Six Sigma is a systematic method to manage business and departments. It puts customers first, and it is a better way to solve problems with facts and data. Six Sigma projects mainly include three aspects: a) improving customer satisfaction b) shortening work cycle c) reducing defects.
These improvements usually mean significant savings in business expenses, increased opportunities to retain customers and the establishment of a reputation for high-level products and services.
Although Six Sigma includes the measurement and analysis of business processes, it is not only a quality scheme, but also a business scheme. To achieve the goal of six horses, we need not only subtle and gradual improvement, but also breakthrough progress in various fields.
Six sigma method
Enterprises can decide the breadth and depth of developing Six Sigma according to their needs from three aspects: business transformation, strategic upgrading and problem solving.
A) Business transformation: For those enterprises that have the demand, desire and motivation to carry out six-fitness, and regard it as an all-round transformation, this way is the right way. An enterprise may adopt this radical scheme because of backwardness, loss, inability to develop new products, lazy employees and management confusion caused by the development of the enterprise. Companies such as General Electric (GE), Motorola, Ford and 3M all adopted this "business transformation" approach.
B) Strategic improvement: This method offers the most possibilities. Strategic improvement may be limited to one or two key business needs, while the goal of team and training is to deal with major opportunities and challenges. Johnson & Johnson, Sears, American Express, Sun Microprocessor and so on. For example, a large sanitary ware manufacturer solved key problems such as manufacturing defects, cost and productivity by developing six suitable horses.
c)。 Problem solving: Enterprises can solve those annoying long-standing problems in this way-these problems tried to improve in the early days, but failed. Employees who have been fully trained in the six theories and tools of horse fitness can analyze and solve problems by using the six tools of horse fitness on the basis of knowing the facts and truly understanding the causes of problems.
Lean sigma
Lean production is put forward on the basis of Toyota production mode in Japan. It was first put forward in 1990' s by experts from the Digital International Automobile Planning Organization (IMVP) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Lean is a praise to Japan's "Toyota production system", and lean means less but better, without putting in redundant production factors. Benefit, that is, all business activities should be beneficial, effective and economical.
Lean production combines the advantages of mass production and single-piece production, and strives to achieve low-cost production of multi-variety and high-quality products in mass production. Lean production has become the best production organization system and mode in the current industry. Its guiding ideology is to optimize the whole production process, improve technology, straighten out logistics, put an end to overproduction, eliminate ineffective labor and waste, effectively use resources, reduce costs, improve quality, and achieve the maximum output goal with the least input. The main features of LP are (1) pull type, (2) just-in-time production, (3) balanced production and (4) single flow.
The concept of Six Sigma was first put forward by George Fisher of the Communication Business Department of Motorola in the United States in 1987. At that time, Motorola had some quality policies, but there was no unified quality strategy. Like many other companies in America and Europe, its business is being eaten away by Japanese competitors. In order to improve the competitiveness of product quality, the innovative and improved six sigma concept has been vigorously promoted throughout Motorola. After adopting six sigma management mode, the company's productivity increased by 12.3% on average every year. In the middle and late 1990s, Jack Welch, president of General Electric Company, carried out the Six Sigma management method in the whole company, and achieved brilliant results, which made this management model truly famous.
Six Sigma is a nearly perfect quality management method based on data. In essence, Six Sigma management method is an efficient enterprise process design, improvement and optimization technology, which evolved from Total Quality Management (TQM) and provided a series of new product development tools that are also suitable for design, production and service. The key point of six-horse management method is to regard all work as a process, analyze the factors affecting quality in the process with quantitative methods, find out the most critical factors and improve them in order to achieve higher customer satisfaction. From the current practice, there are two main types of six-fitness horse management: six-fitness horse improvement and six-fitness horse design. Nowadays, Six Sigma has gradually developed into a criterion for determining enterprise strategic objectives and product development and design with customers as the main body, and it is a quality management concept for enterprises to pursue continuous progress.
The main features of Six-Horse Management can be summarized as follows: (1) customer-centered, (2) process-centered, (3) scientific problem-solving methods, (4) training expert manpower, (5) carrying out activities by projects, and (6) pursuing huge financial benefits.
Does lean horse adopt lean production mode, or does it implement six horses for many enterprises with different industries and different management levels who are eager to seek management promotion or breakthrough? The presentation and development of each management concept has never been isolated and static. Lean production is still developing, and the theory of six sigma is still being enriched and improved. There are differences and similarities between them in business improvement activities, and they support each other. In fact, some enterprises, such as Tianjin Sino-American SmithKline Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., have been promoting the combination of the two, that is, lean and suitable horse innovation. Lean method seeks to minimize all waste in production activities (called the big wood in the value stream). Big wood includes all kinds of defective works, not just defective products. The waste of time, action and material is also a big wood. Applying the thinking process of Six Sigma in lean production can obtain a scientific way to reduce waste, which is conducive to identifying and reducing fluctuations and finding the root causes of fluctuations and waste through quantitative methods. In the following aspects, the combination of the two methods can complement each other: