Author: f1211nauriemma

The History of Six Sigma Management System

Posted on by f1211nauriemma

 

In the 1970s, a Japanese firm bought Motorola and developed Six Sigma. Companies all across the world use this in order to improve quality, which spread to thousands of organizations in the 1990s and twentieth century.  Motorola uses Six Sigma on three levels: as a metric, as a methodology, and as a management system.  Motorola came to this idea because they were making a highly complex product that created more failures than desired.  It was not until 1981 when Bob Galvin took control of Motorola that a big change happened and he achieved quality improvement tenfold with performance.  This led to the idea of (DMAIC), which is define, measure, analyze, improve, and control.  Motorola launched this idea in all different departments using it not only for the quality of a product, but in processes, services and administration.  The idea was to have 3.4 defects per one million opportunities, but today it has evolved beyond that idea and taken less literally.

Today, people can take classes and be a certified black belt in Six Sigma.  Finding the root causes of problems is important to organization and today will either make or break a company.  Competition is fierce and not adopting a quality control system, like Six Sigma could cost a firm money.  This quote explains the importance of Six Sigma to an individual, “Based on the December 2011 ASQ salary survey, people who are certified Six Sigma Black Belts earn $102K per year, versus $85K for their non-certified counterparts, a difference of over $16,500 per year” (Pyzdek Institute).   The training for Six Sigma can be time consuming and expensive; it can cost someone ten to fifteen thousand a year and take four to twelve months to complete the training, but the payout is worth it. There are three different levels of Six Sigma Project Participants: Green belts can complete a cost-saving project of ten thousand or more, a black belt can save money to companies of up to one hundred thousand, and a master black belt can save projects more than a million dollars.  Taking part in these classes can eliminate waste and increase savings by improving processes.

Six Sigma is unlike other quality improvement methodologies because is focuses on defects rather than non-conformances.  What this means is that even if there are no problems in a system, it can always be improved for better efficiency and profitability.  The goal of an organization should be to reduce variation and standardize all products and services.  A company that uses the eight essential tools involved with Six Sigma will reduce cost, increase quality, and outperform their competitors. Constant improvement must be done in order to insure the future of a company.

What companies out there do you stay away from doing business with that should adopt Six Sigma and how can they improve quality/efficiency?

Links:
http://www.pqa.net/ProdServices/sixsigma/W06002009.html
http://www.motorola.com/web/Business/_Moto_University/_Documents/_Static_Files/What_is_SixSigma.pdf
http://www.sixsigmatraining.org/an-open-letter-to-aspiring-belts

Process Improvement

Posted on by f1211nauriemma

The past four years, I have been in the construction business.  Management and Measurement of Quality made me realize ideas that I did not notice I took part in.  For example, I took part in all of The Five Service dimensions.  I recently purchased new equipment and noticed that people stop me and ask for business cards because of how professional it looks.  This is what differentiates leaders in an industry versus smaller companies who have problems generating enough revenue.  I also sent out seven thousand fliers to homes in Burr Ridge and Oak Brook.  The faster I responded to the phone calls, the higher chance I was going to get the job.  I had people thank me and tell me how good of a job I was doing responding as quickly as I did.    People do not expect firms to come out that same day, but if one responds quickly enough, they will increase sales greatly. I was also very honest with customers and told them exactly what they were getting.  I did not have trouble collecting checks because the customer and I were on the same page.  Gaining trust with a customer will increase the loyalty to the firm.  I showed that I care for the customer by customizing to their desire.  Lastly, I showed the customers that I knew what I was doing by presenting referrals.  These Five Service dimensions are important to follow if a business wants to be successful.  Now that I have a greater understanding for these principles, I am going to try to take it to the next level.

Another concept that relates to my business experience is the types of process improvements.  The two classifications are incremental and breakthrough.  I experienced more breakthrough improvements because 2012 was my first year that I was in charge of the firm.  I did not like the way the equipment was set up because the previous owner did not want to spend money on the equipment.  It often would create more work because of continuous breakdown problems.  I purchased commercial equipment that will last forever and will not depreciate.  Some people ignore these day to day problems and it will cost them time and money if they ignore it.  It was a simple fix, but the previous owner did not think that there was an easy solution.  Always looking out for process improvements is a smart business decisions that will put a firm ahead of others.  If problems are ignored, this could lead to the failure of the business.  Technology is always increasing and adapting to new improvements may be hard, but in the long run it will be worth it.  Companies that do not adapt to the new ways will have a hard time staying in business.