When we talk about getting lean it is usually in regards to losing excess weight and strengthening a new body that is lighter and capable of doing more in an efficient way. The same principle applies when Lean Six Sigma methods are applied to business operations in the area of business management strategies. Simply put, this process is all about cost reduction and increased profits.
Founded by Motorola, USA in 1986, Six Sigma is a strategy that optimizes the process of outputting products and services by getting rid of errors so that results are always constant and always growing. Several quality management methods are used to achieve this, including methods based on statistics. A unique infrastructure of people is created within an organization linking together people who are experts in this field. Projects that are carried on in the organization are then done following a series of steps aimed at reaching pre-determined financial targets.
The term Six Sigma is one that comes from the manufacturing sector, in particular statistical modeling of processes involved in manufacturing. A sigma rating is used to indicate the yield of a manufacturing process. This rating is based on the percentage of products manufactured that have no defects. In a six sigma process, the manufacturing process creates products where 99.99966 percent are defect free, this is the equivalent to only 3.4 defects in every 1 million products created.
In the 70s, a senior manager at Motorola criticized the poor quality of products that were being manufactured. When reasons for this were looked into, a connection was discovered between raising quality and cutting costs. It was initially feared that raising quality would mean additional costs but that was not the case. In fact, costs came down because there were fewer claims from buyers for replacement sets or for repairs to be done. Going forward, Motorola set out to achieve the goal of the program for all that it outputted. It was from here that six sigma became a term that described a benchmark for manufacturing processes. The term then became synonymous with maximizing output and minimizing costs in other businesses.
The objectives and goals can be broken down into a number of key principles. One is that it is important that efforts towards keeping output predictable and of consistently high quality must be continuous. Another is that business processes that will determine good and consistent results must be broken down into aspects that can be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled. The third is that everyone must be involved, from the employees who are hands-on in the manufacturing process to senior level managers.
While there have been other quality control and improvement strategies, the Six Sigma program is different for a number of reasons. One difference is that it has a clear focus on attaining financial results that can be measured and quantified. There is also great emphasis on support and leadership being offered by management.
The infrastructure is also different; there are Champions, Master Black Belts, Green Belts, Black Belts and other levels of Six Sigma Certification that keep workers aspiring to work towards attaining them. There is also a deep commitment to making decisions based on facts and figures that are verifiable rather than basing important decisions on guesses and assumptions.
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