The Six Myths of Six Sigma

The methodology for Six Sigma - the Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control (DMAIC) approach to problem solving, and the tools to be used at various stages of implementation - are now fairly standardised.

However, the rationale for choosing Six Sigma in the first place, and the degree to which that choice is driven by the business strategy and its financial objectives or a more generic sense of "we need to do better", vary widely.
This variation has led to the emergence of myths about Six Sigma, discussed below.

Myth 1. It’s a quality initiative

Many companies make the mistake of setting up Six Sigma as a quality initiative, putting it in the same category as Total Quality Management (TQM). However, comparing Six Sigma with TQM is highly misleading. TQM makes people aware of their personal responsibility for quality; but it has little track record of yielding measurable financial benefits.

Nonetheless, quality managers often find themselves responsible for a Six Sigma programme. Even though quality managers tend to deal in procedures, audits and operations, they rarely have the skills and the authority in the organisation to manage major organisational change. Focused on product or service quality alone, they can find it very difficult, if not impossible, to implement business improvements that cut across a wide range of functions.

So Six Sigma usually needs to become the responsibility of someone with a wider, more senior remit in the organisation, to deliver significant financial results.

Myth 2. It will replace current initiatives

Most companies in Europe already have improvement programmes under way. Introducing Six Sigma as a replacement for all that has gone before can, in these circumstances, be quite destructive. It can make the whole organisation doubt the value of what has been done in the past. It can also paint a picture of Six Sigma as "flavour of the month or year", something that will itself be replaced in time.

Six Sigma is much better positioned as something that will augment or “turbo charge” existing initiatives. Assessments of many existing programmes have shown that they are moving in the right direction, but lack certain features: e.g. sufficient focus on measurable results; sufficient drive to achieve the potential benefits; or sufficient senior management attention (because they are deemed to be already running smoothly) and hence - quite often - insufficient resources.

Introducing Six Sigma as a way to build on existing successful initiatives forces the organisation to take several necessary steps: identify any initiatives that are not working and terminate them; focus greater senior management support and resources on those that are succeeding and increase control in the overall improvement effort so that it more fully reflects and delivers the business objectives.

Myth 3. There is only one way of implementing Six Sigma

Not all companies have a “Jack Welch” to drive a company-wide, topdown deployment. Nor do they need one. Whilst an ideal place to start may be at the “strategic initiative” level, it is quite possible to start off Six Sigma implementation with a small pilot project - provided that project is designed with a view to expanding to the rest of the organisation once it has been proved successful.

Even at the pilot level, it is important to ensure that Six Sigma is focused on problems that have been hindering performance for a while, and for which no apparent solution has been found. It is also advisable to limit a pilot to six months duration, after which period it should be possible to move to a strategic level, or momentum will be lost. This will help to create buy-in for Six Sigma as both effective and efficient.

Myth 4. It’s a numbers game

A commonly quoted statistic relating to Six Sigma is that success lies in having 1% of the people in your organisation trained to be Black Belts. However, this is quite an arbitrary number, unrelated to what a given business actually needs.

Success for Six Sigma does not lie in a percentage, but in the strategic intent of the business, and in how dedicated the Black Belts are to fulfilling that intent.

Comparison - Business with 30,000 employees looking to save €80 million in 9 months

Myth 5. Six Sigma only applies to high volume products or repetitive processes

This myth derives from the name itself, where sigma represents the standard deviation. But Six Sigma is about much more than statistics; it is a way of improving processes. It improves how projects are managed, and how customer needs are met. It’s about not just fixing errors or defects, but anticipating and avoiding them. For example, building manufacturing plants that cost several hundred million euros has more in common with making thousands of widgets a day than many people realise.

Processes that appear to be one-off generally contain a multitude of subprocesses that are themselves repeated many times. For example, a company may make five gas turbines a year - but each turbine will have thousands of blades, each following a similar process. So a small improvement here can have a massive impact.

Example: A company constructing chemical plants costing €250 million each made a loss of €10 million on a project for one of its customers. The customer wanted another plant erected; by making the same mistakes as before, the company made another €10 million loss - before it turned to Six Sigma, where mistakes were identified and changes made to prevent further losses.

Myth 6. It’s about training

Many companies believe that all they need to do is get their people trained and the results will follow. Training is available from a multitude of sources, including universities.

However, training is only one element of successful deployment to get results. Coaching is more important, and should be done by people who have practical experience of delivering major projects. The measure of success for an investment in Six Sigma should not be the feedback forms from the classroom training, but the successful completion of projects that give significant business value.

In setting up a Six Sigma programme, extreme care is needed: to select appropriate people for training; to set clear expectations on how the training is to be applied in the workplace; to ensure support is provided for those trained when they return to their jobs; to establish immediate individualised post-training performance monitoring; and to provide trained people with compelling incentives to apply their new skills and knowledge.

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To find out about creating more value in your organisation through Six Sigma, please contact your nearest Celerant office or call Julian Ferguson, Marketing Director, Process Excellence on +44 (0)20 8338 5108 Email julian.ferguson@celerant.cc

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About Celerant

Our clients want to achieve extraordinary goals. Celerant delivers by harnessing the reality with the potential of the business at all levels. Barriers are removed and appropriate new skills and knowledge are introduced, enabling people and their organisations to realise their maximum potential.