Many blue-chip companies have used the Six Sigma business sustainability model to help them enhance performance and deliver quality service. The model has been in use for many years and it has been tested and proved to work.
The model does not work with just a section of business stakeholders, but it demands everyone to be put on board for it to work perfectly. Willingness must come from the top management and flow downwards to the lowest level. Every business can create a sustainable business using this framework.
Why use Six Sigma?
Although Lean Six Sigma can be traced back to the 19th century, it wasn’t used as a business framework successfully until recently. In the business world, the framework was incorporated into the current mainstream business from the 1980s. To date, Six Sigma remains the most practical method used for improving business productivity, processes, and customer service.
Since its inception, many businesses have used the framework to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Its adoption into the business environment has helped to set the pace for continuous improvement and to use the Six Sigma tools, businesses can reduce variances, defects and identify the source of errors so that businesses can improve on their products and services.
Elements of Lean Six Sigma
The framework uses three major elements in its lean business model. The first is tools and techniques, which is a set of approaches used to identify problems and provide solutions. The next is process and methodology, which form the tactics used to support the strategies adopted to work out on fully solving the problems identified.
The last one is the mindset and culture, which helps set the right way of thinking based on available information and methods that help attain sustainable and continued improvement of services. These three help strengthen each other so that a business can continuously grow positively while improving production and service.
The Six Sigma Tools
For businesses to improve efficiency and effectiveness, they must adapt unique problem-solving tools and use them continuously. Using both qualitative and quantitative strategies, businesses can apply and integrate these tools for both short-term and long-term gain. Here are the tools that help make this goal a reality.
Flow: Flow describes the processes a product goes through from the source of raw materials to delivery to the plant, value addition, and delivery to customers while eliminating blockages or stoppages. The process must remain smooth.
DMAIC: It is an important lean tool and uses data to help improve strategies and processes. It is an independent tool and stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.
Voice of the customer: This tool helps identify the needs of a customer and then create a platform for the customer to be heard and responded to in a timely way.
Five S’s: It is a tool that helps promote a work environment that is safe, waste-free, clean, organized, and healthy.
Visual workplace: Machines at the workplace come in at this level and they must help create a smooth flow of information so that both the human resource and machines can work together to enhance production.
Seven wastes: It focuses on the total reduction or elimination of wastes at all levels from producing the right quantities, avoiding unreasonable transportation, not processing too much, having the right workers, machines, materials, reducing defects, and having the right inventories.
Value stream mapping: This tool helps map the path followed by a product in its production process. The person concerned draws that process on a paper from its starting point to the final phase. He then creates a visual presentation of the current process.
After that, he creates another visual process presenting how that process should be in the future. The future presentation should be the guiding map to help improve the product and the process.