Dominion Resources Goes Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 7 October 2008 | 8:59 pm
It’s common knowledge that airlines have their share of problems, and so does the entire travel industry. From ticketing to advance purchases to claiming to refunds, and no-shows, all these incur expenses, and when not managed well, losses.
Thus, an effective process improvement methodology would do the industry a lot of good.
This is the reason why Dominion Resources, Inc. goes into Six Sigma. Led by its director of travel and corporate services Donna Kelliher, Dominion is able to implement a holistic Six Sigma approach to their processes. As Ms. Kelliher puts it:
… “it’s in our DNA”–Six Sigma offers a kind of brand awareness that brings integrity to unpopular policies, support for counterintuitive conclusions and buy-in from frequent travelers.
Based on their Six Sigma practitioners, Dominion has applied Six Sigma to the following:
- analyses of advance purchase and nonrefundable fares
- compliance to preferred hotel policies
- 24/7 travel agency services
- value added tax reclaim
- and considering an “express” project examining airline contracts
How Dominion uses Six Sigma to improve their services as described in the Procurement Travel article is quite commendable.
The article further discusses the cost and losses incurred from tickets purchased in advance. All the while, I thought advance purchases are generally good for airlines. Read more…
Related stories:
Bringing a low-cost airline to town
Rewriting Advance Purchase Policies: Dominion Has a Six-Sigma Revelation
Filed under: Services, Six Sigma Organizations, Team Dynamics, Deployment, Inc., Six Sigma, Airlines, Dominion Resources
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Can Six Sigma Protect Companies from Crisis?
Posted by: meikah | 7 July 2008 | 9:32 pm
The fuel crisis is global. And because most, if not all, of our activities depend on fuel, we are now feeling the crunch.
The hottest issue of the day in the country is the impending increase of fuel. Different sectors have different views on how to peg the increase: in one go or in small amounts. So far, I have not heard of any company closures, or companies retrenching their workforce to cope with the crisis. What we’re experiencing though are increases of basic commodities.
Already two locally based airlines, PAL and SEAIR, are seeking regulatory nod for fuel surcharge increase.
The fuel crisis however has a different effect on other companies outside of the Philippines. In the airlines industry for example, many American airlines have regrouped, increased charges, put charges where there weren’t before, and cut down on flights and employees. AirTran is to cut 180 pilot jobs, 300 flight attendant jobs.
A Six Sigma company is actually doing those cuts. Jazz Air LP has implemented several cost-saving measures to cope with the rising fuel cost. Although Jazz is already a lean company, yet they have to let some of their people go.
According to Joseph Randell, President and CEO of Jazz:
While Jazz is already a lean organization and is in a reasonable position to manage its current challenges, every effort is being made to reduce our costs and to prepare for what may lie ahead.
Jazz has already established a number of fuel-saving initiatives, recently froze all hiring and non-critical staff overtime, and instituted a number of other cost-saving programs. Being a Six Sigma organization has made Jazz a more efficient airline and the focus to ensure we remain competitive is constant.
This incident made me ask, can Six Sigma protect companies from crisis?
Source:
iSixSigma News
Filed under: Six Sigma Organizations, Human Resource, Lean, Six Sigma, Airlines, Customer Service
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A Story About Airline Kaizen
Posted by: meikah | 25 May 2008 | 8:14 pm
Over at MBTmag, Mark Graban shares a story about an airline kaizen, where airlines slow down flights to save on fuel.
Mark says that it’s good to have airlines do Kaizen, instead of whining about high fuel prices and cutting down on employees salaries.
But what does airline slow down mean?
Literally, it’s where an airplane flies slower and so the flights take a bit longer, much like a car driving slowly to save on fuel. What I do know however is that the most fuel efficient driving is to go 80-100km/hr. And if we drive slow using low gear, you’re even consuming more gasoline.
Now, an airplane can actually fly slower?
Saving on gas is good, and I’m all for it. But I’m not quite sure if longer flights would be good for businessmen who had to adjust their time schedules in order not to waste on time.
What do you think?
Meanwhile, here’s how Kaizen can work with Six Sigma.
Source:
Six Sigma Zone News
Filed under: Sustainable Business, Kaizen, Six Sigma, Airlines
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The Industries Implementing Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 11 February 2008 | 7:49 pm
In the latest sBWire release, it talks about Six Sigma and the industries that are implementing the methodology. Here’s the list:
Manufacturing - All type of manufacturing companies have benefited be it process manufacturing or discrete manufacturing. Examples include TISCO, Samsung, LG, Motorola, GE Plastics.
Banking - All leading banks including BoA, American Express, , HDFC, HSBC are utilizing Six Sigma.
Financial Services - Insurance, Stock Broking, transaction processing of various kinds.
Call Centers, BPO - Voice (In-bound as well as out bound) and Non Voice outsourced processing industry has benefited immensely. ICICI OneSource, Accenture, Satyam BPO, IBM Daksh, HSBC BPO are Six Sigma implementers.
KPO - Knowledge Process outsourcing industry is using Six Sigma tools to design and improve processes regularly.
Hospitality sector - Hotels along with Airlines and Hospitals are implementing Six Sigma. ITC Hotel, GRT Hotels, Apollo Hospitals have generated benefits.
Retail Sector - Retail has huge opportunity of benefiting from Six Sigma. The Shoppers Stop group has taken an initiative towards implementation. We have had participants from Reliance Retail.
Telecom - Bharti Cellular, France Telecom, Vodafone, Siemens have been doing wonderful Six Sigma projects.
EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) and Logistics - Global leaders like Bechtel have benefited a lot by Six Sigma implementation.
Software Development - IT Industry leaders like Wipro, Satyam and Accenture and Infosys have been implementing Six Sigma.
According to the press release, Six Sigma is able to penetrate these varied industries because it can be integrated well with accepted management approaches, such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, TS 16949, HACCP, OHSAS, SEI – CMM level 5, TL 9000, AS 9000, or any other standard. Before, I had also written about interweaving Six Sigma with complementary technologies.
Have you implemented Six Sigma with other management approaches as well? Do share your experience here.
Also check out Six Sigma Links Library for more companies implementing Six Sigma.
*Photo from Punchstock
