How Six Sigma differs from project management

With a lot of quality improvement programs for manufacturing companies out there how can you find one that will be able to help your company grow in the right way? You want to focus on improving production for the organization along with reducing defects so that you don't have people coming back with defective products. There is a lot of manufacturing overhead expenses you may need to worry about and change in order work on having production levels at a high level. Project management is another system that is being tossed out there with Six Sigma and other programs. How does project management differ from Six Sigma?

With Six Sigma you are working on making things faster and to get the production line moving in an efficient manner. You aren't focused on the wastes in the same way you are when you opt for lean manufacturing. Project management is a standard that is used in a number of companies as it allows for better organization for the company. You will deal with issues like schedule conflicts along with stakeholder concerns and costs as well.

Six Sigma does require a lot of work and input but it is very different from project management as has different concepts. It has a focus on cultural changes and mindset changes compared to other methodologies. Six Sigma has different tools but they need to be followed precisely in order for them to work effectively. Since Six Sigma does have a very rigorous training method that you need to follow, it is important that you learn all of the procedures and to make sure you are actually following them. It is a very large financial investment and you need to choose the right people on your staff to attend the training programs with you and to have them learn about the Six Sigma program.

Both of the systems do have a lot of similarities as they are focused on reducing failures, controlling costs, and managing risk. The implementation of the different systems is what makes them different and it also comes down to the managing of the programs. One is a project-by-project basis while another is a single implementation and then focusing on keeping it working in an effective manner.

If you choose a project management system you need to make sure that it is adding value to the company. If it is not adding value, you need to change to a different system that will be able to help bring about the right change your organization needs. Management can turn to Six Sigma in order to measure the baseline performance of the company. By doing this you will be able to understand what the different processes are along with what the root causes are of these processes so you can find a way to improve them.

As a manager you are able to have different discipline systems in place that allow you to bring about a stronger level of commitment to the company. Both systems are not something that you can just do bits and pieces of. They are systems that need full commitments and they require a lot of discipline.

Data gathering and analysis is one of the things that you must figure out with Six Sigma. Managers need to spend a great deal of time working on the problem solving phase in order to understand where things are going wrong and what needs to be changed. With Six Sigma you should be able to understand all of this data with the tools that are part of the program. Using the tools will be your keys to success.