Has your company ever implemented a quality initiative that failed? Quality initiatives often are seen by executives as a financial burden and by employees as a way to make them work harder. Is this true? How can organizations benefit from implementing a quality initiative successfully and how can they do that? Which initiative has proven to be successful when implemented correctly? Six Sigma!

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Bring Quality Near Perfection
with Six Sigma

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Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control your way to success!
Has your company ever implemented a quality initiative that failed? Quality initiatives often are seen by executives
as a financial burden and by employees as a way to make them work harder. Is this true? How can organizations
benefit from implementing a quality initiative successfully and how can they do that? Which initiative has proven to
be successful when implemented correctly? Six Sigma!
Six Sigma is a management philosophy which aims at improving the business performance by eliminating defects.
This methodology was first introduced by Motorola engineers during 1980s, more specifically Mikel Harry studied
variation and together with other engineers used different tools to improve the processes with the most variation.
Six Sigma soon became a powerful methodology used by world class organizations to improve their business
processes. Six Sigma was made famous by General Electric, who experienced multiple successes due to an
effective implementation of the methodology.
Six Sigma is a methodology for process
improvement which tends to make organizations
effective and efficient by keeping customers and
employees satisfied.
This management philosophy uses the DMAIC
methodology as a roadmap for problem solving
and process improvement. Each phase of the
DMAIC methodology usually follows the order
define, measure, analyze, improve and control.
However, sometimes the project must be re-defined,
re-measured, and re-analyzed after
the data collected has been analyzed. The
methodology can only proceed to improve and
control phases once the Six Sigma team has
come to a final project definition
Data-based decision making is one of the most important elements of the Six Sigma methodology. Even though the
fear of using and applying statistics might sometimes make organizations not undertake this initiative, it is clear that
data-based decision making helps in taking better decisions. Professionals should overcome the barrier of learning
statistics and remember that it is used to describe, compare, and relate the data. The path of learning can be easier
if one understands the correlation between the three and then focuses on advanced statistical methods.
Many organizations get to see the performance of different processes when sigma performance is calculated.
Research shows that the sigma performance is usually lower than expected. What makes Six Sigma the ultimate
methodology is the fact that achieving a 6 sigma performance means having only 3.4 defects in a million opportunities,
which is close to perfection. Airplane industry is the only industry to have a better performance than 6 sigma in terms
of flight crashes. Research shows that in a million flights there are less than four crashes. Traveling by plane is safer
than traveling by train, bike, car or ship. In addition, research shows that the luggage process is a three sigma
process, which means that out of million pieces of luggage, the airplane will lose, misplace, misdirect, mishandle, or
delay 66,807 pieces.

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Lately, the uncertainty on whether Six Sigma is the greatest management philosophy has grown. Executives tend to
undertake other initiatives with the excuse that many companies have failed with Six Sigma. What they fail to realize
is that Six Sigma can be implemented incorrectly just like any other initiative. There are many factors that affect the
success of the project and they include:
• Senior Management Involvement - is crucial for the success of a
Six Sigma project as that is the only way for the executives to see
where the problems derive from. Executives can select projects
and teams, approve improvement ideas, resolve conflicts, provide
the resources for the project, and review the projects.
• Six Sigma Infrastructure Creation – makes resource allocation for
process improvement efficient. Research shows that failure to
create a suitable organizational infrastructure can lead to project
failure.
• Education and Training – is a key factor for the successful
implementation of Six Sigma. Training the team members will
reduce the chance of project failure. Preferably, all employees of
the organization should have some sort of awareness training so that they can get involved in the project
whenever necessary.
• Effective use of Six Sigma tools – will allow the Six Sigma team to implement the project correctly. It is
important that employees that undertake the training are those with strongest technical and social skills.
• Project Management Skills – are highly important when implementing a Six Sigma project. The project
team should be able to overcome the obstacles and achieve the project objectives on time and within
the planed budget.
• Communication – in Six Sigma projects is a substantial factor to facilitate the change without much
resistance.
Some of the reasons why Six Sigma has prospered include bottom line cost reduction, improved customer
and employee satisfaction, improved product or service quality, and process improvement through a common
language throughout the organization. As mentioned above, world class organizations such as Motorola,
General Electric, Allied Signal, Dell, Amazon.com, United States Army, Boeing, Ford Motor Company, and so
on, have benefited from Six Sigma implementation. Motorola saved $17 billion from the implementation of Six
Sigma, General Electric saved $750 million by making Six Sigma their quality culture, and many millions more
were saved by organizations and institutions worldwide.
“Measurement is the first
step that leads to control and
eventually improvement. If
you can’t measure something,
you can’tunderstand it. If you
can’t understand it, you can’t
control it. If you can’t control
it, you can’t improve it.” – H.
James Harrington

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International Organization for Standardization has created ISO 13053 which serves as a guideline for process
improvement. ISO 13053 describes the methodology for process improvement also known as Six Sigma. This
methodology aims at improving the business performance by eliminating defects and waste. Six Sigma can
make your organization efficient by generating higher profits. With ISO 13053 you ensure that quality within
the organization is near perfection. This international standard adopts the process model “Define-Measure-
Analyze-Improve-Control” (DMAIC) which is applied to the structure of all the processes in a management
system.
Implementing standards such as ISO 13053 is crucial for organizations that want to improve their business
performance. The organizations implementing Six Sigma will remain competitive due to the reduction in their
costs. Growing competition will make Six Sigma crucial for business sustainability, and as such the need for
qualified personnel on implementation and audit of ISO 13053 will keep increasing.
PECB (Professional Evaluation and Certification Board) is a certification body for persons on wide range of
international standards. It offers Six Sigma trainings to help you achieve your business objectives and reach
process efficiency while having satisfied customers. Successful ISO 13053 training completion validates your
knowledge in developing a Six Sigma project. It proves that you understand the Six Sigma tools and concepts,
and that you are capable to improve organization's bottom line. This training suits quality professionals,
project managers or consultants wanting to prepare and to support an organization in the implementation of
a Six Sigma project. In addition, ISO 13053 training can also be followed by auditors wanting to perform and
lead Six Sigma audits, and staff involved in the implementation of the ISO 13053 standard.
ISO 13053 and Six Sigma Trainings offered by PECB:
• Certified ISO 13053 Lead Implementer (5 days)
• Certified ISO 13053 Lead Auditor (5 days)
• Certified ISO 13053 Foundation (2 days)
• ISO 13053 Introduction (1 day)
ISO 13053 Lead Auditor, ISO 13053 Lead Implementer and ISO 13053 Master are certification schemes
accredited by ANSI ISO/IEC 17024.
Lorika Bina is the Quality, Management and Risk (QMR) Product Manager at PECB. She is in charge of
developing and maintaining training courses related to QMR. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate
to contact her at qmr@pecb.org.
For further information, please visit www.pecb.org/en/