Six Sigma in sight: with Six Sigma techniques, managers improve processes and quality based on hard data

HR Magazine, March, 2004 by Linda Heuring

When DuPont discovered that some employees applying for long-term disability had along wait for an answer--up to six months--the human resources team turned to a familiar process to solve the problem: Six Sigma. Similarly, HR professionals at Motorola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Ford and others apply Six Sigma to fix, improve and sustain HR processes. "It's the way we do work," says Steve Constantin, global HR director for Dow.

"Six Sigma is a quality improvement process starting with the voice of the customer and using data and statistics to solve customer problems," says Lori S. Miller, HR generalist at DuPont headquarters in Wilmington, Del. Six Sigma is organized around individual projects with finite time-lines, each project beginning by forming a team to identify the customer and the customer's needs. The team measures how those needs are being met, analyzes the variables that affect customer satisfaction, improves the process, and, finally, locks in improvements to control the process--all part of the Six Sigma methodology to define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC).

Named for the measure of variation that is key to the statistical analysis in the process--the Greek lowercase letter sigma ([sigma]) mathematically represents standard deviation--Six Sigma was invented at Motorola in 1987. Since that time, it has evolved from a measurement scale to a far-reaching methodology that drives business improvement and "a management system for governing high-impact improvement efforts," says Tom McCarty, director of consulting services for Motorola University.

Motorola credits Six Sigma with $16 billion in savings over the past 12 years. Ford reports more than $1 billion saved since 2000. Dow, which launched Six Sigma in 1998, attributed $1.5 billion in cumulative earnings before interest and taxes to Six Sigma by the fourth quarter of 2002.

The payoff comes, these companies agree, because Six Sigma becomes a way to work rather than a program. That cultural change is driven by company leadership.

"It has to be driven from the top. It can't be perceived as the program of the month, or it won't get the weight that you have to have in order to make change," says DuPont's Miller.

Randy Canfield, chief financial officer for the Performance Management Group of Countrywide Financial Corp. of Calabasas, Calif., has been involved in Six Sigma for 13 years. "If the CEO doesn't own the initiative and require involvement and results in the world of process improvement, then it won't happen," he says. "If it's not a high priority for him, no one else in the organization will see it."

Getting Started

Motorola's early success with Six Sigma spread informally to other companies in the late 1980s. Today Motorola University trains external students in Six Sigma. A number of consulting firms, often staffed by ex-Motorola, Allied Signal or General Electric employees, offer Six Sigma training and consulting.

To implement Six Sigma, most companies begin with an executive summit, what Motorola calls a "leadership jumpstart event." Generally a two-day meeting facilitated by a consulting group or an insider who has been trained in Six Sigma, the meeting introduces senior leaders to Six Sigma and aligns its implementation with the company's business strategy.

Rick Schleusener, master consultant with Six Sigma Academy--a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company that has helped train many companies to adopt Six Sigma techniques--says he works with customers to see what obstacles are in the way of achieving business goals and to identify where the company will use Six Sigma to "move the needle" in those areas. After that summit, the leadership team commits to the process, often setting goals and linking those to executive compensation.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Once Dow decided to embrace Six Sigma, human resources created a curriculum design team, which developed courses specifically on Six Sigma as well as segments on conflict resolution and conflict management to better prepare the selected employees for their new roles in leading and coaching teams through projects, Constantin says.

Training is provided for all workers, starting with executives, who are labeled "champions." Steeped in the statistical process are "black belts," generally high-potential employees pulled from their regular positions and charged with completing projects. They are assisted by "green belts," employees from any level who are trained and complete a certification process.

Completing projects is an integral part of the training program, according to Debbe Yeager, deployment director for consumer-driven Six Sigma at Ford's corporate headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. It's more than a "mass of training to check the box," she says. "With adult learning, they really need to practice by doing."

Black belts return to their regular jobs after two years and continue to use the Six Sigma tools they learned. At Dow, Constantin says the goal is to have every professional employee black-belt trained, and black-belt designation has become an integral part of the business operation, including HR.