SIX SIGMA
- What is Six Sigma?
- Why is Six Sigma so successful?
- What does Six Sigma look like?
- What type of companies benefit from Six Sigma?
- What is the difference between ISO and Six Sigma / Lean?
What is Six Sigma?
"Six Sigma" is an overall methodology that drives business improvement.
It is a highly disciplined approach to decision making assisting people to focus on process efficiency. It quickly identifies the true root cause of any process failure and provides an understanding of how successful your improvements will be. Six Sigma puts the customer first using facts and data to ensure the most appropriate solutions are identified for implementation.
Why is Six Sigma so successful?
Six Sigma is all about discipline. It is a continuous improvement process that focuses an organisation on:
- Customer Requirements
- Process Alignment
- Analytical Rigour
- Timely Execution
The greatest strength of Six Sigma is the quality tools. These tools are applied and taught under the guidance of Pragmatic Improvement Master Black Belts. Because it is based on analysis and testing conducted by your own staff (who will not only have the skills to identify root causes, but also develop the skills to manage their removal) you will know prior to implementing the solution if it will be successful.
What does Six Sigma look like?
There are five stages that make up what is known as the DMAIC.
(Download DMAIC Roadmap)
What type of companies benefit from Six Sigma?
Any Company keen to run the most efficient processes possible can benefit. If you have scorecards measuring Key Performance Indicators you can benefit. If you have customers and Service Level Agreements you can benefit. If business is all about margins:
- Can you afford errors?
- Do you know the cost of errors in your business?
There is a misconception that only large corporations benefit from Six Sigma implementation. Pragmatic Improvement has small to medium sized enterprises that are benefiting from our process improvement guidance.
The fact that you are a small to medium enterprise only changes the size and speed of the implementation, not the end result.
What is the difference between ISO and Six Sigma / Lean?
ISO is a quality compliance system, Six Sigma and Lean are business improvement methodologies. Companies who are ISO compliant have two things in place that make the next step easier:
- They have business processes documented and measure compliance.
- They have documented processes by which they operate.
ISO is not a prerequisite to starting business process improvement. Unless you implement a rigorous Continuous Improvement program (Six Sigma or similar) you are most likely unaware of how much your business performance can be improved.