Variation in your product or service is the enemy. What if your company produced a chest of drawers that you must assemble, and the holes that the screws go into did not align? Not only will you have unhappy customers, but will ultimately suffer a financial loss.
A financial loss could include loss of customers, issuing a refund, or costs incurred to fix the defect. In Six Sigma, there are six elements that contribute to variation in a process. They are called the 6M’s.
The 6M’s
Method: The process used to manufacture the perforated holes; was it an assembly line that ran on a conveyor belt? Perhaps another method used would have been better.
Mother Nature: These are environmental causes. The weather could have caused the machine slow down, thus causing the holes to be punched in the wrong place.
Man (People): Allowing any one staff member to stop the process if he/she deems an error had taken place.
Measurement: If the supplier measures in units, and the manufacturer uses the metric system, this would be a huge problem.
Machine: An old machine, which has parts that are worn, would impact the overall manufacturing process of your product.
Materials: Some materials are more difficult to work with than others. This could dull the blade of the machine that makes the perforated holes.
Consistency in your product or service is the reason your customers come to you, rather than someone else. When Coca-Cola changed their recipe, it did not go over very well. The company went back to its original formula because it lost millions in revenue, and the recipe change is now referred to as the worst flub of all time.
This change was done intentionally, but we bring it up because variation in an established product is the number one enemy in businesses. A variation is an automatic defect. The 6M tool will help establish the cause of the deviation.
There are two types of causes:
Special Causes: These can be found with the Six Sigma tool, through the 5 Whys. The special causes only account for about 15% of the variations.
Common Causes: These are factors that affect the entire system and account for 85% of the variations.
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