Six Sigma

Launches

Into Space

By

Janet H. Sanders, PhD, CSSBB, CQA, CQE

Associate Professor,

East Carolina University

1

2017 NASA

AAQ Workshop

Presentation Contents

Six Sigma United with NASA

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma Methodologies

Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma For CubeSat Optimization

Next Steps

2

Six Sigma United With NASA

Why the marriage of Six Sigma and NASA will

result in a perfect union?

Both Six Sigma and NASA have a goal of perfect

quality

Six Sigma can bring together the NASA Quality

Assurance directives and the CubeSat quality

standards, while providing a uniform structure for

CubeSat development and optimization.

3

Six Sigma United With NASA

What is NASA’s overall quality level?

◦ Percentage of shuttles lost relative to the

number of missions attempted

◦ Percentage of shuttle failures relative to

number of launches

◦ Percentage of failures per opportunity of

various shuttle parts

◦ Percentage of failures per opportunity of

various shuttle systems

What is the CubeSat overall quality level? 4

Six Sigma United With NASA

5

The Value of Six Sigma

Sigma Level DPMO % Defective Yield (%)

1 691,462 69 31

2 308,537 31 69

3 66,807 6.7 93

4 6,210 0.6 99.4

5 233 0.023 99.98

6 3.4 0.0000019 99.9997

DPMO = Defects Per Million Opportunities

Six Sigma United With NASA

▪ Launch Six Sigma to meet the directives of the NASA

Quality Assurance Program Policy NPD 8730.5B

▪ “Continually be improved through: advocacy; awareness training;

teaming and sharing of quality assurance tools, techniques and

data”

▪ “Provide for investigative and corrective actions upon discovery

or notification of noncompliance”

▪ “Corrective actions shall include the correction, replacement,

repair, or authorized disposition of noncompliant

items/conditions, implementation of preventive measures to

eliminate the causes of noncompliance, and validation that

implemented preventive measures have effectively eliminated

recurrence of the noncompliant condition (recurrence

control)” 6

What is Six Sigma?

▪A methodology that blends together many of

the key elements of past quality initiatives

A methodology that provides a structured

approach to problem solving

✓ follows a logical, systematic method

✓ is objective and focused on finding the root

cause of the problem

✓ eliminates and prevents the problem from

recurring

7

What is Six Sigma?

▪A methodology that uses a specific problem-

solving approach and specialized tools to

improve processes and products.

▪A data driven methodology whose goal is to

reduce the number of unacceptable products or

events.

▪A statistical concept that measures a process in

terms of defects

8

What is Six Sigma?

▪A statistical concept that represents the amount

of variation present in a process relative to

customer requirements or specifications

When a process is running at the 6s level, the variation

is so small that the resulting products and services are

99.9997% defect free

When a process is running at the 6s level, it is

delivering only 3.4 defects per million opportunities

(DPMO)

9

What is Six Sigma?

10

Ref. Dr. Mark Kiemele, Air Academy Associates

Six Sigma Methodologies

The DMAIC method involves five steps: Define

Measure Analyze Improve Control

▪ It is used to improve the current capabilities

of an existing process

▪ It is the most commonly used methodology

of sigma improvement teams.

11

Six Sigma Methodologies

The DMADV method involves five steps: Define

Measure Analyze Design Verify

▪ It is used to help create a process, product, or

service to meet customer requirements.

▪ It is used when there is a need to complete a

redesign because a process, product, or service

is consistently incapable of meeting customer

requirements.

12

Six Sigma Methodologies

Six Sigma pulls together many of the concepts

and teachings from the Academy of Aerospace

quality

Six Sigma methodology can be utilized in every

level of the CubeSat life cycle, from

development to product maturity

Six Sigma methodology will save money and

time for NASA

13

Lean Six Sigma

14

Six Sigma has a close cousin who assists

in optimizing processes and services.

This cousin is Lean

What is Lean?

Lean◦ “A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating

waste (non-value-added activities) through continuous

improvement by flowing the product at the pull of the

customer, in pursuit of perfection.” (The MEP Lean

Network)

◦ Approaches that were initially developed by the Toyota

Motor Corporation (via TPS) that focus on the

elimination of waste in all forms, including defects

requiring rework, unnecessary processing steps,

unnecessary movement of materials or people, waiting

time, excess inventory, and overproduction.

15

Lean With Six Sigma

LEAN

Efficient Processes /Work

Content & Standards

Throughput & Flow

Capacity

Waste Reduction

Data driven

Six SIGMA

Consistency

Reducing variation

Right the 1st time

Quality

Data driven

VariaTioNSPEED

Lean and Six Sigma tools can be used

together to address quality issues.

Deviation

Defects

Waste

Lean

Six

Sigma

The overlap is where Lean

speeds up Six Sigma results, i.e. Lean Six Sigma (LSS)

Lean With Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma For CubeSat Optimization

The Lean & DMAIC methodologies can be utilized

as guidelines to optimize and continuously improve

the processes used to build the components of the

CubeSat

The DMAIC structure could be utilized as a

guideline to help optimize and document CubeSat

development and optimization via problem solving

18

Lean Six Sigma For CubeSat Optimization

Six Sigma’s DMAIC process (Define, Measure,

Analyze, Improve, Control)

• Define: define the project, its purpose, its goals and

deliverables, and its scope

• Measure: gather information on the current

performance of the process

• Analyze: identify and determine the root cause(s) of

defects

• Improve: develop, try out, and implement solutions that

address and eliminate the root cause(s) of the defects

• Control: maintain the gains achieved by standardizing

the work methods and processes

19

Lean Six Sigma For CubeSat Design

The DMADV methodology could be utilized to

help structure CubeSat product development

• Define: establish the goals of the design activity

• Measure: identify the voice of the customer and define

critical-to-quality (CTQ) measurements

• Analyze: propose high-level design concepts and evaluate

them for their ability to satisfy or exceed customer

requirements and CTQ’s

• Design: evaluate detailed designs of the product or service

and the processes needed to produce it; optimize designs

• Verify: ensure that the product or service performs as

expected at the appropriate Six Sigma level of performance

and ensure that it meets all customer requirements

20

Next Steps

▪ Develop a standardized template for product and

process development and optimization, i.e. via

“investigations” (similar to pharma manufacturing

and other regulated industries)

▪ Incorporate these “investigations” into the NASA

Lessons Learned database

▪ Develop a DPMO database to track quality levels

of various metrics along with the project details

21

Next Steps

▪ Develop a DMAIC & DMADV Toolboxes and

Quick Guides

▪ Define phase – utilize a standard project charter to

define the project and its goals

▪ Measure, Analyze, Improve phase – incorporate &

provide directions for using the applicable tools listed

on the AAQ website and other tools

▪ Control phase – utilize standard monitoring tools to

maintain the improvements, add to the lessons learned

database

22

Next Steps - DMAIC Toolbox & Quick Guide

23

Define Phase Tools and Requirements

Pro

ject

Char

ter

SIPO

C

dia

gram

Pro

ject

Pla

nnin

g T

ools

Voic

e o

f C

ust

om

er

(VO

C)

and C

ritica

l to

Cust

om

er

(CT

Q)

Cost

of Q

ual

ity

(CO

Q)

anal

ysis

Par

eto

A

nal

ysis

Flo

w

Char

ting

Next Steps - DMAIC Toolbox & Quick Guide

24

Measure Phase Tools and Requirements

Meas

ure

G

uid

elin

es

Dat

a C

olle

ctio

n

& C

heck

Sh

eets

Meas

ure

ment

Syst

em

Anal

ysis

(M

SA)

Sam

plin

g M

eth

ods

and

Guid

elin

es

Define

Input

&

Outp

ut

Var

iable

s

Meas

ure

B

aselin

e

Perf

orm

ance

&

DPM

O

Next Steps - DMAIC Toolbox & Quick Guide

25

Analyze Phase Tools and Requirements

Ro

ot

Cau

se

Anal

ysis

(R

CA

)

Cau

se &

Effect

D

iagr

am

Why-

Why

Dia

gram

Val

ue S

tream

M

appin

g

Dat

a &

St

atis

tica

l A

nal

ysis

Next Steps - DMAIC Toolbox & Quick Guide

26

Improve Phase Tools and Requirements

Tool1 Tool 2 Tool 3 Tool 4

Next Steps - DMAIC Toolbox & Quick Guide

27

Control Phase Tools and Requirements

Tool 1 Tool 2 Tool 3 Tool 4

Next Steps – DMADV Toolbox & Quick Guide

28

Define Phase Tools and Requirements

Tool 1 Tool 2 Tool 3 Tool 4

Six Sigma Launch

▪ Launch Six Sigma into space to help NASA

and the CubeSat program meet the near

perfect quality goals

▪ What, Why, How, When

29

30

Questions?

References

31

Available upon request