One of the basic values of Six Sigma is its ability to link financial gains to projects undertaken. Another value is that a methodological approach, advanced statistics, and resources together can save large amounts of money. We have proof of this because the financial benefits claimed by GE, Allied Signal, and others through their Six Sigma efforts have been well publicized.
There is however a growing concern that Six Sigma’s success does not really lie on Six Sigma as a methodology alone. Other quality strategies and management systems also come into play. I believe this is true. Many of the companies who went into Six Sigma started their quality initiative with ISO, Kaizen, or Lean. And whatever initial strategy they used, helped them a lot in making their Six Sigma initiative successful. Nevertheless, there is also the danger of alienating people in the organization who are not directly involved in quality concerns. Thus, the challenge now is how to involve all of your employees in your Six Sigma initiative.
I chanced upon an interesting study that talks about how Six Sigma can be incorporated into the day-to-day activities of a company, or what you call daily management.
The study defines Daily Management as: “a system that provides the ability to manage departments, functions, and processes, wherein processes are defined, standardized, controlled, and improved by the process owners.”
It implies some team effort to do the job. A company continuously needs to improve its strategic position in the market it chooses to serve. To be successful, therefore, a company must have the right strategy, the right products and services at the right price, and sound execution of the basics. The “basics” are the company’s infrastructure and how well it carries out its day-to-day business. It is these fundamentals that reflect the internal health of the organization.
A well-designed daily management system therefore is crucial and will enhance any Six Sigma effort. Click this to see how the two support each other.
When an issue is identified through the Daily Control system a Reaction Plan is executed to stop the occurrence and, if necessary, to contain or quarantine the output at risk. If this is not a chronic problem, the local resources will deploy to fix the problem and record the occurrence for longer-term planning. If it were a chronic problem, the Project Management Team (PTM) would address it at their weekly meeting. If only local resources are needed to fix the problem, it would enter the Daily Work Improvement system and be prioritized against all the other potential improvements. If it requires more than the local resources and/or involves more than the local department (for example an output from a previous operation is suboptimizing the process), then the PMT would recommend that the problem be assigned to the Cross-Functional Management Team. If the problem goes beyond that which can be addressed via cross-functional management (for example, a major strategic effort like installing a new production line), the PMT would recommend that the project be added to the list of company focal points for policy deployment. Either policy deployment or cross-functional management projects can be run as Black Belt projects. If it is determined that a Black Belt project would be most efficient, the appropriate Champion or Master Black Belt would then prioritize, select, and assign resources for the project.
The other way that Six Sigma projects interact with daily management is when a Black Belt completes a project in an area. Without a firm daily management system in place, the Black Belt will not be able to hand off the countermeasures that came out of the project. Without daily management to track and maintain them, the countermeasures will eventually be dropped or forgotten when the next crises comes along – or even continue to be maintained in the absence of the conditions which led to the original problem.
Read more: Daily Management and Six Sigma: Maximizing Your Returns
