Critical Factors for Successful Six Sigma Implementation
Critical Factors for successful Six Sigma Implementation
(Published in NCQM Journal April 2004) By Hemant Urdhwareshe, General Manager Product Engineering, Cummins India Limited. Six Sigma approach is one of the most widely discussed topics by business executives for the last few years. It all began when Motorola started talking about Six Sigma and then Jack Welch embraced it for GE when Six Sigma became a hot cake. While Six Sigma was somewhat suddenly known to many, its evolution is not as sudden as it appears. Like other improvement approaches, there are companies that were immensely benefited by deploying Six Sigma and there are others who were not very excited with their implementation. What factors make the difference? From my experience in Cummins, with suppliers and what I read in many articles, I intend to share the factors that I feel have significant impact on the success of Six Sigma.
Success factors at a glance
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Classification
Management commitment: indicators time and Critical priority for Six Sigma, involvement in project selection and reviews, competent people and resources allocated Existence of basic system such as QS-9000, ISO TS Critical 16949, measurement of quality cost Implementation partner: Qualification competence, sufficient time allocation, and Major
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Number of black and green belts: Thumb rule is 1 BB Critical for 100 employees. It is important to have critical mass of black and green belts. This is about 30% of engineers/managers Project selection and scoping: Projects must be in Critical line with strategic goals of the company. Should not be too big ('boiling the ocean') or too small. Software used for analysis. Popular is Minitab. Other Major softwares is Statistica. Use of Excel is adequate for projects that are less intensive in use of advanced statistical tools Linkage of successful project leadership and team Critical support to recognition and reward system
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(Published in NCQM Journal April 2004) By Hemant Urdhwareshe, General Manager Product Engineering, Cummins India Limited. Six Sigma approach is one of the most widely discussed topics by business executives for the last few years. It all began when Motorola started talking about Six Sigma and then Jack Welch embraced it for GE when Six Sigma became a hot cake. While Six Sigma was somewhat suddenly known to many, its evolution is not as sudden as it appears. Like other improvement approaches, there are companies that were immensely benefited by deploying Six Sigma and there are others who were not very excited with their implementation. What factors make the difference? From my experience in Cummins, with suppliers and what I read in many articles, I intend to share the factors that I feel have significant impact on the success of Six Sigma.
Success factors at a glance
1
Classification
Management commitment: indicators time and Critical priority for Six Sigma, involvement in project selection and reviews, competent people and resources allocated Existence of basic system such as QS-9000, ISO TS Critical 16949, measurement of quality cost Implementation partner: Qualification competence, sufficient time allocation, and Major
2 3 4
Number of black and green belts: Thumb rule is 1 BB Critical for 100 employees. It is important to have critical mass of black and green belts. This is about 30% of engineers/managers Project selection and scoping: Projects must be in Critical line with strategic goals of the company. Should not be too big ('boiling the ocean') or too small. Software used for analysis. Popular is Minitab. Other Major softwares is Statistica. Use of Excel is adequate for projects that are less intensive in use of advanced statistical tools Linkage of successful project leadership and team Critical support to recognition and reward system
5
6
7
1
8
9 10