Six Sigma at 3m, Inc.
Julieta G. Manzano MM 240
Six Sigma at 3M, Inc. Brief Summary of the Case: When James McNerndy was announced the Chairman and Chief Executive of 3M, Inc. his top priority is to implement Six Sigma in the company as he envision this as the solution to the lagging profit of the company. His first step is to training hundreds of his senior executives to lead the implementation and train the middle management as well. The current Director of Six Sigma Operations, Jeanne O’Connell had mentioned four reasons in implementation of the program; with the common language to be instituted in the company from the program a common approach could be use to achieve the common goals, transferable skills is also developed and it is the most effective way to increase and accelerate business performance and customer quality. “You can not please everybody” as the saying goes, not all companies of the 3M embraces Six Sigma some of these reasons are very costly training of human force, only applies to the manufacturing industry, and it is just a fad. Main issue that have to tackle with is if the Six Sigma really benefits the company or it cost the company to sacrifice the innovative and creative culture for the sake of continuous improvement of products to satisfy the customers and accelerate the financial performance.
Challenges at 3M, Inc. As the firm went through this major transformation, many questions went through the minds of 3M managers.
I.
What will be the benefits, costs, and risks of the Six Sigma program, and how will they be tracked? How should the various functional areas in the organization be included in the Six Sigma initiative, and what role should senior and middle management play in this change initiative? What role should Six Sigma play in corporate strategy? What are the human resource implications for deploying Six Sigma (e.g., employee selection, roles, organization structure, reward systems) How will Six Sigma affect the innovative culture at 3M, and is
Six Sigma at 3M, Inc. Brief Summary of the Case: When James McNerndy was announced the Chairman and Chief Executive of 3M, Inc. his top priority is to implement Six Sigma in the company as he envision this as the solution to the lagging profit of the company. His first step is to training hundreds of his senior executives to lead the implementation and train the middle management as well. The current Director of Six Sigma Operations, Jeanne O’Connell had mentioned four reasons in implementation of the program; with the common language to be instituted in the company from the program a common approach could be use to achieve the common goals, transferable skills is also developed and it is the most effective way to increase and accelerate business performance and customer quality. “You can not please everybody” as the saying goes, not all companies of the 3M embraces Six Sigma some of these reasons are very costly training of human force, only applies to the manufacturing industry, and it is just a fad. Main issue that have to tackle with is if the Six Sigma really benefits the company or it cost the company to sacrifice the innovative and creative culture for the sake of continuous improvement of products to satisfy the customers and accelerate the financial performance.
Challenges at 3M, Inc. As the firm went through this major transformation, many questions went through the minds of 3M managers.
I.
What will be the benefits, costs, and risks of the Six Sigma program, and how will they be tracked? How should the various functional areas in the organization be included in the Six Sigma initiative, and what role should senior and middle management play in this change initiative? What role should Six Sigma play in corporate strategy? What are the human resource implications for deploying Six Sigma (e.g., employee selection, roles, organization structure, reward systems) How will Six Sigma affect the innovative culture at 3M, and is
References: The Six Sigma Way Team Fieldbook: An Implementation Guide for Process Improvement Teams by Peter Pande, rober Neuman and Roland R. Cavanagh Operations & Supply Management by Jacobs et. al. 12th edition, 2009 Operations Management An Integrated Approach, 4th edition by R. Dan Reid and Nada R. Sanders, 2010 A Holistic View of Six Sigma, http://vig.pearsonptr.com:8081/samplechapter/013143988X.pdf