 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma Certification

Q: What is the certification policy at your organization for Green Belts, Black Belts and Master
Black Belts?

A: The Masco Builder Cabinet Group requires Green Belts to complete 64 hours of training, pass a
written examination, complete a project, and defend the project. The written examination lasts 2.5
hours and includes multiple-choice and true-false questions, calculations and hypothesis testing using
Minitab software (both normal and non-normal distributions). A score of 75 percent is required and
approximately 90 percent of those who take the exam pass. The project book is normally 70 to 100
PowerPoint slides and must include the use of hypothesis testing. The project defense is 1.5 hours
and is delivered to a consultant and myself.

Black Belt certification requires doubling the Green Belt requirements – a total of 128 hours of
classroom training, another 2.5-hour written exam, leading a project with strategic significance,
completing the project in less than five months, and defending the project. New this year is the
requirement that all Black Belts must already be Green Belt-certified. Our Black Belt pass rate last
year was only 67 percent, with most not being able to pass the defense or meet the project deadline.

Master Black Belt certification is a development program which includes the successful completion
and defense of two additional projects, completion of self-study assignments and presentations,
literature reviews, benchmarking, development of case studies, teaching of at least one wave of
training, and coaching of project teams by the Master Black Belt candidate. During the development
program, which may last five to seven months, the candidates are mentored by a Master Black Belt
supplied by our consultant.

Q: Is a strict certification policy necessary in your organization? Is it necessary in any

organization?

A: Yes, we are very strict in regard to certification. We expect our Green and Black Belts to solve
problems that are highly complex and/or highly cross-functional. We use other tools such as individual
problem-solving, Kaizen events, value stream mapping, and the Deming cycle (plan, do, check, act) to
solve the less complex and cross-functional problems. None of these require certification.

Our primary metric in evaluating our Six Sigma process is project success rate. Projects will not be
successful if the people leading and participating do not have the skills to manage and solve the
problems encountered in the project. We are also active in working with our customers on Six Sigma
projects. All of our sales and marketing directors, national account managers and area managers
(plus our vice president for sales and vice president for marketing) are at least Green Belt-certified.
This allows us to launch projects that matter to our customers.

Q: Is retraining and recertification a part of your program? Why or why not?

A: Both are required by the Masco Builder Cabinet Group. Green Belt recertification requires either
participating in or championing a project annually once the initial certification requirements are
completed. Black Belt recertification requires leading a strategically significant project and
advising/assisting on at least two other projects per year.

If the requirements for recertification are not completed, the individual is not recognized as being a
Green Belt or Black Belt within our organization. Retraining is required if the individual goes two years
without meeting the recertification requirements.

Just as with any other skill, practice makes perfect and failure to practice leads to a deterioration in
skills. As Dr. Joseph M. Juran said, "All improvement takes place project by project...and in no other
way." Our improvement efforts are only as successful as the people leading and participating in them.
Green and Black Belts who understand the process they are trying to improve, understand the tools of
Six Sigma, and are experienced in using them on a regular basis are the foundation of our success
and the key to our future.

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 Q: Who developed your certification criteria? And what is it based on?

A: We use the Juran Institute to certify all our Green Belts, Black Belts and Master Black Belts. The
criteria is based on what our consultant and the Masco Builder Cabinet Group believe to be "best in
class" Six Sigma practitioners.

The use of outside certification also is critical to our deployment and project completion success. Our
consultant brings a "brand name" to our certification and sends a message to all of our Green Belts
and Black Belts that we value their development.

Our consultant is able to assure we are current in all of the latest training materials and changes in Six
Sigma because they work with numerous clients in diverse industries. Finally, the outside certification
makes sure everyone meets the criteria for certification – no favorites, no free passes – including the
top 50 individuals in our organization who have all been certified and recertified.

Q: How do you value third-party certifications when evaluating job candidates from outside
your company?

A: Six Sigma certification from an outside party is valued more in hiring candidates outside the
company than "company certification." We have seen a great deal of variation in the certification
requirements from company to company – not only in the training, but also the type of projects
completed.

We have a limited number of full-time Black Belt positions and none of our Green Belts are full-time in
Six Sigma. We believe the project comes first, then the best people to improve the process are
assigned to the project. We have found that the most difficult part of completing successful projects is
understanding whom to get involved and how to get them involved – not the tools. People new to our
organization tend to have difficulty understanding the processes and people involved on complex
problems.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma Metrics

Q: What are some of the metrics used by companies that are

successful with Six Sigma?
 Innovative, as well as
A: The easy answer would be to review a list of classical and/or
typical Six Sigma metrics. Classical measures of quality such as classical/typical metrics
timeliness, accuracy, ease of doing business and cost are important make up successful
measurement frameworks.
and often abundant on most companies' Six Sigma measurement
 Vanguard translates
framework. Other typical Six Sigma measures such as rolled-
performance "voices" into
throughput yield, sigma and DPMO tell a good story, when applied
drivers and ultimately
properly.
CTQs, for a unique focus
on clients, business and
Still, simply collecting and calculating these measures are not enough crew.
to be successful. Successful businesses apply these metrics in the
right context and in innovative ways to solve client opportunities. Companies that are successful with
Six Sigma tailor metrics to align with core processes and its critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics.
Understanding clients' CTQs and ensuring they are measured and addressed are paramount.

Another element of success is ensuring measures are "leading" rather than "lagging." Leading
measures focus on the process, its inputs and suppliers, whereas lagging metrics focus on results or
outcomes. Ultimately, the truly successful companies understand the cause-and-effect relationship
between the leading and lagging measures.

At The Vanguard Group, feedback from clients, business leaders and the crew is collected, utilizing
both proactive and reactive means. By translating these "voices" into drivers and ultimately CTQs, a
measurement framework is constructed that has a unique focus on the client, business and crew.

Q: How can companies ensure they are measuring the "right" things?

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  Fundamentally
A: Arguably the most critical step in ensuring a company measures
understanding clients'
the "right" things is to understand its clients' needs. Fundamental
processes is a cornerstone.
understanding of a client's processes or value chain allows a company
 Prioritizing strong CTQs
to gain critical knowledge of a client's needs and therefore CTQs,
and metrics (though
enabling definition of business processes from the client's point of
correlation or causation)
view.
focuses on adding value.
A common challenge in identifying client-focused CTQs and metrics is the sheer number identified.
Complex business processes often deliver a lengthy list of CTQs, and therefore metrics. While all
CTQs are important, the right things to measure are those that are most critical. It is usually
impractical to measure every CTQ or metric identified due to limited time and resources.

At this point, a company must develop and utilize an effective means of separating strong from weak
CTQs and metrics. The means of prioritizing CTQs depends on the business, its clients and the
nature of its processes. In most cases, a correlation or (hopefully) causation link can be established
between an input and an outcome through quantitative and/or statistical means. In other cases, it may
be as easy as asking the client and utilizing a prioritization tool such as pairwise comparison or a
prioritization matrix.

However the CTQs are prioritized, ensuring that metrics are focused on successfully adding value to
the client is the way of ensuring you are measuring the right things now and in the future.

Q: Should Six Sigma metrics be distinct from the rest of the business metrics? If so, for how
long?

 As organizations strive
A: Ideally, Six Sigma metrics should not be distinct from the rest of the
to manage with data, Six
business metrics, but rather one and the same. Practically speaking,
Sigma metrics should be
however, this is often a work-in-progress, especially in the early stages
fully integrated.
of a Six Sigma implementation.
 Improvement projects,
business operations and
Consolidating Six Sigma metrics with business metrics is an exercise in leadership forums all
change management. The saying "never solve a problem before its leverage a common
time" applies. Forcing a business (and its culture) to change to a new measurement framework.
set of metrics can lead to resistance.

So what to do? Effectively managing a continuous improvement initiative, such as Six Sigma, will
produce a waterfall effect on metrics by not only identifying new ways to consider and measure what's
important to the business, but also creating better data the current business metrics are based on.

As continuous improvement initiatives are executed, more actionable and relevant business data is
produced. Business operations are motivated by results to incorporate Six Sigma metrics. With
leadership leveraging better business data, a more informed strategy can be put in place that better
addresses client needs and how the company can more effectively address them.

Q: What are some of the ways that these metrics can be effectively displayed to upper
management?

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 A: How the metric is derived and used is important. First, regardless
 Examples of effectively
of the tool, the metric must be based on data that is sufficient,
displayed metrics include
relevant, representative, contextual and timely. Without the data
dashboards and balanced
possessing these attributes, the metric based on this data can lead
scorecards, digital or low-
upper management to bad assumptions and wrong conclusions.
tech.
 The metrics displayed
Second, the metric must be actionable. An actionable metric is one should represent the most
that is accompanied by specification limits of some sort. critical drivers and outcomes
"Actionability" allows upper management to assess current levels identified for a business.
and determine whether or not those levels are acceptable.

Third, metrics should be presented in a format that establishes a clear "line of sight," cutting through
the business' core processes and, therefore, process owners. Establishing clear accountability not
only for the quality of the metric, but also the action taken to improve the metric is critical to the
success of the dashboard, and the business. Upper management should be able to consider a high-
level metric and drill down into the business to gain a better understanding of where the problem
originates (drive to root cause).

Last, metrics should be presented in a simple manner. Do not crowd as many metrics onto the
dashboard as possible, but rather present the most critical seven-to-twelve metrics required to run the
business successfully.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma and Employees

Q: What should a company planning to launch a Six Sigma initiative tell its employees about
the program and what it is expected to accomplish?

A: The truth. By that I mean discussions with employees should include not only what Six Sigma is,
but also the company's reason for undertaking the deployment. There are multiple reasons an
organization will choose to deploy Six Sigma, anything from quality to economics and shareholder
value. Generally some mixture of these reasons will push the deployment with primary focus on one
specific driver.

The primary focus for the deployment will have a great deal of impact on expected accomplishments.
For instance, if the purpose behind the deployment is primarily financial, employees should be told
about the financial situation of the company and the need for improving the value proposition. If the
focus is on improving quality, communications should contain an explanation of customer quality
expectations and current level of performance to those expectations.

Additionally, employees should understand their own roles in the deployment as well as those who will
be leading the projects. And employees should know the expected outcome of projects. Six Sigma is
primarily about changing the culture of an organization's problem-solving strategy. Culture change will
succeed or fail in accordance with the quality of communication leading the process.

Q: How can a company convince employees to fully support Six Sigma when process
improvements and productivity increases may lead to fewer jobs?

A: The message has to focus on the positive aspects of what Six Sigma can do for the company.
Conversations should be directed to the positive opportunities provided by a Six Sigma deployment,
such as how improving quality will lead to new business both with existing customers and prospective
customers.

There is a valid argument that in depressed markets, improved productivity can lead to headcount
reductions. However, allowing the organization to dwell on the negative aspects of improving
processes will not serve the employees or the company well in the long run.

Shift the focus from why it cannot work, to how it can work. The most important thing is to make sure
the leadership of the company stays positive. Remember, employees will be afraid of losing their jobs;
one wrong word from the leadership team can undermine the process. If the leadership team cannot
remain positive throughout the deployment, the employees will not either.

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 Q: What should employees look for in their company's Six Sigma program to see that it is
good for them as well as the company?

A: Employees should look at the metrics being used to measure the success of the projects under
way. Understand the focus for improvement, quality, scrap, yield and all the things that make the
company a better supplier or that improve customer satisfaction. Another key indicator of the value of
the project will be the focus on employee health and safety.

Employees will follow leaders who know how to manage; this includes the Six Sigma program. If the
employees of a company do not trust the management in the basic day-to-day running of the
business, they will not trust the Six Sigma deployment either. Using data can improve management
decision-making but it cannot make bad managers into good leaders.

Conversely, if employees trust their managers, they will continue to trust them through the Six Sigma
process. One way to insure employee trust is to measure the participants of the Six Sigma program to
the same degree we seek to measure our processes during projects. Measure not only the savings
realized but also the level of team participation, communication and leadership being driven by the
company's Black Belts and Master Black Belts.

Q: Does your company have a policy concerning employees whose responsibilities may be
affected by process changes? If yes, please describe it. If no, why?

A: Employees whose responsibilities are affected by project improvements are redeployed to another
area of the company. It has been the policy of our company to insure that the projects undertaken are
not focused on headcount reduction. No company can guarantee that a Six Sigma project will never
lead to a reduction in headcount, but undertaking a deployment specifically for this reason would be
tantamount to setting the process up for failure. The first time a reduction in customer orders drove
headcount reductions, the blame would be put on the Six Sigma program and all support would
cease.

Basically, all improvement processes have encountered this dichotomy. Any company's success rests
on the skill of its employees. But can a company be competitive in its market and maintain the trust of
its employees by providing employment even when the company is at risk?

Q: Has Six Sigma had a positive or negative effect on employee satisfaction in your company?
How do you quantify it?

A: Employee satisfaction has greatly improved during the last three years of our four-year
deployment. As with all new processes, the first year was spent in communication and building the
understanding of the process. During the last three years, the company has built that understanding to
a point that Six Sigma is requested by the employees of the organization in order to improve their
processes.

Of course, data speaks louder than conjecture. So we have an annual survey process to gather team
member satisfaction data from all Six Sigma project participants. This data is used in our annual Black
Belt review process as a key metric for overall rating. The feedback we get from the employees
guides us to any deficiencies that need to be addressed, as well as providing us with an
understanding of those outstanding Black Belts we have throughout the company.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma and Business Strategy

Q: Six Sigma is often considered the "make or break" strategy for a business, but we see
companies using Six Sigma both excel and flounder. Why?

A: Six Sigma has proved it can deliver stellar results in all types of industries – service, distribution
and manufacturing. Additionally, Six Sigma has proved itself in companies that ranged from thriving at
the top of their peer group, to struggling to survive, to bankruptcy. But that's not the whole story.

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 Efforts that are isolated in the organization, lack systematic implementation and lack key executive
support are more likely to flounder. Six Sigma, without the proper infrastructure, will at best provide
incremental gains and at worst will misdirect valuable resources.

Q: How have you seen Six Sigma best deployed into an organization's business strategy?

A: Six Sigma is best deployed into an organization's strategy when it is the "how to deploy" of the
strategy. Starting with the organizational strategy sets the tone for the entire organization. We use the
Hoshin planning process for our strategic plan development and the Kanri process as our periodic
management methodology. Put together, this is the Hoshin Kanri process which roughly translated
means "compass" and "directed."

Hoshin plans help key leaders focus on the vision for the company, ways to drive the breakthrough
strategies to achieve the vision and crisply defined tactics for each strategy. Metrics are assigned to
define success and measure progress. Planning at every subordinate level is required to demonstrate
how it is aligned to the plan above it, creating a cascade in which every strategy, tactic and metric can
ultimately be connected to the company's master plan.

An effective organizational strategy is surprisingly simple in structure. The beauty of a great plan is its
simplicity. Transforming a complex annual plan into a concise document requires focusing on the
critical few.

In order to achieve the plan, the Six Sigma skill set and methodology are required to achieve the
breakthrough goals. Some plans identify training and yield targets (yield is a measure of number
trained versus number certified) for Six Sigma. The real linkage of strategic plan to Six Sigma is that it
is difficult to achieve breakthrough goals in defects, speed and customer delight without using Six
Sigma tools.

Q: To be successful, does Six Sigma need to be deployed throughout a business, or can it be

deployed in selected parts of a business?

A: Six Sigma can be successful at either end of the spectrum – projectized or functional
implementation versus an enterprise-wide holistic approach. The difference between the approaches
is the magnitude of benefits and the probability of program longevity.

Deploying Six Sigma in selected parts of the business will most likely realize positive gains. The issue
is that there are diminishing returns. After the low hanging fruit is gathered, it becomes increasingly
challenging to identify viable opportunities. All organizations are composed of intertwining and
dependent processes. In our modern organization, few processes are completely stand-alone. There
are linkages to reporting systems, suppliers, customers, business partners, regulators and multiple
internal functions. For Six Sigma to truly become part of the organizational culture and therefore self-
sustaining, a holistic approach is required.

A holistic approach requires the mapping of organization processes with functional interconnects
identified. Six Sigma projects are executed with the good of the whole as a key underlying principle.
Cross-linking the projects with a management tool similar to a management by fact (MBF) aligns
projects and provides Belts with the big picture. Metrics are identified in a way that complements and
accelerates progress.

Q: If Six Sigma is not "driven by the top" (by the CEO), is it doomed to failure?

A: Yes. It is always best when initiatives are sponsored and driven by the top of an organization. No
level of effort can substitute the impact of top-driven initiatives. When the CEO is the driving force,
results can be spectacular.

Bank of America is an example. The bank's CEO, Ken Lewis, reports: "Using Six Sigma, our payment
error rate has gone down 22 percent and we have increase payment speed tenfold in the same time
frame. We have reduced the deposit error rate by 83 percent and increased customer delight...from a

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 baseline of 41 percent to almost 52 percent. All of those have contributed to the addition of more than
2.5 million customers during this period."

Driving Six Sigma from the top is only part of the story. Driving Six Sigma at the top is like driving a
"how to" without the "what." The "how to" is Six Sigma, the "what" is a strategic plan – the two must be
connected. Just driving Six Sigma creates a number of projects that may be isolated and difficult to
connect to the needs of the overall business. Eventually, if the projects are not linked to achievement
of overall business goals, there will be a hunt for hard savings. Six Sigma can provide so much more
benefit to all the facets of the business. So for the most successful program, it should be driven from
the top – both by the CEO and by the corporate strategy.

Q: Is a Six Sigma pilot program beneficial or detrimental to a company contemplating

deploying Six Sigma?

A: A Six Sigma pilot program is not the ideal approach to a program startup. Nevertheless, with no
other options, if properly managed within a tight schedule, significant value may come from a pilot.
Pilot programs have typically been individual, disconnected projects focused on reducing expenses.
This may set the perception of Six Sigma within the organization. It may be difficult to transition from a
project-focused expense approach to a holistic improvement program addressing all facets of the
business. Even though excellent projects may have been executed in the pilot, the perception of the
program may already have been set. Six Sigma works best when it is integral to an overall quality
program that addresses the entire business.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Hiring and Training Black Belt Leaders
Q: What are the skills, knowledge or traits most often possessed by successful Six Sigma
Black Belts?

A: Successful Black Belts overcome virtually all barriers to successful project completion. That
includes even such basic problems as poor project selection, lack of Six Sigma infrastructure, poor
Champion support and lack of data. A company seeking to select or develop successful Black Belts,
should start by looking for a person with a well-balanced set of leadership, analytical and project
management skills.

Within the leadership category, successful Black Belts candidates are results-oriented and particularly
strong in people, thought leadership and change management skills. For instance, Black Belts must
be confident enough to lead any team of subject matter experts and senior leaders on a Six Sigma
project. They are hands-on go-getters who have records of driving results. In addition, they have the
ability to see downstream impacts throughout the entire firm. Finally, they are eager to accept the role
of change agent, and have the ability to facilitate change through strong listening, influencing,
presentation and communication skills.

In terms of analytical skills, successful Black Belts usually make sound and solid decisions based on
data. They dig deeper into the root cause of a problem. They are not satisfied with recommendations
that are not supported by data. They ask the right questions…and keep asking questions. They do not
give up. The biggest mistake companies make when selecting Black Belts is to put too much
emphasis on the candidate's ability to run statistical analysis. Having an affinity for statistics, math and
science remains important, but, with friendly statistical software so available today, running statistical
analysis is not as challenging it once was. What is essential is the ability to understand data being
analyzed and make the right decisions.

In general, Black Belts with project management experience perform better than candidates who have
none. Either formal training or strong experience in project management will provide Black Belts with
the tools required to effectively run meetings, establish goals, define roles and responsibilities, assign
tasks, close issues, resolve conflict and move projects forward. There is a direct relationship between
effective project management and project cycle time.

Black Belts who combine a well-balanced set of leadership, analytical and project management skills
with strong knowledge of the Voice of the Customer and other disciplines such as legal, compliance,
marketing, finance, operations and technologies are more likely to succeed in their Six Sigma
journeys.

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 Q: Who do you find perform better, Black Belts with business backgrounds or Black Belts with
quality backgrounds?

A: Black Belts with business backgrounds generally perform better because they have a broader
perspective of their companies, industries and marketplace. They understand the big picture in terms
of finance, compliance, legal, risk management and marketing. Black Belts with quality backgrounds
do not have experiences that provide that same broad business perspective. This is because most
companies make quality departments back-end operations, at the "end of the assembly line." The
misconception that quality departments are "cost" drivers versus "revenue" drivers limits the
department's personnel.

Regardless of the Black Belt's background, a company should expect a Black Belt to close major
competitive gaps by either enhancing the customer experience or generating positive economic profit.

Q: When hiring Black Belts or Master Black Belts from outside your own company, what
qualifications are most important to you?

A: The three most important qualifications are:

1. Experience in Six Sigma methodology and tools

2. Overall Six Sigma deployment knowledge
3. Cultural compatibility

Trying to assure the proper level of expertise on the first two qualifications, many companies make the
mistake of thinking it is enough for candidates to be "certified" belts. Unfortunately, the lack of
certification standards for Black Belts and Master Black Belts has contributed to an increasing number
of candidates who, even though certified, have not mastered Six Sigma skills. For example, it is
possible to find certified Black Belts who have never used any statistical software during the Analyze
phase and/or do not understand what a project primary metric is.

Companies should look for hands-on experience in DMAIC, DFSS, Lean, TRIZ and other Six Sigma
complementary methodologies, as well as experience using statistical and flowcharting techniques or
software. Asking the following questions will minimize the risk of hiring unqualified-yet-certified belts:

• How many Six Sigma projects have you completed?

• How many Six Sigma projects have you coached?
• What are the three most critical Six Sigma issues?
• What are the three Six Sigma success factors?

Finally, it is important that hiring managers take cultural compatibility seriously. To avoid the problem
of belt attrition due to lack of cultural fit, hiring managers should develop a belt-position profile to
reflect the company's unspoken rules and corporate culture.

Q: How much and what type of experience would you like Black Belts to have before you
would feel comfortable hiring them?

A: The level of expertise of a Black Belt or Master Black Belt depends on the number of completed
projects, number of belts coached and overall teaching experience.

Having completed or coached a minimum of 10 projects for Black Belts and 20 projects for Master
Black Belts would be considered enough. If a candidate has fewer completed projects, obviously, the
hiring manager should find out why, and take that into account.

The extent of a candidate's teaching experience can be an indication of their Six Sigma knowledge.
But the kind of teaching is noteworthy. It does not take the same knowledge to teach awareness
training as it does Black Belt training. Because both Black Belts and Master Black Belts are change
agents who share knowledge with other employees, they must be able to deliver Six Sigma training at
different levels.

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 Q: What is your opinion about company-issued Black Belt certifications versus third-party
(non-company) certifications?

A: The certification process is inconsistent among both company and third-party vendors. On one end
of the spectrum are certified belts who took an on-line test with no classroom attendance or Six Sigma
work experience. At the other end are certified belts who have weeks of classroom attendance, two to
twenty completed projects, a test with a 90 percent minimum score, an interview in front of a
board, and several hours of teaching and coaching. Simply, a person can get certified in a matter of
hours or years.

Any certification process – be it by company or vendor – is shaped by the needs, strategies and
requirements of the company for whom the belt is being trained. Therefore, companies considering
hiring from outside should plan to understand what each candidate underwent to earn certification,
and information about the company for which they were being certified. The screening process to
select the best candidates should be tough.

In addition, I have these final recommendations:

• Companies should develop their own rigorous certification process that others will recognize.
• If a third-party vendor is used, its role should only be one piece of the certification process.
• Any third-party vendor used should be one that is well known and respected by the Six Sigma
community.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma – The Way We Work
Q: Jack Welch, former CEO and chairman of GE, made the phrase "The Way We Work" popular
among employees by associating it with the company's Six Sigma initiative. Do you think he
was successful in internalizing Six Sigma in all work processes and people at GE?

A: Jack Welch was successful in making it "the way we work." In all probability Six Sigma is not in all
GE work processes and it probably should not be.

From a change management perspective, there is a model that identifies various groups in an
organization: 15 percent will change anything any time, 35 percent are early adopters, 35 percent are
late adopters and 15 percent say "over my dead body." I have not seen anything to substantiate the
percentages, but the four groups definitely exist. In most organizations, doing a good job with the first
three categories is sufficient. When approximately 85 percent have institutionalized a change, the last
group will either drift over or the culture will alienate them to the point they look for other options.

From a Six Sigma and Lean perspective, you do not want to expend resources on all process. Unless
you are completely leaned out, you will end up wasting resources improving non-value-added work.
That is a losing strategy.

Q: What are the most critical factors involved in changing business processes so that Six
Sigma is part of the "organization's DNA"?

A: At an organizational level, they are alignment and accountability. A clear vision or burning platform
supported by effective strategies is absolutely critical in setting expectations for the rest of the
organization. Vertical and horizontal alignments get everyone on the same page. Vertical alignment
assures that the people are lined up with the vision. Many companies talk about this but few do it well.
Horizontal alignment makes sure the processes are lined up with the customers. Most companies
don't seem to realize this type of alignment is critical.

When expectations are clearly deployed throughout the organization, there has to be accountability.
Another GE mantra is "make your numbers." Your GE-to-English dictionary translates that as
accountability.

At the personal level, the issue boils down to leadership and the ability to demonstrate the following
elements to send a clear and consistent message that Six Sigma is how we do business here:

1. Setting Focus – Demonstrates a relentless, consistent, unwavering view of the importance in

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 driving continuous improvement actions via Six Sigma. No blinking when the tough choices have to be
made.

2. Structure – Leadership teaches, coaches and makes decisions via the same structures that all
other organization members abide by – DMAIC. Leadership walks the talk and shows it every day in
their actions

3. Discipline – Leadership demonstrates an unwavering discipline in fact- and data-gathering through

DMAIC versus decision making with hunches/personal feelings. Leadership is fluent in Six Sigma and
participates in teams. Leaders demonstrate discipline and role model Six Sigma for everyone in the
organization.

4. Ownership – Ownership is demonstrated through a strong knowledge of the DMAIC tools, the key
questions frequently asked, and the care taken to nurture further Six Sigma growth in the
organization.

5. Resource Allocation – Leadership makes sure that everyone in the organization has the needed
resources to take the Six Sigma actions necessary to do every job better and eliminate waste.
Leaders challenge the way resources are allocated, always verifying that projects are being worked
on and given the resources that will allow the projects to add to the organization's overall
performance.

6. Involvement – That each employee can say: "I am just as involved as leadership in Six Sigma
actions. Leaders routinely ask me questions about the black or green belt project I just completed. I
know what other continuous improvement actions/wins have happened in my site because my
leadership communicates with me regularly."

Q: Some very successful salespeople view the Six Sigma methodologies (DMAIC and DFSS)
as limiting their creativity. How can Six Sigma be incorporated into a salesperson's
processes?

A: The operative words are "successful salespeople." The ones who seem to push back the hardest,
when you look at the numbers, are not the top people. The one-to-one contact between a
salesperson and a customer is very dynamic and fluid. It offers the least opportunity for improvement
in terms of effort and probability of success.

If you have a successful salesperson, the intelligent strategy is to put them in situations where they
can do what they do best. Work on marketing data and strategies, inside sales and lead qualification
– that will put a successful salesperson in the most advantageous position. The followup to a
successful sales opportunity is equally critical. That process needs to be flawless. It will create the
opportunity for additional sales to an already-satisfied customer and a reference for new customers. It
is typically the least expensive sale so there is business leverage in optimizing that process.

In Six Sigma terms there is no logic in tying up a successful salesperson in a process that does not
deliver what was sold. That is rework and a waste of a valuable resource.

Q: Can you think of any role or function within a business that wouldn't benefit from
internalizing Six Sigma into the way they work?

A: I have never seen a process yet that did not have some opportunity. The more important question
is "is there a business benefit?" Business benefit defined in the context of voice of the customer,
voice of the business, voice of the employee.

When I was at Motorola in Sequin, Texas (USA), I had the opportunity to brainstorm with a group of
janitors. They felt they had been left out of the Six Sigma effort. They had chosen to focus on clean
restrooms. We defined defects and a measurement system. They collected and analyzed data. It was
a lot of fun and worked well for them.

When you get that level of "pull" from the organization, then you are doing things correctly.

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 Q: At some point, can an organization that has internalized Six Sigma give up the name "Six
Sigma" and have the same culture, which, in fact, is just the way they work? Have you seen
this happen anywhere yet?

A: If a strategy, any strategy not just Six Sigma, over the long run is dependent on providing some
false deity that people rally around, it hasn't been institutionalized, i.e. enrolling people in the idea that
it is the most efficient and effective way for them to think or behave. There is a saying that "no result +
a good story = a result." It is a little sarcastic but if you are dependent on the Six Sigma title for a
result, you are probably still running on the good story.

I have not seen it recently. There is a commercial advantage to participating in a Six Sigma initiative.
If you have read The Deviant's Advantage, you can definitely recognize the transition from a fringe-
dweller's methodology to a more ritualistic approach. It seems to be caught between "the next cool
thing" and "social convention," so the title has become more robust.

When I was asked to consult with AlliedSignal Automotive in 1995, I had trouble figuring out what I
was being asked to do. I had been gone from Motorola for three years and the name "Six Sigma" was
not that well recognized in industry. The methodology was still the way I approached a problem
regardless of the type of industry I was working in. You get to the point where you aren't worried
about if it is Lean, TQM, Six Sigma, TPM, etc. You are just doing the job. The companies where I
have worked didn't really care what I called what I was doing, provided there was a successful result.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma Adoption and Cultural Issues
Q: What employee adoption issues are associated with a new Six Sigma deployment?

A: The most common response from employees deploying Six Sigma is, "Here we go again!"
Organizations that pursue improvement opportunities have often used other methodologies. The
common question is: "What makes Six Sigma any different from the other initiatives we've tried? Why
does this work any better than the programs we already have in place?"

There is often skepticism in the advertised benefits of Six Sigma; average cost savings of $250,000
per project seems like a lot of money, especially when it can add up to billions of dollars saved over
several years.

Effective deployments require full-time support from Black Belts, as well as significant time from
others supporting Black Belt project teams. Providing those resources, and getting the day-to-day
work done without the people deployed to do Six Sigma, often creates anxiety.

A company asked, "Does Six Sigma apply here? It may work if you're building pagers, but what about
the kind of work we do?" Even among organizations with similar products and processes as
companies that have successfully deployed Six Sigma, there is a strong conviction that they are
somehow different so it won't work here.

Without the support of senior leaders, change initiatives are destined to fail. When employees see that
their leaders are not providing the resources and necessary support for the deployment, they have an
excuse not to support it themselves.

Q: What strategies work well when it comes to training employees and convincing resistant
employees to adapt to new ways of working?

A: The ultimate convincer is success – achieving the goals and objectives that have been identified by
the organization as critical for their continued success. However, just telling stories of successful
projects doesn't necessarily get all employees excited about Six Sigma.

At one financial services company, there was significant discussion at the outset of the deployment
around the integrity of results. They put financial gates in place to qualify projects that truly created
bottom-line results, and then audited the projects one year after completion in order to ensure the
results lasted. The audit verified that the results were real. Communicating the criteria surrounding
projects and their subsequent success created credibility with those outside of the deployment.

Another company created financial incentives for project results; not just for Champions, Black Belts

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 and their teams, but also for the area where process improvements were made. The entire
organization had a piece of variable compensation at risk for Six Sigma results, which created interest
and support for the deployment.

Communicating success stories with the intention of generating enthusiasm for Six Sigma does pay
dividends. Any initiative that is not understood will be viewed skeptically. Sharing stories and
encouraging participation in the effort excites those involved. Our experience shows that employee
satisfaction scores are higher for those involved in Six Sigma than the rest of the organization.

Q: Do you recommend that companies review their culture before implementing a Six Sigma
initiative? How is that review used when assembling their deployment plan?

A: Absolutely. A Black Belt working projects can deliver significant savings to an organization.
However, without the support and focus of the organization, a Six Sigma deployment will not alter
how people behave and solve problems, and thus, achieve the substantial improvements that
successful Six Sigma deployments offer.

There is no one right way to deploy Six Sigma. The infrastructure and support for a successful
deployment should be contingent on the culture of the organization, and the context of the times that
Six Sigma is deployed. An understanding of the culture and context offers insights into opportunities
and barriers to address when trying to gain the support of employees in embracing Six Sigma.

Culture is defined by the norms and values – both formal and informal – that an organization lives by.
Understanding the cultural readiness for a change initiative will facilitate decision-making around the
topics of Black Belt selection, retention and repatriation. This cultural readiness knowledge will help
shape all aspects of a successful deployment.

Q: How can companies maintain a positive culture and momentum for Six Sigma as the
initiative matures and employees turn over?

A: The Six Sigma methodology is most successful when integrated into a company's business
strategy, and not deployed merely as an off-the-shelf tool kit or a set of training sessions. Though
many corporations initially consider Six Sigma only for profitability, they quickly learn that Six Sigma is
the best business transformation program available today. The real benefit of Six Sigma is the culture
change to becoming a customer-focused, fact-based, data-driven organization. The ultimate measure
of Six Sigma success is when your company can say "It is the way we work."

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma and Return on Investment

Q: Why do you think people hear stories about companies

failing to achieve adequate return on their Six Sigma
investment?

A: We hear stories about these failures because
they occur. The question is why do they occur?
One significant reason a program doesn't
achieve targeted returns is a lack of senior
management commitment. Invariably when this
is lacking, the initiative becomes a training
exercise characterized by poorly conceived or
poorly supported projects rather than a plan to
drive business results with projects based on
relevant business cases. Training is expensive.
A big expense with no focus on results yields
little or no returns.
If I were tasked with a Six Sigma project which
management wasn't fully supporting, I'd scale
back my expenses to match to the number of
good projects I could convince well-intentioned
Champions to support. By driving results on
These kind of improvements can impact a
company's intrinsic value, thus creating
shareholder value well in excess of any project
savings. To assign value to such improvements,
one must look to more sophisticated valuation
theories such as Economic Value Analysis,
which addresses shareholder value in a more
significant way.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
achieving a satisfactory ROI?
A: The most critical success factor is project
selection.
If ROI is your objective, you have three variables
with which to maximize it – lower the investment,

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 those projects while maintaining low expenses,
I'd ensure a high return on investment which I
would market internally to gain the senior
support needed to ensure success of a larger
expenditure.
Q: How do you measure Return on
Investment (ROI) in a Six Sigma initiative?
A: The return on any investment compares the
costs, or investment, over time to returns over
time, discounted by a risk-adjusted rate to take
into account the value of money over time. Due
to the tremendous impact of Six Sigma, the most
sensitive variable in this calculation is the
returns, and not the costs.
Returns can be segregated into hard and soft
savings. Hard savings are those that are more
easily traceable to actual cash, like reduced
waste or headcount reductions. Soft savings are
those that are less "bankable" like reductions in
cycle times. While hard savings calculations are
pretty much the same from project to project and
company to company, there is tremendous room
for interpretation with soft savings. Common and
simple errors in calculating soft savings are
things like counting gross sales improvements
rather than the net from sales, or measuring
working capital reductions rather than the
reduced financing costs. But even with all the
room for interpretations and mistakes in soft
savings, not to develop an accepted
methodology for assigning value would
disregard a significant source of benefits.
Whether hard or soft, one interesting
observation is that few organizations calculating
returns differentiate between one-time and
recurring savings. Recurring savings obviously
are worth a multiple of one-time savings and
should be counted by calculating the present
value of the related cash flows over the time
period they recur. I think organizations don't do
this in the interest of being conservative, but
they don't realize how conservative it is.
raise the annual returns, or reduce the time in
which gains are achieved. The most sensitive
variable is raising targeted returns. Returns are
a function of many interrelated variables. Some
of these are the quality of the training event, the
quality of the candidates, senior management
support and the size of the opportunity. But I
would argue that the most sensitive variable is
the selection of projects.
The success of projects is most dependent on
alignment to the company's initiatives, assuming
the initiatives have been correctly aligned to
stakeholder concerns. In its simplest form, the
initiative could be cost savings. Of course, once
again, targeting strategic goals that redefine the
company can have a much greater effect on the
returns on an initiative.
A good program will hit enough hard savings
projects to achieve an acceptable ROI, move to
goals with even greater impact, such as revenue
projects that can change the company's growth
rate, and finally, move to goals aimed at
redefining the company's competitive position.
Q: In this tough economic climate, why
should companies spend money on Six
Sigma?
A: Quite simply, there are few investments that
can provide the same rate of return. However,
once the low hanging fruit is harvested, the
success of the implementation becomes more
about alignment to the right problems – and that
is a more difficult objective.

However, the greatest difficulty in measuring

ROI in any performance improvement initiative is
assigning value to non-cash-yielding
improvements, like if the initiative boosts sales
growth rates or advances the company's
competitive position.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Starting a Six Sigma Initiative

Q: What can an organization establishing an Office of Six Sigma/Quality learn from the
companies which have been most successful at setting up such offices? How did those
companies go about it and with how many people typically?

A: Full deployment is often suggested as the best way to initiate Six Sigma; however, it is typically
better to grow into an overall system. In the real world, most companies don't have the bandwidth to

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 create an infrastructure that can support a very large, instantaneous Six Sigma deployment. A small
but committed force of the right people given the proper authority can do wonders to get things
started. Companies which are successful implement a system that builds upon the lessons learned
and successes of others. Approaching initial implementation of Six Sigma through a pilot program has
advantages; however, it is essential at the onset that the right people are involved, doing the right
things.

Companies that have successfully implemented Six Sigma share some basic characteristics –
committed leadership, use of top talent and a supporting infrastructure. This supporting infrastructure
involves a formal project selection process, a formal project review process, dedicated resources and
financial system integration. However, the Six Sigma implementation team can encounter significant
resource restrictions. Frequently, a major limitation is that only part-time resources are to be used.
This can lead to the training of Green Belts or Black Belts, who will have little, if any, infrastructure
support. Teaching Six Sigma and Lean tools without the suggested infrastructure will not provide a
satisfactory evaluation of Six Sigma. A pilot assessment not only needs one or more Six Sigma
projects, but also must include dedicated resources and a formal project review process. To assure
this, top-level management should agree at the outset that the pilot program will include a Six Sigma
infrastructure modeled after other successful deployments, and will include well-defined measures to
judge the pilot project's success.

As part of this pilot program, a Six Sigma steering committee needs to be created to manage the
overall Six Sigma process. A Six Sigma director, who is a well-respected change agent within the
company, should be chosen. He/she needs to believe in the concept of Six Sigma and have the drive
to make Six Sigma successful. The Six Sigma director needs to be a dedicated resource. Exceptions
to this rule are justified only for small organizations. The steering committee should carefully select
two to ten employees who will be trained in a public Black Belt workshop, where each trainee is a
dedicated resource for the completion of assigned projects.

Regularly scheduled on-site and/or remote coaching sessions also should be conducted between four
separate weeks of training. A project coaching session should include the project's Champion, team
members and process owner. The sessions could be conducted remotely but the frequency of
coaching should emulate a full-scale deployment; e.g., weekly report-outs. Scheduled monthly
executive presentation times should be established where the steering committee, sometimes with the
aid of teams, presents the Six Sigma pilot status with quantifiable results.

Upon completion of a successful Six Sigma pilot, the scale of the deployment is simply expanded to
other areas of the business, incorporating any lessons learned from the pilot session.

Q: What magnitude of resources/dollars should be committed for the first three years of a Six
Sigma initiative? Is there a rule of thumb?

A: If Six Sigma costs anything, something is wrong. Six Sigma is an investment upon which
organization and personal existence/excellence depends. When Six Sigma is implemented correctly,
it should yield a return of at least 20 times the investment in three years.

When setting up an infrastructure, companies can easily become penny-wise and pound-foolish. For
example, companies might insist on saving money by using Black Belts who are part-time. With this
approach, projects

can fall off the Black Belt's plate, resulting in project completion difficulties. Companies can achieve a
much larger return on investment with dedicated resources. It is important to get the right people
involved doing the right things. In addition, organizations need to view Six Sigma as an
implementation methodology that does more than just pick and complete projects. The
implementation of Six Sigma must impact how people think and perform their day-to-day work. Wisely
applied, Six Sigma metrics and improvement strategies can get organizations out of the firefighting
mode and into the fire prevention mode. For this to happen, organizations need to measure the right
thing and then report it in a fashion that leads to the right activity.

Q: Does a Six Sigma organization need to be run by a Master Black Belt or a Black Belt to be
effective?

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 A: Making it a requirement that the leader of a Six Sigma organization be or become a Master Black
Belt or Black Belt can lead to the selection of the wrong person. The leader of a Six Sigma
organization needs to be familiar with the tools and methodologies of Six Sigma and Lean. He/she
needs:

• To be able to look at the big picture and orchestrate activities that get the right people
involved doing the right things.
• To be able to ask the right questions.
• To be able to motivate people so that projects are completed in a timely fashion.
• To understand the overall Six Sigma project execution, step-by-step roadmap and check
sheets for project completion. (This understanding is necessary so that he/she can lead
practitioners into doing and completing the right tasks in a timely manner.)
• To practice and demonstrate Six Sigma methodologies in his/her day-to-day activities.
• To be able to understand and convey the methodologies and benefits of Six Sigma to others.

A high mark in all the above skill-set categories is hard to find in any one individual. Real-time
coaching of a Six Sigma leader who has all the right interpersonal relationship skills can be an
effective compromise. With this approach, a Six Sigma coach works with the leader on the
improvement of his skills so that he/she asks the right questions or directs practitioners to the correct
application tool. This approach can be more effective than hiring or reassigning a Black Belt or Master
Black Belt to run the operation.

Q: Must a new Six Sigma initiative be promoted by upper management? If so, how would you
recommend it be communicated?

A: Advocacy selling of Six Sigma can originate at any organizational level; however, the effectiveness
of such promotion increases when originated at the executive level. It has been said that the only
reason people change is either to seek pleasure or avoid pain, where stimulus from avoiding pain is
larger than seeking pleasure. GE employed both of these methods in their rollout of Six Sigma.
People had to change or they would be terminated – the painful stick. In addition, a system was set up
so that people who accomplished tangible results with Six Sigma were rewarded – the carrot. The
creation of a burning platform – a visible crisis – is an effective approach to convey the importance of
instituting systematic improvements to the enterprise. The necessity of change should be presented in
such a way that it is not only easy to understand, but readily internalized. The presentation should
show that when there is an alignment of Six Sigma work with business needs and/or operational
metrics, both existence and bottom-line excellence can be achieved.

 Ask the Expert - The Topic: Six Sigma Vision

Q: What should a company's vision be for their Six Sigma initiative? Should it be to target 3.4
defects per million opportunities for every process?

A: Creating a vision for a Six Sigma initiative requires a good understanding of the Six Sigma
methodology, its intent and its benefits. Without clearly understanding its benefits, the corporate
vision could miss its true objective. For example, one company understands Six Sigma as a DMAIC,
and therefore, a five-step methodology. For another company, Six Sigma is understood as a strategy
to dramatically improve business. Is Six Sigma a strategy, a methodology or a hammer?

GE sees Six Sigma as its DNA, Motorola sees it as a "culture thing" and Honeywell sees it as a
standard of excellence. Born as an approach to accelerating improvement, promoting employee
teamwork and achieving total customer satisfaction, Six Sigma was initially criticized for its unrealistic
target of 3.4 defects per million opportunities, then analyzed to its limits and finally institutionalized at
many corporations. Six Sigma is now generally comprehended as a strategy to improve corporate
performance through continual reconfiguration, and a methodology for dramatic improvement,
employee innovation and operations resulting in the best product or service at the highest profit.

With this understanding of Six Sigma, the corporate vision must look beyond the number 3.4. The
vision must incorporate the philosophy, the methodology and the expected outcome. The vision
needs not be a glamorous statement. Instead, the vision must be a set of words that relates to a
particular corporate culture and a new direction to produce better corporate performance through a
dramatic improvement in operations, and yet abiding by a company's core values. At Motorola, the
incubator for Six Sigma, vision also included beliefs, goals and initiatives.

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 Q: Do all Six Sigma companies have roughly the same vision? Can you provide an example or
two from your clients?

A: It is interesting that there is great similarity in the key words of many vision statements. But if
correctly developed, each vision statement is born from a different feeling -- a feeling specific to a
company, its people, its objectives and commitment to the initiative. Sometimes, vision statements
may not even include "Six Sigma words." However, their intent reflects a commitment to achieve
dramatic improvement. Here is an example of a vision statement:

Vision: Leading provider of integrated test systems, and engineering and manufacturing solutions to
meet customers' outsourcing needs.

Initiatives:
1. Integrate all locations seamlessly.
2. Implement Six Sigma methodology to achieve
excellence.
3. Manage projects well for efficiency and profitability.
4. Implement a Business Scorecard to manage
business by facts.
5. Grow business to achieve company's mission.
6. Create a fun and learning environment for employee
growth.

Here, no specific mention of Six Sigma is included in the vision statement; instead, Six Sigma is
mentioned in an initiative aimed at realizing the vision.

Q: A number of experts say companies should show "quick wins" when implementing Six
Sigma to build support. Is this the right approach?

A: When I was at Motorola, we started Six Sigma with small or quick wins. However, the corporate
commitment to implement Six Sigma was not contingent upon the success or failure of those small
wins. Instead the purpose of small wins was to learn more about the methodology before
institutionalizing it. Unfortunately, some companies play for quick wins as a way to avoid making the
big commitment to the Six Sigma initiative. Those companies are indecisive. They have not done their
homework, and have fears about throwing away money in the Six Sigma basket, just like they had
seen it done in the past with TQM, ISO 9000 and many other similar "programs of the year."

Instead, I suggest that a CEO or the leader of the company must first learn a lot about Six Sigma, its
benefits and its methodology. The most important aspect is to understand Six Sigma's intent. I believe
if various methodologies are implemented in accordance to the original intent, the results are
guaranteed sooner or later. If the commitment is only in compliance with the methodology and not the
spirit or intent of Six Sigma to achieve better results, then the consultants, subject matter experts or
statisticians take over and success is no longer guaranteed. Six Sigma and strong leadership lead to
many quick as well as big wins. So, quick wins are good, but they must be sought only after an
absolute commitment is made to Six Sigma.

Q: Many people dislike vision and mission statements. What would you suggest to be an
appropriate and beneficial alternative for them?

A: Vision or mission statements with audacious words and without supporting action items become
slogans. The slogans stay as long as the leader stays. As soon as the leader leaves a company, the
slogan bites the dust and the vision becomes blurry. Each corporation must have a vision to
communicate its future direction and expectation to its employees, suppliers and customers. How it is
communicated depends upon the company's leadership style and management systems. Rather than
in a statement, the vision could be communicated using visuals throughout the company, leadership
actions and interaction with employees.

People dislike vision and mission statements when the statements do not seem to relate to them, and
when they do not translate into relevant actions. People love corporate vision and mission statements

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 when they are communicated and executed through passionate management commitment. In
addition to vision statements, progress towards realizing a company's vision also must be
communicated to employees. That is best done through measurements, such as Six Sigma Business
Scorecard or other Dashboards.

 Ask the Expert: Deploying & Implementing Six Sigma

How long should a Six Sigma implementation take?
As little time as possible. However, when executed smartly, even an aggressive implementation will
take 12 to 18 months to feel like you're out of the "initial implementation" phase. From the time you
make your decision to proceed, you need to train the executive team, establish support systems, train
champions, allow sufficient time to select training candidates and first projects and then proceed
through the first round of Black Belt training. That will take a minimum of six to eight months, and of
course you're not done.

To truly answer this question, we need to provide a definition of done. Does it mean, "I'm done with
consultants and I do my own training?" Does it mean X projects completed? Or does it mean, "My
Company really feels like a different place to work - we're seeing a real change in the culture toward
one that has a greater appreciation of quality, approaches problems in a more structured manner, and
is more data driven in its approach to decision making." Expect that to take 18 months for a small
company or business unit, and three-to-five years for a large organization.

Q: Do you recommend a phased or "big-bang" deployment approach for your clients?

A: Either is acceptable, but what I don't like is a "pilot" program. Telling people you're piloting
something is like saying, "you have the power to kill this if you don't give it an honest effort. If it
doesn't go well, we'll quit." That can turn failure into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Compare that to a
phased approach in which we agree where we're going, we're just going to take it one step at a time.
That's alright, but don't go too small. If the implementation isn't big enough to maintain the focus of
the senior management team, you're going to have problems. I prefer to see a deployment no smaller
than a single profit and loss center which means someone has the authority to say, "this is how we're
going to do it," and then stick with it.

I see a lot of consultants sell clients on the big-bang. Why not? They make more money. But many
companies find the implementation of Six Sigma much more challenging than they anticipated.
There's a general rule of thumb - train 1% of your employees as Black Belts. But for most companies,
that's just too many in the first year of a deployment. It's not a question of how much money you want
to save; it's a question of the bandwidth of an organization.

Take, for example, a company of 10,000 people. The 1% thumb rule comes to 100 Black Belts. Now
consider that each Black Belt will work on an average of two projects at any one time and each
project to be supported by six team members. That would equate to 1,300 people leading or
supporting Six Sigma projects. It's more than most companies can manage.

So you need to establish the right pace and scope of deployment and unfortunately, there is not
canned answer to the question. Each company is unique.

Q: Do you suggest building an implementation team that consists of your own consultants as
well as a company's internal personnel?

A: A company has to assign its own people. For one, they don't want to be beholden to consultants
forever, but secondly, consultants are not leaders within the business - they're consultants. In fact, the
more heavily weighted toward insiders the better. Consultants should be used to provide guidance
and experience, but what's different about Six Sigma as compared to other types of consulting is that
the goal is to teach companies to solve their own problems - not to hire consultants to solve problems
for them. So there should be a disproportionate number of inside team members.

Q: At what point does a client typically become self-sufficient in their Six Sigma initiative?

A: Again, depends on the client. Some say, we want to be training our own Green Belts in a year,
Black Belts in 18-months, but we'll never train our own Master Black Belts. Others say, "We focus on
our core business and outsource training." In most cases, clients want to be self sufficient in a year

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 but find it takes closer to two in reality. The key is that your initial plan takes into account your goals
and is designed to get you there. If you want to do your own training in a year, you can't wait until
Black Belt certification is complete to decide who your Master Black Belts will be, you have to identify
them almost from the beginning and start providing them opportunities to practice teaching. For most
companies, training Green Belts internally makes a lot of sense, training Black Belts internally makes
sense for bigger companies, and training Master Black Belts rarely ever makes sense. As for
management team members, such as champions, you need someone very effective to teach
internally, but it can be done.

 Ask the Expert: Integrating Lean And Six Sigma

What is Lean?
Lean is a methodology that is used to accelerate the velocity and reduce the cost of any process (be
it service or manufacturing) by removing waste. Lean is founded on a mathematical result known as
Little's Law:

Quantity Of Things In Process

Lead Time
Of =
Average Completion Rate/Unit Of
Any Process
Time
The lead-time is the amount of time taken between the entry of work into a process (which may
consist of many activities) to the time the work exits the process. In procurement the Things in
Process are the number of requisitions, in product development the number of Projects In Process,
and in manufacturing the amount of Work In Process. Lean contains a well-defined set of tools that
are used to control and then reduce the number of Things in Process, thus eliminating the non-value
add cost driven by those Things in Process. The Pull/Kanban system puts a cap on the number of
things in process, thus putting a cap on the lead-time. Lean also contains tools to reduce the quantity
of things in process including setup reduction, total productive maintenance, 5S, etc. For example,
setup reduction allows the reduction of the time spent on producing a quantity of any given offering or
product, reducing lead-time without reducing the completion rate. The Lean methodology has a bias
for action, leveraging Kaizen to rapidly improve processes and drive results.

Q: Why should Lean be important to Six Sigma professionals?

A: Whereas Six Sigma is most closely associated with defects and quality, Lean is linked to speed,
efficiency, and waste. Lean provides tools to reduce lead-time of any process and eliminate non-value
add cost. Six Sigma does not contain any tools to control lead time (e.g., Pull systems), or tools
specific to the reduction of lead time (e.g., setup reduction). Since companies must become more
responsive to changing customer needs, faster lead times are essential in all endeavors. Lean is an
important complement to Six Sigma and fits well within the Six Sigma DMAIC process. Additionally,
the Lean Kaizen approach is a great method that can be used to accelerate the rate of improvements.

You need to improve quality so you can achieve maximum speed, and you need to do the
things that allow maximum speed in order to reach the highest sigma levels of quality. In other
words, you need both Lean (speed) and Six Sigma (quality) principles and tools to drive
improvements in ROIC and achieve the best competitive position.

Q: Can you provide an example of how Lean coupled with Six Sigma would help address a
transactional process issue? A manufacturing process issue?

A: The processes of all companies and organizations must:

1. Become faster and more responsive to customers

2. Achieve Six Sigma capability
3. Operate at world class cost

Only the combination of Six Sigma and Lean can fulfill all three goals. In any process, Lean Six Sigma
creates a value stream map of the process identifying value add and non-value add costs, and
captures the Voice of the customer to define the customer Critical To Quality issues. Projects within
the process are then prioritized based on the delay time they inject. This prioritization process
inevitably pinpoints activities with high defect rates (Six Sigma tools) or long setups, downtime (Lean
tools). In manufacturing, a further benefit results from a reduction in working capital and capital
expenditure. We have found over the last 15 years that these methods apply in virtually every kind of

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 process from healthcare to financial services to energy to manufacturing.

Q: What role can Lean play in a company that has already started implementing Six Sigma?

A: Lean will add another dimension of improvement in process speed and reduction of non-value add
cost. Further, by accelerating process speed, Lean provides faster feedback and more cycles of
learning enhancing the power of Six Sigma tools. For example, an L18 Design of Experiment might
require about 100 separate runs to optimize parameters and minimize variation. Reducing the lead
time by 80% will allow the fractional factorial design to be completed five times faster. In addition, the
Lean Kaizen approach allows Black Belts to implement rapid improvements whenever possible.

 Ask the Expert: Large & Small Deployments

Implementing Six Sigma: A financial decision or a strategic one?
Implementing a company-wide initiative like Six Sigma is best accomplished when it becomes part of
a strategic plan. A strategic plan is a long term (3 - 5 Years) business plan which defines the long
term goals and resources required to achieve the goals. More than likely it is also a financial decision
that led to selecting Six Sigma as the long term initiative. Most organizational long term plans are
financially focused. Goals do not become part of a plan unless they will achieve some financial benefit
for the company. So it seems that you cannot have one without the other.

Although Six Sigma projects can and are, completed in a few months, creating a customer focused,
Six Sigma focused company requires multiple projects over a number of years. Without management
on board with a long term plan, the implementation of Six Sigma could be derailed too early to gain
the true benefits. Benefits such as enhanced customer loyalty, reduction in costs of poor quality,
improved profitability, and greater shareholder value, will not occur in the short term (less than one or
two years). To achieve these benefits management must be able to devote resources long enough to
gain the results. Only initiatives that are part of the strategic plan will survive long enough to reap
these benefits.

Q: Can all companies -- large and small -- save money by implementing Six Sigma?

A: All companies can save money by reducing the causes of defects in products, deficiencies in
services and processes, and by improving sales through greater customer satisfaction. However, a
small company (less than 100 employees) will have fewer resources available than a larger company
(1000 employees) to complete projects. The magnitude of improvement will be different between
large and small companies. A small company also may have a lesser need to improve than a larger
company. Small companies have fewer employees wearing "multiple hats" when carrying out tasks in
a process. With fewer employees involved there may be fewer deficiencies to improve on. A larger
company will have multiple employees and functions involved, creating complexity and possibly a
greater amount of deficiency in the processes.

The main difference between small and large companies will be how to train employees in the tools
and techniques of Six Sigma. The short term costs for training and the length of time to complete
projects may take longer than in a large company. This mainly occurs because smaller companies
cannot free up too many individuals in a short period of time to make the improvements.

Q: Are there other reasons to look to Six Sigma besides financial ones?

A: If an organization's Six Sigma effort is only focused on costs savings it will be missing a valuable
opportunity. Institutionalizing Six Sigma means having an organization become so knowledgeable
about its customers it can create a competitive advantage. Knowledge of what is critical to customers
becomes the focus of improvement projects. By focusing on customers and eliminating problems for
customers an organization it should be able to reduce costs and enhance customer satisfaction. By
having products and services designed with the customer in mind should lead to improved sales. The
combination of the two will provide a solid financial return for the organization. Focusing on the cost
side will be a short term benefit only.

Q: What should a company interested in deploying Six Sigma look for in a Six Sigma
consulting company?

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 A: With 24 years of service Juran Institute has tried to focus on this question to make sure our clients
gain the benefits of its improvement initiative in the least intrusive and most sustainable way.

When selecting a consulting firm one should look at the firm's history, credibility, integrity and the
ability to transfer knowledge.

For history: understand how the consulting firm originated, what kind of experiences have they had,
who were their customers.

For credibility: check to see if the firm is well written about in the journals, frequently invited to speak
at conferences, and if they sustained a good track record of results for other clients.

For integrity: ask the firm's competitors what they think about the firm they want to select. Good firms
are not only liked by their clients but also by their competitors as well. A firm speaking badly of a
competitor most likely lacks the integrity needed to develop good relationships with.

Transferring knowledge is an important aspect of a successful consulting firm. One should evaluate if
the firm gives you the tools, techniques, and materials necessary to operate without the consulting
firm after the initial implementation.

Q: Who should Champion the Six Sigma deployment within a company?

A: Champions at all levels are key to deploying and sustaining a Six Sigma initiative. However, to
gain a credible start the Champion should initially come from top management. The candidate must
be well regarded in the organization and understand the key business drivers in the company. Most of
the Six Sigma Champions come from operations, finance, quality or office of the CEO. In most cases
a senior executive is assigned the task of leading the initiative.

For projects a good Champion is one who will lead the way for a Black Belt. Challenge the system,
remove obstacles. These Champions are usually mid to upper level executives willing to challenge
the status quo and have the authority to do so.

In a small company the owner may be the Champion and the executive staff may be the Black Belts.
So it is important to not make a generalization as to what makes a good champion.

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