In the Philippines, Six Sigma Training is an example of a certification that many companies look for. It’s a methodology that is very useful in almost every industry and situation—particularly in making processes more efficient and improving overall performance.
That being said, even a profound certification course as Sigma Six can be relatively unheard of by people who don’t actively seek to become better, more proficient leaders in the industry.
Six Sigma Training in the Philippines is very valuable. It will be a big help, not just for job opportunities, or career advancements, but for yourself—as it will make you a more logical, and increasingly focused person.
Six Sigma: The Methodology of Optimizing Processes
Six Sigma can be traced back to the late 90s, but the term sigma has been used since the 1920s as statistical process control. It was Motorola that first used Six Sigma as a quality goal in 1984. It’s believed to have been formed thanks to the 60 years of quality improvement theories.
Motorola later realized that for a simple quality goal, Six Sigma could actually be applied to many other aspects of the business—not just to identify defects in parts manufacturing. This eventually leads to more and more companies discovering and making use of the methodology.
That said, it was in the late 1990s that Six Sigma truly became a phenomenon, particularly when Jack Welch, GE’s chairman, and CEO proclaimed amazing saving as a result of Six Sigma.
Nowadays, Six Sigma is considered a necessity.
“Six Sigma is a quality program that when all is said and done, improves your customer’s experience, lowers your costs, and builds better leaders.” – Jack Welch
It’s basically a set of tools and methods that aims for business process improvements and quality management. The goal when using Six Sigma is to improve the quality of your operations by identifying defects, pinpointing their causes and overall optimizing the processes to increase the repeatability and accuracy of the results.
Kimberly McAdams, a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Principal with Firefly Consulting, states that “Six Sigma is a methodology and set of tools that help us measure what we do and then improve what we do. It really can work in any industry and in any type of business because everywhere we have a process, we can study it, measure it, and try to make it better.”
The simple act of looking for and reducing defects leads to an increase in efficiency. This, in turn, results in better quality and timeliness of product delivery—further resulting in employee enthusiasm and confidence.
Similar to the aims of leadership training and personality development in the Philippines, the Six Sigma methodology aims to achieve the best possible output for your processes. It makes use of a number of statistical methods to detect problems and improve processes. Most of these are very much data-driven improvement and executed with specific steps in a defined sequence—all with a specific improvement target in mind.
That said, Six Sigma is literally just a plan of action if it not were for its methodologies. In the Philippines, Six Sigma training focus on the two major ones: DMAIC, and DMADV.
The DMAIC method is primarily used for improving business processes that already exist—meaning it’s a way to assess the present situation of what the company is working with. It stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.
First, you Define the problem and the improvements you’re looking for. When you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve and what the hurdles are, it will be easier to look for the causes and solve them.
Next, you measure the various aspects of the current process. The more detailed you are the better. This step will provide you with a more accurate interpretation of the state of the business processes. Having factual data at your disposal will help in the later steps.
You should then analyze the data with the goal of finding the root defects in the process. With factual data at your disposal, you can get an almost complete look at the whole system.
After analysis, you should have a good idea on what the problem is, therefore, the next step is to Improve the process. Focus on the defect and find ways to remove or at least reduce it.
Once the improvement is done, it’s very important that you start controlling the process more closely. This will help you prevent it from going back to its rather inefficient state.
The DMADV method is usually used to help create new processes and new products and/or services. The letters stand for Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify.
The first step involves Defining your project goals. You should think of what you need the most for processes or what your product aims to be.
Afterward, Measure the crucial components of the processes or the distinctive capabilities of the products.
Analyze the information regarding the new process or product and come up with design ideas—choosing the best one in the end.
Design and test the process, making sure that you identify any important points of interest.
Lastly, Verify the design by running simulations through the use of pilot programs or manually testing out products before handing the mover to the clients.
Other valuable methodologies include the Five Whys and the CTQ Tree. Both of which are useful in certain situations but are still arguably not as effective as DMAIC and DMADV in general.
The Benefits of Six Sigma
There are a lot of companies offering Six Sigma Training in the Philippines for a reason. It brings about a number of important benefits to the company—not including the already powerful business process optimization that it brings to the table. Some of the other benefits that it brings include the following:
Employee Motivation
Money and resource may be what your company needs in order to enable operations and boost production and such, however, it’s the people that truly bring operations altogether. When your employees genuinely enjoy their jobs or provided with appropriate training, they become assets that ultimately improve the operations by a lot.
Every business that aims for success needs to use this to their advantage. They should make sure that their employees are highly motivated and engaging. Organizations that have most of their employees fully engaged in the workings and processes they have are usually the ones that have high productivity and great overall performance.
The Six Sigma Methodology usually includes tools, techniques, and mindsets that help make the lives of your employees better either by improving their workflow or by providing facets for employee development.
Increased Customer Loyalty
One of the most prominent variables that pertain to quality service includes customer satisfaction. When customers are consistently contented with the level of service that they experience, they’ll patronize your business, ultimately, developing a sense of loyalty to them.
That’s why you should aim to improve on your customer loyalty scale by making sure that your customer satisfaction levels are consistently good.
Keep in mind that a common reason why customers prefer to not return to a business or a company is because they are dissatisfied with the service and/or because of unsightly employee attitude.
Through the implementation of Six Sigma in businesses, will help reduce the cases of unprofessional behavior from employees and dissatisfaction with customer service.
Enhanced Strategic Planning
Due to the detailed methodology included in Six Sigma, it’s considered a very important part of any and every strategic vision. In essence, Six Sigma will provide you with a great way to look for areas of improvements. It could also be used to further that agenda. Instead of stopping at identifying these setbacks, Six Sigma can go as far as to solve it and make it as optimized as possible.
The Scope of Six Sigma Process Improvements
The Six Sigma methodology started out in the manufacturing industry. Over the years, it has slowly been integrated into other industries, making it an incredibly versatile method of optimizing business processes and increasing overall efficiency. In the Philippines, Six Sigma Training doesn’t necessarily focus on just one industry, it is taught meticulously so as to give the people all of the knowledge that they need.
In essence, Six Sigma can be applied to any industry where the processes or the quality of these need to be improved. Here is a short list of industries that actively seek experts in the Six Sigma Methodology.
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Manufacturing
The industry where it all began. In a way, the Six Sigma process is designed to be fully functional and reliable when it comes to eliminating defects in the production line. Even with recent advancements in the manufacturing industry, the Six Sigma Methodology is still preferred.
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Construction
Another industry that is very much filled with processes in every phase. The construction industry almost always works within a time frame—and that means any delays in the system will prove disastrous.
Two things are important to almost every construction company: the safety of their employees and the pace in which they get the job done. Through the use of Six Sigma, construction companies can experience an improvement in their overall processes and a more reliable timetable as to which their projects are finished.
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Product Management
More of a career than a whole industry, Six Sigma is very useful for product managers everywhere. Since it’s basically a structured and disciplined process for solving problems in business processes, it can be vital in making sure that your products, services, and processes.
The most prominent methodologies used by Six Sigma are perfect for product managers. For example, the DMAIC will help easily identify faults in the processes or operations, augmenting the usual workflow into something faster.
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Finances
Banks, in particular, makes use of Six Sigma to optimize their client invoicing processes. it also helps streamline their collections and increase sales. In actuality, you can’t just implement the Six Sigma methodology onto financial institutions because they usually have different types of products and processes as other industries have.
However, with a few minor modifications to the principles of Six Sigma, it can be effectively put to use in these institutions.
Levels of Six Sigma Training
Six Sigma Training in the Philippines is the same as in other countries. Certifications can be divided into levels which basically shows how proficient and knowledgeable you are at the methodology.
The levels that Six Sigma has is much like that of martial arts such as taekwondo. The levels are called belts, and there are three primary ones (although there are a number of other levels with matching colors that aren’t usually part of the hierarchy, or not as important when it comes to beginners.
The lowest part of the hierarchy is called the Yellow Belts. Yellow belt training can be likened to an introduction to the concept and methodologies involved in Six Sigma. Most of it involves only the basics so that you, the trainee will be able to help out the green and black belts as they lead the projects forward.
Next in the hierarchy are the Green Belts. Professionals that want to pursue Six Sigma needs to have completed at least three years of full-time employment in projects directly related to processing improvement. There’s also usually an exam that they need to pass in order to be awarded the belt.
Green Belts technically focus on the DMAIC method and study how they are used in certain case studies. Subject matters usually fall under specific parts of the DMAIC method and focus on improving that skill.
Black Belts are considered professionals in Six Sigma. However, to be applicable for a certification, you must have completed two Six Sigma Projects with signed affidavits and three years of work in one of the core knowledge areas which must be full-time paid employment.
Aside from the improved study of the tools and strategies of Six Sigma, you also begin to study and uphold the Six Sigma philosophy and principles—ultimately resulting in you being able to lead effective teams over a wide range of improvement strategies.
These are the three primary levels of Six Sigma, but there’s also one more at the very top called Master Black Belt.
In order to become applicable for the Master Black Belt certification, you need to pass many requirements. That said, this is one of the most sought-after certifications as it holds large authority and confirms you as a true expert of the Six Sigma Methodology.
Experience the Best Six Sigma Training in the Philippines with Inspire
In the Philippines, a leadership training and Six Sigma certification are arguably two of the most looked-for credentials in a number of industries. Six Sigma Training is relatively easy to find, however, only a handful are as all-encompassing as the certification program that Inspire provides.
If you’re looking for Six Sigma Training in the Philippines, Inspire Leadership Consultancy is your best bet. For more information on Inspire and our Six Sigma certification program, visit our website!