There are many people who say that my business is already the pinnacle of the industry, and I don't need to do anything, let alone Six Sigma. If you think so, you couldn't be more wrong. History is full of cases where complacency has led to missed development opportunities and eventually overtaken by competitors.
Nokia, the former hegemon of the mobile phone market, was quickly surpassed by Apple's iPhone and Android mobile phone manufacturers in the market due to its failure to adapt to the trend of smartphones and the change of operating system in time.
Kodak, once unrivaled in film photography, failed to seize the opportunity to transform due to its slow response to the digital photography revolution, resulting in its business model quickly becoming obsolete and eventually having to file for bankruptcy protection.
Blackberry, in the early days of smartphones, held a leading position in the commercial market with its unique physical keyboard and security. However, with the popularity of touchscreen technology and changing consumer preferences, BlackBerry failed to adjust its product strategy in time, and its final market share shrank significantly.
Yahoo!One of the giants of the early days of the Internet, due to its failure to transform and innovate effectively, missed several important development trends such as search engines and social networks, and was eventually overtaken by companies such as Google and Facebook.
A master of humor, Willie Rogers famously said:
To understand Six Sigma in depth, you don't have to delve into statistics. In fact, Six Sigma can be interpreted from multiple perspectives. Before we get to Six Sigma management, let's figure out why it can make such a big difference.
statistical indicators to measure the performance of a process or product;
Pursue the goal of performance improvement;
A management system that achieves sustained leadership and world-class performance.
Business processes that go against the customer's requirements can lead to defects, complaints, and increased costs. The ideal state is zero defects to avoid losing money and customer satisfaction due to defects. For example, processing 250,000 credit card bills, even if it reaches 9938% accuracy (four sigma level) and about 1,550 customers are still dissatisfied. Imagine apologizing to these unhappy customers one by one.
Six Sigma aims to set a higher standard for defect-free products and services. Although Six Sigma acknowledges that there will always be latent flaws, it sets a high standard of almost zero errors for many products and processes – 999997% performance level.
A comparison of the costs of running a pizza business at 99% quality and Six Sigma level clearly shows the benefits of achieving Six Sigma. The cost of 99% operational quality can have a significant impact on financial results.
Processes in many industries originally operate at the one- to three-sigma level, especially in the service and management sectors. This means that for every million opportunities, there may be between 66,000 and 700,000 defects. Reducing defects is not only good for keeping customers happy, but it's also profitable.
Studies have shown that maintaining a 5% increase in customers can increase profits by more than 25%.
Six Sigma provides a common goal for the manufacturing and service industries, setting both short-term and achievable goals. This is not only a process of striving for perfection, but also an effective management strategy to improve efficiency and reduce losses.