Utilizing The Skills Of Black Belts

Most people believe that Six Sigma is for large organizations and is not cost effective for small businesses. However, this is just a misconception because 6 Sigma concepts and methodologies can be tweaked to make them deployable in small business organizations as well. Deploying 6 Sigma in small businesses has been made possible with the development of new tools and techniques that can be altered to suit all types of processes, be it a simple process involving just two to three steps or a complex process having numerous sub-processes.

Small businesses just need to hire the services of Six Sigma professionals such as Black Belts who have the requisite qualification, skills and experience to handle Six Sigma implementation projects. Small businesses that do not have the requisite funds to pay for the services can opt for providing Black Belt training to existing employees. This is often more beneficial for small businesses because once the employees are trained, the organization will never have to pay for the services of Six Sigma professionals hired from the outside.

How Black Belts Are Effective

Black Belts can implement 6 Sigma concepts and methodologies in all types of small businesses, be it a manufacturing unit or a services company. During the initial phase of any 6 Sigma implementation program, the belts assess existing quality levels, which may be 1 sigma, 2 sigma, 3 sigma or 4 sigma. The aim is to make consistent improvements in quality until Six Sigma quality levels are achieved. In small businesses, the savings derived through Six Sigma implementations may not match the multi-million dollars savings generated in large organizations, but are certainly enough to make the small business more competitive in the marketplace.

Additionally, quality improvements help small businesses to offer cost-effective products or services to their customers, which ultimately leads to increased customer satisfaction. It helps them to develop customer loyalty and increase customer base, both of which are necessary for the long-term success of any business organization. It also provides a level playing field to small businesses, allowing them to compete with large business organizations that might be offering similar products or services.

Six Sigma implementations do help in increasing the efficiency of existing business processes, but before implementing the various concepts and methodologies, small organizations need to assess the monetary value of derivable benefits and compare it with the implementation costs. Implementations should be undertaken only when the benefits outweigh the implementation costs. Small businesses that follow this procedure are most likely to succeed in their Six Sigma initiatives and maintain competitiveness in the marketplace.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Although one cannot have a project-specific vision right from the very beginning of a Six Sigma initiative, you can develop a comprehensive viewpoint. An all-encompassing viewpoint definitely helps to reach out beyond the scope of the project.

Selecting The Right Project

Six Sigma projects need to be selected with care. Select a project only after you have weighed its pros and cons properly. However, this does not mean that you should not attempt to solve the most pressing problems first, just make sure that you have weighed the constraints properly.

If you want to begin your Six Sigma initiative successfully, then follow the tips given below for project selection.

The first thing to remember is that not all projects will help to save the same amount of money. This will help you to realize that you should not only look at the monetary aspect of a project; the other important features are eliminating draconian procedures, improving employee contentment and the promise of producing a good result that induces further improvement in other projects.

Think carefully while deciding about the placement of Six Sigma “Belts” and other members of the Six Sigma team. This is the team that will ensure that the organization stays on the path of success. You should carefully analyze the cost benefits of recruiting Black Belts from outside as opposed to grooming belts in-house. Whatever the decision, make sure that you earn cost-benefits in the long term and also keep in mind affordability.

For more effective implementation of a Six Sigma project, subdivide the project deployment in two or three phases. The phases can be strategic, tactical and operational, which will methodologically use and follow statistical tools for taking the imperatives beyond the employee level.

Scrutinize The Deployment Strategy

Now that you have identified the project, contemplate the project deployment strategy in the background of both the top and bottom line developments. Once you are done with this, don’t start right away with the implementation – instead try to contrast the projected outcome against the set management goals. You should maintain a checklist that will help you to question the strategic steps involved in all phases.

Unless you execute a draft strategy, you will never know what the real strategy will look like. Another formidable tool that involves a collective opinion for the foundation of the project is brainstorming. This is done so that at no point in time can The Black Belts and the project leaders afford to forget the huge sum of money that has been poured into the project.

Factoring And Monitoring Midway Course Correction

Sometimes a project deviates from its track. If the deviation remains undetected, then it can pose a threat to the entire project. In this case, the internal and external Six Sigma auditing team should conduct regular midway auditing and monitoring, to shed light on the problem and its possible causes. Regular detection is essential to keep deployment efforts from straying in undesirable directions.

Other Initiatives

- The organization should establish a route of communication for the “Belts”
- The organization should establish a core group to execute the findings of the deployment team
- The training of Six Sigma team members should be consistent
- The organization should keep an eye on the execution of the survey of internal customers

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Selecting the most appropriate Six Sigma Black Belt project is the most common problem faced by students who enroll themselves in a Six Sigma training course. The project is necessary as it helps students learn the practical aspects of Six Sigma implementation programs. The project is conducted either before the commencement of the training program or during the first week.

Identifying A Problem

Before starting a project, students first need to identify a problem, similar to real life implementation problems faced by business organizations. The problem that is identified and its possible solutions form the base of the project. For ensuring the successful completion of the project, students need to select a problem about which they have a basic level of understanding. Selecting a complex problem based on a case study published in a management journal is not recommended, as the project requires students to practically solve a given problem.

The information given in the management journal will only help students in preparing the project report and not in evolving practical solutions to the problem, which students will have to do on their own. The main reason why use of case studies are not recommended is that the resources that might have been used in solving the real life problem may not be the same as provided by the organization where students are receiving their training. Training instructors also encourage students to opt for a project that is relevant to their domain or qualifications.

Select Manageable Projects

Every Six Sigma Black Belt project needs to have a defined objective. Many students make the mistake of opting for a project having multiple objectives, which is often not achievable within the stipulated timeframe. Even after giving it their best shot, most of these students are often unable to make progress in their quality improvement projects. The only option left for these students is to either reduce the scope of their project objectives or opt for a completely new project, which will mean more hard work and time. In most cases, these students opt for the first alternative in order to allot adequate time to theoretical training as well.

No doubt, there are students who have completed even the most complex projects, but going by statistics, the number of failed attempts is a lot higher than the number of successful attempts. Students who are not sure of their abilities should not try to achieve everything at the first go. Instead, they should try to concentrate more on learning the basics involved in Six Sigma programs. There will be plenty of time in their professional career for solving the most complex of Six Sigma implementation problems in an organization.

During the course of the project, the primary objective of students should be to develop insights, which will help them a lot when they become true professional after the completion of the training program. Concentrating their efforts just on achieving the objectives may not help them, as by doing so, they are most likely to miss the basics of Six Sigma. The scope of objectives in a Six Sigma Black Belt project does not matter as long as students are able to develop a thorough understanding of their individual projects and are able to assess the impact it will have on the quality of the outcome.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.