| |
These stories by
themselves may be appealing, but if your company is
doing okay – as GE was in 1995, when Jack Welch
launched their effort – why should you consider a Six
Sigma initiative? What’s prompting so many businesses,
prominent and modest, to invest in this funny sounding
business approach? Drawing from these success stories
and those of other companies – and looking behind the
raw dollars – we can define several benefits that are
attracting companies to the Six Sigma Way.
Six Sigma:
Generates
Sustained Success:
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems,
the networking equipment powerhouse that’s been one of
the fastest growing companies of the past decade,
recently commented on the tenuous hold many companies
have on their success:. “There is the realization that
you can be out of business in 3 years”. The only way to
continue double digit growth and retain a hold on
shifting markets is to constantly innovate and remark
the organization.
Sets a performance goal for everyone:
In a company of any size – Let alone a multibillion –
dollar global corporation – getting everyone working in
the same direction and focusing on a common goal is
pretty tough. Each function, business unit and
individual has different objectives and targets. What
everyone has in common, though, is the delivery of
products, services or information to customers (inside
or outside the company). Six Sigma uses that common
business framework – the process and the customer - to
create a consistent goal: Six Sigma performance, or a
level of performance that’s about as close to perfect as
most people can imagine. Anyone who understand’s their
customer’s requirement can assess their performance
against the Six Sigma goal of 99.9997 % perfect – a
standard so high that it makes most businesses previous
views of “excellent” performance look pretty weak.
Enhances value to customers:
When GE began its Six Sigma effort, executives admitted
that the quality of the company’s products was not what
it should be. Though its quality was perhaps better
than that of its competitors , Jack Welch stated that
“We want to make our quality so special, so valuable to
our customers, so important to their success that our
products become their only real value choice .”With
tighter competition in every industry, delivering just
“good” or “defect-free” products and service won’t
guarantee success. The focus on customers at the heart
of Six Sigma means learning what value means to
customers ( and prospective customers) and planning how
to deliver it to them profitably.
Accelerates the rate of improvement: Motorola’s goal of “100X improvement in 4
years” set an example for ambitious , driven
organizations to emulate. With information technology
setting the pace by doubling its performance to cost
ratio every 18 months, the customer expectation for
improvement gets ever more demanding. The competitor who
improves the fastest is likely to win the race, By
borrowing tools and ideas from many disciplines, Six
Sigma helps a company not only improve performance , but
improve improvement.
|
Performance Goals - What You'd Get ....... |
|
For
every 300,000 letters delivered:
with 99%
With Six Sigma
3,000 misdeliveries
1 misdelivery |
|
For
every 500,000 letters delivered:
with 99%
With Six Sigma
4,100 crashes
< 2 crashes |
|
For
500 years of month-end closings:
with 99%
With Six Sigma
60
months would not balance .018
months would not balance |
|
For
every 300,000 letters delivered:
with 99%
With Six Sigma
3,000 misdeliveries
1 misdelivery |
Promotes learning and
“cross-pollination”: The 1990s saw the birth of the
“Learning Organization,” a concept that appeals to many
but seems hard to put into action. AlliegdSignal leaders
have commented that “everyone talks about about learning
, but few succeed in weaving it into the fabric of
everyday life for so many employees.”. Six Sigma is an
approach that can increase and accelerate the development
and sharing of new ideas throughout an organization. Even
in a company as diverse as GE, the value of Six Sigma as a
learning tool is seen as critical. Skilled people with
expertise in processes and how to manage and improve them
can be shifted from, say ,GE Plastics to GE Capital, not
only with a shorter learning curve but actually bringing
with them better ideas and ability to apply them more
quickly. Ideas can be shared and performance compared more
readily.GE’s vice president for Six Sigma, Piet van
Abeelen, has noted that in the past, a manager in one part
of the organization could discount input from a
counterpart in another area: “ ‘ Your ideas won’t work ,
because I’m different.’ Van Abeelen says Six Sigma
eliminates those defenses: “ Well, cry me a river. The
commonalities are what matter. If you make the metrics
same, we can talk.”
Executes Strategic Change
Promotes learning and “cross-pollination”:
Introducing new products, launching new ventures, entering
new markets, acquiring new organizations – what were once
occasional business activities are now daily events in
many companies. Better understanding of your company’s
processes and procedures will give you a greater ability
to carry out both the minor adjustments and the major
shifts that 21st – century business success will demand.
|
|
