Six Sigma Technology Online

Six Sigma quality improvement concepts and methodologies were originally devised for use in the manufacturing sector but with the development of newer technologies, Six Sigma is now increasingly being implemented in the services sector as well.

The basic aim of Six Sigma implementation projects is to reduce wastage of scarce resources by reducing the number of defects to less than 3.4 per million opportunities that exist for such defects to occur. Six Sigma quality improvement techniques provide accurate results because they make use of statistical analysis tools. These tools are quite effective when it comes to reducing variations in a product or service.

Why Online Training

Six Sigma projects are normally implemented under the supervision of Six Sigma professionals such as Green Belts, Black Belts, and Master Black Belts. The services of these professionals are necessary for ensuring that the implementation is completed within the planned schedule and within allocated costs. The only problem is that these professionals often charge hefty amounts as fees, which may not sometimes be too costly for a company. The best option then is to train existing employees so that they can get the requisite certification and in-depth knowledge about Six Sigma concepts and methodologies.

However, enrolling employees for a regular course is not recommended because the costs can be quite high. Another thing is that in regular courses, employees will have to attend regular courses, which will result in wastage of precious productive time. The best option is to provide online training that offers the same level of certification such as Green Belts and Black Belts. Since Six Sigma is currently the highest quality standard, it is always better to opt for reputed online training courses. It would be better if the online training course is nationally recognized and is designed to cater to different types of professionals such as engineers, technical managers, and analysts. Skills developed through the training program will then help these professionals in reducing defects in manufacturing, developing and in providing services.

What To Look For In An Online Six Sigma Course

Six Sigma online courses are selected according to the level of training a company is aiming to provide to its employees. However, it is always better to opt for an all-inclusive online course that covers most of the operations related aspects of a business such as general management, design, production, services, and even customer satisfaction.

The course should also include an introduction to Total Quality Management (TQM), leadership issues in organizations, project handling skills, quality improvement processes, use of statistical tools such as diagrams and charts, and other related topics. Such a course will empower the employees with specialized knowledge and skills that will help them during Six Sigma project implementations.

Online courses for existing employees are increasingly being preferred because companies do not have to spend top dollar for the training. Another reason is that by training their employees, companies are now able to harness their existing talent pool and reduce their dependence on the services of Six Sigma professionals. All these factors indicate that the future certainly belongs to online Six Sigma training.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Applying For - And Getting - That Six Sigma Job

There is a growing demand for people with Six Sigma certification and expertise as companies realize the many ways in which the Six Sigma methodology can help their organizations grow and improve. Six Sigma has grown beyond its manufacturing origins with many government agencies and service providers now advertising for Six Sigma help. More importantly, even small companies are taking on Six Sigma consultants or full-time staff, which implies that the demand for Six Sigma professionals will only increase in the coming years.

Six Sigma Job Categories

There are many junior- and senior-level Six Sigma openings across a wide range of industries. The positions and job descriptions are oftentimes unique to the company and its requirements. Admittedly, many of these positions are filled internally, as companies train their own people in the Six Sigma methodology so that people already familiar with the corporate culture are provided with the needed skill sets. On the other hand, these same organizations often reach outside for help, seeking out experienced people to either lead, or implement full-scale Six Sigma projects throughout the company.

Six Sigma Job Openings

Many companies openly advertise job opportunities that are clearly Six Sigma based (e.g., Six Sigma Analyst or Six Sigma Black Belt). Others, however, advertise openings for positions that are not obviously Six Sigma openings such as Functional Project Lead, Director of Operational Excellence, Business Project Manager, or Senior Projects Manager.

Job openings such as these are usually for people with Six Sigma Black Belt capabilities ? someone trained in the Six Sigma methodology with experience in leading cross-functional process improvement teams. These people are tapped to lead individual Six Sigma teams.

Companies sometimes advertise for Six Sigma Master Black Belts to fill organization-wide Six Sigma program manager positions, in effect taking over very senior positions within the organization. The successful applicants will be tasked to lead the company?s Six Sigma implementation, oversee Black Belts and process improvement projects, and guide the Black Belts as needed. These positions will require the highest level of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Meeting Six Sigma Job Criteria

The primary requirement for a Six Sigma job is, of course, to be trained in the Six Sigma methodology, ideally as a Six Sigma Black Belt. This requires formal training from qualified Six Sigma consultants who have long experience in training and implementation of Six Sigma. Often, a request is made for those with a specific background such as in Six Sigma DMAIC or DFSS methodology.

Companies recognize experience as being the best teacher, however, so many establishments express strong preference (if not outright demand) for people with hands-on experience in completing at least one Six Sigma project.

Aside from Six Sigma training and project experience, companies have a preference for those with background experience (usually at least five years) in their particular industry or business. Management experience is another plus factor and this is usually a requirement by companies looking for a Six Sigma project team leader. Managing projects within structured environments, and proven management skills (as indicated by successful project implementation) will be a definite advantage in your favor, because companies in the initial stages of Six Sigma application will be looking for people who will lead and facilitate business teams as well as Black Belts and Green Belts through the process.

Other requirements

If you are applying for a Six Sigma position, you need to show that you have an excellent understanding of processes and quality methodologies as well as a willingness to grab the initiative and take the lead in making changes.

Another vital skill will be the ability to link strategy to execution. You need to show that you are able to look beyond surface issues and concerns: consider strategic business issues from a detached, clinical perspective, and use this as a springboard for developing and implementing creative and practical solutions to problems identified.

Steven French is a recruitment consultant to http://www.UteachRecruitment.com - the specialist UK teaching jobs recruitment agency. Visit Uteach Recruitment to find your perfect UK teaching job today. Note: We have lots of great Science teaching jobs available now!

Choosing A Six Sigma Program

Business organizations all across the globe are deploying Six Sigma concepts and techniques for improving the quality of their products or services. This has created the need to educate employees about the various Six Sigma concepts and techniques that improve quality and help in offering better products and services than those offered by competitors. This is necessary, as quality products or services are primary requirements for the long-term success of any business organization.

Training Is Necessary

Any company planning to empower its employees with the various Six Sigma concepts and philosophies needs to enroll them in a Six Sigma program for getting the requisite training and qualifications. However, companies often become confused when it comes to selecting the most appropriate Six Sigma program. Conducting online research does not help in solving matters, as search results list thousands of training organizations, most of which are labeled as 'premier', 'best' or 'rated # 1'. For selecting the most appropriate Six Sigma program, companies need to look beyond the labels and concentrate more on the details of the training program.

How To Select The Right Training Process

Companies need to decide whether they need a standardized certification program or a simple learning program that imparts basic knowledge about Six Sigma. If certification seems necessary then it is important to ask training organizations about the type of certification provided by them and their student pass rates. Companies often send their employees for training in batches and as such only those training organizations need to be short listed that offer discounts on training large number of candidates. Expenses on training can be lowered even more by entering into a contract with the training organization.

Venues For Training

A program that can be conducted off-site in the same town or nearby area is far better than programs that are conducted far away from the company's location, as costs of hotels, airfare, meals, and others can increase overall training expenses. Companies need to ask potential trainers about the type of resources that they use in their training programs and how much of it can they bring along in case of off-site training.

Due Diligence

Companies need to interview potential trainers and ask questions regarding their past corporate relationships, referrals, total number of candidates trained by them till date, training materials used, earlier projects they have worked on, and their qualifications. This is necessary, as companies want trainers that have a great deal of real-world experience. Spending thousands of dollars on learning something that can be learnt by just reading books will certainly be a waste of money and effort.

Six Sigma programs are classified according to their depth and specialization. Just as in martial arts, white belts, yellow belts, green belts, brown belts, black belts, master black belts, and champions represent Six Sigma levels. Programs offered may include DMAIC, DFSS, Lean, Kaizen, Fishbones, SIPOC's, MiniTab, Process Maps, SAS, Change Management, Force Field Diagrams, and Project Management. Companies can select any one of these or a combination of these depending on the level of specialization that they think is necessary for achieving the desired Six Sigma goals and objectives.

Some Cautions

Companies need to make sure that the individuals who provide training are the same ones who have been interviewed. This is necessary because often, training organizations try to woo potential clients with their most competent trainers and actually send junior level professionals when the contract is signed. A lot of money is spent on training employees. Therefore, it is necessary to consider every detail before signing the training contract with the training organization.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Business Process Management And Six Sigma

Six Sigma was devised to incorporate continuous improvement in the industry procedures through its methodological systems of identifying faults and correcting them. In short, it minimizes the number of errors that may occur while a task is being performed. This is achieved by way of daily scrutiny of the process and sharpening the techniques used therein. Initially, Six Sigma was implemented only in the manufacturing stream but eventually moved on to other fields where it has proved its mettle.

However, with advancing technology and increasing complexity of situations faced each day mere Six Sigma implementation is not enough. This is where the Business Process Management gets integrated with Six Sigma to create a better performance-enhancing tool.

BPM

Business Process Management are those set of activities, which are undertaken by a corporation to either better the current processes or alter them to suit new age requirements. This phenomenon supports and modifies the company's processes and gives them useful management strategies, models the data flow, manages people, resources and systems at any given time.

Reason For The Merger

The coming together of BPM and 6-Sigma was initiated since what one lacked the other could provide, thereby leading to a better approach towards analysis, understanding and improvising business techniques. For instance, 6-Sigma lacks the ability to collect large amounts of data, which is instantly provided for by BPM. Likewise, BPM is deficient in analytical tools to solve a difficult and complex business crisis and needs Six Sigma methodology to intervene.

Usefulness Of The Union

Integrating Six Sigma and BPM has led to expansion of a corporation's scope of functionality and its service quality. The following points explain the changes occurring due to the collaboration.

It helps in processing long-term performance results of the organization since there is a considerable amount of reduction in the number of errors and useless inventory, which in turn eliminates customer dissatisfaction. The entire value chains of the institution are illustrated in a better and detailed manner, understood in depth and managed properly. Both the processes together give near perfect estimations, which aid in altering business policies if required and also bring about necessary changes in management procedures that enhance performance levels. As Six Sigma fails to effectively control business processes and most of the time relies on the manual methods and control mechanism, which hampers performance initiatives greatly. BPM involvement aids the controlling process and terminates the drawback instantly. Since 6-Sigma cannot gather the extensive data required for any research and policy implementation, BPM fills in for this lapse by enhancing the projects by accelerating the collection and distribution of critical data. The product design is improved due to combine application of BPM and Six Sigma. Such companies are at a better advantage of creating a superior product right at the inception time. Initializing physical, feature wise market growth is possible by focusing on customer expectations and undertaking surveys since BPM is apt at supplying buying patterns and customer attitude records. Punching Six Sigma data into the BPM system is much faster and more precise.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Integrating Six Sigma With Business Process Management

The concept of Six Sigma was first developed by Motorola Corporation as an approach to address the high defect rates within the company?s manufacturing processes. With the success of Six Sigma, Motorola has registered the Six Sigma brand name to the corporation. The concept of Six Sigma advocates that data be collected from processes to measure performance and determine the extent of variation from target performance measurements.

This approach had been truly effective in ensuring quality in a manufacturing environment and was later adopted by the services industry during the 90s. However, as the Six Sigma framework relied heavily on the collection and analysis of data of individual processes, synchronizing processes between departments was ignored. This resulted in improvement benefits being limited to specific functions only, without taking into consideration the integration with other processes. Another weakness of the Six Sigma methodology is the lack of control used to sustain improvements achieved. This stems from the fact Six Sigma utilizes manual processes to do this, an approach that lacks effectiveness.

In this sense, Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives address areas that Six Sigma falls short of, in line with the purpose of achieving excellence in organizations. These two methodologies complement each other to compensate for areas of weaknesses. Although BPM addresses process enhancements and monitoring from a holistic viewpoint, it fails to address the analytical requirements required to solve complex issues.

Therefore, BPM approaches are used to define current processes and their role across multiple functions, identify areas within the process that affect critical success factors and develop process improvements for these areas of weaknesses. The identification of gaps between existing processes and ideal processes are addressed with Six Sigma initiatives. Finally, process monitoring, evaluation and continuous improvement measures are implemented with BPM techniques. These are carried out for inter-related processes across the organization.

A step-by-step insight into how a BPM ? Six Sigma initiative is implemented

Define

The first step for such an initiative is to define the current processes of a function, with outputs clearly determined. Data is collected to determine the health of the performance of the particular process as compared to predefined targets. If there is a deviation in the performance measured from the particular process, the effect of the deviation may be translated into monetary terms.

Measure

BPM process maps are developed which incorporate various critical elements of the process. These would include business systems, people and resources that are involved in the entire process. The functions performed by each of these elements are defined and utilized in the analysis stage.

Analyze

With all data and information at hand, an analysis is conducted on the business process to determine areas of weaknesses. What are the key courses for the deviation? How does this deviation affect other processes? Which steps of the processes are too slow? Where is the backlog?

The key approach when analyzing existing processes is to identify parts of the processes which were irrelevant or which does not add value to the process. Most of the time, these areas of redundancy are the causes of delay within entire processes. Apart from that, dependency on a cross-functional process may also cause the current process to be inefficient.

Improve

Once weaknesses are discovered, areas for improvement to address these weaknesses will be identified. This would incorporate the use of ?what if? hypothetical solutions in order to shortlist several possible scenarios that would work to improve the current process.

Many times, process improvements will include the utilization of automated processes through the use of technology. Human intervention will still be required, but a form of integration between automated and human run processes will be developed.

At this juncture, the utilization of machines or applications for greater efficiency will be customized towards the particular business process. Data flow between automated processes and human operated processes will need to be smooth. Therefore, all variables involved in a process will be taken into consideration during the design stage.

Control

A new process will have limited effectiveness to an organization if it is not constantly monitored for sustainability. This is why a monitoring and tracking system needs to be put in place, most probably in the form of a BPM monitoring system where performance indicators are constantly measured. This way, the management team will be able to react to deviations quickly, and make any amendments whenever necessary. Automated reports will be triggered to managers whenever a specific deviation and review meetings are held to address any process issues.

In conclusion, Six Sigma and BPM when implemented together will produce outstanding results for the purpose of organizational excellence. This is possible through the synergy achieved from these two remarkable methodologies that help to improve organizational performance the world over.

Peter Peterka is President of Six Sigma us. For additional information on Six Sigma Green Belt or other Six Sigma Articles contact Peter Peterka at http://www.6sigma.us

Six Sigma Jobs

The demand for people with Six Sigma expertise is constantly increasing. More and more organizations are discovering the many ways that the Six Sigma methodology can help them grow and improve. As Six Sigma spreads to many different industries beyond its genesis in manufacturing, you can now find many service and government organizations advertising for Six Sigma help. Plus, it is no longer the largest corporations looking for Six Sigma help. Smaller companies also are taking on Six Sigma projects and hiring people as consultants or permanent staff. The need for full-time Six Sigma professionals will only increase.

Types of Six Sigma Jobs
There are many Six Sigma jobs in many industries at junior and senior levels. The positions have descriptions and requirements unique to that organization and its requirements. It is true that many Six Sigma positions are filled internally as organizations train their own people already familiar with the organization?s culture in Six Sigma skills. However, organizations frequently reach outside to add personnel with Six Sigma expertise to lead Six Sigma projects or even the full-scale implementation of Six Sigma throughout the organization. These positions are usually dedicated full-time to Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma jobs are advertised under many titles, not always as obvious as ?Six Sigma Black Belt,? ?Six Sigma Consultant,? or ?Six Sigma Analyst.? Other possible titles include things like ?Functional Project Lead? ?Six Sigma Program Manager,? ?Lead Analyst/Project Manager,? ?Director of Operational Excellence,? ?Business Process Manager,? or ?Senior Projects Manager.? Whatever the exact title, the organization is looking for someone with the skills of a Six Sigma Black Belt. A Black Belt is an individual trained in the Six Sigma methodology and experienced leading cross-functional process improvement teams. They will lead individual Six Sigma projects.

Very senior Six Sigma positions are sometimes advertised. These are Master Black Belts, individuals trained in the Six Sigma methodology who acts as the organization-wide Six Sigma program manager. They will lead Six Sigma implementation at the organization and will oversee Black Belts and process improvement projects and provides guidance to Black Belts as required. Master Black Belt positions understandably demand the highest level of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Qualifying for Six Sigma Jobs
To be considered for a Six Sigma job, you need a combination of relevant academic and work experience. The first and foremost qualification is to be trained in Six Sigma, ideally as a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. This means formal training from qualified Six Sigma consultants who have extensive experience in training and implementation of Six Sigma. Specific training in Six Sigma DMAIC and/or DFSS methodology is often requested. The best teacher is, of course, experience and organizations will strongly prefer, if not insist, on people who have completed at least one Six Sigma project.

In addition to possessing Six Sigma training and project experience, organizations will ask that you have experience working in the industry of the organization?s business. So if the company is a manufacturer, they will usually want you to have direct experience in a manufacturing environment. Organizations will ask that you have a certain minimum period of experience (often five years) in that particular industry.

Management experience is a huge plus and will almost certainly be a requirement for a Six Sigma project team leader. Having on your resume proven project management success within a structured environment and being able to demonstrate good managerial skills will take you a long way. That?s because leading and facilitating Black Belts, Green Belts, and business teams through a Six Sigma project is often the role organizations are seeking to fill.

There are also essential personal skills. You need to be able to demonstrate a good understanding of processes and quality methodologies and a willingness to take an initiative and lead change. Another crucial skill is the ability to link strategy to execution. The aptitude to look beyond the surface and be creative to think conceptually about strategic business issues and develop creative but practical solutions is key. http://www.6sigma.us Peter Peterka is the Principal Consultant in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has eleven years of experience performing as a Master Black Belt, and has over 15 years experience in industry as an improvement specialist and engineer working with numerous companies.

A Holistic View of Six Sigma

"Only the overall review of the entire business as an economic system can give real knowledge" - Peter F. Drucker

No one needs to emphasize the holistic approach the Six Sigma deployment takes on overall business processes. All processes in an organization present at least one opportunity for improvement. Having a limited picture about the limitations of Six Sigma and its applications projects an all together different picture.

At the enterprise level, each company must consider the entire application of the project and this is certainly beyond the line employee level.

A Little Background

We have all known Six Sigma as a deployment strategy related to company activities and we have examples for justification. We have many glaring examples of successful and not so successful companies in recent history. Motorola, DuPont and General electric are some cases in point. Also known to us are the failures of deployment mostly in non- manufacturing businesses.

While thinking along the same lines, if in your understanding, Six Sigma is not applicable to your organization or industry, perhaps what first step you may take is answer whether it can improve the financial situation of your company within an acceptable timeframe. This fundamental answer must be obtained even before the project selection process. Answers to whether Six Sigma can work in all processes and parts of the organization must be put into place.

Thinking Beyond The Shop Floor

Notions and misconceptions such as those confining Six Sigma to the shop floor and relegating it as something of a quality implementation tool dedicated for manufacturing industry must be shown its due place for it to show results of any significance. The ‘beyond the factory’ approach encompasses almost all non-manufacturing aspects of the economy, not excluding those in the new economy group. For example, law offices, non-profit organizations, online business and the transport sector.

Three Critical Steps To Take Six Sigma Benefits Beyond The Shop Floor

Holistic thinking does not exclude non-production activities within organizations. Activities that don’t produce physical products but are still parts of production activities that go into manufacturing, as well as service industry sectors, such as transport industry or consultancy firms, contribute to the economy in a larger meaning by value creation. The following critical steps help reap major benefits in implementation:

• The Strategic Deployment: Think through the overall deployment of Six Sigma initiatives across the entire organization.
• The Tactical Deployment: Tactically selecting, conducting and closing the projects in all those environments.
• Methodical Deployment Of Operational Tools: Applying the analytic techniques of Six Sigma properly when facing common challenges beyond the shop floor, such as skewed (non-normal) distributions of cycle times, or the predominance of discrete data.

Holistic thinking In Six Sigma calls for adopting a statistical approach in its entirety to all aspects of conducting business and looking beyond statistics is an embedded part of deployment. Judgmental timing and accuracies assume the same degree of significance of decision making. There is not one single sure-fire formula to ensure the success of it.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.