برنامه های شش سیگما : پیاده سازی مدل

Despite the pervasiveness of Six Sigma program implementations, there is increasing concern about implementation failures. One reason many Six Sigma programs fail is because an implementation model on how to effectively guide the implementation of these programs is lacking. Using a successful Six Sigma program in a Network Technology company, the purpose of this research is to develop an effective implementation model which consists of six steps. The first step is to perform strategic analysis driven by the market and the customer. The second step is to establish a high-level, cross-functional team to drive the improvement initiative. The third step is to identify overall improvement tools. The fourth step is to perform high-level process mapping and to prioritize improvement opportunities. The fifth step is to develop a detailed plan for low-level improvement teams, and the sixth step is to implement, document, and revise as needed. Important for both practitioners and academicians, implications of our implementation experience along with directions for future research are provided.

Many characterize Six Sigma programs as the latest management fad of improvement tools and techniques (e.g., Watson, 2006). It is well known that Six Sigma programs involve a host of critical decisions and many researchers have contributed to the existing literature. For example, Schroeder et al. (2008) have identified many critical decisions or elements of Six Sigma programs such as management involvement, improvement specialists, performance metrics, a systematic procedure, and project selection and prioritization. Six Sigma programs improve operational performance in order to enhance customer satisfaction with a company's products and services (Rajagopalan et al., 2004). Over the years, many companies, such as General Electric, Allied Signal, Raytheon, and Delphi Automotive have implemented Six Sigma programs (Treichler et al., 2002), and claimed that these programs have transformed their organizations. Six Sigma programs are heavily promoted in practitioners’ books on Six Sigma (e.g., Harry and Schroeder, 2000), and in academicians’ books on Operations Management (e.g., Jacobs and Chase, 2008). The American Society of Quality1 offers Six Sigma certifications; major corporations (e.g., General Electric Company, 2005) provide Six Sigma training, and a plethora of websites2 advertise Six Sigma solutions. Despite the immense popularity and the wide-spread adoption of Six Sigma, there is an increasing concern across industries regarding the failure of Six Sigma programs. One reason many Six Sigma programs fails is because an implementation model detailing the sequence of Six Sigma elements/activities is not available. The existing literature identifies many elements of Six Sigma which does enhance our understanding of Six Sigma programs. However, the success of Six Sigma programs hinges on the sequence of many Six Sigma elements/activities or a model for implementation. To put it differently, it is well known that one needs many ingredients for Chicken Curry. However, in order to cook a delicious Chicken Curry, according to Jaffery (2003), the recipe requires a sequence of ingredients/activities (e.g., heat oil, fry onion and garlic, add Indian spices, put in chicken, pour water, and let it simmer). Any unreasonable deviation from the recipe will lead to less than positive experience. In the absence of a recipe or a model, it is not surprising that many implementations of Six Sigma programs have failed. A survey of aerospace companies concluded that less that 50% of the respondents were satisfied with their Six Sigma programs (Zimmerman and Weiss, 2005). Another survey of healthcare companies revealed that 54% do not intend to embrace Six Sigma programs (Feng and Manuel, 2007). Companies such as 3M and Home Depot were not satisfied with their implementation of Six Sigma programs (Hindo, 2007; Hindo and Grow, 2007). Considering this, many authors question the return on investment of Six Sigma programs (e.g., Gupta, 2008). The real question is not whether Six Sigma programs have value, but why do so many Six Sigma programs fail? One reason many Six Sigma programs fail is because we lack a model on how to effectively guide the implementation of these programs (Wurtzel, 2008). Using a successful Six Sigma program in a Network Technology company, the purpose of this research is to develop a model to effectively guide the implementation of these programs. In the next section, we provide the theoretical underpinnings of a Six Sigma implementation model. Following a description of our research methodology, we present our Six Sigma implementation experience. Then, we provide implications of our implementation experience including directions for future research. Finally, we provide the conclusion of our research.

Using a successful Six Sigma program in a Network Technology company, the purpose of this research was to develop an implementation model which consists of six steps. The first step is to perform a strategic analysis which is customer/market driven. The second step is to establish a high-level, cross-functional team to drive the improvement initiative. The third step is to identify the overall improvement tools. The fourth step is to perform high-level process mapping and to prioritize improve- ment opportunities. These four steps are considered strategic decisions implying a top down approach where management was primarily involved in decision making. The fifth and sixth steps are to develop a detailed plan and form low-level improvement teams and to implement, document, and revise as needed. The last two steps are considered tactical decisions, implying a bottom up approach where engineers or technicians were primarily involved in decision making. In addition, important for both practitioners and academicians, several areas of future research are also discussed regarding the imple- mentation model. Lastly, this research provides a model to effectively guide the implementation of Six Sigma programs to reduce variation or waste from the operations. This is particularly relevant because today’s competitive environment demands that companies reduce variation (waste) to meet or exceed efficiency and responsi- veness requirements of customers. There is increasing pressure to pursue new ways of thinking as a source of competitive advantage. More research in this area is necessary to contribute to the science and practice ofimplementation of Six Sigma or any other process improvement model, to reduce waste and create value.