Six Sigma Blog

Lean Six Sigma in Corporate Sector

Lean Six Sigma is quickly gaining popularity among Defense and civilian agencies. It started as a tool for improving manufacturing in car factories. Now it has morphed into a symbol of corporate efficiency. In the recent years, Lean Six Sigma has turned into the latest government catchphrase for eliminating waste and reducing errors.

It is believed that in the next two to five years, there will be a significant increased push in the civilian agencies to adopt these approaches. Lean Six Sigma can help identify waste through its systematic way of looking at problem areas such as defects and wait times. Most organizations implementing Lean Six Sigma focus on training leaders with the expectation of getting them on board before launching a broader initiative. To know more about Lean Six Sigma in business world, read my previous article titled "Lean Six Sigma".

Steps for Implementing Six Sigma

There are several steps for the implementation of Six Sigma in an organization. These steps include:

• Understanding the commitment of top leadership
• Access to current information on customer requirements
• A process management system to measure current performance and identify where you need to make improvements
• Employing Black Belts and Green Belts to design and improve processes and to assist process owners
• Allowing management involvement and review to reinforce process management, improvement and design
• Adopting effective communication strategy to ensure that Six Sigma methods are implemented throughout the organization.

Read my previous post titled "Applying Lean Manufacturing to Six Sigma" to know more on Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing.

DMAIC and DMADV in Six Sigma

DMAIC in Six Sigma is used to improve a process. DMAIC is the acronym for the following:

• Define the project, process and voice of the customer
• Measure the current process performance
• Analyze to determine and verify the root cause of the focused problem
• Improve by implementing counter-measures that address the root causes
• Control to maintain the gains.

DMADV is used to design a process, product or services. DMADV is the acronym for the following:

• Define the project
• Measure and determine customer needs
• Analyze the design options to select one that best meets customer needs
• Design the detailed processes
• Verify the design performance
• This systematic design methodology can build processes that will reliably meet customer expectations.

Read my previous post titled "The Robust Nature of Six Sigma" to know more about the characteristics of Six Sigma.

Developing E-Learning With Six Sigma

If your company is planning to launch Six Sigma, you must understand what benefits can Six Sigma bring to your organization. The highly skilled and highly paid black belt professionals bring the projects into control, train green belts and put extra amount of input into corporate culture change.

Training and development are the most challenging parts of Six Sigma initiatives. However, black belt professionals efficiently handle those operations. You can maximize your benefits by adopting E-Learning development along with your Six Sigma initiatives. You must keep the following points in mind before going for E-Learning development:

• True cost of your E-Learning Development
• Critical Requirements of your E-Learning customers
• Critical business imperatives that need to be addressed with the E-Learning
• Articulation of your E-Learning vision

Read our previous post titled "Six Sigma in Business Process Management" to know more information on Six Sigma in businesses.

Identifying Six Sigma Steps

Organizations can make huge profit, if they learn to think in terms of Lean. Lean is based on the philosophy of eliminating waste. Lean shortens the time between the customer order and shipment. There are several steps that provide a strong foundation for any organization that wants to incorporate Lean into its operations. These steps are:

• Value
• Value Stream
• Flow
• Pull
• Perfection
• Replication

Lean thinking can be started by giving due consideration to value, which is customer's ultimate requirement. The value of any products or services is defined by customer needs and not by any non-value added activity. Hence, customer is always prepared to pay for the operations that transform the product in a meaningful way.

Read my previous post titled "Why Six Sigma Has Become the Most Powerful Improvement Tool?" to know more about Six Sigma.

Quality Companion 2 for Six Sigma Professionals

Minitab Inc. has announced the release of Quality Companion 2 process improvement software. It has been designed specifically to help Six Sigma professionals manage and execute their projects. The new product complements the company's flagship product, Minitab Statistical Software. Six Sigma professionals rely on this software to tackle the sophisticated statistical data analysis at the heart of every Six Sigma project.

Quality Companion 2 simplifies many other challenges involved in quality improvement. It helps teams plan, execute, document and report on their projects. The software brings together all the elements critical to Six Sigma success. You can read our previous post titled “Six Sigma in Small Businesses” to know more about Six Sigma methods.

What Is Involved In Six Sigma Certification?

Recently, I had written a post titled "What Is Six Sigma Certification?" that focused on Six Sigma certification. Today, I will discuss what exactly is involved in a Six Sigma certification. Six Sigma certification requires learning the appropriate subject matter to pass a written proficiency test and displaying competency in a hands-on environment. The materials can be purchased from almost any Six Sigma training and consulting company. It always comes bundled with classroom training. Usually, you or your company will purchase a training session that has different bodies of knowledge and durations for each Six Sigma level.

The different levels of Six Sigma certifications include Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt. The written proficiency test may be given by the training company or the business hiring the training company. Companies that have been conducting in-house training for years can create and administer their own written proficiency tests. When you clear Six Sigma training, you will have to complete one or two quality projects and display competency in applying the concepts learned in the classroom training.

Lean Six Sigma Summit 2006

The Lean Six Sigma Summit 2006 will be held in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore on 29 and 30 August 2006. This leading industry event will bring together senior-level executives and directors from a variety of targeted industries. They will come from manufacturing, financial services & insurance, government ministries and other sectors. The event promises to be the leading forum for an in-depth analysis of issues pertinent to the field.

The summit will include Lean Leadership Panel Discussion and highly interactive workshops. In this event, you will get a chance to get practical examples from companies that have integrated Lean and Six Sigma for their organizations. In an older post titled "The Robust Nature of Six Sigma", I had provided useful information on Six Sigma.

Six Sigma in Hospital & Healthcare Management

Six Sigma methodologies can change the face of modern hospitals and healthcare delivery systems. Privatization and competition in healthcare sector are forcing healthcare organizations to look for new ways and means for improving their processes. They look for improving quality of the hospital's products and services, thus reducing patient dissatisfaction. It has been noticed that healthcare sector has become more complex. Hence, the scope for error is more.

To reduce the errors and to move towards perfection, most of the corporate hospitals are now functioning at Three Sigma or Four Sigma quality levels. There is a desperate need to break the traditional boundaries that separate physicians, hospital administrators, pharmacists, technicians and nurses by shifting away from the traditional culture. Six Sigma methodologies can help achieve this objective and can change the face of modern hospital and healthcare delivery system. Our old post titled "Why Six Sigma Has Become the Most Powerful Improvement Tool?" will give you more information on Six Sigma.

Free Lean Six Sigma Training Government and Military Personnel

Six Sigma training has succeeded in earning a good name in corporate sector. Now it is all set to make its strong presence in the government and military. Kingsrealm LLC has released a complete Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certifiable training course available at no cost to all the US Government, DoD and Military personnel. The company has voluntarily decided to help the staffs that form a core part of the country's support base.

Kingsrealm simplified its strategic Six Sigma methods and procedures so that everyone can get equal benfits from the training. The training is available online with minimal registration requirements. You can register for free training on the company's website. You can read on of our older posts titled "Army gets high payback because of Lean Six Sigma" to know more about Six Sigma training in the US military.

Fire alarms: The Dell notebook scare and Six Sigma defect control

You have probably read news reports about several Dell notebooks going up in flames, apparently because of a short circuit. Dell has since recalled all such notebooks from the market. Interestingly, the notebooks are armed with a Sony battery backup, and naturally, both Dell and Sony are worried about the financial fallout.

However, according to Sony, the ratio between the total number of Dell notebooks in the market and those that caught fire is too low to warrant real concern. Shrugging off the episode, in a report by CIO, Sony cites Six Sigma measures and standards to show that the number of defects is below the Six Sigma figure of 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

True, the defective units might be within the Six Sigma stipulations, but the apprehension caused among Dell users shows that the prospect of an exploding notebook far outweighs the fact that the production process meets Six Sigma standards of defect management.

Lean Six Sigma for Medical Device Manufacturing Excellence Conference

Leading quality professionals across the globe will attend the IQPC's Lean Six Sigma for Medical Device Manufacturing Excellence Conference. The conference will be held on September 26-28 at the Hilton San Diego. The event will bring together top pharmaceutical companies of the world. They will share case studies and insights on best strategies for process integration, management buy-in, project selection and management. They will also discuss issues such as compliance and benchmarking. The program will include 14 end-user speaker sessions, two interactive panel discussions and five workshops by reputed consultants.

What Is Six Sigma Certification?

Six Sigma certification is a confirmation of one's capabilities with regard to specific competencies. Like other quality certifications, it does not indicate that an individual is capable of unlimited process improvement. The certification just indicates that an individual has completed the necessary requirements from the company granting the certification.

If you get a Six Sigma certification, there is no doubt that you have passed the minimum guidelines and requirements to become a Six Sigma professional. Certification does not prove a person's skill or efficiency. It just certifies the individual as trained enough to handle the quality analysis in the company. Even if you are a trained person, there is no guarantee that you can be an able administrator. Six Sigma certification is just one of such examples.

Applying Lean Manufacturing to Six Sigma

A few days ago, I came across a discussion forum, which emphasized on applying Lean Manufacturing to Six Sigma. Participants on that forum strongly argued in favor of this, which made me think over the issue deeply. I found that there are continuing questions about the relationship between Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma techniques. Now, companies believe in stretching the process applying Lean techniques.

Lean Manufacturing with Six Sigma solves the problems of deviation from the standards and ensures maintenance of the improved status using Six Sigma techniques. If the system and processes are poor, Six Sigma techniques should be applied to solve some of the problems. Industries that will largely benefit from applying Lean Manufacturing to Six Sigma belong to ITES, Banks, Insurance companies and Hospitals.

UC Irvine Extension Launches Six Sigma Lean Green Belt Course

In order to meet the industry requirements for skilled and efficient professionals, UC Irvine Extension launched the innovative course, "Six Sigma Lean Green Belt". The course will be held from September 15 until November 4 at UCI Learning Center in Orange, Calif. The course has been designed to cater to professionals in a variety of industries ranging from manufacturing to service.

Six Sigma Lean combines the Six Sigma methods for reducing errors, coupled with Lean techniques to simplify process. Companies across the world are successfully using the techniques for improving business performance through product and process excellence. The "Six Sigma Lean Green Belt" course at UC Irvine Extension teaches all these proven improvement methods. I am sure that this course will help individual to brush up their skills.

How Six Sigma Helps Sales

In the recent years, business requirements have gone through a sea change. Customer relationship management has come into fore and it has become an integral part of the game plan of any organization. Another question that is doing round is whether trained employees can use customer relationship management more effectively. If there is a real need of special training for employees in an organization, the first thing comes into mind is Six Sigma. In my opinion, all organizations must master Six Sigma disciplines.

To achieve real growth, you must get closer to the customers. From this perspective, Six Sigma should start in customer-facing groups such as sales, marketing and after-sales service. Six Sigma focuses on creating value through the quality of business, and not through the business of quality. It finds ways to add value to customers. The balanced scorecard is more about measuring the progress. Six Sigma will definitely meet all your organizational requirements and boost your sales prospects further.

Spot Weld Software Enables Six Sigma Initiatives

TechMatrix has released its WeldWorks Software Suite designed to work with their RSX Series automated weld platform or with stand-alone weld controllers. The software suite enables manufacturers to achieve Six Sigma quality initiatives and control their resistance spot weld process by monitoring every weld's key process parameters. It also helps in tracking the information against individual parts. The software architecture is built on the leading Microsoft.NET technologies. It consists of four modules that provide a complete end-to-end solution.

How to Become a Master Black Belt in Healthcare?

The Master Black Belts have been trained as Six Sigma Black Belts. They demonstrate proficiency in statistical tools and expertise in leading and teaching others. Within the healthcare organization, the Master Black Belts train Black Belts and Green Belts. They also help in selecting and mentoring projects. Master Black Belts also guide the organization in addressing quality from a strategic business perspective and focusing on problem-solving efforts to achieve success.

The Master Black Belt successfully leads multiple project teams through the methodologies to closure and subsequent sustainability. You must have heard how Six Sigma is helpful for the healthcare organizations. Do you know that the Master Black Belt is solely responsible for using Six Sigma to help the healthcare organizations meet their strategic objectives? In addition to Six Sigma expertise, it is necessary for the Master Black Belts to acquire advanced presentation, teaching and change management skills.

Why Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma Fail?

Many Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma begins with much fanfare. However, most of them fizzle out within the first six months. There are ways to avoid this. However, many people who introduce these initiatives are not willing to do what is really required to ensure success. The current trend suggests that most businesses have not been able to capture or sustain the benefits of a lean transformation.

Lean manufacturing represents a fundamental change and most businesses have pursued change in a tactical manner. They must adopt effective strategies to pursue this change. If Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma fail, this is due to the lack of true senior management commitment and understanding of the change process. The ultimate responsibility of the success of any change program, whether it is Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma, falls on the shoulders of the most senior leadership on the site. If the leadership fails, all programs and projects follow suit.

Does Your Company Have a Sustainable Six Sigma Implementation?

In the past five years, several companies in India have started implementing Six Sigma as a business philosophy. The successful implementation experience of many companies in the Western world makes a compelling case for all organizations to implement Six Sigma. Here the question is whether these companies have a sustainable implementation or is just going to fad away after some time.

Sustainable Six Sigma implementation largely depends on individual leadership. The leader brought in personal conviction, support and the needed resources. However, the leaders may not stick to any particular company for a long time. Hence, the first challenge is to make Six Sigma deployment less dependent on a few individuals.

Lack of management conviction may result in implementation failure for your organization. You must spend time and energy to understand the dynamics of Six Sigma. This will enable you to zero-in on the critical issues of integrating Six Sigma into the applications of your organization.

Six Sigma Users on Regulatory Compliance

Companies that regularly use Six Sigma methodologies are more likely to have full confidence that they are complying with regulations from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Most Six Sigma users are confident that they companies are meeting the legal requirements. Here, it is important to note that Six Sigma users include the companies that are in process of implementing Six Sigma. Part of standard Six Sigma methodology is to document processes. Documentation is related to everything from tracking data to taking corrective action. It also includes reporting back to the regulatory body.