Six Sigma Blog

Why Six Sigma Has Become the Most Powerful Improvement Tool?

Today's corporate world is witnessing stiff competition among the organizations that intend to outwit each other in terms of growth and development. Companies now focus on the following points that have become part of their organizational strategy:

• Global competition
• Accelerating pace of change
• Adoption of new technologies
• Meeting customer satisfaction
• Reducing costs
• Delivering quality

It is not easy for the companies to meet the above challenges. To meet such demands, Six Sigma methodology has become the most important corporate initiative. Experts believe that there are only a few companies that have not taken any initiative on Six Sigma implementation. Now the companies focus on retaining old customers rather than wooing new customers. Six Sigma plays an important role in meeting the standards of customer satisfaction and thus, retaining the customers who bring benefits to the company.

Are you Ready For Six Sigma?

This question is aimed at business enterprises that have not implemented Six Sigma methodology in their organizations, but planning to do so. Six Sigma has been touted as a powerful quality improvement method that boosts employee job satisfaction and increases profits. Although many shops strive to improve operations and profits have adopted lean production and other quality improvement methods, only few enterprises have implemented Six Sigma techniques. There is a presumption that only large companies can implement Six Sigma in their organizations. This is true to some extent.

Implementing Six Sigma requires a considerable financial investment. In addition, dedication of resources and employee training are part of Six Sigma implementation. The benefits of Six Sigma allure companies of small and medium size. However, they do not have the time or the financial resources to invest in the long-term benefits of Six Sigma.

If your company is planning to implement Six Sigma, you will need to make an analysis on cost factor. The short-term costs for training and the length of time to complete projects can heavily affect small companies. It is true that Six Sigma will bring greater benefits to your company. However, you must prepare to handle the situation aftermath Six Sigma implementation.

Salary Survey on Six Sigma Professionals

We always discuss the Six Sigma methodology, its concepts and the implementations in the organizations. Until now, we focused on the benefits Six Sigma for the organizations. Now it is time to analyze the benefits Six Sigma brings to the professionals. The Salary.com survey announced in July gives a clear picture of the Six Sigma Compensation structure. According to the survey, there are seven key Six Sigma jobs. They include the following the important jobs:

• Top Six Sigma Executive
• Director of Deployment
• Six Sigma Master Black Belt

Compensation levels for the top three jobs depend on the revenue generated by the company. They earn a significant premium as compared to other Six Sigma professionals. Interestingly, pay levels for Six Sigma professionals working in the northeast and west coast are higher than those in other parts of the United States. Don’t you think that with a greater pay structure, Six Sigma profession is very lucrative? However, the job is very challenging, as the professionals take the responsibility of improving the quality and productivity of the organization.

Batch of 44: Six Sigma black belts in the Navy

First the army, now the navy. The armed forces certainly seem to have caught on to the benefits of Lean Six Sigma in a big way. It almost seems like a policy move to inculcate Six Sigma practices in the men in uniform.

Lean Six Sigma black belts were presented to 44 Naval service personnel at the Pentagon in the presence of Ronald D. Atkinson, president-elect of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter. The certifications are part of the collaboration between the Department of Navy and ASQ to develop a testing standards program in the Navy. Reliable Plant reports:

The Navy and Marine Corps Acquisition Enterprise that designs, develops, builds, and supports the U.S. fleet of ships, aircraft, and combat systems, recognizes the importance of providing certification through an authoritative third-party source such as ASQ. Multiple Navy commands were involved with development of this process.

The black belts will certainly have the added edge in interacting with other personnel in the Navy, and will hopefully pass on their learning experience. That apart, there are about 750-800 budding black belt experts in the Navy.

Six Sigma - No Longer Limited to Manufacturing Sector

Six Sigma concepts have traveled a long way. The decade-old manufacturing theory has been replaced by business-process strategies. The global economy forced organizations to focus on areas that have been neglected for long. Customer satisfaction and process improvement have become the most focused areas. To achieve faster and accurate result in those areas, companies have deployed Six Sigma methodology. Not surprisingly, the result is overwhelming.

Six Sigma is a highly disciplined, project-based methodologythat can help companies focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. Six Sigma concepts are proactive tactics based on customer-service and ensure zero defects in the organizational functioning.

Six Sigma indicates how a process has deviated from perfection and fix the problems accordingly. Now Six Sigma methods have become essential for the organizations that wish to improve their business and catch up with their rivals. We are in a business world that heavily relies on quality rather than quantity. That increases the importance of Six Sigma.

Six Sigma Goes Corporate

Six Sigma evolved as an important tool in manufacturing process over the past few years. Now it has become a key player in the corporate world. The dream of perfection and flawless business is no longer a dream for the corporate world. For all good reasons, they have found, implemented and acknowledged the potential of Six Sigma in their organizations. It is true that Six Sigma minimizes the errors and defects in business processes. However, there are still some questions that remain unanswered. How can you really measure success with Six Sigma. Can it play an important role in improving the performance of your organizations? It is up to the companies to find those answers themselves because we can only speculate about the outcome.

Six Sigma: The buzzword in the U.S. armed forces to reinvent "business" processes

First, it was the 96th Regional Readiness Command in Utah (see earlier post); now, it is the U.S. armed forces in Korea. Lean Six Sigma continues to touch the administration in the U.S. army. The very fact that the Six Sigma principle is being pursued across boundaries confirms the success of the initiative.

Not only is Six Sigma enabling the army to cut costs, but it is enabling the army to reinvent and re-engineer processes within the army that remove wasteful steps and increase productivity.

As part of its business transformation efforts, the U.S. armed forces in Korea will graduate its first batch of Lean Six Sigma black belts on July 28. The graduates will be much better equipped to improve business practices within the army, particularly in the important functional areas such as reset, repair, manufacturing, and administration.

The following half year will see the army push through several more black belt and green belt training courses to imbibe process improvements. Army Public Affairs quotes  Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis J. Harvey:

Lean Six Sigma empowers people and helps them see the possibilities. People learn that they can document processes that haven't been documented, quantify work activities that haven't been quantified, and measure results that haven't been measured.

Army gets high payback because of Lean Six Sigma

The army and a business unit seem like the two ends of a pole. When you talk about the army, it is easy to build an image of a regimented life straightjacketed in a sense of duty and stringent rules and regulations.

Think of a business enterprise, and you can conjure up an image characterized by spot decisions, money matters, and a perennial struggle to cut costs and increase returns. All in all, you would think that running the army could not be farther away from running a business. 

But it is a fact that the army goes through several of its processes from a business standpoint; there is buying and selling within the army, and money is exchanged for purchase of equipment, payment of pay packages, and for improving processes. So there is scope for business processes like Lean Six Sigma to be implemented in the army.

At the 96th Regional Readiness Command in Utah, Lean Six Sigma is not only a reality, but it has yielded positive results. According to depot commander Col. Douglas J. Evans, the Command has used Six Sigma principles to save precious dollars and increased the number of vehicles available for needy soldiers.

The U.S. army has also extended application of Lean Six Sigma to its Recruiting Command to significantly reduce the time cycle for applicants to get through the recruitment process. The army has also successfully used Six Sigma at the Army Material Command, which saw $110 million in savings and cost avoidance.

For more information, click here.

CIGNA Launches Innovation Lab To Provide Six-sigma Service

CIGNA Corp. has announced the release of an Innovation Lab that is designed to develop integrated Six Sigma end-to-end service for medical, dental, pharmacy and other health care providers. CIGNA is a provider of employee benefits offered through the workplace. The company said that the Lab would have 100 specially trained consumer advisors representing CIGNA's service and product teams to discuss health benefit and related financial information with consumers. It will help them optimize their health, benefits and plan selections.

According to Trading Markets -

The company's first customer for the product is Big Y Foods in Springfield. Big Y is one of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England and currently operates 54 stores throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts with over 9,000 employees.

TechMatrix Releases WeldWorks Software Suite

TechMatrix has released its WeldWorks Software Suite, which has been designed to work with their RSX Series automated weld platform. The software suite enables manufacturers to achieve Six Sigma quality initiatives and control their resistance spot weld process. It will automatically monitor every weld's key process parameters. The software suite will also track this information against individual parts. TechMatrix is based in Minneapolis, USA. The software architecture is built on Microsoft.NET technologies. The Windows client application controls the welder and collects data.

Manufacturing Talk reports that -

The WeldWorks web services provide extensible middleware to store and retrieve information anywhere on the internet. While the Microsoft SQL Server database stores weld recipes and all runtime electronic records, which help ensure compliance with FDA, ISO 9001, and military regulations.

Implementation of Six Sigma

Globalization has increased the competition worldwide. Competitive pressure is forcing the organizations to search for the means to improve their processes. They want to ensure the quality of their products and services in order to meet the objectives of customer satisfaction. The methodology of Six Sigma aims at integrating all operations throughout the processes to make them produce their desired results.

Implementation of Six Sigma covers various processes related to manufacturing and services including distribution operations, warehouse and inventory management, health care and manufacturing. Any organizations will benefit from Six Sigma initiative regardless of the products or services offered by them. Making Six Sigma part of the business strategy will definitely help the organizations to register sustainable growth.

High Demand of Six Sigma Professionals in India

The Indian Industry has realized the potential of Six Sigma in improving the quality and productivity of their organizations. Quality and delivery have become crucial for the Indian IT industry to sustain its current position and expand further in the international market. Six Sigma holds significance on this regard. Six Sigma professionals including Black Belts and Green Belts are now high in demand in India.

Black Belts have proved themselves to be effective trouble-shooters in the organizations. They ensure the success of the project with their expertise and efficiency. Black Belts have Six Sigma technical proficiency, consulting skills and the ability to apply the Six Sigma methodology to a business process. Black Belts are usually the senior and middle level managers who guide the teams to successful project completion. Green Belts are middle-level managers who work as support staff to the Black Belts. They are the project team members or employees who execute Six Sigma as part of their jobs. Demand of Black Belts and Green Belts has increased manifold in the current industry scenario.

Six Sigma in Business Process Management

Six Sigma is a long-term initiative designed to change the way in which businesses operate. It helps companies to increase profits, streamline operations, improve quality and eliminate defects in the work processes. Six Sigma also focuses on achieving financial targets in a short period. Six Sigma is frequently implemented in a traditional departmental paradigm without much reliance on business process thinking.

Many Six Sigma practitioners complain of the difficulty in identifying the best opportunities to apply Six Sigma techniques. Integrating Six Sigma with business management principles will help the organizations realize significant opportunities against the traditional methods of implementing a Six Sigma program. Since process ownership relies on managing by influence as opposed to authority, process owners would collaboratively sponsor projects. The progress of the project would be monitored by a team of executives, thus preventing the collapse of the project.

Lean Accounting Performance Measures

When the enterprises implement lean manufacturing, they might feel the need for Lean Accounting Performance Measures. Lean Manufacturing helps companies identify and reduce waste and giving them extra capacity. This is vital for small manufacturers. Traditional accounting is a marker of financial performance. However, companies also it to measure overall performance.

Lean Accounting Performance Measures are designed to give today's companies the information they need to make the right decisions. They do not replace the traditional accounting. Rather, they work in tandem so that the changes in processes and in accounting can work together into the future. While traditional accounting is still absolutely necessary for measuring financial performance, Lean Accounting Performance Measures are meant to provide additional information.

The Six Sigma Training and Quality Toolkit

There is no denying that Six Sigma is a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving and maximizing business profits. It is driven by the customers' requirements and emphasizes on the disciplined use of data, facts and statistical analysis to improve organizational processes. The Six Sigma Training and Quality Toolkit has been designed to address all the above issues. The kit includes the following:

• A Six Sigma Beginners Guide
• A Management Presentation
• The Six Sigma Calculator
• The Six Sigma Fact Sheet
• The Six Sigma Training Tutorial
• A Requirement Template
• The Six Sigma 'Top Down' Notebook
• A Six Sigma Workshop Presentation
• Six Sixma and ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)

Lean Six Sigma in Distribution Channel

Lean Six Sigma initiatives help in enhancing competitive performance with strong economic returns. Distribution channels play important role in implementing the Lean Six Sigma initiatives. Lean Six Sigma also enhances the relationship that exists between the manufacturers and dealers. It is important to note that both share a common goal of creating and delivering outstanding value to the end users.

Lean Six Sigma deployments require cooperation, trust and a sense of partnership between various distribution channel entities. All channel systems must align in a most efficient manner to provide these values. Lean Six Sigma lets organizations in creating a delivery system that requires the cooperation and partnering of all distribution channel entities.

CIGNA Launches Innovation Lab to Provide Six Sigma Service

CIGNA Corp. has announced the launch of an Innovation Lab that is designed to develop integrated Six Sigma level for medical, dental, pharmacy and health plan participants. CIGNA is a provider of employee benefits offered through the workplace. The Lab will have 100 specially trained consumer advisors who will be part of CIGNA's clinical and product teams. They will discuss health benefits and related financial information with consumers. They will also help the consumers in optimizing their health, benefits and plan sections. Big Y Foods in Springfield became CIGNA's first customer for this newly launched service.

Six Sigma - A Powerful Improvement Methodology

Today's business world has identified the key areas to focus on. Emphasis on some key points gives the companies a clear edge over their rivals. These key points are:

• Global competition
• Accelerating pace of change
• New technologies
• Increasing demand for customer satisfaction and quality
• Cost saving

In order to meet the above demands, Six Sigma methodologyhas become the most important corporate initiative. Most companies either have implemented the Six Sigma methodology in their organization or are planning to do so. Six Sigma is the best methodology to understand sources of variation and reduce defects. It also increases productivity and shareholder value. Six Sigma delivers products, processes and services that satisfy a customer.

Lean Manufacturing Training Programs

Lean concepts can reduce the downtime on equipment, streamline sales and customer service as well as reduces inventory levels. These concepts also allow free flow of cash. The manufacturing and processing plant is the only piece of equipment on the floor that generates revenue. When it stops, revenue stream collapses. Hence, it makes sense to consider production techniques that focus on adding value and removing costs. In a lean production environment, the workflow focuses more on generating revenue. Lean manufacturing tools are widely used in the UK, European and the US-based multinational organizations. Improvement tools offer training and implementation services in Lean Manufacturing concepts for the industry.

According to Manufacturing Talk -

Many include a 'Rapid improvement Event' - learning by doing, and apply the concepts to the all areas, including administration. We can also provide certified lean training to diploma level under the Competitive Manufacturing Program approved in both countries.

Benefits Provided by Lean Manufacturing

It is often noticed that Lean practitioners ignore the true potential of the Lean technology. They fail to recognize that Lean technology can bring in creating a Lean environment so that a simple review of Lean Manufacturing will help in identifying the key areas for growth and development. Most Lean practitioners follow a multi-step process for achieving the Lean goal of any organization. Lean Manufacturing also takes care of Value Chain and Flow Production. It builds value chain maps for the high volume products of the companies and removes non-value added activities.

Lean manufacturing process also improves the production by reducing setup times. It also make the cycles faster. Lower volume products with variable demand may actually contribute more to the process. There is segregation between the products and the creation of production cells. It raises a question whether production cells are required for Lean or not. The original concept of eliminating the waste is caused by non-value added tasks. Now Lean practitioners have IT solutions, which simply the whole process.

Lean Six Sigma in the US Army

In a dramatic development, the Army is contemplating to use Lean Six Sigma to build a better and faster force. Dozens of war-ravaged vehicles arrive from Iraq every week to get repaired. These vehicles are repaired at the Red River facility in Texarkana, Texas. It is one of the Army's oldest and most important maintenance and storage bases. The multi-purpose vehicles repaired there are also known as humvees. The Army is planning to choose a best model that would help the facility to streamline the process and ensure effective results. Lean Six Sigma is seen an ambitious project of the Army to meet its objectives. The Lean Six Sigma process will also help the Army to implement a systematic management process.

According to Time -

The two concepts of Lean and Six Sigma have been around the private sector for decades, and some parts of the Army have been using them since 2002. Lean is an outgrowth of the Toyota production system, developed in the 1930s, which focuses on increasing efficiency and reducing cycle time by eliminating waste.

NWACC’s Six Sigma Training

Six Sigma training helps companies to save thousands of dollars and increase the quality and productivity at the same time. NWACC's Corporate and Continuing Education division presented green belt certificates to the employees of some companies. NWACC believes that Six Sigma is a rigorous management discipline that helps organizations systematically achieve significant improvements in their processes. This is an approach used to eliminate errors and improve the business process. Six Sigma training offered by NWACC is customer-centric and focuses on cost-reduction culture. Many companies have acknowledged that NWACC's Six Sigma training helps increase profits and decrease operating costs.

According to NWA News -

NWACC’s next course will begin July 31 and run through Dec. 18. The class meets from 4 p. m. to 7 p. m. Mondays. For details, call Jim Corbin at 936-5160. Those receiving certificates last week from Clarke were Marc Davis, Jerry Makey, Ron Mapp, Terry Martin and Tom Reynolds.

Ford Praises Freudenberg NOK for Six Sigma Capabilities

Freudenberg NOK has recently received the recognition of achievement award from Ford Motor Company for its consumer-driven Six Sigma accomplishments. The award is part of Ford's World Excellence Awards program. It recognizes suppliers who attain highest levels of cost, quality and delivery. The award is given to suppliers who achieve customer satisfaction by providing significant contributions in key areas such as environmental leadership, consumer-focused technology and consumer-driven Six Sigma. Six Sigma is one of the pillars of Freudenberg NOK's growth program that focuses on superior quality, service and productivity. Freudenberg NOK has 61 Six Sigma black belts who ensure superior quality and enhance reliability.

According to Reliable Plant -

Ford presented more than 60 awards to its global suppliers for their outstanding performance in 2005 during an awards ceremony in early May. More than 150 of Ford's largest production and non-production suppliers from 17 countries attended the eighth annual event.

Certification ceremony shows positives of Six Sigma training

Six Sigma is a strategic part of many large companies to save costs and reduce defects in the processing process. The last three decades or so have seen many companies adopt the methodology to improve quality and cut costs. However, the practical benefits of Six Sigma have also been doubted in some quarters. In an effort to remove such doubts, Northwest Arkansas Community College held a certification ceremony involving Six Sigma experts.

Sixteen employees of four companies gained first-hand experience of Six Sigma at work, and came out of the ceremony with green belt certification. The participants in the ceremony "experienced" the case studies of several companies that have used Six Sigma to effectively cut costs and improve business processes, including Franklin Electric, Superior Industries, and Clarke and Rockline Industries. As Chad Smith of Black & Decker explained:

The approach is used to eliminate errors, improve the economics of business process, and transform an organization’s culture to a data-driven, customer-driven, cost-reduction-driven culture.

NWA News reports that NWACC’s next course will begin July 31 and run through Dec. 18.