RE: MARK 4210
Synopsis:
Six Sigma is a breakthrough strategy that commands change. This strategy is a disciplined approach and methodology for eliminating errors in all business processes and the components that make up those processes. These processes can range from manufacturing to transactional or from product to service. The fundamental objective that Six Sigma works towards is improving profitability. Six Sigma also sets different standards, focuses on the processes and stands for quality. The factors have influenced many companies to implement this breakthrough strategy and as a result, they have experienced much success while doing so. Defined as a most powerful breakthrough strategy, Six Sigma is known to have the ability to achieve operational excellence. The Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy is accomplished through the use of various stages at each level of breakthrough – business, operations and process. It is believed that almost every organization can be broken down into these three levels. Each level involves applying the following eight phases: define, measure, analyze, improve, control, standardize and integrate. These phases are designed to ensure methodical and disciplined application of the strategy by recognizing processes that have fallen below specification and looking for incremental improvement. A portion of Six Sigma’s employees, whom are referred to as Green Belts and Black Belts, are responsible for the execution of this process. The employees in charge of overseeing and training Black Belts and Green Belts are known as Six Sigma’s Master Black Belts. Managing the Master Back Belts are Champions. Champions can either be categorized as a Deployment Champion or a Project Champion. Such individuals lead the initialization, deployment and implementation of Six Sigma. At the top of the employment chain is of course Executive Leadership. It is crucial for all implementation and deployment strategies to flow down from executive leadership. Six Sigma must first bring in forward thinking executives and managers in order to get people involved. In order to achieve success through Six Sigma, a company must be able to endure widespread changes. This system will show companies just how “average” they are and if applied with deep commitment, can enable businesses to reduce costs, increase market share and make a direct impact on bottom line profitability.
Class Relevance: Applying the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy to sales efforts could boost bottom lines. In our class, we discuss and learn how to engineer customer value, ensure return on investment and how to build an effective sales presentation. Six Sigma focuses on all around quality and providing consistent value to one’s customers. A salesperson’s main goal should be to ensure the customer’s complete satisfaction with the product or service. To achieve this goal, one must have a complete understanding of the customer’s needs and wants. Determining such information directly relates to the responsibilities of Black Belts. They are specifically trained in statistics and problem solving techniques. This is just one way that
