Many times, we are told that Six Sigma may or may not solve all your process improvement problems. It’s true. The success of Six Sigma projects depend on a lot of things. There are essential Do’s and Don’ts of project deployment. You can also check my notes on The Six Sigma Way for some guide on deployment.
That is why when Hacket Group finds out that Six Sigma is not a silver bullet for back-office improvements, I know it can be true. Six Sigma is a step by step process, and the changes are incremental. It does not spell overnight success. DMReview reports:
Many Hackett clients find Six Sigma to be a powerful tool for incremental improvement. Using a combination of Six Sigma and LEAN, one U.S. client was able to achieve major progress in accounts payable, including a 50 percent reduction in payment processing time, largely by identifying errors and eliminating nonvalue-added activities. At another Hackett client, Six Sigma played a key role in their ability to decrease cycle times and reduce costs as they built a global shared services organization. Overall, Hackett’s research shows that 86 percent of all finance shared services organizations have a strong commitment to continuous improvement programs such as Six Sigma.
“Six Sigma can enable companies to generate incremental improvement spanning both efficiency and effectiveness performance across the back office. But it’s not a silver bullet, and only works in the right circumstances. It is a demanding discipline that must be used carefully,” explained Hackett President of Global Enterprise Solutions Richard T. Roth. “While Six Sigma is useful for making incremental improvements, it’s not the best tool when the goal is broad transformational change. It’s like using a screwdriver to make a structure more stable when a hammer is required. Increasing efficiency by $60 million per billion in revenue does not take place through small, incremental improvements. Some executives will find that their problems are simply too endemic to be addressed by Six Sigma alone.”
Care to share your thoughts on the second paragraph?
Source:
DMReview, Hackett Research: Six Sigma Not a Silver Bullet for Back-Office Improvements. Link provided by Six Sigma Zone.
*Photo credit: MorgueFile.com
[…] Time and again, we are told, and even those in the know, agree that Six Sigma is not a silver bullet, which can solve all process improvement problems. […]