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How does my company implement Six Sigma?

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Experts agree the key to implementing Six Sigma is to see that it becomes part of the organization’s culture – part of the way the company operates, no ifs ands or buts. According to Uwe H. Kaufmann, an assistant vice president with Rath & Strong Management Consultants and former quality manager with GE Capital, Germany, in his article

Implementing Six Sigma
companies that are implementing Six Sigma must go through four phases:

  • In phase one, the company's leadership team decides to go for Six Sigma and is caught between dreams of increasing its net income with huge savings (and continuing to live up to its image of an outstanding company while increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty) and doubts of whether these concepts will actually work. A Six Sigma implementation normally begins with leadership-awareness training and a few improvement projects.

  • As phase two begins, it’s critical for the leadership team to pass the first tollgate: Are they tracking results from their first projects or are they losing interest? Successful Six Sigma companies set up a steering committee--often called a ‘quality council’ --to make decisions about projects, especially about tying their selection to business strategy and customer needs, implementing improvements, and reward and recognition. Results also need to be communicated to the entire company.

  • In phase three, measures are implemented to track results from initial projects and ensure that the improvement lasts. Successful companies add these measures to their internal dashboard and customer loyalty tracking system. Some companies even share those results with their customers, which builds trust. /blockquote>
  • To facilitate phase four, building Six Sigma into the ‘business as usual,’
    all departments must be involved. Six Sigma includes a powerful tool set that can be used
    to improve all key business processes--including administrative processes--throughout the company.

Kaufmann also says the telltale sign that Six Sigma is now part of your organization’s culture is when you no longer need to talk incessantly about it. It’s simply part of the way you do business.



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