Reference Subject Six Sigma

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If it is, how can we revive it? six sigma by J. Bruce Weeks THERE ARE REPORTS from the field about the death of Six Sigma.1 The word is that it has been overused, has not brought its expected benefits and that newer methods, such as the theory of constraints and systems thinking, are replacing it. A 2007 study from the consulting firm QualPro showed that 53 of 58 large companies that use Six Sigma have trailed the S&P 500 since they implemented it.2 The quality profession needs to examine the underlying root causes so we can repair the damage being done to Six Sigma’s reputation. In 50 Words Or Less • Six Sigma will fail without leadership commitment, an implementation strategy, correct accounting methods, cultural integration and decisions based on global optima. • Instead of being one of the goals and objectives, implementation must be integrated. • In addition, lean should precede Six Sigma. October 2011 • QP 23 Diagnosing the problem Six Sigma can fail for a variety of reasons: Lack of leadership strategy and commitment. Not enough leaders truly understand that Six Sigma is not an overnight savior. It takes time and work to achieve outstanding results.3, 4 Too many leaders bought into what was called the “latest and greatest fad” in business process fixes, rolled out a Six Sigma program, trained everyone and now have up to 80% of their people working on projects to improve processes. This sort of Six Sigma under5 and it is exactly what happened at Sun Microsystems.8 The results take too long and are of poor quality, yielding low return on investment (ROI).9 Six Sigma Black Belts (BB) end up focusing on small projects that have little risk and can be implemented very quickly, so any results achieved are minor at best.10 A stigma grows around a program that takes so much resource application for so little gain. Sun eventually abandoned

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