Introduction
For any business – be it a large corporate or a small start-up, a solid reliable business process is vital. This is crucial to improve a company’s operational performance that in turn will improve the company’s profit margin.
Six Sigma is a time-tested methodology that offers techniques and tools to enhance a company’s operational performance. This management technique has become extremely popular so that companies prefer employees trained in Six Sigma modules. This is why courses like the Six Sigma Green Belt online are in huge demand at present.
What is Six Sigma?
Six Sigma is a collection of a set of techniques that are utilized by businesses to enhance their operational process. The goal of utilizing these techniques is to reduce the likelihood of producing defects.
Six Sigma involves using a statistical data-driven approach to reduce the possibility of errors. To be more specific, an acceptable Six Sigma result is less than 3.4 defects for a million opportunities to create a good product.
It was initially developed by Motorola in 1986 as a process to manage quality. Since then, the entire process has been analyzed and structured into an overarching principle with multiple methods.
The principles of Six Sigma
The objective of Six Sigma is to deliver an output that is close to perfection.
The basis of Six Sigma lies in its 5 principles –
- Stay focused on the customer
Businesses need to understand what the customer needs and wants. This information can then be used to establish a standard of quality based on market data.
- Getting to the root cause of the problem
The steps in a particular process need to be studied and analyzed to collect data. The data is then used to get insights that will help the company to identify the problem. For this purpose, a standard data collection and an accurate measurement system should be in place.
- Waste removal
After problem identification, the next step is to modify the process so that defects are eliminated. If there are stages in the process that don’t create value for customers, then they should be removed. The process in its entirety needs to be streamlined for efficiency and quality control.
- Train people
It is vital to train the workforce to be proficient in Six Sigma’s methodologies. Courses like Six Sigma green belt online are available for this purpose. Training and knowledge will reduce the risk of hitting roadblocks during and after the implementation of Six Sigma.
- Keeping businesses flexible and responsive
When a business implements Six Sigma processes, there are likely to be changed in the operational process to remove faults. For seamless operations post-implementation, employees need to adapt the changes with ease. Businesses with a culture of flexibility and responsiveness tend to have a competitive edge in such situations.
Benefits of using Six Sigma
The benefits of Six Sigma do not just pertain to one aspect of a business but the entire organization. To understand this better, let’s look at its benefits in detail –
- Customers are happy
After a business implements Six Sigma, it upgrades its processes and improves quality control. The result is a better-finished product. Quality improvement in products translates to customer satisfaction – a precursor to customer loyalty.
- Boost in profit margins
The best marketing is good word-of-mouth by satisfied customers. Companies end up acquiring new customers as a result. Moreover, loyal customers return for future purchases. Both of these factors cause your profit margins to rise.
- Employees are satisfied
Six Sigma encourages employees to rally together for a common goal – improving the processes in a company. Moreover, improve results for their effort boosts morale.
Goals of implementing Six Sigma
Six Sigma is implemented to achieve the following goals in a business –
- Bring down defects
The primary goal of making an effort to implement Six Sigma is to lower defects and improve quality in a company’s processes. The Six Sigma standard for manufacturing processes is 3.4 defects of every million products.
- Increase profit margins
A better quality finished product builds brand value, which translates to better earnings. Six Sigma also calls for identifying steps in the process that don’t add value so redundancy is reduced. Overall, the entire process becomes more efficient and cost-effective post Six Sigma implementation.
- Keep employees motivated
Employees with career advancement goals are very productive and assets for a company. Training them with Six Sigma certifications such as Six Sigma Green Belt online keeps them motivated and engaged while improving productivity.
- Improve company culture
Six Sigma will orient the focus of the entire company towards quality. As a result, the entire workforce will respond accordingly. It will spur the organization to produce high-quality output by ensuring that operating processes are flawless.
Conclusion
Six Sigma is a well-established methodology for businesses to streamline their operations and produce very few defects. The scale at which Six Sigma has been adopted by major corporations around the globe is a testament to its ability.
