Six Sigma Blog

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.