Six Sigma and Small Business

BusinessManagement

  • Author Emily Ralph
  • Published March 10, 2010
  • Word count 528

There are many who strongly believe that only large multinational companies can afford to implement Six Sigma. However, this is a misconception. Small or mid-sized companies too can successfully implement this business management strategy as long as they are open to change. It will involve only a few aspects of your business and your company must be able to tolerate variation. In addition, you must be ready to face failures that may result from this change. In addition, there are some other prerequisites for implementing this management strategy. Apart from having a tolerance for change you must be ready to divert your spare resources into change-related activities. The question that now arises is who can take advantage of this business management strategy. Anybody, ranging from companies manufacturing electronic products to those dealing with transportation. The following tips will help you to implement Six Sigma in your organization. But before that you need to understand what is Six Sigma and how will it help your business.

What is Six Sigma?

This is a technology that focuses on solving your business related problems and helps in reducing waste and cost as well as improves customer satisfaction. With the help of statistics and data, this methodology points out those aspects which can decrease waste involved in your business process dramatically and thus increase customer satisfaction and profit. Now you know what is Six Sigma and how it will help you. So the next question is why you need to involve your employees in this technology? Simply because your employees are your best resources and by involving them in this improvement project you are actually improving their skills. This, in turn, will act as a motivational factor and will increase their commitment to the organizational success.

Where to implement Six Sigma?

As said earlier, this is a problem-solving technology. Thereby, you need to implement this in those areas that need improvement. So make a list of your present business related problems according to their priority. Depending on your day-to-day operations point out the most repetitive processes. Also list down those which you think are affecting your products/ services adversely. This will help you to target areas where you can implement this management strategy.

How to Start?

Once you have identified the scope of implementing this strategy, you need to create Six Sigma expertise within the organization. This will require training your existing employees or hiring a certified Six Sigma consultant. Since such training includes certain amount of expenditure, it is better to select a hand few who, in turn, will train the others. While selecting these employees make sure that they posses strong leadership skills and must have the ability to work on cross-functional projects.

What are the costs involved?

Apart from the cost of training your employees, you will also need to invest in educational resources like books and software. But there are certain ways that will help you to cut down your cost. You can take advantage of online training and consulting to save both your money and time. In addition, there are several websites and forums that offer free support where you can get help from Six Sigma professionals.

Emily Ralph is an independent small business consultant who advises and counsels small business owners and helps them. To access more information about small business manufacturer, Free Tenders and b2b buying leads visit http://www.hellotrade.com.

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