The Six Sigma CEO of the Year

Six Sigma CEO of the Year Award

If you happen to be in the vicinity of the Venetian Resort Hotel in Las Vegas between July 27-30 this year, an event to watch out for is WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit. The Summit will also host the Six Sigma CEO of the Year Award, which is being sponsored by Breakthrough Management Group, a global leader in Performance Excellence and Six Sigma consulting, training, and technology solutions. Reliable Plant Magazine reports:

“We are excited to be a part of this awards program and its recognition of the most outstanding business achievements through the application of Six Sigma,” commented David Silverstein, president and CEO of BMG. “The WCBF Six Sigma Summit promises to be a great event and we look forward to welcoming our clients as well as other delegates to our exhibit booth and to the event as a whole.”

AIT Group extends capabilities as a member of Decisioneering’s Six Sigma Partner Program

If you are looking for a methodology to improve your business process, you can take advantage of the services of Advanced Integrated Technologies Group Inc. (AIT Group). AIT Group provides four important services that contribute toward process improvement: Design for Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Lean Production, and Business Process Management (BPM) frameworks for supply chain, design chain and customer chain.

The company has now joined Decisioneering’s Six Sigma Partner Program to take advantage of the Crystal Ball software in its process-improvement implementations. Crystal Ball has already enabled individuals and organizations to make decisions that are more informed. Quality Magazine reports:

In 2002, Decisioneering launched its Six Sigma Partner Program, a co-marketing effort that provides consultants who practice Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) with materials and assistance for their Crystal Ball training and implementation.

MindPro: The new Six Sigma learning tool

Dr Mikel Harry, the Six Sigma pro who has trained leading exponents of Six Sigma worldwide, has launched a DVD-based training program on Six Sigma, titled MindPro. MindPro offers a flexible learning program that has no bounds of workspace: it can be practiced almost everywhere and at any time. Once the course is completed, learners will be certified by Dr Harry’s Six Sigma Management Institute. PRWeb reports:

In addition to offering the most comprehensive ‘Six Sigma’ curriculum on the market, the ‘MindPro’ software contains a myriad of additional bonus features including a three thousand page statistical handbook, online help forums and a digital training project.

Company politics and Six Sigma goals

When a company takes the initiative to implement Six Sigma practices, it is likely that there will be resistance. Resistance to change is a well-accepted phenomenon in almost every sector. The resistance to Six Sigma can come in the form of personal resistance to change, and through inflexible company policies and incompatibility with existing organizational methods and goals.

One way of getting around such resistance is to engage in open communication with all stakeholders, so that the positive impact of system changes, such as Sigma, is percolated to everyone. Another key to the success of Six Sigma is the quality of leadership and its commitment to Six Sigma goals. Daily India reports:

Six Sigma is about getting everyone involved. A Six Sigma project forms a team of people who work together to identify problems and develop solutions. Such teams are not isolated teams rearranging the world for everyone else to live in. These teams are serving the organization by employing the skills and tools they have learned to increase quality and reduce defects.

Wipro’s Middle East initiative in Six Sigma

Since its entry in the Middle East since 2001, the India-based global IT giant Wipro has expanded its business manifold. The company has practiced Six Sigma since 1997 and assimilated this with other quality management systems such as ISO, TPM, TQM and QS. In a recent initiative, Wipro conducted a day-long workshop on Six Sigma for the members of Dubai Quality Group, a non-profit organization set up by the Department of Economic Development.

The Six Sigma Consulting services of Wipro enable companies to improve processes and identity defect areas which need to be plugged for overall improvement.
Wipro has managed to attract key players in Dubai and other parts of the Middle East as its customers, including Thuraya Satellite Communications, Doha Bank, Qatar Petroleum, and Gulf Insurance Company. AME Info reports:

Ms. Samia Al Yousuf, Manager, DQG said, “Since its inception in February 1994, the DQG has grown to include over 1500 individuals representing over 300 prominent organizations from both, the private and public sectors in UAE. Wipro with its expertise in Six Sigma has contributed significantly and helped DQG in acting as a medium for exchange of knowledge among the business community here.”

Six Sigma salaries flat over the period 2005-2006, but still lucrative

In its most recent issue, iSixSigma Magazine has published the third annual iSixSigma Global Six Sigma Salary Survey. According to the findings of this survey, which took into consideration the feedback from more than 2400 Six Sigma professionals, the salaries of Six Sigma professional has remained static over the last year.

As Market Wire reports, this trend is seen across certifications of Black Belts, Master Black Belts, and Deployment Leaders. The only segment that showed appreciable upward movement in the salary trend is Champions—the survey indicated that the salary for champions increased by approximately $25,000.

In spite of the more or less flat trend of Six Sigma salaries, the profession continues to be an attractive wage earner, with Black Belts earnings to the tune of $75,000, and other categories drawing figures close to $101,000–$106,000. Experience is an important criterion that employers are looking for; more the experience, higher the salary offered.

Another deciding factor for the salary offered is the industry sector a Six Sigma professional is working in. The noticeable trend is that sectors such as IT, advertising/marketing, and pharmaceuticals have more to offer to Black Belts, while industries such as healthcare, financial services and aerospace/defense are more lucrative for Master Black Belts.

e-TQM College to host Six Sigma conference in Dubai

An international conference is being organized between March 28 and 29 by e-TQM College in Dubai to investigate the importance of the Six Sigma practice in ensuring excellence in production processes. The conference will see the participation of leading academicians who will debate the various aspects of the Six Sigma approach. AME Info reports:

The conference will also cover various aspects of Six Sigma centred on themes of Competitiveness, Reality, Leadership and Management Support, Tools and Techniques, Team Dynamics, Deployment and Performance Measurement and Cultural Change.