0:14
We're learning about the infrastructure for continuous improvement.
And in this session, we are going to talk about the roles and
responsibilities of different individuals,
the people in different positions in organizations and what they do.
But before we get to that, let's remind ourselves of
the two initiatives that we're focusing on here, Lean and Six Sigma.
So Lean focuses on waste reduction,
whereas Six Sigma focuses on reduction in variation.
So Lean is about trying to eliminate waste from the point of view of customer.
And Six Sigma is about trying to reduce variation so that we can give better
quality products, better quality goods and services to customers, and
have a process that is impeccable in terms of being defect-free.
So the things that we're going to focus on when we look at continuous
improvement infrastructure in general are the roles and
responsibilities of people in both of these initiatives.
So that's what we'll be looking at in this session.
And then next, we'll get into the idea of strategy deployment.
Which is how do we convert a business strategy to actions that are being taken
in the front lines,
process improvement projects that are being undertaken on the front lines.
And these two topics are, obviously, connected.
The people who are responsible for
different things in the organization are going to be responsible for
deployment of strategy for the different parts of strategy deployment.
And that's how these two aspects of
continuous improvement infrastructure are going to be connected.
We'll also look at, in lessons later, on project selection and specifics.
So talk about some tools that can be used,
some techniques can be used in order to prioritize projects.
How do you select which one to do first and which ones should be second and
third priority?
And then we'll see how organizations can get started with a Six Sigma or
a Lean initiative through using process improvement projects.
And finally, we'll see different kinds of project infrastructure.
So using a DMAIC, if you remember, that's define, measure, analyze, improve,
control, which is a framework for projects in Six Sigma.
And we'll also look at an A3 kind of an implementation framework,
which is used by Toyota.
Which is popularized by Toyota, but which is used under the Lean initiative.
And we'll also see some other frameworks, as well,
that are going to be similar to this.
But mainly, we'll focus on Six Sigma and Lean as being frameworks.
So let's get started with looking at some of the responsibilities
of people when there is a Six Sigma implementation,
Six Sigma deployment that is being undertaken by an organization.
So let's start from the top.
First, we have the executive leader champion, who is going to be like the CEO.
This would be the Jack Welch at GE, who championed the idea of Six Sigma.
And decided that that's what they were going to do throughout GE.
So what does the champion do?
The champion provides the resources.
That's the main role that the champion from top management plays,
is getting the resources, putting the money where their mouth is.
In terms of, we're talking about this initiative,
this is what we should be doing, and here are the resources.
Here's how you can spend time doing continuous improvement,
focusing on getting training for continuous improvement,
focusing on doing projects, focusing on data collection.
That has to come from the top, in terms of a blessing,
in terms of we are, Going to spend resources in doing these things.
The top management also has to take a big role in trying to connect
what is being done in process improvement to business strategy.
So that's the role of the executives who are at the top management.
Next, let's move on to the upper middle management.
And these would be divisional leaders.
If it's a manufacturing company, it could be plant managers.
If it's a hospital, it could be different areas,
different departments within the hospital.
So you have the Or you have the pediatrics department.
You have the geriatrics department, there may be different departments there.
And each of those would be upper middle management and
would be playing the role of project champions in Six Sigma.
So in Six Sigma, the project champions, their role is to invite projects.
To say, here is a problem that we have in our department,
in our division, in our plant, in our location.
And then they can go to the Six Sigma process improvement part
of the organization, the infrastructure that's there of black belts and
green belts that we'll talk about next.
And tell them, look, here's a problem, can you help us solve it?
Can you be the internal consultants, essentially, and come and
help us solve this problem using the methodology that is Six Sigma?
That is what the Six Sigma black belts and green belts would be experts at.
So you would be inviting them as the upper middle management project champion to come
and take care of some problems by using Six Sigma methodology.
They would also be participating in project reviews,
looking at what's going on in the projects.
If you're thinking about Six Sigma, you should be thinking about DMAIC, define,
measure, analyze, improve, control, as being the five phases of a project.
So a project champion would be keeping an eye on the report-outs at
all of these phases.
Seeing after defined work was found and
whether that project is something that is worth continuing.
Or if it's getting too big to be one project and needs to be divided up.
Those are the kinds of things where the project champion
has a role to play in in conjunction with the project leader.
Who would be the black belt or
the green belt who's actually working on the project.
So the project champion would have some say in that, or should have some say in
that, rather, in terms of being involved, being engaged in the Six Sigma initiative.
Gopesh AnandAssociate Professor of Business Administration
