Six Sigma Failures – How to Avoid?

In recent times, Six Sigma has been implemented by many companies but not everyone has attained benefits. There are success stories and there are failure stories as well. The question here is why does Six Sigma fail and what are the ways through which we can avoid these failures. Six Sigma is a quality improvement process that is extensively used in the manufacturing industries. It is implemented in other domains as well. The improvement process starts takes off like weight reducing motto and slows down at the same pace. Most of the times, people who are looking forward to reduce weight starts off with extensive dieting and exercises. The start is exciting and amazing but the end comes fast. They stop gradually as they are either bored, left unconvinced or do not have any factors to get motivated.

It is quite similar with Six Sigma. Quality Improvement teams who are responsible for implementing Six Sigma towards improved goals start with enthusiasm and power but slow down the pace over a period of time. They start losing faith on Six Sigma principles and get distracted in the middle of the process and thus leading to Six Sigma failures. In this article, let’s have a look at some of the most common reasons behind Six Sigma failures and try to understand the ways to avoid the same.

Lack of Training is one of the major reasons behind Six Sigma failure. People are not well trained on quality management areas in order to manage one. Failure can happen due to many reasons and at times, these reasons can be as trivial as it can. May be some documenting is not correct or billing is not proper. All these hamper in the improvement process of a project or product development. Statistics might be wrong, presentations might fail and many such issues.

In order to avoid Six Sigma failures, one needs to understand the reason behind failing; if it is the training, the implementation or the team. Six Sigma mostly fails due to team members’ lack of knowledge. On such situations, team members should be adequately trained on Six Sigma. Along with theoretical knowledge, they should also be aware of its practical implementation. There are many training organizations that offer Six Sigma training and certification. Organizations prefer certified Six Sigma professionals as they have a professional certification to support their adequate knowledge on Six Sigma. Six Sigma failures might at times due to improper implementation.

When you stretch a rubber too long, there is a time when it breaks. One needs to understand when to stop the process. Similarly in Six Sigma, professionals should ensure that the process is in place and structured. Implementation of Six Sigma is thus essential in quality management. Another reason might be the project team. If your team is incapable of handling the improvement process, Six Sigma might fail drastically. Similarly, competition and value to matters amidst Six Sigma team towards ensuring success of improvement process.

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