By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer

How do you deploy Six Sigma in your enterprise? If you are like these companies, you start a few teams, give them their choice of problems to solve, and then sit back and wait for the process to kick off. When, after a few months, you don’t sight the money or the changes, you cry foul.

This is the best way to get things horribly wrong. One of the first things you need to remember is that the leadership in the teams you create, should work with an improvement expert. Next, ensure that these two elements are in place: a line graph showing defects over a period, and Pareto charts showing the probable reasons for the problem areas identified in the line graph. Don’t bother trying to collect new data – you must work with the data that is already available or you will delay the deployment of the Six Sigma process.

Next most important thing that must fall in place before you begin is the team. Always ensure that the team you choose stands a good chance of succeeding. Or, you’ll just end up wasting time and losing focus on the result. Now you are ready to begin the root cause analysis and the implementation process.