Your memo should offer a general description of how your chosen Framework component(s) address the problem as described. It should then describe the long-term prospects for what it will mean to implement the component(s) in the organization, as well as a short-term description of how you’ll move toward implementation in the first three to six months. This memo is to your management, not to other engineers. It needs to be brief and concise, and yet contain appropriate technical details to properly explain your position and planning. The best management memos fit on a single page. Don’t re-explain the problem to them. Don’t go into deep detail that they don’t need to know. Stay focused on how implementing your plan will solve the problem.

Explanation / Answer

To: the Management
From: ...
Date: ...
Subject: Six Sigma implementation

Dear Management,
In regard to the problems associated with the holistic development of our six sigma program, I have come up with a strategic plan which will help us improve the current scenario of the six sigma programme.
We can use a framework known as PDCA cycle to keep a track of growth/success of our holistic six sigma project.

PDCA Cycle:
1. Plan:
This phase come under the "Define" phase of the DMAIC process. We should have clear objectives in mind regarding how far and where this six sigma project should take us. Since this phase is the preliminary stage one should also focus on the "pre-Define" phase where we should use certain criteria's to choose the appropriate projects for six sigma.

2. Do:
This phase comes under "Measure" stage of the DMAIC process. Here we would want to quantify the performance of a project and also measure the extent of improvement that can be done.

3. Check:
This phase comes under "Analyse" stage of the DMAIC process. Here organization should check the data collected by using statistical tools to understand the critical parameters causing variations in processes.

4. Act:
This phase constitutes the pen-ultimate & ultimate stages of the DMAIC process. Here organizations will implement their ideas generated through previous stages and make sure that the ideas implemented are successful.

We can make use of this framework to improve the performance of our entire six sigma programme. I have not included DMADV process since it is used when we are developing a new process/project. Here we are trying to improve the existing six sigma programme so DMAIC will be apt.

Thank you,
Xyz

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