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When Will Six Sigma Not Work?

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February 2011

The summary of discussions at QualityGurus.com

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 SS001

When Will Six Sigma Not Work?

The summary of discussions at QualityGurus.com

February 2011

In what circumstance should Six Sigma not be ap- • Clashes with other initiatives. Failure to link Six
plied. I’ve seen it both thrive and fail depending on Sigma strategically with business goals.
the circumstances and type of company its applied • If the data collected is not reliable.
to. Is there a sure fire sign early on that six sigma

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• If the project duration is too much,there is ten-
will not work for a particular organization?
dency to loose focus.
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• If the selection of six sigma project is wrong.
Here are some of the reasons of Six Sigma failure. 1 • Failure to recognize the need to properly roll out
training to the improvement team.
Failure is only the

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opportunity to begin Lack of Vision • The project is too large.
again more • Project objectives not defined correctly.
intelligently. ~Henry • Lack of clarity in business objective & vision.
• If there are too many independent variables that
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Ford • In organizations where no urgency for growth. cannot be managed.
• When you don’t want to increase your profit or do • Project stakeholders (the customers) had not been
not care about your customers. engaged fully through the lifetime of the project.
• Lack of proper understanding of customers and
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competition. E

Lack of Management Support

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• lack of understanding/interest in six sigma con-

cepts in the organization.
• Lack of interest/commitment from top manage-
ment.
• if your organization is weak with regards in man-
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agement and leadership.

• If companies fail to allocate proper resources,
funds, train, and dedicate the management to Six
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Sigma.

Incorrect Timing

• 6 Sigma implementation without building the

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quality culture.

Incorrect Approach

• Improvements may not directly result to increase

in profits or customer satisfaction (both inter-
nal and external customers) if the CTQ variables
aren’t accurately identified.
• Not understanding customer demands properly.
• Lack of review & reward recognition mechanism.
• Too many project improvement teams with lost
focus.
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