World’s Largest Lean Six Sigma Forum
Six Sigma IQ is the largest global provider of Six Sigma, Lean and Process Quality conferences and summits. It has announced the agenda for the Lean Six Summit West 2006. The summit will be held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas in September 2006. The entire even it expected to become the largest ever in the world. Yahoo Finance reports:
Jack Welch wowed the 400 strong audience in 2005 – a tough act to follow, but six sigma IQ have managed to secure the former Chairman of Harley Davidson, Richard Teerlink (arguably the most successful turn-around ever recorded in corporate history) as this year’s honored keynote.
May 31, 2006 in Lean Manufacturing | Permalink | Comments (0)
Six Sigma Methodologies and Business Process Management
The Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) is an ideal platform for implementing Six Sigma projects by Dr. Setrag Khoshafian. Khoshafian has focused on Six Sigma and BPMS as complementary techniques. The chapter discussed the evolution of the BPMS from human-centric workflow to comprehensive business process management suite. BPMs have evolved significantly in the recent years. The main characteristics of the Business Process Management suite include business rules, integration, reporting and activity monitoring.
More Information: Read Here
One of BPM’s early pioneers, Khoshafian is the author of several books on computing and business process management.
Six Sigma Deployments
According to a recent survey, companies that have been using Six Sigma for seven or more years are more likely to focus projects on improving IT processes. They would integrate IT methods with Six Sigma and align IT projects with business priorities. However, it may not be the case with the companies that have been using Six Sigma for less than three years. Most respondents believe that Six Sigma is very useful to improve IT processes.
Similarly, companies that viewed IT as a key strategic component accounted for 86% of the respondents who “always” used Six Sigma to improve IT processes. Conversely, companies that viewed IT as merely another “staff role” accounted for 72% of the respondents who “never” used Six Sigma to improve IT processes.
MINITAB Statistical Software with Six Sigma
Australia has rich mineral resources of bauxite, iron, zinc etc. It always needs finely tuned processes and techniques in order to convert these resources into a profitable mining business. Six Sigma technique of quality measurement is very popular in Australia that is used to oversee mines. The latest product that is doing round is the MINITAB Statistical software. MINITAB is used by mining companies all over Australia.
MINITAB is recognized as presenting and helping analyze data to help organizations minimize business or product defects. It offers a range of tools for graphical analyses and collecting powerful statistics. MINITAB also performs all the work without the need for complex training. It has been noticed that mining companies heavily rely on the effective use of expensive equipment.
More Information: Read Here
Sophisticated processes using MINITAB and Six Sigma can help a company control maintenance and equipment use to ensure operations are running effectively.
Six Sigma for BPOs
India has made significant progress after being favored as the prime destination for outsourcing in the world. The availability of vast talent pool, good telecom infrastructure and effective government policies made it a preferred outsourcing destination in the world. However, in the recent years, India has found several competitors in the outsourcing market. Australia, China and the Philippines are fast emerging as hot destinations in the ITES/BPO sector.
To sustain its competitive advantage in the IT/ITES sector, India needs to move up the value chain by offering superior quality to its overseas clients. Most successful companies have adopted Six Sigma as a mean to achieve the level of quality so that they can provide a value proposition to their clients. Six Sigma helps in identifying and eliminating causes of errors or defects in business processes by focusing on key outputs. Six Sigma for BPOs certainly is an advantage for companies to achieve higher quality and productivity.
Six Sigma extracts maximum from Australia’s natural resources
It is one thing to have potentially high natural resources, and another to reap its benefits. In the absence of a systematized plan to translate the resources into benefits, nature’s bounty can only rest as a wasteful abundance.
Fortunately for Australia, the Six Sigma philosophy and quality management technique is quite popular in the mining sector, and this is able to bring out the best results from the country’s resources of bauxite, iron ore, lead, zinc, silver, uranium, industrial diamonds and mineral sands. Six Sigma statistical analysis helps manage, improve, and reinvent business processes, thus adding to the national coffers. In turn, Six Sigma implementation is aided by MINITAB, a package that analyzes statistical data to minimize defects in the business processes or in the product itself.
MINITAB offers a range of tools for graphical analyses, collecting powerful statistics, quality analyses with potential for a range of individually designed uses. As Ferret.com.au reports, MINITAB and Six Sigma run hand in hand to minimize errors and maximize returns.
Six Sigma adds the quality dimension to BPO/ITES sector
As Western countries continue to make a beeline towards India because of its multifarious advantages—good infrastructure, favorable government policies, rock-steady economic environment and cost benefits—competition is also making its presence felt in countries like Australia, China, the Philippines and Ireland. To ward off such challenges in the BPO/ITES sector, India-based vendors are now looking to add a new dimension to their offerings—quality control of business processes through the adoption of the Six Sigma methodology.
You might ask: Why Six Sigma?
Well, Six Sigma has proven itself as a successful strategy to identify and measure defects, and then eliminate such defects using the application of statistical methods. By focusing on innovation or improvements of the existing product and service design through the DMAIC and DFSS principles, Six Sigma helps identify defects that affect customers, who are the key components in any business venture.
Click here for more on Six Sigma strategies, and how they have helped companies like GE, Motorola, American Express, 3M, Raytheon, Sun Microsystems, DuPont, Bank of America, Rolls Royce and Boeing.
Six Sigma helps the banking sector
HSBC Bank Malaysia was recently voted the number one bank in the country because of its custody and clearing business, which has scaled a 20 percent annual growth rate. The bank has promptly assigned part of this success to its Six Sigma methodology, and has announced that it will further intensify its Six Sigma approach in the current year, expanding Six Sigma principles to the corporate action area. Six Sigma has helped the bank identify loopholes and provide solutions to better meet the customer’s expectations.
The Star has more from Kuala Lumpur
The Global Six Sigma Awards: The winner takes it all
The Global Six Sigma Awards Dinner on June 28 at the Venetian Resort, Las Vegas, will see 31 contestants in different categories vie for top honors. Also figuring at the ceremony will be the Six Sigma CEO of the Year Award, which is the premium category at the event. The judges have already announced the winner in this top category: Jill M. Considine, Chairman & CEO, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Ms Considine was selected after an evaluation of over 30 global organizations.
The other awards will recognize excellence in the fields of Manufacturing, Service & Transactional Environments, Healthcare, Financial Services, Government and Defense, Integration of Lean and Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma, Innovation through Six Sigma, and Six Sigma compliance. Yahoo Finance reports:
The Gala Dinner coincides with WCBF’s Global Six Sigma Summit (www.gsssa.com), the largest gathering of CEOs and senior executives passionate about Six Sigma.
Integration of Lean and Six Sigma
Six Sigma has been a part of Raytheon Integrated Air Defense (IAD) center in Andover, Massachusetts, since 1999. In 2003, the center added the Lean Manufacturing program. The practice of Lean has been aided by a change of mindset at Raytheon. The focus now is now results, and Lean is practices in four phases: set a vision, establish commitment from the executive team, plan a change management process, and develop people’s skills. ARCwire reports:
The adoption of Lean also affected their information systems. With Lean, they identified a need to facilitate cross-functional teaming. Previously, many of the software applications were independent silos of information. Now, they have connected the appropriate applications for information integration.