Re: Six Sigma & Deming Philosophies!

[Dr A D Burns <mmedia@ozemail.com.au>]

Some of the differences between Deming's philosophy and Six Six are evident from his "14 points" .  In particular his point 10:

"Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets asking for zero defects or new levels of productivity." As Deming once stated in a seminar "Zero defects," he said, "down the tubes we go."  World class quality means on target with minimum variation. Six Sigma misses this key concept.

Also the following:
 "9.  Break down barriers between departments."
"11. Eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives.". 
"14.  Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job."

Rather than following points 9 and 14 above, Six Sigma encourages elitism with black belts and green belts.

There are some broad differences such as PDCA vs DMAIC which are of little consequence.

Six Sigma tends towards a focus on cost reduction rather than quality and the customer.

Six Sigma has probably been more successful than any methodology that has gone before . This has been primarily because it has been vendor driven.  Commercial interests in six sigma institutes have achieved commitment from senior management, as never before in American companies. This is wonderful.

Six sigma loses much in the detail. The nonsense of drifting means; erroneous calculation of sigma; the focus on normal distibutions; focus on defects and the specification, rather than reducing variation; the excess baggage needed to justify the cost of training black belts. 

Best regards,

Dr Tony Burns
a_burns@q-skills.com