What is Six Sigma and its Benefits

Six Sigma (also written as 6-Sigma) is an approach for process and good quality management that uses a blend of various methods to help organizations improve their products and reduce their rate of error to lower costs and generate higher profits.

The term Six Sigma originated in the 18th century when Bill Smith from Motorola, also known as the father of Six Sigma, developed and introduced the Six Sigma principles to measure defects and improve quality. A Six Sigma process is the one in which 99.99966 % of the opportunities to produce products or features are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million). Motorola set a goal of “six sigma” for all of its manufacturing operations, and that goal became a mantra for the management to achieve.

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a calculative strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction. This is achieved via the use of two sub methodologies of Six Sigma that are,  DMAIC and DMADV. 

DMAIC: The Six Sigma DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an improvement system for the current existing processes falling below specification and looking for improvement in Increments

DMADV: The Six Sigma DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) is an improvement system used to create and develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels. 

Both the processes mentioned above are executed by Six Sigma Green Belts. There are different levels of certification in Six Sigma starting with White belt, then Yellow belt, Green belt, Black belt, and finally level of a Master Black belt. These different belts in six sigma denote different levels of expertise. White belt is meant for students who want to get introduced to definitions and understand examples of Six Sigma concepts. Yellow belt is probably the first step of Six Sigma certification for practitioners of quality processes and the Master Black belt for leadership and successful process improvement plans.

The great thing about Lean Six Sigma is that it is universally accepted and used regardless of the size of the company, niche,  and geographical area. Right from automobiles to manufacturing companies, Six Sigma focuses on improving the processes.

Let us further understand the benefits that Six Sigma brings to organizations,

Benefits of Six Sigma Consulting in an Organization 

• Customer Satisfaction
• Elimination of Waste from the process
• Constructive Time Management
• Tactical Planning
• Improved Company Culture
• Foster Leadership

1. Customer Satisfaction: One of the main goals of most organizations is to make their end customers super happy. It can only be done when wastage of time, a disciplined standard approach, and eliminating processes that do not add much value are considered taken care of. Six Sigma helps in reducing wastage and deducting the other unneeded processes. This in turn makes the customer happy as their issues are solved.
2. Elimination of Waste from the process: Six Sigma is a data-driven approach for reducing unnecessary processes. It simplifies the process and saves money and time both.
3. Constructive Time Management: Six Sigma focuses on increased productivity to make the business more efficient. They do this by helping the employees to manage their time better. This results in improved work-life balance and their morale is boosted again to work smartly.  
4. Tactical Planning: Six Sigma helps to identify problems which in return helps a lot in planning the processes more strategically by focusing on the important details. It also helps the project management team to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the business process and plan further effectively.
5. Improved Company Culture: Six Sigma training not only helps in eliminating waste but also helps in motivating every individual to work hard and smart and helps in the company’s advancement. As Six Sigma is a continuous improvement process it promotes improvisation and learning regularly which leads to a growth culture. 
6. Foster Leadership: Training in Six Sigma inculcates leadership qualities by making one aware of the methods and ways to increase the process revenue and efficiency. The black belt certified professionals or the master black belt certified professionals are ideally the trainers who train and guide the entry-level analyst to grow to make them good leaders. Six Sigma certification and training open various managerial positions for professionals who wish to make a career in the quality and process improvement sector. 

In a nutshell, adopting Six Sigma only promotes growth and efficiency in the business organization. Arrowhead also helps as a Six Sigma Consultant in India, you can reach out by contacting us (Contact us – arrowheadco.net )