Project Management Articles

The Motorola Company implemented Six Sigma concepts and methodologies for the first time in the early eighties, mainly to improve the efficiency of business processes related to manufacturing. Since that time, Six Sigma has undergone major transformations. It has now become possible to use it for improving services industries such as BPO's and customer contact centers.

Green Belts play a vital role in Six Sigma implementations, but the problem is that it is not that easy to provide Green Belt training to existing employees.

Six Sigma has no doubt proved its effectiveness as a quality improvement technique, but business organizations that are implementing it for the first time still need to keep in mind a few basic things in order to ensure that all goes well as planned.

Six Sigma training is important simply because it is based on scientific theories and utilizes a statistical approach for resolving complex issues, things that employees of most organizations are generally unaware of.

Lean Six Sigma training may not be all that different from standard 6 Sigma training, but what trainers should not forget is that it is a journey and not a destination. If trainers fail to instill this thought, the trainees will not be able to understand the real meaning and importance of Lean Six Sigma, something that can easily undermine it's success and implementation projects.

In today's highly competitive environment, businesses are being forced to lower operational costs, reduce cycle time, and offer a diverse product mix to their customers to achieve higher profits and garner a bigger market share.

The importance of the Six Sigma Project Charter is well understood as it acts as the blueprint for carrying out the implementations. It is only when a well-defined project charter is made available to the implementation team, that the organization can hope to realize all the benefits associated with the Six Sigma implementation project.

The responsibility for the success of Six Sigma implementation projects usually rests with Six Sigma professionals such as Black Belts. What most organizations often fail to realize is that credit for a project's success should also go to the Green Belts who do most of the hard work by providing the necessary assistance to Black Belts.

The use of quality control systems started in the early eighties when the Motorola Company successfully deployed Six Sigma for the first time. Six Sigma was originally devised for use in the manufacturing sector, but over the years it has proven to be so effective and versatile that now even service sector companies have started to deploy it.

Consumers nowadays have become more quality conscious and as such care a lot more about the quality of products or services than anything else. The price of a product or service may play a major role in the decision making process, but in the long term, it is the quality that determines whether the consumer will stick to the same product or service or move to other brands available in the market.

The effectiveness of Six Sigma projects is easily evident from the increase in the number of businesses that now prefer Six Sigma to other types of quality improvement initiatives such as TQM (Total Quality Management). The best thing about Six Sigma projects is that they can be implemented in all types of industries, large or small.

Six Sigma was originally devised as a quality improvement initiative for use in the manufacturing sector, but over the years it has proved so versatile and effective that even service sector industries are employing it. It is also quite effective in non-profit organizations such as the public school system.

Six Sigma has certainly helped organizations to improve efficiency and quality, but just like any other quality-improvement concept, it is not completely free from limiting factors. For example, the biggest concern with Six Sigma is long project cycle times, which can reduce the overall value of benefits derived from the project or even completely nullify the derived benefits.

Six Sigma is basically a data-driven approach that relies heavily on the use of statistical tools and techniques for making required changes in a given business process. As such, thinking statistically is what comes naturally to Six Sigma professionals such as Black Belts and all those associated with the implementations.

Any organization that wants to derive the full benefits of Six Sigma implementation projects first needs to provide the requisite coaching to its employees, especially to selected implementation team members, in order to make them aware about the basic concepts and methodologies of Six Sigma.