Evaluation Of Success Of Six Sigma Projects -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Evaluation Of Success Of Six Sigma Projects? Answer: Introducation Six Sigma is an approach used in ensuring continuous quality improvement and lowering inherent variability. 3Ms, Inc. Six Sigma journey began after James Mcnerney was named the companys chairman and executive officer in January 2001. Before his arrival in the company, some Six Sigma activities were taking place in some sections of the company. However, it was not as much as it would be with McNerney's corporate-driven approach. After four years, the progress is remarkable, and the organization has continuously developed new products including new business processes. The companys growth strategy includes the following corporate initiatives: Six Sigma, Sourcing Globally, 3M Acceleration, eProductivity, and Indirect Cost Control. Under the new executive officer, the firm began the task of implementing initiatives that aim at improving customer service. The actions are according to the organizations strategies. The strategies make the customers think of the 3M organization as an agile firm that they are and willing to provide the best goods and services. The improvement processes are usually approved by the management, savings are tracked and defects reduced, and the team leaders are held accountable for the activities. The top agenda at 3M, Inc. was headlong and companywide implementation of the six sigma. The aim was to improve the business by increasing sales, saving costs, satisfying the customers and strengthening management development (Yksel, 2012, pp. 75). The approach was used in two improvement models: existing processes used DMAIC model a nd development of new products used DFSS model. The daily operations in implementing the plan include: tracing down the savings from the project and designing new products and reducing risks in the designing process. These activities are aligned with 3M, Inc. whose strategy is leading in products and products quality. Action Plan Time Objective Action One month To select the appropriate projects. Senior executives are trained and tasked with developing the 100 main sigma projects. One month To train the middle managers. The senior executives were to lead the training. Two months To develop and implement improvement plans. Using the two improvement models: for the existing product, DMAIC model and developing new products, DFSS model. One month To manage for excellence in operations. Management of the daily operations of 3M to ensure that they are at per with the firms strategy. One month To sustain the gains. Continuously tracking down the Six Sigma approach for quality development and product leadership. An action plan is a plan that is detailed, outlining the actions required to reach a goal. 3Ms goal is to improve on product quality through innovation. The first month involves identifying and developing appropriate projects. Senior executives were exposed to an intensive training program. This gave them several ideas and projects that they could use to improve products quality. Appropriate plans that would be put into practice came from these senior managers. The following one month was used in training the middle managers. The middle managers would ensure that the departments applied the Six Sigma model in their daily activities. This would ensure that the approach was successful. The senior executives were tasked with leading training efforts for the middle managers. The following two months involved developing and implementing improvement plans. 3M used two models in developing and improving their product and services. The first model was DMAIC model for improving existing services, while the DFSS model was used in developing new products. The next month would be used in managing the Six Sigma approach for excellent operations. Managing involves ensuring that the companys daily activities are at per with the firms strategy. The entire process is managed to ensure that it achieves the legitimate goal which is improving quality through innovation. The last one month would be used in sustaining the gains. The Six Sigma is continuously tracked down for quality development and product leadership. Any mistakes made within the process are identified and corrected on time. The errors may be detected before they occur to cut down on cots that come along with them. Section Two The Six Sigma approach is customer and quality driven. The program can be defined by its benefits, costs, and risks. The primary advantage of this approach is controlling quality. This method is characterized by having 3.4 defects per one million products. The benefits of the Six Sigma include analysing data for assessment purpose, low-cost savings, improving product and services quality. Also, it ensures effective supply chain management, increases stabilization, saving on process time and vocational training of staff. The real success of the Six Sigma can be seen at 3M. It resulted in a positive impact on the firm. The success has benefited the customers, workers, and shareholders. Anything that is not acceptable to the customer is considered an error. Six Sigma model determines product improvement before defects can occur. The process costs involve many people during Six Sigma implementation. In implementing the project appropriately, there should be a skilled team. However, existing employees abilities can be improved to meet the specifications (Swink and Jacobs, 2012, pp. 443). The selection of the team members that impact on employing and capacity building is crucial. These costs include investing in training, companys infrastructure and culture evolution. The risks involved with the approach are: choosing inappropriate projects, not having the right staff, tools, and the support to obtain the results, and high costs before payback are seen. Some steps of tracking and avoiding risks include; selecting the right project, objectives, and Six Sigmas standard utilization method. For the Six Sigma to be successful, all areas have to be involved. Since the Six Sigma is a model, it can be implemented in all departments. Hence, every department may have the opportunity to practice the model. The sales and marketing department is involved with the customers needs and their satisfaction. The manufacturing and operations department will be needed to meet manufacturing deadlines, producing required capacities, and supply chain management. The operations along with the finance department need to monitor the cash flows and all accounts payable and accounts receivables. The managers are tasked with the responsibility of encouraging employees during the changing initiative. Managers encouragement gives motivation to the employees, helping succeed cultural change during organizations restructuring. The senior management has the responsibility of leading the change initiative (Furterer, 2016, pp. 127). Also, they are required to be the first in Six Sigmas Black Belts. The middle management is entitled to engage the front line workers in making the change successful and long-lasting. Additionally, they need to model the new processes to include everyone and encourage the workers during the shift. The senior managers can be used as the evaluating body. This means that they judge if the Six Sigma approach has been fully implemented. The middle managers are accountable for the implementation of the Six Sigma by the departments. It is known that the Six Sigma approach creates proper procedure aimed at improving an organizations production and process. The primary principles of the system are a careful examination of customers needs and business requirement, measurement of the performance gap, analysis of essential source and implementation of required correction along with modification. Thus, the approach is involved in corporate strategy such as connecting targets to critical quality factors and addressing the lack of capability with an opportunity to enhance project initiative. Thus, the model covers essential techniques that are used to execute the corporate strategy. At times, changing or improving a companys primary procedures is necessary for accurate procedure and management. The 3M organization had taken two central management actions in the level of procedure improvement (Jirasukprasert, et al. 2014, pp. 17). For the Strategic Project Selection (SPS), the approach improved structure positioning procedures, customer requirement, and prioritization. This was done according to the strategic objectives of the firm. For the Project Management Infrastructure (PMI), the model ensures procedure improvement as per the standard method. When Six Sigma approach is employed, corporate strategy becomes a concern from the bottom up to the top level management. This is because it develops organizational goals throughout the organization and its departments. This may result in a shift in the firms culture. Implementing the approach set objectives that are linked to specific business processes. The processes are prioritized for specific reasons which include the companys value and required resources. The Six Sigma shapes the strategy of the organization. The Six Sigma model is highly structured. Hence, it requires that crucial leaders are designated as team leaders. This means that the Human Resource department is faced with the duty of matching every employee to the roles and functions required in attaining success. Hence, the selection of the workers would involve measurement of their ability to work within a structure and follow a protocol. The companys structure would also be affected when the Six Sigma is employed in the firm. The reason is that the organization would be performing duties as units specializing in a process (Evans and Lindsay, 2014, pp. 234). This may either flatten the structure or make it more diversified. The employees reward would as well be changed because their performance would be measured by efficiency in improving their final output. However, if the employees fail to reach the standards, no reward would be allocated to them. Basing the reward on individual performance would result in redesigning the orga nizations rewards system. As with any firms initiative, many factors contribute to success. These responsibilities fall within the Human Resource as discussed. First, the success of the Six Sigma depends on selecting the right people for the Black Belt role (Pyzdek and Keller, 2014, pp. 72). Investing in training is vital for the position. The Human resource is helpful in identifying the right people for these Black Belt roles. Second, the Black Belts join the initiative from different departments in the company where they receive differing compensation. Thus, it is difficult to make adjustments in the level and compensation to the team as they play the same role. The Human Resource can help in tackling the challenge by establishing right rewards or recognition. 3Ms history has been dotted with innovations and is seen as the most reliable point of the organization bringing about sales, growth and market share. 3M is a diversified firm that has depended on RD departments ability to develop new products. This made the company to secure the first position in its field. The Six Sigma approach was heavily criticized for stifling creativity, meaning reduced innovation opportunities. Since the approach focuses on systematizing procedures and lowering costs and risks, innovation has no room in such a set-up. Six Sigma is about consistency, control, and uniformity. However, innovation is about mutation, difference, failure, and chance. The Six Sigma made the morale at the 3M to sink from being the number one in the most innovative countries list in 2004 to number seven in 2007. Nicholson commented that the Six Sigma approach killed innovation in the company. Hence, the ambassadors at the firm pointed out that the approach was not ideal for the creative process. The approach may work by improving 3Ms approaches mainly in production and marketing. Since Six Sigma is not enough, it can be excellent for improving the organization's performance. However, there are instances where this is not applicable. Arguments on if the approach enough takes two sides (Pulakanam, 2012, pp. 49). The first argument is that innovation and improvement cannot exist in the same company. Second, it is argued that an ambitious company has to attain innovation and improvement by creating a balance. The Six Sigma mod el should be applied in tandem with culture and the organizational structure that can support structure and procedures. At the same time, it should leave room for creativity and innovation (Pyzdek and Keller, 2014, pp. 73). References Evans, J.R. and Lindsay, W.M., 2014.An introduction to Six Sigma and process improvement. Cengage Learning. Swink, M. and Jacobs, B.W., 2012. Six Sigma adoption: Operating performance impacts and contextual drivers of success.Journal of Operations Management,30(6), pp.437-453. Pulakanam, V., 2012. Costs and savings of Six Sigma programs: An empirical study.Quality Management Journal,19(4), pp.39-54. Jirasukprasert, P., Arturo Garza-Reyes, J., Kumar, V. and K. Lim, M., 2014. A Six Sigma and DMAIC application for the reduction of defects in a rubber gloves manufacturing process.International Journal of Lean Six Sigma,5(1), pp.2-21. Pyzdek, T. and Keller, P.A., 2014.The six sigma handbook(Vol. 4). New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Yksel, H., 2012. Evaluation of the success of six sigma projects by data envelopment analysis.International Journal of Business and Management,7(13), p.75. Furterer, S.L. ed., 2016.Lean Six Sigma in service: applications and case studies. CRC Pr