6 Sigma Online

When Six Sigma first came on the business analysis scene it seemed like a new era in environmental assessment of organizational performance. We were all seeking lean and agile solutions to the rapidly expanding global business picture. The advent of multinational enterprises in the 1980s accelerated the need for efficient and effective models of analytical instrumentation. Feasibility studies to strategic forecasting would never be the same.

Instrumentation of Six Sigma tools soon became a cult as much as it was a measure to benchmark findings. How Six Sigma would transform the world of business from everything from acquisition to planning was essentially a toolkit to change management. A 'total' organizational approach to incremental knowledge sharing had found its logic.

Once a company Charter was put into comparative axis with: 1)Quantitative statistical analysis tools (i.e. Chi-square, Co-efficient and Trend Analyses), and 2) Qualitative SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) assessments analysts proposed that they had true insight into the values, practices and challenges of an organization. On evaluation, however, many wondered if behavior could be better measured?

Add artificial intelligence to human intelligence and what gets noticed gets computed. Quantitative tools like co-efficient analysis are better measures of cognitive deployment in partnerships, policies, processes and procedures than qualitative criteria. Still, statistical models have their limits. In sum, some statistics are better than others.

Six Sigma tools intended to capture relational factors, are in fact somewhat unwieldy as forecasting agents. Situation analyses that deploy the two most used qualitative instruments, SWOT and the more lengthy PESTLE, fall a bit short in terms of decisive valuation. Implementing data outcomes from Six Sigma qualitative instruments in strategic planning activities must inevitably supported by 'in such case' scenarios.

One vital proposition is the inclusion of behavioral simulation in Six Sigma. Although statistical probability is part of the analysis applications to the framework, the potential of adding simulations beyond current methods (i.e monte carlo) would exceptional in returns.

If Six Sigma is about behavior as much as the tools, than some would argue that virtual simulation of human/user interactions in business management systems is truly the next frontier. A resource beyond anything ever deployed in environmental analysis, we can see that without reinserting behavior back into Six Sigma in a more thorough way, the impact of current tools in forecasting may continue to fall a little short.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Benchmarking is the practice of identifying companies with the best practices in a particular endeavor. Business managers usually study these companies and discern what makes them better. Subsequently, they plan and implement strategies that close the gap between the company's performance and their own. Six Sigma Benchmarking is still a relatively new concept. Companies only initiated benchmarking on a wide scale in the early 1990's, according to "Reference for Business." That was when the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) and 86 companies established the International Benchmarketing Clearinghouse, which helps companies adopt best practices within or outside their industries.

Starting Out

The best way to start benchmarking is to establish a partner within the Benchmarking Clearinghouse. This group represents members from all different industries, institutions and government agencies. Determine what you want to benchmark: Budgeting, finance, information technology, facility management or competitive analysis, for example. The partnership arrangement is usually reciprocal in nature. Target companies will gain insight into the operations of the company initiating the benchmarking. Essentially, they also have benchmarking needs. Therefore, most corporations choose a partner that may benefit from one of their best practices. Companies that benchmark marketing should consider benchmarking elements that are most important to their customers, such as quality, service and pricing methods.

Establishing a Team

Most benchmarking companies assign people from different functional areas to study best practices from other companies. For example, a manufacturer may send a team comprised of a plant manager, engineer, finance professional and product manager. The partner company does the same. Representatives from both companies then spend time studying each others operations.

Collecting the Data

Partners usually exchange information through reports, emails and CD-ROMs. The challenge is when companies try to do benchmarking outside a partnership arrangement. Certain activities are illegal, such as taking pictures of a competitor's manufacturing facility by air. Search the Internet for articles written by high level executives on their corporate practices. You may try purchasing a competitor's garbage without revealing an identity. Also, talk to common suppliers, customers and vendors.

Ongoing Communication

Follow up with partners after the benchmarking has been completed. Share information through newsletters, bulletins, conference calls and reports. Assign a specific employee to research companies outside the Benchmarking Clearinghouse. Establish a library of information from other companies. Target companies with similar advantages to those of major competitors. For example, a high tech company may study the engineering practices of a consumer products company. They may then use the techniques to compete with a competitor known for selling high quality products.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Running a business is never easy. It is a delicate balance of good decisions and forethought. No matter how large or small a business is, times are tough and more people are working to hold onto their money then ever before. It is not an easy economy to create a thriving business in, however, that does not mean that this is an impossible task it is instead just one of the many challenges.

While of course, having a full understanding of business is crucial it is also a good time to consider running a leaner business across the board. Essentially running a leaner business means cutting back without cutting down on the essentials. It means finding a way to do the business you are doing but at a lower cost to your business which can actually even be passed along to the consumer if you do it correctly. This means you will take some new business from your competitors due to the fact that you can even advertise your new lower prices or promote your business saying the lowest price in town and being able to back it up.

Ultimately more businesses are looking at leaner and greener solutions to business management and fortunately there are many practices now for training your employees to run not only a better business but also a leaner and greener one if you so choose. Six sigma for instance, which is definitely one of the most renowned leaders in the area of business management, offers not only straight 6 Sigma training but has now expanded to offer training and certification programs in the areas of Lean Six Sigma and Green Six Sigma as well. This allows companies to experience the incredible benefits of Six Sigma while integrating other aspects of business management that are important to their overall company goals and purposes.

Six Sigma training can be helpful and when a company chooses to implement a Lean Six Sigma or Green Six Sigma program at a time like this, it is truly a wise business decision. Finding a good solid business management program and integrating it with some of the things that are most important in our society today is the best way to help bring success to your current business venture. Large and small, all businesses can truly benefit from using these strategies. Six Sigma training is available around the world in many different formats to help serve a variety of different businesses and their individual needs.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

In order to truly understand what Six Sigma is it is important to understand some of the basics of when, where, and why 6 Sigma was developed. It all began as a baby of the Motorola Corporation. The company was doing well and thriving back in the 1980’s but those who were in charge knew that there must be a better way to improve their company. They weren’t struggling but they also knew, as many did, that the good times weren’t going to last forever.

In their attempt to find a better way to do business they asked one of their employees at the time bill Smith to look around at different management programs that were around and try to come up with a better way to do business. After much research, Mr. Smith found that if he took the best of each and every system that he could get the best overall results and by using statistical analysis he could show the results that were being attained.

To Bill Smith and the Motorola Corporation the combination just made sense and so they unveiled the methodology to the rest of the corporate world and many were interested but few were willing to give it a shot. It is important to realize that this methodology was being introduced during a time when most businesses were flourishing and the need for this type of management program simply wasn’t present.

As time went on, more and more companies realize the value of having a process that not only served to bring everyone into the success of the business and build teamwork but also of finally having something that could help them measure results quantitatively. After all an improvement in the bottom line is really what all companies are truly seeking and finally having a way to measure results provided companies with the input they needed to further refine and improve upon their results.

Over time more companies have been drawn to Six Sigma because it is one of the only comprehensive business management training programs that helps a company improve on multiple levels at once. It is a process by which everyone in the company can get involved and contribute to improving the process of production, the customer experience, and ultimately the business’ bottom line. Teamwork and statistical analysis working together in this format make for a winning combination and have shown businesses in many different sectors the success that they have been seeking for many years.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

In an ever changing market, companies must look for anything that can give them a competitive edge. Better understanding the needs of their customers and improvement of processes and operations can be that edge. Since the 1980’s when Motorola developed approach, companies looking to streamline processes, eliminate waste, and improve productivity have looked to six sigma.

The six sigma approach is designed to change the way people look at how they do business. Through six sigma projects, companies look to either improve current processes, or build improved processes into the design of a new product or service offering. By removing defects from current processes, or implementing new processes that have been designed to be free of defects, customer specifications can be easily met. The six sigma approach is data-driven, focusing on those characteristics that can be measured, analyzed and improved. As this is a continuous improvement approach, companies typically continue to collect data in an effort to continue improvement of the process even after the original project is completed.

The method for improving existing processes is known as DMAIC, which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Before beginning any project, the scope and goals must be clearly defined. Because this is a data-driven approach, data on key steps in the current process must be measurable. Data collected from the measure step is then analyzed and used to make improvements to the current process. Control is achieved by establishing control systems that are designed to stop future defects before they occur. The method for design projects is similar and is known as DMADV, or Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify.

Companies looking to improve their processes or designs in an effort to give them a competitive edge often look to the six sigma approach. Six sigma is appropriate for nearly any business looking to approve efficiency and reduce defects. As a system it is especially attractive because it is fully developed and easily implemented. With over three decades of success behind it, it’s no wonder why businesses turn to this approach.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Quantitatively defining a productive process within a company can be a daunting task, depending on the size of the business. Six Sigma, a data-driven methodology developed at Motorola in the 1980s, does just that. Six Sigma uses statistical analysis to quantitatively reveal errors and malfunctions that occur during production. The phrase "Six Sigma" itself refers to a specific quality level.

Six Sigma identifies defects, which are defined to occur whenever a product or service fails to meet customer expectations. These defects are then used to discover opportunities, which are defined as the total number of chances for a defect to occur during the production process. Multiplying the number of opportunities together and dividing the result by the number of defects yields a specific ratio. Motorola engineers defined the best ratio as the aforementioned Six Sigma: 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

The methodology of Six Sigma takes individual processes within a company and quantifies each one based on this metric. An indispensable concept for would-be practitioners to understand is "critical to quality" or CTQ. This is a measure of what customers deem to be irreplaceable about a product they enjoy. CTQ applies across multiple areas of production, including time, cost and reliability.

How well a product conforms to customer CTQs is measured by process variation. Six Sigma uses statistical concepts like standard deviations to measure process variation within the context of CTQs. Once a company knows what their customers value the most, they can measure the production process. Process variation is the result: A measure of how well or poorly the production process is doing compared to the customer-defined CTQ goals.

By using mathematical equations like Y=f(X), Six Sigma quantitatively enables a business to analyze process performance. "Y" is simply the quantitative representation of CTQ, while "X" is the inputs that go into a process. Thus, CTQ is a function of the process inputs. Put another way, the quality of the production inputs determines the quality of the finished product. This may seem obvious, but stating it quantitatively can help demonstrate conclusively what needs to be improved or changed.

Six Sigma, in the end, is simply a way to concretely show needed improvements while removing any subjective errors or biases. In this, it serves businesses like Motorola extremely well. Companies using Six Sigma can improve their products greatly.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Most companies aspire to measure process performance, but quite often fail horribly. Measuring process performance is simpler and more accurate when companies choose to utilize a standardized system with acknowledged process and quality indicators such as the Six Sigma methodology. Lately there has been a trend of learning Six Sigma online as opposed to on-site.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a business management tool that attempts to improve the quality of various process outputs by identifying and correcting the causes of defects, or errors, and decreasing variability in manufacturing and business processes. The genesis of Six Sigma resulted from the manufacturing sector facing increased pressure for improved quality and speed. Six Sigma was started in the semiconductor industry as a quality initiative designed to eliminate process defects by notably reducing variation in processes. Some of the earliest adopters of Six Sigma were the service support units of top manufacturing firms like GE Capital, Caterpillar, and Lockheed Martin.

Who invented Six Sigma?

Six Sigma was created as a set of practices designed to improve manufacturing processes and reduce defects; yet, its application was later expanded to other sorts of business processes. Bill Smith of Motorola first conceived the particulars of Six Sigma back in 1986. Six Sigma is still a registered service mark and trademark of Motorola. Six Sigma draws on decades of prior quality improvement methodologies like quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects.

What should I know about Six Sigma?

• In terms of Six Sigma, a defect is any process output that falls short of predetermined requirements.
• Characteristics that differentiate Six Sigma from its forerunners include:
• A distinct spotlight on measurable and quantifiable financial returns from each Six Sigma project undertaken.
• Six Sigma requires buy-in from senior management leadership and support.
• A distinctive infrastructure of "Champions," "Master Black Belts," "Black Belts," "Yellow Belts", etc. to direct and carry out the Six Sigma project.
• A company-wide commitment to making decisions based on verifiable data, instead of projections and guesswork.

What are the benefits of learning Six Sigma online?

Individuals whose schedule requires a "self-paced" approach, instead of the traditional on-site curriculum may want to consider learning Six Sigma online. There are various online resources that can assist you with earning different Six Sigma certifications. Generally speaking, online Six Sigma training follows an independent, textbook-based format. Typically, students read the required materials and are then tested to gauge proficiency. Many students obtain additional training resources to help prepare for exams leading to certification.

Most online Six Sigma training is practice-based, allowing individuals to learn at a pace that is comfortable and offers scheduling flexibility. Online training may better meet the needs of busy professionals. Online programs are tailored to people with busy schedules and little/no prior experience with Six Sigma concepts. After completing the online training and earning certification, students should feel confident using Six Sigma tools and techniques to lead a Green Belt-level project to reduce or eliminate waste, lower defects within the company’s products and processes, and measurably improve overall customer satisfaction.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Six Sigma is a quantitative, data-driven methodology and a philosophy that strives for the maximum level of customer satisfaction. It aims at keeping what it calls defects down to a radically low level. A defect is defined as a product somehow failing to satisfy customer demands or requirements. Defects only make sense within the context of opportunities. An opportunity is the total number of chances a product has to show a defect.

Obviously, Six Sigma views defects as inexcusable. For a product or service to achieve Six Sigma, it must not have more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Since an opportunity is defined as the total number of chances for a defect to occur, if a product or service achieves Six Sigma, it represents a phenomenal level of quality.

Put into practical terms, this means that three variables are taken into account. The first is the number of defects that occur on a single part of a product. The second is the number of places on that part where the defects can occur. Finally, the third variable is all the production steps that could result in one or more of those defects.

This methodology is different from other quality control methods. Superficially, Six Sigma appears to share many of the same features with other methods like Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM created a culture of incremental improvement and did not have any quantitative basis. Six Sigma is wholly different in that regard, despite the fact that both can be applied across multiple industries in both the service and manufacturing sectors.

Six Sigma aims for near-perfection in terms of quality control. The quantitative data-gathering and analysis are used in tandem with a problem-solving methodology to duplicate and isolate defects in any given environment. It uses statistical tools such as bell curves and standard deviation analysis to help eliminate defects and opportunities.

The quantitative nature of Six Sigma reflects its origins at the hands of Motorola engineers and executives. Motorola won awards and national recognition for using its original process to dramatically improve the company's product and profitability in two years from 1986 to 1988. Six Sigma has spread across the world to over two million companies that use the process.

Six Sigma is driven by its quantitative nature. Objectively demonstrating the precise location and nature of errors is Six Sigma's greatest strength. It lets companies catapult themselves from mediocre to great.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Sigma courses are web based classes that are textbook structured and independent. This type of training mainly includes online content, instructor support, an interactive exercise and study guide questions of which after this one is offered a certificate for completion. Generally completion of leadership sponsored projects is the key aspect of Six Sigma.

Six Sigma is widely known for improving results for any organization that is organizations like healthcare, manufacturing and services have given Six Sigma project success stories. Due to global recession learning methods that reduce cost, time wastage and improving the quality of products are very beneficial to everyone.

Online training is more convenient and faster as compared to house -training, this aspect makes it popular to many new trainees. Getting certified as a Six Sigma green, black or yellow belt is a major benefiting factor to someone's career since it also benefits the company one works for.

Team building is an important aspect in many organizations since it is used to initiate projects which are mainly meant to build a good reputation for a company and an online Six Sigma course will offer you just that. Six Sigma certification attracts many employers mainly if you also include your personal projects hence employers will have no doubt on inviting you for an interview.

Completion of an online Six Sigma course helps you possess knowledge on initiating enhancements in delivering services and work processes, thus helping you reduce costs, and customer demands are met hence satisfying the organization requirement. Six Sigma online courses not only allow you to reach your business potential but to also reach your career value.

Six Sigma certification brings opportunities to those who demand self-paced approaches rather than on-site curriculum. It encourages individuals on what they are doing, examine what they have done and implement improvements in order to eradicate defects, hence helping people to continuously evaluate critical processes.

If you want to make yourself more attractive to employers or to enhance your career then Six Sigma online courses are the best for you. Learning at your own pace is the best thing one can offer to you in the education sector. Enroll now since it is open and simple.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Most people would probably say that business management is more of a career choice than either an art or a science but when you look at business management can actually fall well within any one of these categories. It has quite a diverse range but those that find success in the field know that success in business management means acknowledging that it is both an art and a science.

Managing any individuals is an art. It takes a bit of finessing and a lot of smoothing over at times to get the results you seek. There is no science when it comes to the variable of managing people because with each unique individual comes a new set of challenges. People are like puzzles and each one needs to be solved on its own merit.

The science aspect of business management has more to do with the measuring and results that your current management techniques are producing. While there may be no science to managing the human aspect of a business there are many numbers to crunch when trying to determine the right and wrong path for your business and many charts and analytical processes that can be preformed to help guide you along the path of effectively managing products and resources.

So is business management a science or an art…well the answer is that it is both. It is a science when it comes to statistical analysis, when it comes to looking at facts and figures and comes to formulating business plans but when it comes to implementing plans and encouraging employees to be more motivated to work for the company then it is an art.

The best managers are those that can find balance between their artist side and their scientific one. This is why good management skills are both in born and acquired. Those who have inborn leadership skills and a thirst for knowledge make the very best managers.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification

Six sigma is perhaps one of the most popular business management methodologies in existence today. As a matter of fact there are many businesses that are finding a world of opportunity exists under this blanket. It is a management system that allows for full training of the entire staff, collaboration and coordination threaded throughout the entire company structure, and an unmatched fabric of teamwork that meets the needs of most companies quite well.

The full and comprehensive training and certification program covers a wide variety of company needs and allows companies to choose classroom training sessions, online ones, or both depending on the needs of not only the staff members as individuals but the company as a whole. Under this type of training program everyone learns about their role in the company, in helping to meet goals, as well as their level of involvement in the process.

In Six Sigma training, there are tiered levels that apply to all team members based on their current role in the company. These belts, much like those in a martial arts type setting are colored and apply to those who are on each run of the ladder of a company’s structure. For instance there are Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Green Belts, and Yellow Belts and each one of these individuals has a significant role in the implementation of Six Sigma on the corporate level.

One of the things that often confuses people is that many think that they must take all levels of training beginning with the lowest and working their way up until they have attained certification at each individual level. This however, is not the case and anyone can come in and take a Master Black Belt certification program without having taken any of the lower level courses.

It is important to realize that whilst Six Sigma training is tiered the upper level training courses cover the lower level course information as well. This means ultimately that anyone who is looking to move up in the management of a company should consider taking only the upper level certification programs that Six Sigma offers because they will provide any management candidate with all the information they will need for every level of 6 Sigma they are responsible for.

Categories: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Certification

So many people hear about Six Sigma and think that it is too complicated a process for their business to undertake or that it doesn’t seem that the principles and concepts would effectively suit their particular organization. Six Sigma is designed to fit a variety of different companies with different organizational structures and goals but the best way to know if Six Sigma is the right fit for your business is to give it a whirl.

There are many benefits to Six Sigma integration and while no business tool is right for everyone this program is serving the needs of many organizations around the globe with much success. It is not something that is just good for manufacturing businesses but for all businesses including those whose primary function is in the area of customer service. It is important to realize that while there are many different goals across the board that 6 Sigma can help you to achieve it is by far one of the most comprehensive business management techniques available and also one of the most effective on the market as well.

Six Sigma combines all the best aspects of good business management techniques and rolls them up into one complete package for the best possible results time and time again. It is a fact driven program and focuses on roles and teamwork while setting and achieving realistic goals for your organization. It is one that will require you to take a leap of faith but most companies that do find that they start off getting better than anticipated results from the program. And while it may not be a perfect fit for every company in the world it has proven itself effective in a variety of different businesses and it is easily adaptable to fit all businesses across the board.

Large companies and smaller ones are experiencing much success using the Six Sigma methodology so why not give it a shot? Do you really have anything to lose?

Categories: Six Sigma Certification, Six Sigma Traning

Many people still have questions about Six Sigma and the ways that it can impact their business or business management abilities. Six Sigma Certification is valuable but it is only as valuable as the knowledge that comes along with it. Just becoming Six Sigma Certified does not ensure that you are fully proficient in the principles; it merely verifies that you have been taught the tools to use Six Sigma effectively.

 A person who is Six Sigma Certified is a person who has proven themselves proficient in Six Sigma and who has taken a qualifying training course on the subject. Each level of Six Sigma is taught and each segment is then tested to ensure that all principles are being not only learned but understood by those who are going through the training.

To obtain Six Sigma Certification a person must complete a full training course which will include classes, a written test, as well as being able to display competency in the hands on application of the principles. With all these things being accomplished one is then given a certification in Six Sigma.

While of course the training program and testing out of the program is important and gives merit to having taken the course, Six Sigma strategies are not immediately mastered and one should not assume that they are a master at Six Sigma very simply because they have completed a course and received a Six Sigma Certification.

Since courses can be taken from a variety of different sources there is no Six Sigma standard or approving body at this time. Of course with the growing popularity of 6 Sigma it is only a matter of time before there is a central governing body created to over see Six Sigma Certification Programs and unifying all the principles. Although, this might not be desirable to the companies conducting these classes it will in fact help those companies who are looking to hire Six Sigma trained employees onto their team.

Categories: Six Sigma Certification