Why do Six Sigma fail ?

Customers look for quality in products, Companies need quality in productivity, employees want a quality work atmosphere. The Buzzword everywhere is QUALITY.

Quality and Efficiency are the pillars that form the crux of any company’s success and growth. Every organisation needs to give utmost emphasis to reducing defects and increasing quality. A small and seemingly minor lapse on quality can have detrimental consequences to the company.

Companies across the world have been incorporating Six Sigma as a part of their Quality Control and Management initiatives over the past decade. Despite the resounding success of Six Sigma in the past, eight among every ten production and manufacturing companies have reported the failure of Six Sigma initiatives in recent times.

This failure of Six Sigma is attributed to not using the tools acquired in an optimum manner. Let us say you buy a knife for cutting vegetables and don’t know how to use the knife. It would then lie unused in the cupboard for years and the vegetables will not get cut! Six Sigma similarly depends on not just acquiring the tool but using it in the right way to enhance quality and efficiency. A good Six Sigma course will not just give you the tools, by also serve as a manual in helping you use it for different professional situations.

Six Sigma : The Process

Six Sigma is meant to be a process or method that comprises a set of tools that organisations can use to improve the capability, capacity and efficiency of their business processes. This acceleration in performance brought about by applying six sigma helps in significantly reducing the defects and increases product quality considerably.

While Six Sigma can seem like a magic pill or solution to inefficiency, it is far from being that. Six Sigma is a process that requires continuous iteration and changes with the ultimate goal being continuous quality improvement in all aspects of the business. When Six Sigma is misconstrued to be a magical solution, it may result in failure.

Here is a roundup on why Six Sigma Initiatives may not be as successful as they are expected to be:

1

Lack of Support

For Six Sigma to be successful, all the stakeholders in the organisation need to be supportive of the initiative. Sometimes, while the management is committed to the cause of lean manufacturing and zero defects, employees in the lower rungs may not take quality control as seriously as their senior counterparts. Employees across all levels and verticals of the organisation need to be committed to strictly adhere to the methodologies and norms prescribed by the quality committee based on Six Sigma.

2

Inappropriate Team

Every organisation committed to implementing Lean Six Sigma needs to have a Quality Committee. It is likely that the members of this committee, despite having the right academic and professional qualifications (Green Belt/Black Belt/Master Black Belt) do not have the right competence, attitude or exposure to carry out the project. The members deputed to the quality committee need to interact with vendors, suppliers, employees and all stakeholders involved in every aspect of the business and nudge them to incorporate the best-in-class practices. Often this involves taking an iron fisted stance, which isn’t easy.

3

Inefficiency in Measurement and Feedback

Six Sigma relies on the implementation of gold-standard measurement techniques that provide the most accurate and precise results. These processes need to be periodically reviewed and updated. Sometimes, the measurement technique used is obsolete or faulty and results in false outcomes. Sometimes, qualitative data obtained in the form of feedback may be biased, resulting in unrealistic outcomes.

For Six Sigma to be successful, data needs to be exceptionally accurate, and facilitating a high level of accuracy may seem difficult for organisations.

The Verdict

Six Sigma, when implemented correctly brings organisations a wide range of benefits. It is a tool, that can be used in an efficient or inefficient manner, based on the skill level and capability of the people handling the tool.

The Six Sigma Green Belt Course will not just give you the right tools, but also tell you the right way to use these tools (and serve as a cheat sheet) in fast tracking the Quality Improvement Process!

For your benefit, and for the benefit of your organisation, avail the tools of Six Sigma and Learn to use them in an effective manner!

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5 Answers to your questions about Six Sigma

To prevent failure of Six Sigma Project Meet, Abinav, a friend of mine, is working at one of the fortune 500 companies as a product manager. He is only 25

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