When is a company ready for Six Sigma ?

Ernst & Young measured 500 companies in 1992, on three categories: Profitability, Productivity & Quality. They concluded that Six Sigma approach achieves best results if implemented by high-performance organizations. Medium and Low performance companies should consider some building block steps first.

• Low Performance: Concentrate on basics, Problem Solving, Cost Mgmt, Customer innovation
• Medium Performance : Set goals & monitor, Process simplification, Department improvement teams, involve middle management.
• High Performance: Benchmark against other firms, empower employees, Communicate strategic plans, continuously improve.

Six Sigma may not be right if:

• Company has strong process improvement efforts in place
• Current changes are overwhelming company people and resources
• Potential gains are not sufficient to finance investment to support Six Sigma.