In any organization, quality control, especially of its output processes, is extremely important for its overall success and growth. Therefore, many organizations have started adopting the Six Sigma methodology, which is nothing but steps or processes which any organization can use to ensure that the output processes are perfect in terms of quality. In other words, by the use of these processes, you are assured that your products or services are hundred percent free from any defect. However, in order to truly succeed in these projects, it is important to fulfill certain criteria or requirements.
Black Belt
Before we delve further into what black belt projects entail and how to handle those for your organization, it is important to understand the basic meaning. Black belt accreditation means and includes that the Six Sigma professional is well versed with the tools that you require for completing the Six Sigma processes and tests. Data collection and analysis is their forte, in which they have extensive experience. They also act as liaisons between the people working on the project and the Champions, and are most important in the chain of project management.
Cooperation between management and employee performance
When handling any Six Sigma black belt project, it is important to ensure complete cooperation of the management and employees. Most processes have specific steps and stages, which are often used as a measure of the efficiency and productivity of the organization. What makes these projects interesting and more effective is that they have qualitative standards for management as well as employee performance. This ensures that there is no lapse in quality from both sides, requiring both to perform to the best of their abilities for a defect free result.
Online banking case study
A simple case study to demonstrate the functional aspect of the black belt project of Six Sigma is that of a black belt working in an online bank that needed significant improvement in its overall performance. The first process included understanding the ways in which deposits were made, which incidentally were local. In other words, customers made their deposits locally, which were then shipped to the central processing unit of the bank for further processing. This method was adopted because the customers felt it to be more secure and for the fact that it took less time for depositing. The black belt project went further into these reasons, trying to find out whether they were really increasing the output of the company, in terms of quality, or not. What made the study significant is the fact that through data collection and analysis, the project managers were able to identify the problems with the current mode of bank transactions and convert them into more successful ways.
In short, identification of issues and processes that require improvement is one of the first aspects of any Six Sigma project. Tools like the Fishbone diagram, failure mode analysis etc can be used for identifying faulty processes and ways to improve them. Moreover, these processes trace back the defects in the processes right up to the root cause, enabling you to modify them and improve your organization’s quality.
