Starting with the Basics - Statistics for Six Sigma

While some will downplay the need for statistical knowledge- I am more inclined to believe that this is where the fun really is. Depending though on whether you are a green belt or a black belt - the level of knowledge required may differ. But whatever belt you may be aiming for, it is still a good idea that one has a good grasp of statistics.

With statistics, you will be able to predict, with some degree of confidence - that your solutions will work now and in the future. As is said, one must first understand that the aim of statistics is prediction.

Also, there is more to statistics than what our schools have been used to teaching students. If one doesn't have a statistics or mathematics background - one may never hear of the famous names as John Tukey- the great statistician who invented the box plot, stem and leaf plot and many more. Tukey's famous Exploratory Data Analysis will prove to be useful in one's six sigma undertaking.

Indeed, a lot still has to be learned about statistics. We may not be able to master all the statistical concepts - but at least we know of the existence of the important theories and how we may apply these.

Our aim is not to become statisticians, but continuous improvement pragmatists.

Learn Lean Sigma

How serious are you in learning lean or six sigma?

This is a question only you can answer honestly.
For me, my starting this blog shows how serious I am in learning about lean manufacturing and six sigma.
Lean Manufacturingor what is originally called "Toyota Production System" has sparked my interest on Toyota's way of doing business. A good number of books have been written about TPS (Toyota Production System) - most by consultants and some by those with academic backgrounds. You may be familiar with books as Toyota Way and Toyota Way Fieldbook - both by J. Liker - and are very good books at that. There are also those by Monden, Taichi Ohno, Shigeo Shingo and many more.

Six sigmahas also been associated with the companies Motorola and GE. With six sigma, the DMAIC approach came about. Concentrating mostly in reducing variation in a process, six sigma is effective in improving processes. There are many tools in the six sigma package - and this makes it interesting for those individuals pursuing their belts - Yellow, Green, Black and Master Black Belts.

Lean or TPS has their own fanatics - so does Six Sigma. Others prefer using one over the other - and sometimes unnecessarily dismissing the other to be second rate. The challenge however, is to be able to find that right combination so that you get both the benefits of Lean and that of Six Sigma. And this is the very reason why, there are many literature around about Lean Six Sigma- a marriage that has been waiting to happen.

Again, Lean and Six Sigma are not contrary and opposing approaches. To the fanatics, maybe they are - but then, it will all boil down to how you are going to use these. To quote from Deming: "No theory is right or wrong; each can give you a perspective of this world or others. Some perspectives however, are more useful than others.."