Thursday, December 4, 2008

Six Sigma Results Quantified by Case Study on GE

By Craig Calvin

Folks who are interested in Six Sigma often want to know how it has been used with larger companies. A good example is General Electric. This company went from a wasteful mess to an efficient, streamlined company through Six Sigma. Six Sigma made the difference to GE.

GE was once your typical American company--the type you see on the evening news every night. They were ran by a bureaucratically fashioned board and hierarchy of corporate management. This was leading the company astray, and dramatic moves were made to keep GE from becoming yet another example of corporate waste and greed. The first step was Six Sigma training. Many corporate level employees underwent Six Sigma black belt certification, and lower level employees attended Six Sigma training. Once they were adequately trained, GE took the principles of Six Sigma and applied them methodically to their company structure.

Processes were evaluated until they could be reduced to quantifiable steps. This left no room for waste. Executive level workers learned to ask for input from employees in all levels. Lines of communication became more open, which left room for better efficiency, customer service and boosted morale and productivity. This is what has made GE different in their field.

How can Six Sigma training make these profound changes? The process is simple. First, employees who have been through Six Sigma black belt training identify aspects that are Critical to Quality, known as CTQ's. They identify defects, which in this case means cases where customers were not happy with some aspect of their GE equipment and service. They measure process capabilities to see what the process is capable of delivering.

Once this data has been compiled, Six Sigma training teaches people who use it to identify variation--that is, times when the process failed to deliver the desired outcome. The process is redesigned and controlled for minimal variation and maximum customer satisfaction. Six Sigma is about changing processes to create an efficient and streamlined business.

Does maximum customer satisfaction and higher efficiency sound good to you? If so, Six Sigma training may be the single factor that turns your company around. With so many companies finding new and unprecedented levels of success with Six Sigma, this may be training you cannot do without. - 16492

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