In times of recession, many businesses struggle and some go under. A rapid downturn in sales is forcing many companies to re-evaluate priorities with regard to their continuous improvement initiatives.
Six Sigma, however, allows businesses and organisations the opportunity to identify problems before they get worse and establish processes to improve and make better quality products faster and more efficiently.
The fact that the Six Sigma processes will co-ordinate the leaders and managers in the company will help to focus the organisation on improvement.
One of the main problems that will be identified is that revenue will be down due to the recession. The Six Sigma process will begin by listing data as it currently stands in order to analyse it and work out how much revenue is actually being lost. Mapping out all of the business processes is an effective way of seeing exactly how the recession is affecting business.
Six Sigma will then help with generating possible solutions. This may be a difficult process and some tough decisions will need to be made. Some of the tools used in Six Sigma such as brainstorming for ideas, using fish-bone diagrams, and cause and effect diagrams will help. In a recession it’s time to start looking at market trends, and the possibility of changing direction or focus.
Any solution must be capable of counteracting the downturn in business. Look for new markets, what do your customers really need? When the chips are down consumers think harder about what they spend their money on; they are also more concerned about value for money. Sometimes your customers will be more concerned about quality, could you sell more products if the quality was improved? Would this cut the cost of your customer service or technical support?
The last Six Sigma process will involve gathering data on the solution and providing some concrete evidence about whether or not the expansion worked. Did sales increase? The data gathering process is imperative; it’s the only way to assess whether changes have made any difference to your company’s bottom line.
Once analyses of the results have been made the solution can be properly adopted and implemented throughout the company. Training can be given where appropriate.
Implementing Six Sigma will need continual support but the method works, it can be especially powerful for companies facing a rough time in an uncertain economy. Please look at our Six Sigma training course pages for more information about our Lean and six Sigma programmes.