Six Sigma - A Tested Method For Success

Six Sigma- the word itself conjures an idea of perfection. It is a process that has been adopted by both manufacturing as well as business industries to gauge or measure the perfection of the end product in relation to what was the benchmark set by the company. Six Sigma follows a rule-based, statistical approach to remove any defect that is found in the process from start to finish of a product or service so that systems are set in place to improve the quality of the said product or service up a maximum of 99.99% - which is what the very name Six Sigma signifies.

Whenever a company be it either a manufacturing unit or a business venture wants to put in place a set of rules or procedures to follow in order to improve productivity the first stumbling block that is encountered is to do with 'defect' detected in the product or service when it is too late. A lot of man-hours get wasted in rectifying this.

The Six Sigma Method that was first tried and tested by a company in the U.S.A created such an impact on the business community that it got a following that is unparalleled in the world. These practices or rules of this method have been fine tuned by various entities to suit their own systems - but the end result in each and every company has been to minimize the 'defect' that occurs in a product or service to a degree which is insignificant. The users of Six Sigma are proud of the fact that efficiency reaches to the levels of 99.99%.

Different situations create different methodologies and Six Sigma is no different in this respect. To give an example of one such method adopted by some manufacturing companies - the said method is known by the acronym 5S which is a Japanese method later adopted by Western countries also as the 5S method.

The 5S are-

1. Sort: Differentiate between what is required and what is not. Then discard that which is not required.

2. Set in order: Keep all the things required labeled neatly and stacked within easy reach.

3. Shine: Always maintain a clean and neat work station, even after a job is done.

4. Standardize: To see that all the rules laid down are being strictly followed.

5. Sustain: To adhere to the above 4S so that the momentum is maintained

Thus have companies been able to put methods into place to measure or quantify the chances wherein the so called 'defects' are only 3.4 in a million or a guarantee of 99.99% of times that a customer goes home happy with the product he buys or a service he subscribes to. Though there are chances of slippages in this method too, the important thing to note is that if there is a vision and a vision document and leaders who are capable of putting all the systems in place, checks and balances ensure that this strategy is foolproof and has brought success to a wide range of companies all over the world.


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Casey Trillbar is the editor of SixSigmaTrainingGuide.com, which is a website aimed at supplying articles, information and resources to people considering undergoing Six Sigma Certification. http://www.sixsigmatrainingguide.com