Six Sigma should start from the top

With an increasing awareness of the importance of the Six Sigma approach in business enterprises, it is imperative that the practice of Six Sigma percolates through every rung of the business, beginning with the leadership.

Considering this, a new website has been unveiled, dedicated to making business leaders well-versed with the Six Sigma approach. However, it is upto the senior management to actually put Six Sigma into practice, so that defects in the business processes are minimized and the overall management becomes more productive. As is well established, Six Sigma finds expression in the DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control), which is inducted into a business by Six Sigma experts—the Six Sigma Master Black Belts. OpenPR reports:

“Enhanced performance does not and will not happen automatically. High-caliber training is required. Hard work and discipline has to be used, and people at all levels have to change the way they go about doing their jobs.” Says Spisak. In short, new ways of thinking, communicating, and operating must pervade the entire organization. You also need a methodology. Naturally, companies that have joined a Six Sigma approach for their improvement process are looking to do more than diversify skills. With this , they initiate a company-wide culture shift geared toward breakthrough change and the pursuit of perfection. This approach is geared towards a more comprehensive deployment that will yield breakthrough improvements and bottom line profitability.

 

Six Sigma: methodology and benefits

Six Sigma has effectively improved the process revolving around the two vital cogs in a business process — managing costs and meeting the needs of the customer. By using data and and statistical analysis, Six Sigma leads to an improvement in the overall enterprise environment by reducing defects.

The framework adopted by Six Sigma involves the DMAIC (define – measure – analyse – improve – control) methodology. All business process should revolve around this framework in order to improve quality.

“Define” refers to specifying the customer requirements. It is also important to identify the processes that lead towards the goal of the enterprise. The next step is to “Measure” or gather information on the defects in the targeted processes, and locate problem areas. This data is then “Analyzed” to project the difference between the desired levels and the actual process. Next, the process is “Improved” by implementing solutions to the problem areas. Once the process is improved, “Control” steps are undertaken to maintain the quality over time. Domain-B.com reports:

The biggest companies across the world have implemented Six Sigma, like Motorola, GE, 3M, Citicorp, Ford, Apple, Microsoft and many others. Their experience has been very encouraging; most say they have derived significant benefits: A reduced number of defects has resulted in huge savings on the costs that companies incur in rectifying defects and compensating customers. This saving adds directly to the bottom-line of the company.

 

Six Sigma helps systematize supply chain

In establishing a deal for raw materials across cross-country borders, it is important to follow up the finalization of the customer with efficient proccesses that ensure the effective execution of the deal through all the supply-chain stages.

With the implementation of manufacturing processes and techniques such as Six Sigma, it has now become possible to determine the precise location of the raw material. The manufacturre reports:

With the continued push toward efficient manufacturing processes such as lean and six sigma, it’s not enough to know that critical parts are on the way or have been shipped. You need to know where they are in the supply chain, whether they’ve cleared customs, whether they’re sitting in a warehouse or if they’re on the last leg in a journey to your loading dock or your customer.