What is six-sigma?
A scientist at Motorola created the Six Sigma process improvement approach in the 1980s. Six Sigma practitioners may enhance corporate functioning and quality control by identifying and fixing errors or flaws in current processes. They do this by using statistics, financial analysis, and project management. The Six Sigma methodology, sometimes called DMAIC, has five distinct phases: defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling.
Understanding Six Sigma
The fundamental tenet of Six Sigma is that every business process is amenable to measurement and optimization.
Six Sigma is a word that was first used in manufacturing to describe quality control. Six Sigma quality is achieved when long-term defect levels are less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO).
Since then, Six Sigma has developed into a broader notion in business, emphasizing satisfying customer needs, enhancing customer loyalty, and enhancing and maintaining corporate goods and services. One of its most well-known supporters was Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric.
Like martial arts belt ranks, Six Sigma certification programs award white belts through black belts.
The Six Sigma Five Steps
The Six Sigma methodology employs a systematic process known as DMAIC, an abbreviation for defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling. Adherents of Six Sigma assert that a company can resolve any issue that seems impossible by implementing these five steps:
Describe
Under the direction of a Six Sigma specialist, a group of individuals chooses a process to concentrate on and specifies the issue they want to resolve.
Quantity
The group establishes a baseline for the process’s initial performance and identifies a list of inputs that could impair it.
Analyze Subsequently, the team isolates each input or probable cause of failure and tests it to see whether it might be the source of the issue.
Enhance
From there, the group works to implement improvements to enhance system performance.
In charge
The group incorporates additional controls to prevent the process from regressing and losing effectiveness.
Lean Six Sigma: What Is It?
Lean Six Sigma is a team-oriented management methodology that aims to raise work uniformity and reduce waste and errors to increase performance. Combining the lean manufacturing/lean enterprise concept with Six Sigma methodology and technologies, it aims to ensure quality in organizational and production processes while minimizing wasting time, talent, and physical resources. Any resource consumption that doesn’t benefit the final user is deemed wasteful and should be stopped.
Belt Rankings and Certification for Six Sigma
To demonstrate their proficiency in the process and their comprehension of it, individuals may get certified in Six Sigma. These certificates are given out using a belt system similar to karate instruction. There are two belt tiers.
- A white belt. White belt holders have taken some formal training in Six Sigma fundamentals but have not yet completed a formal certification program or training. They now possess sufficient expertise to join a team.
- Belt in yellow. Participants may reach this level after a few training sessions, which gives them the skills necessary to oversee modest projects and support managers with more advanced belts.
- Green belt. People must complete a more in-depth course that trains them to become project leaders to reach this level.
- A black belt. Participants may advance to black belt certification after achieving the green belt level, which will equip them for leadership positions in increasingly ambitious and complicated projects.
- Black belt holders are capable of becoming champions and masters. A master black belt is a robust, knowledgeable leader with exceptional problem-solving abilities. A champion is a lean Six Sigma leader who has been taught to maximize revenue by eliminating waste and errors.
Take note
Numerous businesses and educational institutions provide these credentials, and the courses needed to get them vary from one to the next.
Six Sigma Examples in the Real World
Numerous businesses, municipal governments, and other organizations employ Six Sigma. Here are two instances of how Six Sigma reduced costs, raised customer happiness, and enhanced operational effectiveness.
Microsoft
One of the biggest software companies in the world is Microsoft (MSFT). It used Six Sigma methodology to help eliminate flaws in its data centers and systems and systematically lower breakdowns.
The business set baseline measurements for all its hardware and software to identify flaws. It then used root-cause analysis to identify possible issue locations. This included gathering information from previous high-priority events, server failures, and suggestions from customers and product group members.
Massive volumes of data were gathered from several servers, both daily and weekly. The events were ranked according to how the flaws impacted the company’s core services and business operations. After identifying the individual problems via data analysis and reporting, each defect’s remedy processes were defined.
Microsoft claims that Six Sigma raised customer happiness, increased productivity, and enhanced server availability.
Government of Ventura County, California
Lean Six Sigma was attributed to Ventura County, California, with $33 million in savings. Since launching the program in 2008, the county administration has taught approximately 5,000 staff members its methods. According to the county, some savings may be attributed to implementing new, more efficient systems and removing pointless yet time-consuming stages from earlier procedures.
In 2019, the VC Star newspaper said that the county had saved “nearly $400,000 annually by implementing a new system to track employee leaves of absence” and “$51,000 with an appointments system that reduced labor costs and rates for maintenance of county vehicles.”
How Can Someone Become Certified in Six Sigma?
Several institutions, groups, and commercial businesses provide Six Sigma certification. But remember that a single regulatory authority does not standardize the curriculum. This implies that it may change depending on where you attend a course.
Does Six Sigma Certification have an online version?
Yes, many colleges and businesses offering Six Sigma certification offer in-person and online training.
What Are the Principal Distinctions Between Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma?
Lean Six Sigma employs the Six Sigma technique (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) to make an organization or firm “leaner” by removing waste from its processes or material use. It partially stems from lean manufacturing concepts.
The Bottom Line Six Sigma quality-improvement technique is now extensively adopted in the public and commercial sectors. Courses that lead to different certification levels are available to anyone wanting to study them.
Conclusion
- Businesses use the Six Sigma quality-control approach to reduce errors and drastically enhance workflows.
- In the 1980s, a scientist from Motorola created the model.
- Businesses frequently use the Six Sigma concept to boost productivity and revenue.
- Certifications for Six Sigma practitioners that are based on martial arts color belts may be obtained.
