Six Sigma Training Programmes

Six Sigma involves changing major business value streams that cut across organizational barriers. It is the means by which the organization’s strategic goals are to be achieved. Six Sigma must be implemented from the top-down. This needs the efforts of the top leaders in the organization particularly the CEO who is responsible for the performance of the orga­nization as a whole.

1. Champions and Sponsors

Six Sigma champions are high-level individuals who understand Six Sigma and are commit­ted to its success by removing the road blocks on the path. Champions must be proficient in four other areas—business and operations interface, project selection, pace mediation and result implementation. In larger organizations, Six Sigma is led by a full time, high-level champion such as a vice-president. Champions have a larger role in deploying Six Sigma. Sponsors are owners of processes and systems that help initiate and coordinate Six Sigma improvement activities in their areas of responsibilities.

2. Master Black Belt

The certified Master Black Belts are experts responsible for the strategic deployment of Six Sigma within an organization. They promote and support improvement activities in all business areas of their organization as well as at the suppliers and customers ends. Their main responsibilities include:

• Providing mentoring and support to Black Belts, Green Belts, and Six Sigma teams to use the improvement tools appropriate to a specific problem.

• Helping to develop and deploy organizational metrics and dashboards.
• Developing, maintaining and revising the Six Sigma curriculum, delivering classroom training and serving as liaison with external agencies in the delivery of Six Sigma training.
• Networking with other Master Black Belts.

3. Black Belt

The certified Six Sigma Black Belt is a professional who can explain Six Sigma philosophies and principles including supporting systems and tools. A Black Belt should demonstrate team leadership, understand team dynamics and assign roles and responsibilities to team members. Black Belts have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the DMAIC model in accordance with Six Sigma principles. They have basic knowledge of lean enterprise con­cepts, are able to identify non-value-added elements and activities and use specific tools. As part of their training, black belts receive 160 hours of classroom instruction, plus one- to-one project coaching from Master Black Belts and consultants.

4. Green Belt

Six Sigma Green Belts are project leaders capable of forming and facilitating Six Sigma teams and managing Six Sigma projects from concept to completion. Green Belt training consists of five days of classroom training and is conducted in conjunction with Six Sigma projects. Training covers project management, quality management tools, quality control tools, prob – lem solving and descriptive data analysis. The Six Sigma Green Belt operates in support of or under the supervision of a Six Sigma Black Belt, analyses and solves quality problems and is involved in quality improvement projects. A Green Belt is someone with at least three years of work experience who wants to demonstrate his or her knowledge of Six Sigma tools and processes.

Six Sigma champions should attend Green Belt training. Usually, Six Sigma Black Belts help Green Belts define their projects prior to the training, attend training with their Green Belts and assist them with their projects after the training.

5. Yellow Belt

Six Sigma Yellow Belt is an introductory training in the fundamentals of Six Sigma. Yellow Belt certification provides an overall insight to the techniques of Six Sigma, its metrics, and basic improvement methodologies. A Yellow Belt must know how to integrate Six Sigma methodologies for the improvement of production and transactional systems to better meet customer expectations and bottom-line objectives of the organization. A Yellow Belt typically has a basic knowledge of Six Sigma, but does not lead projects on his own. Yellow Belts are often responsible for the development of process maps to support Six Sigma projects. A Yellow Belt participates as a core team member or subject matter expert (SME) on a project or projects. In addition, Yellow Belts may often be responsible for running smaller process improvement projects using the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) methodology.

6. Implementation of Six Sigma⁷

The goal of Six Sigma is to achieve fewer than 3.4 defects per million opportunities by train­ing internal leaders to apply established techniques. Six Sigma has been adopted by organi­zations of all sizes and types. The following is a step-by-step approach for implementing Six Sigma.

7. Step 1

Successful performance improvement must begin with senior leadership. Make sure all top- level management is on board and that financial and managerial resources are available. Systems are developed for establishing close communication with customers, employees and suppliers. Policies and guidelines are established. Training needs are rigorously assessed and training programmes are conducted for employees. Commitment is made to the project.

8. Step 2

Define the project scope and goals based on customer feedback and needs. Inspiration for Six Sigma projects can come from surveys, studies or existing projects. Set goals for the whole organization or for a specific level of the organization that needs improvement.

9. Step 3

Analyse the system to identify defects and problems. Measure the defects in the current system and performance. Identify the possible causes of problems. Explore possible solu­tions and assess their possible effect on the organization. Use statistical data analysis.

10. Step 4

Improve the system by finding ways to do things faster, cheaper or better. Use management and planning tools to put the improvement projects into place. Test the improvement with statistical data.

11. Step 5

Control the new process by modifying systems and measuring processes to continue to achieve results. Use customer feedback and statistical tools. State what was done to improve performance. Document methods to recognize and solve future problems.

Box 7.4 discusses the benefits of Six Sigma implementation at Bharti.

Box 7.4 Bharti Broadband Saves with Six Sigma

Bharti Broadband Networks Limited (BBNL), a leading integrated broadband service provider operating in the broadband, Internet and VSAT markets, provides customized and integrated solutions to corporate customers. The company embraced Six Sigma in order to realise its objective of providing error-free services to customers by doing the job right the first time, every time.

After the quality objectives were finalized, an executive committee (EC) comprising nine officials, including the CEO, was formed. Before deciding on Six Sigma, the committee studied various other quality tools and processes such as ISO and TQM. Six Sigma was finally selected as it was closely aligned with the outlined quality objective. The top management was confident that by implementing Six Sigma in its processes, it would be able to meet customer requirements and the requirements of the dynamic telecom industry.

Within six months of implementation, complaint resolution had gone up 66 per cent from the baseline, timely order implementation had gone up 70 per cent from the baseline and invoice submission had gone up 51 per cent from the baseline The Six Sigma process improvements have resulted in productivity enhancements, improved customer satisfaction and process effectiveness. Almost 100 per cent of the employees of BBNL are involved in the Six Sigma journey.

Source: Poornima M. Charantimath (2017), Total Quality Management, Pearson; 3rd edition.