Six Sigma brings operational improvement to organizations where it is implemented.  However, once the project is completed, it is necessary to sustain the advancements by continually monitoring and undertaking improvement initiatives.  This helps companies to stay competitive as they fine tune their processes in these tough business times.  Even though appropriate steps are taken, expected results are not always achieved in terms of employee morale and customer satisfaction.  This brings to light that certain issues need to be addressed in order for success to be maintained.The support structure for Six Sigma deployment has to be extremely strong. It is necessary to study the difference in the current state of the business, and the desired state.  This helps in understanding the processes that need to be changed, as well as those that need to be improved. If the Black Belts are good but the Champion is not, then the program may fail.  A consultant may be of great help in such situations, as they have knowledge of similar situations faced during other project executions.  A common problem of change initiatives is that improvement steps are undertaken with an aim to complete them within a particular timeframe.  The fact is that the activities that need to be completed carefully and correctly may be missed. This creates an illusion of a speedy job, but without achieving the desired results.  Chart a plan, sticking to it and building up momentum over time will help ensure that growth is even. If the Six Sigma process is to be successful in a real sense, the goal should be to achieve an objective which is shared by all team members.  Change doesn’t happen overnight, and a team must be able to communicate well in order to get the support of all involved.  As well, if the old procedures and controls which restricted progress in the former system aren’t eliminated, then the new techniques and tools will prove to be ineffective.  These are issues which need to be addressed in the beginning of the project.  By doing this, morale will be boosted and momentum will be achieved to help overcome hurdles in the path of success.Successful management of large projects should allow for their division into smaller projects.  This will allow team members to achieve short term goals, thus boosting their morale and confidence.  Higher morale will lead to a greater chance for success and profits.  Any initiative must be required to produce some measurable economic benefit, and care must be taken to assure that all processes are correlated to ultimate bottom line success.Having lots of managers is not the answer to minimizing risk and bringing about changes in a more efficient fashion. In order to bring change about successfully, each project needs leaders who have the ability to transform cultures, as well as stimulate breakthroughs.  These issues have to be understood and addressed carefully by top management, so that the expected results of change deployment are achieved to the benefit of the organization.If you are thinking about enhancing your employable skills, the <a href=”http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/six-sigma-black-belt-training/”>Six Sigma Black Belt</a> training is the most respected field training certification available. The top ranked online <a href=”http://www.sixsigmaonline.org”>6 Sigma</a> training organization can be found at www.SixSigmaOnline.org. They can provide simple answers to your tough questions.

The term “Six Sigma” may seem difficult to comprehend at times, but is actually very easy to explain. The term is derived from a character in the Greek alphabet, which is used for representing a standard variation in statistical mathematics. Statistically, Six Sigma can be defined as a near perfect method of production that restricts the number of defects to less than 3.4 for every million opportunities that exist for a defect to occur. This makes Six Sigma one of the preferred quality management techniques for achieving near perfect business processes through process improvement.
Data Driven And Disciplined Approach
Six Sigma follows a disciplined and data driven approach for eliminating defects in any type of business process, whether it is the product manufacturing process or after sale customer service. The two most commonly used methodologies in quality improvement projects are the DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) and the DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify). The former is used for improving the quality of business processes that have not met customer specifications and require improvement. The latter is used for developing new products or business processes that conform to 6-Sigma quality levels. Both the processes are carried out under the guidance of Green Belts and Black Belts, who in turn are guided by Six Sigma Master Black Belts.
Companies often want to know exactly how many benefits can be derived from Six Sigma training. Just to get an idea, one can look at the financial data of General Electric, one of the companies that have successfully implemented Six Sigma training. It is estimated that the total value of benefits derived from the training was close to a staggering $ 10 billion in the five years after implementation. It is estimated that on an average, Six Sigma Black Belts help companies save $ 230,000 per project. Given that most companies can execute 4 to 6 such projects per year, the total savings can translate into $ 920,000 to $ 1,380,000 per year.
Selection Process
After selecting the most appropriate type of training, a company needs to find the right consultant who has the necessary skills and experience in implementing Six Sigma programs. The selection of the training consultant will depend on the type of Six Sigma program that the company is planning to implement. Some programs are implemented all throughout an organization whereas others are implemented in a specific area only such as individual functional departments. The decision regarding the selection of the consultant needs to be made only after consulting other employees, as they are the ones who will eventually interact with the consultant during the implementation process.
After getting approval from the employees, it is advisable to seek references from business associates in other companies that have implemented such projects and can provide the necessary insights. Companies need to interview potential trainers and ask questions regarding their previous work relationships, referrals, total number of candidates trained by them till date, training materials used, earlier projects they have worked on, and their qualifications. This is essential since companies need trainers with a great deal of real-world experience. Companies need to inquire in depth about the type of training that the trainer is willing to provide. Usually, companies prefer training firms that operate online help desks for helping clients in dealing with problems that might arise after the training has been completed.

Fundamental Lean philosophy and basic Lean techniques drive huge, order of magnitude, improvements in overall quality levels. These affect both internal cost-of-quality as well as quality at the customer site.

A video overview of innovative Lean Communications from Concrete Heads training in application from a Policy Deployment Roll-out program in 2004.

Thinking about how Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing work well together despite being distinct, independent and complete tools? The combined principles gel so well that they compliment each other and progress parallels to each other on a well-defined path. The paths are defined by the 5 Laws of Lean Six Sigma as we know today.
5 Laws of Lean Six Sigma
The 5 laws have been formulated in order that efforts on improving quality and business process aimed at improving customer satisfaction and ROI as primary concerns. The 5 laws have evolved over time and are a collection of key ideas derived both from Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma.
1. The Zeroth Law: The first law is called so because all other principles are built upon this fundamental one. It States that “The Law of the Market – Customer Critical to Quality defines quality and is the highest priority for improvement, followed by ROI (Return on Investment) and Net Present value.”
2. The First Law: This is called as The Law of Flexibility. It states that “The velocity of any process is proportional to the flexibility of the process.” Interpretation: the more the process is receptive and flexible to adopt changes, the better the progress of the project implementation is.
3. The Second Law: The second law is known as The Law of Focus – it is defined as “20% of the activities in a process cause 80% of the delay.” This can be interpreted as main causes of delay of activities originating from just 20% of activities thus enables a faster refocus during the reorientation phase.
4. The Third Law: The Law of Velocity as the third law is known is stated as “The velocity of any process is inversely proportional to the amount of WIP. This is also called “Little’s Law”. This explains how the inertia of WIP, ‘Work in Progress’, bears heavily on the velocity of project implementation. Higher the number of works in progress (read unfinished tasks) the lower is the speed of progress due to various ground level handicaps
5. The Fourth Law: The Fourth Law, which is the last of the 5 laws of lean Six Sigma, is defined as “The complexity of the service or product offering adds more non-value, costs and WIP than either poor quality (low Sigma) or slow speed (un-Lean) process problems.” The bulky nature of products is against the foundation of Lean Manufacturing principles. The bulk, complex manufacturing process and product and service specifications contributes to render the offerings redundant. As an illustration to this 4th Law of lean Six Sigma, you can try and reason out why passenger cars are more and more becoming driver friendly despite their complex engineering features and functions.
You can revisit the definitions of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing principles which emphasize eliminating process errors and variations. It also concentrates on efforts to invest less human labor, inventory, and time for product development.

This is a video clip when Dr. Wan conducted the public class of Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate Program in Hong Kong. Dr. Wan is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, popular six sigma and lean trainer and project coach and the Director and Principal Consultant of AC&A. AC&A is your six sigma and lean partner and solution provider. We provide six sigma project coaching, training and consultancy services including in-house and public. If you need further information, please visit us at www.acna.com.hk or call us at (852) 2135-9687 or join our free seminars by registering at info@acna.com.hk URL Link: www.acna.com.hk

An intro animation for a video on Six Sigma progress.

Six Sigma methodologies use statistical tools used to transform raw data into information. Based on the results, further actions are taken. Statistical tools and related aspects of Six Sigma methodology comprises about half of Six Sigma. In addition, Six Sigma places a lot of emphasis on graphical interpretation of data collected during the course of measurements.
The importance of statistical methods emanate from the fact that many hypotheses can be disproved with sufficient statistical data. The significance of statistical methods in Six Sigma increases with any increase in sample sizes. The statistical methods quantitatively facilitate evaluation of the performance of any process. The purpose of this being to tackle the cost of poor quality (COPQ) first, Six Sigma has a broader scope than the traditional cost effectiveness model.
Some Important Statistical Methods In Six Sigma
Variations in processes are measured in terms of deviation from the mean and data falling within the acceptable statistical limits. Graphical representation of this data helps companies to visualize things with greater accuracy. Let us examine a few of the most commonly used Six Sigma statistical methods.
Control Chart
The deviations within the acceptable limits (upper & lower) are due to common causes. Anything falling beyond the limits is attributable to some specific cause. For example, take the case of writing your name ten times. Although there are similarities, you probably won’t be able to find any two signatures being exactly the same. The reason is an inherent variation that produces reasonable results within limits and is termed as ‘common cause’. Special causes are those due to forced errors. A control chart has a mathematical mean line in the center and two limit lines. The third component of the Six Sigma control chart is the performance data, which is plotted over time.
You can seek special causes and track common ones through control charts by looking for:
• One set of data falling beyond the acceptable limits (special cause)
• Greater than 6 data sets climbing or declining steadily within limits
• Eight or more subsequent data sets falling on one side of the mean
• Data falling alternately across the mean line
Interpretation emphasizes seeking out the special cause that brings stability to process variation. The real fun here lies in removing the common cause and induced variations also.
Brainstorming & Affinity Group Tool
Brainstorming generates and polishes creative ideas based on the principle that two heads are better than one. An affinity diagram is used to organize & develop brainstorming by fine tuning initial and raw thoughts and removing uncertainties. The advantage of this is that it obviously stimulates for generation of more ideas. The affinity diagram was not originally intended to be a quality management tool. First devised by Kawakita Jiro, the affinity tool emphasizes the need for sorting and titling the data only at the end. A typical affinity diagram organizes the brainstormed ideas on its left panel. On the right side are ideas neatly grouped into affinity sets. Reasons for an idea belonging to a particular set are not given particular importance, but all ideas are clarified. An idea may be present in a single group if it has any resemblance to another.
If there is one thing that summarizes the importance of statistical methods in Six Sigma, it can be none better than a saying, famous in Six Sigma circles – “In God we trust, all the rest bring data”. Need we say more?