Practical applications of Six Sigma

Six Sigma originated in the manufacturing industry and it remains one of the most popular methods to reduce waste and to focus on productivity. When a product is manufactured, it can be easy for you to have product errors due to poor manufacturing. You will need to find a way to implement Six Sigma in order to reduce your defect ratio. The overall goal of Six Sigma is to get your error ratio to less than 3.4 defects per million unite produced. By focusing on every little aspect of Six Sigma, you will be able to accomplish this goal and you will be able to create a healthy working environment.

How exactly does Six Sigma work? Here is an example for you:
Your company produces toys and uses several machines and assembly lines to do so. As the toy moves along the assembly line, each employee will have a particular job to make the construction of each toy part complete. If there is a breakdown by one employee or a breakdown in the equipment, the overall toy could be ruined and considered waste. Each employee may spend too much time inspecting the toys and making sure the equipment is working correctly. When the toys are not being produced in an efficient manner, the overall company is not productive. Since you aren't sure of what you need to do, you will turn to Six Sigma to help you achieve your goals and to make sure the company is running the correct way.

When there is a defect, it is not always the fault of the employee, many times it is the fault of the machinery. By dividing your employees into team units, it will be easier to have them shoulder the responsibility to checking on the toys parts to make sure everything is going okay. This way you can have 10 teams on an assembly line and you can turn to each team to see when the defect was noticed, allowing you to rule out different parts of the machinery that could be causing the defect. Once the machine is fixed, the overall process will be fixed and you will be able to run an efficient company again.

To properly implement Six Sigma, you may need to go through the training course. Six Sigma training focuses on improving the way your employees work and improving your overall assembly line. With Six Sigma, you will have several employees that oversee the process to make sure it is implemented correctly and that your employees believe in it and that they truly understand it.

Without employee participation and commitment to Six Sigma, it will fail. Six Sigma is a big change and employees are naturally resistant to change so it is going to take a lot of hard work and effort on your part to convince your employees to follow through with Six Sigma. You may need to send them to a yearly training seminar to learn more about Six Sigma and to focus more on how it works and how it impacts their individual jobs.

Management is responsible for setting the example to the employees. You must be committed to Six Sigma in order to ensure that it will work. You also need to focus on maintaining a positive attitude about Six Sigma and you must be able to encourage your employees to follow the program if you want them to actually implement it and follow it correctly.

Overall Six Sigma is one of the best ways to reduce defects, increase efficiency, and boost employee morale. Research more about Six Sigma to see how it can help to build your organization and make it better.