Date: 11.09.2006
The discourse by Dr.Devanathan must have taken quite a few people by surprise! He began claiming to know precious little about Marketing, but went on to give a sterling lecture on one of the most elusive concepts in Industry today: ‘Six Sigma’: the quality management approach that enables improved decision-making, through usage of tools based on sound business, statistical and engineering principles.
Six Sigma represents that level of quality control wherein the margin of error is only 3.4/million. Motorola were the pioneers in the development of this concept in the mid-1980s. However, today it is widely in practice in Manufacturing, Service, HR and even in Medical Insurance companies. The goal of achieving Six Sigma quality control is to increase customer satisfaction as well as business profitability through the reduction of defects in the process. In manufacturing, it encompasses quality improvement, cost reduction and process optimization through measurement of error margin. Its known industrial applications are in customer service such as in Call Centres and even Supply Chain Management Excellence.
Hurried inspection can yield erroneous results. This was exhibited by means of a Test that encouraged the participation of the whole audience. There is no better way to drive home a concept. Furthermore, a video was aired of an advertisement which showed the repercussions of misunderstanding, or not-meeting, the needs of the customer satisfactorily: a car was driven over the cliff with the hapless owner watching on! Using this Advertisement as an analogy, the importance of meeting the customers’ needs is underscored. This is where inculcating the Six Sigma approach will step in. It removes the barriers to meeting quality standards. There are eight key tools used in the implementation of Six Sigma: Process Maps, Cause and Effect Matrix, Measurement Systems Analysis, Capability Studies, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, Multi-Variance Studies, Design of Experiments and Control Plans. (Consequentially, each of these was briefly explained.)
The main barrier to adoption of this approach is the fear or resistance to change. Dealing with this is a challenge, and one that each organization must deal with depending on its own unique culture and climate.
This informative and thought-provoking lecture elicited a number of relevant Questions from the audience, such as: regarding the commercial and technical changes that could come about due to the implementation of Six Sigma in the organization; the cost of implementation; how to define quality, and measure it?, and so on. They were answered with great interest and detail by the speaker.
The measure of the effectiveness of a Colloquium is whether the level of knowledge of the students has increased atleast by a fraction once it is over. Taking this as a benchmark, this one can be called a great success.
By: Rajeswari Mani (CPG06BM085)
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