Technologies That SMEs Must Invest In

How to implement Six Sigma?

Being a Small & Medium Enterprise (SME), you have to adopt new technologies for making progress in a highly competitive environment. Technology is redefining the modes of business, and fast growing SMEs have to adopt technology to herald their growth and development. If you are wondering about the technology which has boosted the growth of industry leaders such as Motorola, GE, then you need to know more about the six sigma and its unique advantages.

What’s Six Sigma?

Six Sigma focuses on the improvisation of process outputs through the identification and removal of defects or errors and minimising the variation in manufacturing procedures. Six Sigma has its origins in the manufacturing process with 6 and Sigma being references to the statistics-based model of manufacturing. A six sigma process refers to a method where the manufactured products have a 99.9996% defect-free content and the defects are reduced to 3.4 per million entities generated.

How to implement Six Sigma

For implementing Six Sigma, your SME has to go through a phased process with the first step being the training of the staff. The team would have to be divided into different categories with the Executive Leadership at the top which would comprise top management. They are the ones responsible for preparing the vision of the process. The next category consists of Champions who implement it across the enterprise. Master Black Belts (MBBs) form the next section which work like in-house trainers for the process. Black Belts work under the MBBs and apply the Six Sigma methodology to come up with the results. The final section consists of the Green Belts which are responsible for implementing the process along with other tasks of the organisation.

The second step is to identify an opportunity. You would have to decide the most important requirements of your customer and collate detailed information relating to the process. Based on this data, one can estimate the performance of the process. This would also involve understanding the parameters which were adopted for the process. Six Sigma training equips the team to use various statistical tools to examine and analyse the data. Following this, your team can forward solutions to be implemented based on the findings from the analysis. The improvements can then be crosschecked to understand the progress. These steps can be repeated till a steady rate of success is achieved. It is a time taking process so you would have to be patient with the process.

Types of methodologies

Primarily, there are two project methodologies in Six Sigma. They are based on Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle and consist of five phases of processes. For improving an existing business process, DMAIC is used. Whereas the creation of a new product or service requires the implementation of DMADV. You can choose your options as per your preference. 

 

The Trick of Six Sigma

For implementing Six Sigma, you have to be deeply committed to the project. It involves all levels of the management and utilises managerial and financial resources. A set of policies need to be established and training programs need to be conducted for the staff. There are various agencies which conduct Six Sigma training which can be contacted for the purpose. You can even hire a Six Sigma professional to implement and train staff for a continued input from time-to-time. Six Sigma has been the forte of large companies with more than 500 employees but soon it could be your handy partner which can take you into the big league.