Quality Management: Six Sigma: Maximize the Benefits
Reinstituting long-forgotten elements of the original Six Sigma initiative increases profitability and improved margins.
To be successful, Six Sigma initiatives must be strategy driven, process focused and project enabled. Originally, Motorola designed a Six Sigma methodology with the goal of improving an organization's margins-quality and efficiency improvements were the byproducts. The methodology and discipline of Six Sigma incorporated and integrated the strategy, process and project elements. Unfortunately, as Six Sigma has evolved during the past two decades, several of the elements of the original methodology have been dropped. Therefore, many current initiatives are not driven by organizational strategy with an emphasis on profitability. Thus, the projects selected that do not meet the Six Sigma criteria are not given the support needed to achieve the expected benefits and take much longer than originally intended. As Mikel Harry states in his book, Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy, "Organizations that can't track effective quality improvements on profitability don't know what changes need to be made to improve their profit margins."