|
i business process management
Six Sigma, powered by principles based on
continuous improvement, helps manufacturers reduce the number of errors
and defective products. This is achieved by regular process refinement
and constant monitoring for improvements.
Today Six Sigma is also lauded by service industries and other companies
seeking continuous improvement. The phenomenal success of this business
process and quality management practices is due to the short-term as
well as long-term impact it has on a company’s bottom line.
Six Sigma is not a process that only shows results over a long period of
time, nor are these results only detectable by abstract measurements.
The results can be measured immediately by a reduction in the number of
faulty products, a reduction in customer returns, and a reduction of
useless inventory. A before-and-after Six Sigma implementation will
easily highlight its benefits to the organization. If you are new to Six
Sigma, here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions.
How does a company implement Six Sigma?
Phenomenal operational efficiency and discipline and superior
organizational leadership are required to implement Six Sigma. Each
manufacturing process has to be closely scrutinized and adjusted to work
towards the goal of reducing the number of errors and defective
products. In-house leaders must foster quality consciousness in all
employees. Managers must be involved to make the process work. New
technology, education, and training may be required. The latest
technology greatly enables the implementation of Six Sigma and helps
reduce errors to a large extent.
Professionals with in-depth knowledge about the principles of Six Sigma
must be employed to implement this business process improvement method.
Some of these professionals are also very knowledgeable in manufacturing
processes and even have specialized working knowledge in specific
industries such as automobile, aircraft, and others.
Achieving Six Sigma certification requires your company to execute one
project completely in accordance with the recommended process.
Implementing Six Sigma processes requires documenting the process and
training business and manufacturing leaders and supervisors. An
organization is required to invest in people, man hours, machine hours,
and technology to implement Six Sigma.
Six Sigma’s Total Quality Management process has become especially
popular over the past few years as businesses have become more quality
conscious and manufacturing processes have become more complicated. The
key industries implementing Six Sigma include health care, banking,
insurance, and construction. The two prominent methodologies used are
DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) and DMADV
(Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify). There is also an
operational hierarchy in Six Sigma. In addition to the Senior
Management, there are Champions, Master Black Belts, Black Belts, and
Green Belts. Each level has a predefined role in the implementation of
Six Sigma in an organization.
If the benefits of Six Sigma so great, why aren’t more companies
implementing it?
Six Sigma has not changed much since the 1980s when it was created by
Motorola. Its success has been due to the phenomenal achievement of only
3.4 defects per million products. Even with this incredible achievement,
Six Sigma has largely remained the province of large companies. Very few
small or medium companies have ventured to implement Six Sigma because
of the prohibitive cost. The manpower resources needed to manage
implementation of the process are equally difficult to find. However,
some organizations convinced of the benefits of this quality management
process implement what is called Lean Six Sigma. It has fewer defined
processes and steps, and it is quite suited to smaller organizations
that are quality conscious and have a vision of offering their customers
better products and services.
All pages
| More business articles |
About & Terms Of Use
| |
