Six Sigma Solutions
Six Sigma is a powerful set of statistical and management tools and methodologies that can create dramatic increases in customer satisfaction, productivity and shareholder value. Six Sigma was the first improvement initiative that tied a level of investment to a clear profit return, the language senior management understands. Anyone who has worked with Six Sigma knows it isn’t just an improvement methodology; it is:
- A system of management to achieve lasting business leadership and top performance applied to benefit the business and its customers, associates, and shareholders.
- A measure to define the capability of any process.
- A goal for improvement that reaches near-perfection.
The Six Sigma approach believes the source of defects is almost always linked to variation in some form: variation in materials, procedures, process conditions, etc. That’s why the fundamental thesis of Six Sigma is that variation is evil.
Why Six Sigma?
Six Sigma seeks out the cost of poor quality. Often businesses focus on the traditional costs such as: scrap, rework, maintenance, warranty, etc. but that only accounts for 2-3% of the cost as a percentage of revenue. The hidden costs account for 20-40% and include: opportunity cots, lost customer loyalty, process control, longer cycle times, quality audits, legal costs, etc.
So if we understand the importance or quality and reducing variation then what is a Sigma and why do you need Six of them? Sigma is a statistical measure of a process capability, Six Sigma means 99.99966% of the time you’ll have a favorable outcome in your process, or 3.4 defects per million opportunities. If this seems excessive, consider what 99% quality means in some industries:
- 20,000 lost letters every hour for the postal service
- 5,000 wrong surgical procedures every week in a hospital
- 7 hours a month without electricity
- 2 short or long landings per day at all major airports
Our approach to Six Sigma
Is Six Sigma really different from other approaches? Although many of the tools are old, Six Sigma gives you:
- A top-down approach with executive sponsorship and buy-in
- May be applied to all processes, manufacturing or administrative
- Uses data to support business decisions
- Involves people that impact the process the most
- Results driven, focused on a return on investment
- Assess problems form the customer’s point of view – internal or external
Our approach to Six Sigma is rooted in widely accepted methodologies and tools; it is depicted below with a sample of the tools by phase.
