One of the Philippine-based manufacturing companies that I’m going to study is the First Sumiden Circuits Inc. FSCI is a joint venture among Sumitomo Electric Industries, Inc., First Holdings Corporation, and Sumitomo Corporation. The company is working to be the world’s leading manufacturer of Flexible Printed Circuits. As such, among its corporate values are: customer satisfaction, discipline, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
Aren’t these values echo that of Six Sigma methodology?
Yes. That is because in the First Holdings Group, First Sumiden is at the forefront of Six Sigma implementation. FSCI started implementing Six Sigma in 2001. Several projects later, the company now has realized total savings of US$ 1.48 million.
In 2003, its Six Sigma Core Team received an Award for Operations Management for deploying Six Sigma as a business process. Then in 2004, the company added to its corporate manager, a corporate director and black belt to strengthen its Six Sigma implementation. They have also set new trainings to increase the number of Six Sigma experts. By May of the same year, the corporate director and black belt were invited to present 2 papers and conduct a workshop at the Asian Six Sigma Summit 2005 in Singapore. Six other executives from the group also participated in the Summit.
Realizing the benefits and savings that First Sumiden has been experiencing because of Six Sigma, two other affiliate companies of First Holdings Groups (FHG), the Philec and AEI, have started their Six Sigma journeys. And FHG hopes to have more companies start their own Six Sigma initiatives and enjoy the benefits.
A Six Sigma organization and an awardee at that. First Sumiden will be a very interesting subject to study indeed.
