People have always been looking for methods and strategies to improve their way of working and interacting. There are various approaches to business relationships and how to make the workplace more productive yet friendly for everyone. And Six Sigma is an excellent example in this respect for several reasons.
Developed by Motorola in the 80s, people worldwide have been using it ever since, and its popularity among companies or individuals has not decreased. Several industries have been using it to save money, time, and other resources. So it's no wonder that so many people are interested in this type of training nowadays. And, perhaps, many people may ask, what is Six Sigma?
So, What Is Six Sigma in Simple Terms?
When it comes to answering what is Six Sigma, you should know that it is a systematic, data-driven approach meant to improve the quality and efficiency of the processes in an organization. In other words, this set of methodologies can detect and help fix errors or variations, which too often result in a lack of efficiency and failure to satisfy customers' needs and wants. Moreover, a waste of valuable resources can also be one of the issues that people can solve with the help of this method.
The term comes from statistics. Thus, "sigma" (σ) is a measurement of variation. If the sigma level is higher, that indicates the fact that the variation is lower and the quality is better. With the help of this approach, you can define, measure, analyze, improve, and control various processes, often referred to as DMAIC, and thus ensure that your operations produce top-quality results with little to no deviations.
The 5 Why Technique in Sigma
The 5 Whys technique is one of the helpful strategies that Six Sigma uses. It comprises five essential steps. First, you need to identify the problem you need to solve because it is this issue that usually affects the efficiency and quality of the whole process.
Thus, it would help if you asked "why" once. After you get an answer, you can move on to the next step, taking the response received during the previous phase and asking another "why" to determine why that situation appeared. It helps you dig deeper and discover the factors behind the initial cause.
For each answer you obtain, you should keep asking "why." The procedure should involve about five questions and answers. The purpose of this method is to keep on searching until you discover the root cause of your problem.
This technique is very appreciated and used by many organizations because it helps them go beyond the superficial reasons why a problem has appeared. Once you discover the exact root cause of a problem, you can find the best, most sustainable solutions.
What Is Six Sigma Implementation?
First and foremost, a company's senior leadership should be committed to this method's initiative and its defined goals. In other words, they should communicate the importance of Six Sigma to the entire organization and ensure all the necessary resources for implementing this set of methods.
Afterwards, it would help if you considered selecting the projects most benefit from this method. The most important factors you need to consider at this point are the degree of customer satisfaction, the potential for improvement, the efficiency of the process, and so on.
And, of course, you need to choose the best team members for each project you select. In these teams, you should include people with diverse skills who are in strong connection with the goals of the project.
At the same time, you should provide proper training tools, techniques, or methodologies. We could mention the importance of grasping significant concepts such as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and statistical tools typically used for data analysis.
What Are the Actual Implementation Phases?
Another thing you need to consider concerns the actual implementation phases you must go through. Thus, in the very first phase, you can define the issue in an obvious way. Making a proper plan comes next, including the goals you envision for your project. Only after that should you move on to the measure phase, where you can gather data about the process you are investigating. The analysis phase comes next, in which you can analyze the collected data to detect any trends, patterns, or other details that may raise your concern.
These phases can help you determine the exact deficiencies and further lead to the next step, namely, developing and implementing solutions to address the root causes you have discovered. You should test such solutions in a controlled way and be able to measure the impact they have on the performance of the process.
After that, you can further advance to the control phase, in which you can use measures and systems to make improvements, with the help of some monitoring mechanisms, and check if you get the needed results. This way, you can also verify if your employees got an answer to the "What is Six Sigma" question.
Share the Results and Reward Your Teams
After successfully finishing the project, you can share the results with others so your entire organization can benefit. It would help if you encouraged people to replicate the successful practices you discovered. Six Sigma is a methodology for continuous improvement. Therefore, you should be quick to regularly review and evaluate various processes to identify new improvement opportunities. It may involve collecting data on an ongoing basis, as well as analyzing and refining them.
It is good to consistently recognize and reward your teams or individuals for their significant contribution to any successful projects. This way, you can keep your employees motivated and committed to the methodology.
What Are Some of the Real Life Examples?
In other words, what is Six Sigma in real life? You can benefit from using such principles in your daily lives. Some real-life high-end examples of Sigma's successful implementation include General Electric, Motorola, Microsoft, and Wipro. These significant companies managed to neutralize defects and increase their revenues.
