What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is set of organizational tools meant to improve a business’ process capability. Typically this is done to reduce product defects and increase both profit and employee morale. Hence, as a natural consequence of process improvement, company products and services tend to be of much higher quality and customer satisfaction is high.

Essentially, Six Sigma works to reduce process variation and increase control of processes in order to achieve results.

How Does Six Sigma Work?

The fundamentals of Six Sigma methodology tie into a set of five key elements:

Focusing on customers: To understand quality improvement for your business, you first need to know what your customers consider quality. After all, customer opinions matter the most when it comes to your success. Therefore, if you can learn to see quality as your customers do, you’re on the right track to success.

Identification of Root Causes: If you want your business process to work better you need to see what is and is not already working and build off of that. This is done by gathering information from the people in your business. Typically it will lead to you asking questions such as “What can be done to make your job easier?” and “Why do you do your job in this way?” By speaking to your employees, you can figure out the root causes of optimization in your process.

Reduction of Variation: Once you’ve figured out what the root causes are in your process, you’ll need to remove any sources of variation. This ties directly into quality management; the less variation you have in your process, the less defects you’ll have to deal with.

Encourage Teamwork: One of the best ways to make your process more efficient is to create strong teams and leadership. People on these teams need to be trained in the Six Sigma process so they can use their learned project management tools. Once you’ve put together a strong team of Six Sigma trained individuals with a wide range of skills, they become problem-solving experts who can spot variations and conduct quality control together.

Flexibility: Most importantly, your business needs to be flexible. Everyone needs to be able to accept positive changes or even create changes themselves. To do so, make sure that everyone understands why a change is happening and how it benefits them. Then, they’ll be motivated to adapt to that change.

Incorporating all five aspects of Six Sigma into your business will increase both profits and morale.

Six Sigma Belt System

Six Sigma uses a belt system to organize everyone who has gone through Six Sigma training, similar to that used by martial arts. Consequently, belt levels can be used to build project management teams with an easily established chain of command when looking for variations.

The belts are organized as follows:

Green Belts: For the most part, Six Sigma Green Belt holders are only part time practitioners. They’ll usually spend no more than a quarter of their time on Six Sigma projects. Typically, their role is to select team members and teach people about the fundamental aspects of Six Sigma. When they’re not doing that, they inform higher ranked practitioners (like Six Sigma Black Belts) about group progress.

Black Belts: Black belts practice Six Sigma full-time. Usually they train other team members and work with them on data analysis and experiments. Furthermore, they communicate progress to the highest ranked Six Sigma practitioners and recommend extra Six Sigma projects.

Master Black Belts: Master Black Belts are professionals with the highest levels of Six Sigma experience. They are critical to quality in the overall project team because they mentor both Black and Green Belts during their training process. However, A Six Sigma Master Black Belt’s main goal is to advise upper management on the statistical methods and overall business strategy that comprises Six Sigma. Consequently, they’re an invaluable component of any company’s Six Sigma program.

Champions: Usually, champions are Six Sigma leaders from upper management. They sponsor projects from Six Sigma teams and work with them to make sure they don’t face any obstacles when implementing changes. They’re also responsible for acquiring resources for their teams.

Thanks to this strict hierarchy, teams are easily organized based on how experienced and well trained they are. This allows businesses to work with Six Sigma in a fast and efficient manner.

Different Approaches to Six Sigma

There are two different approaches to Six Sigma: DMAIC and DMADV. Each improvement methodology has its own strengths and set of tools.

DMAIC is an acronym which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. It’s a method intended to improve already existing processes. This is done by having Six Sigma teams objectively view problems and use statistical analysis to find ways to improve the parts of processes that are causing them.

The acronym DMADV stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify. This methodology is meant for designing new processes, products, and services, or for revising any processes that have reached their limits. Project teams do this by learning customer needs and integrating them into whatever product or service they’re working on.

What’s the Difference Between Lean and Six Sigma?

A term you’ll hear a lot when learning about Six Sigma is “Lean”. These two business philosophies are frequently paired together because they produce great results when combined.

While Six Sigma is concerned with finding and removing variations in process control, Lean is focused on removing non-value processes (waste). Hence, doing so leads to an improved workflow and a greater focus on standardization.

Ultimately, if you’re interested in Six Sigma, you should probably be well-versed in Lean as well. Being Lean Six Sigma certified is incredibly useful for both you and for your company.

The Bottom Line

An organization interested in improving the quality of their business should be employing Six Sigma professionals. Six Sigma helps facilitate positive changes in business processes and serves to increase understanding of customer mindsets. Essentially, both new and existing process can always benefit from the added attention Six Sigma practitioners will give them.

I encourage you to try and become Six Sigma certified yourself. Six Sigma practitioners are highly sought after and provide valuable services to companies interested in their practices.

There is no central organization for Six Sigma certification, but there are several quality associations that can grant certification. Make sure to check with one of them to see what their requirements are. I guarantee you won’t regret it!