loader

👋 HELLO

Importance of Six Sigma in Quality Management

PublishedFebruary 3, 2021
Views6,0984
img

Empower yourself professionally with a personalized consultation,

no strings attached!

In this article

In this article:

Dale Carnegie once mentioned that “Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.” The statement is so true in the regular context too. Imagine a long dreamt holiday tour to your dream destination. The hotel you stayed in provided the best hospitality and took extra care of your needs and requirements. In the given situation, though you might have paid more than the economy room available in another hotel, you would only remember the Quality of hospitality and your experiences, while the amount of money you spent might fade away from your memory with time. Therefore, it can be quickly concluded that the Quality of products and services produced by any organization would certainly gain preference over the number of such goods and services. Let us understand what Quality Management is and how tools such as Six Sigma help in Quality Management. This blog will also highlight the importance of Six Sigma in Quality Management.

Quality Management is Inevitable!

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.” – John Ruskin, a famous English Art Critic of the Victorian Era.

While John Ruskin mentions that quality is a result of intelligent efforts, William Deming Edward, the famous statistician, engineer, and management consultant from America noted that “Quality is everyone’s responsibility.” However, both these quotes indicate that Quality Management is a continuous and holistic aspect that has to be managed by any organization irrespective of the business vertical the organization is operating in.

The above paragraph mentioned two important features of Quality Management. The first aspect is that Quality Management is a continuous event. Any organization, essentially, needs to manage Quality regularly and continuously throughout its value chain. Under no circumstances can any organization bear to get complacent about the aspect of management of Quality. The Quality of the product or service is the primary determinant of the organization’s success and retention among its customers and stakeholders.

The second fact highlighted in the above paragraph is that Quality Management is a holistic event. Drawing from what W. Deming Edward mentioned, management of Quality is the responsibility of each individual involved in the value chain. Therefore, Quality Management depends on the holistic effort of every individual representative of the organization. Giving honest and constructive customer feedback to the organization also contributes to holistic Quality Management. While we have been discussing Quality Management, let us understand the basics of Quality and how Quality can be managed.

What is Quality Management?

Philosophically, the term quality can be defined as an attribute or a specific property or characteristic of any object. Such a feature or property, or characteristic, is a distinctive attribute that differentiates the object, person, or element from the rest of the population. In the organizational context, Quality is defined as creating a standard of something (products or services being produced or manufactured), which is then taken as a benchmark to measure or compare other things of a similar kind.

Organizations are responsible for producing either goods or services. Each such production of goods and services need to have a benchmark of Quality. This benchmarked Quality would be the strategically defined and accepted Quality or standard that the organization desires to achieve. Quality Management is the holistic term that includes all the activities required to maintain this expected benchmarked standard or Quality during goods and services. Further, Quality Management activity ensures that the production process and the Quality of goods and services produced are consistent and standardized.

The four essential steps of Quality Management include:

  • Quality Planning
  • Quality Assurance
  • Quality Control
  • Quality Improvement

This entire cycle depicts the efforts required in Quality Management.

Six Sigma in Quality Management

Quality Management is a process that involves the steps mentioned above. However, this fundamental aspect of Quality Management requires expertise and specifically designed tools and methods. Six Sigma is one such scientifically designed tool for the management of Quality. To understand the role of six Sigma in Quality Management, let us first understand what six Sigma is?

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is defined as a method or a set of techniques or precisely a scientifically crafted tool that helps improve and standardize an organization’s processes. The concept of Six Sigma was given by an American Engineer named Bill Smith while working with Motorola. However, this concept of Six Sigma gained prominence because Jack Welch implemented Six Sigma at General Electric in 1995, and the company gained majorly due to this implementation.

Importance of Six Sigma

The concept of Six Sigma has gained prominence because of its consistent results and Quality Management techniques. The importance of six Sigma can be estimated by the way it tries to manage the process. The two essential aspects which six Sigma ensures include:

Increasing the production capabilities of the organization by managing the processes of the organization effectively and efficiently

Decreasing the process variation which practically leads to process standardization and quality standardization of the products and services

These two aspects help the organization in many ways. The importance of six sigma implementation, thus, includes:

  • Standardization of production and delivery processes 
  • Standardization of Quality of Production
  • Reduction of process variation
  • Reduction of defects in the process and process management
  • Reduction in losses due to redundancies and inefficiencies in the processes
  • Improvements in the Quality of products and services produced due to increased standardization of the process
  • Improvement in the efficiency of the processes
  • Improvement in profits due to the reduction of losses and increase in efficiency
  • Improvement in terms of employee morale and increase in the number of motivated employees due to increasing in the efficiency of the processes and reduction of redundancies (redundancies reduce the employee motivation to work and achieve. Reducing the redundancies would also ensure that the talent is recognized and rewarded timely and effectively).

The above points clearly state that implementing a technique like Six Sigma in Quality Management is inevitable.

Importance of Six Sigma in Quality Management

The detailed discussion in the above sections has made us understand that Quality is probably the most important aspect of any product or service produced and supplied by any organization, at least in the common business parlance. However, we have also understood that Quality is an integrated aspect of the product’s entire value chain or service manufacturing and delivery. Therefore, we can easily infer that Quality is integrated within the organization’s product or service, whereas ensuring the Quality of the product and service is an ongoing process throughout the value chain. 

Since Quality Management is a process, techniques such as Six Sigma intend to impact the entire production process and gain importance. The effect could ascertain Six Sigma’s significance in Quality Management that the tool of Six Sigma has on every single step involved in the organization. Driving from the points mentioned in the section, the salient importance of Six Sigma in the Quality Management process can be summarised below:

  • Six Sigma helps in designing and implementing the processes of an organization so that redundancies are eliminated. Redundancies include the multiplication of efforts at various stages of the organizational processes due to poor design and layout of the process flow. An example of this can be the inclusion of bureaucracy in the clearance of material invoicing and order. Such redundancies affect the processes by delaying the process and increasing the efforts of the employees.
  • Since redundancies are eliminated, the waste of resources is reduced substantially. Here resources include time, material, humans, and even machines, among others.
  • Elimination of redundancies also leads to effective process creation and management. When the process is recreated by reducing the redundancies following the Six Sigma principles, the process automatically leads to standardization.
  • Effective process creation and management lead to the discovery and elimination of defects. When redundancies are eliminated, and processes are standardized, the discovery of defects at every step becomes easy. Therefore, quality control and quality checks can be integrated within the production process efficiently, thus eliminating defects and reducing losses in a continuous process.

While eliminating defects and reducing losses becomes a continuous process within the value chain of production, quality control can be streamlined and standardized to a great extent. It would surely help the organization in reducing the variances in the processes.

Implementation of Six Sigma is a great challenge in the Quality Management and quality control processes would help the organization in various ways, as mentioned above. Most importantly, all these benefits would lead to increased profitability, efficiency, and organizational effectiveness.

Continuous Feedback

Continuous Feedback is the DevOps life cycle’s turning point as it helps to analyze the improvements made by the continuous testing and integration phases. 

Hence it is imperative to do this phase between the operations and development of the next version of the existing software application. It is consistent by analyzing the software operations results to estimate the modifications’ outcome on the final product. It also enables the customers to share their experiences upon testing these applications. By promptly assessing the feedback, the developers begin working on the recent changes to get positive responses from customers to release the new versions of the software application. Hence learning this turning point phase of the DevOps lifecycle is vital to becoming the best DevOps professional to get highly paid.

Continuous Monitoring

Continuous Monitoring is the crucial phase of the DevOps lifecycle as it finds the root cause of any issues. It is by recording the vital information on the software’s usage to detect the many problems like “server not reachable” or “low memory,” among others. This phase involves all the DevOps lifecycle’s operational factors with integration within the software application’s operational capabilities.

It is easy to know the trends and identify the problem areas to maintain security and service availability by processing the recorded information. It is the operations team that has more involvement in this phase than the development teams. They play a major role in checking the system for rare behavior, supervising user activity, and finding bugs. This phase enables solving many issues by fast rerunning the application through all its previous stages of the DevOps lifecycle. 

The practical DevOps tools used for this monitoring phase include Sensu, Splunk, ELK Stack, and NewRelic to enable overall control to oversee the production server, system performance, and the application. These tools help the operations team for active engagement to increase the applications’ productivity and reliability. Also, it helps to monitor the application’s performance and the server to check the system’s functioning proactively. 

Continuous Deployment 

Continuous Deployment is the most active DevOps lifecycle phase to deploy the completed application code appropriately into the production servers. It is more important after the application goes live to receive high traffic. 

Configuration management is the primary process to execute frequently the fast and continuous deployment of new code in this phase. It helps to establish and curate the consistency of the applications’ performance and functional conditions. 

Many containerization tools like Ansible, Puppet, Chef, and others are useful DevOps tools used in this phase for configuration management for correct Continuous Deployment of new codes into the servers. These tools help produce consistency across many stages of the DevOps lifecycle from development to staging, testing to the production environment. They also help to scale up and down instances softly to offer an error-free production environment. They package and replicate the same dependencies and make applications easy to run on various computers. 

Conclusion:


In conclusion, the significance of Six Sigma in Quality Management cannot be overstated. By implementing Six Sigma principles, organizations can enhance their production capabilities, reduce process variations, standardize quality, and minimize defects. This not only leads to improved efficiency and profitability but also boosts employee morale and customer satisfaction. Six Sigma ensures effective process design and management, elimination of redundancies, and continuous improvement, thereby fostering a culture of quality throughout the organization. Additionally, integrating continuous feedback, monitoring, and deployment phases into the DevOps lifecycle further enhances product reliability and service availability. Embracing these practices is crucial for organizations striving for excellence in today's competitive landscape. Simpliaxis offers a Quality Course designed to equip individuals and organizations with the knowledge and skills needed to implement Six Sigma principles effectively, thereby driving sustainable quality improvement

Join the Discussion
Please provide a valid Name.
Please provide a valid Email Address.
Please provide a Comment.

By providing your contact details, you agree to our Privacy Policy

Related Articles

sdvdsvs

Key Characteristics of Six Sigma: A Comprehensive Overview

Checkout this latest blog about the major characteristics of Six Sigma. Get to know how it helps organizations to improve their business processes. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Everything You need to know know about Lean Six Sigma Principles

Master Lean Six Sigma Concepts and Principles​ to transform your organization with data-driven efficiency and improved customer satisfaction with Simpliaxis. Enroll Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Top Six Sigma Green Belt Tools

Explore top Six Sigma Green Belts tools, & compare various Six Sigma tools, & delve into their benefits & roles. Learn how Six Sigma tools empower businesses
Read More
sdvdsvs

Difference Between Six Sigma Green Belt Vs. Yellow Belt

Discover key Differences between Six Sigma Green Belt and Yellow Belt. Explore their roles and responsibilities and find the best fit for your career path.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Reasons to do Six Sigma Certification

Top reasons for Six Sigma Certification: Understand its Definition, Benefits, and Levels of Six Sigma Belts. Learn why pursuing and focusing on it is essential.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Six Sigma Green Belt Certification

What is Six Sigma Green Belt Certification? Explore its roles, responsibilities, benefits, requirements, preparation, salaries, and global worth.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Six Sigma Certification Cost - Training & Certification

Discover the costs of Six Sigma certification. Explore different certification types, benefits, career prospects, and reasons to pursue Six Sigma.
Read More
sdvdsvs

How to Get Six Sigma Certification

Get insights into obtaining Six Sigma certification, including steps to follow & the associated benefits. Determine if Six Sigma certification is worth it for you.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Is Six Sigma Green Belt worth it?

You're in the right place to evaluate if Six Sigma Green Belt certification is a worthwhile investment. Discover the Importance & the impact it can have on your career.
Read More
sdvdsvs

What is Six Sigma: A Complete Overview & Significance

Know what is Six Sigma and its importance across business organizations. Understand the certifications associated with the methodology.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Value Stream Mapping - Steps, Benefits & Best Practices for Lean Efficiency

Learn what value stream mapping is, its benefits in Lean, essential steps, and top tools to boost operational efficiency. Understand the value of VSM and how to use it.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Stages of Six Sigma: A Roadmap to Process Excellence

Explore the Stages of Six Sigma and master Six Sigma with a deep dive into the DMAIC methodology. Perfect for professionals looking to boost quality management skills.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Benefits of a Six Sigma Green Belt Certification | Key Insights

Discover the top benefits of Six Sigma Green Belt Certification. Advance your career and improve project success—Explore now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Top Benefits of Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification

Discover how Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification boosts your career and enhances business processes. Learn key benefits, skills, and career opportunities in this blog.
Read More
sdvdsvs

How to Pass the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Exam

Get the expert strategies to breeze through the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt exam and understand the strategy to clear the Lean six sigma Green Belt exam.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Six Sigma Career Path - Overview & Career Opportunities

Explore the Six Sigma certification career Paths and Discover Six Sigma certification levels, required skills, opportunities, and advantages for professionals
Read More
sdvdsvs

How Long Does it Take to Get a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification?

Discover how long it takes to get a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification. Utilize preparation resources, tips, and a detailed guide to succeed
Read More
sdvdsvs

How Do You Pass the Six Sigma Black Belt Certification?

Explore how to pass the Six Sigma Black Belt Certification. Learn about the timeline, qualifications, preparation, & benefits in this guide
Read More
sdvdsvs

Six Sigma Certification: A Comprehensive Guide

Complete guidance about Lean Six Sigma training. Master the methodology, tools, and principles essential for quality management excellence. understand the path to professional proficiency.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Mastering the Six Sigma DMAIC Process and Methodology

Check out the step by step DMAIC methodology process to improve business. Learn more about the process and phase in Six Sigma DMAIC and its benefits of DMAIC. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Exploring Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels and Advancements

..
Read More
sdvdsvs

Exploring Lean Six Sigma Tools: Streamlining Processes for Success

Check out the scientific Lean Six Sigma tools that help to enhance the efficiency of organizations. Understand the benefits of implementing Lean Six Sigma tools and their methods. Explore Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Comprehensive Guide to Six Sigma Black Belt Certification

Know end-to-end details about Six Sigma Black Belt concepts such as training, benefits, roles, responsibilities, skills, values, core competencies, deliverables, etc. Checkout Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Understanding Six Sigma Green Belt Roles and Responsibilities

Check out the different key roles and responsibilities handled by a Six Sigma Green Belt professional. Explore the traits and the benefits of becoming an SSGB expert. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Optimizing Processes with DMAIC Measure Phase in Six Sigma

Complete details on second phase Measure in DMAIC Six Sigma. Go through the article to know how the Measure phase acts as a project baseline. Checkout the steps in Measure Phase.
Read More
sdvdsvs

DMAIC Define Phase: Unveiling the First Step to Six Sigma Excellence

Complete details on the first phase Define in DMAIC Six Sigma. Go through the article to know how the Define phase acts to define the project’s problem. Checkout the steps in Define phase.
Read More
sdvdsvs

Comparing Six Sigma Black Belt vs. Master Black Belt Certifications

Go through the article to know the comparison of Master Black Belt vs Black Belt. Know how Sigma Sigma Master Black Belt is different from the Six Sigma Black Belt. Explore!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Demystifying the Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Management

Quality Assurance vs Quality Management. Check out the difference between these two and know how to deliver a quality product to the customers to make them happier. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Comprehensive Guide to Learning Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification

Article featuring a complete guide on Learning Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Learning the Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt provides a proper understanding of managing tasks.
Read More
sdvdsvs

How To Implement Six Sigma: Step-by-Step Guide for Success

Learn how to implement Six Sigma. Transform your organization management by the implementation of Six Sigma. Explore steps to implement Six Sigma in the organization. Read now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

DMADV vs DMAIC: Difference between DMADV and DMAIC

Are you confused to choose DMAIC or DMADV framework in your organization for better project efficiency. Check out the difference between the DMAIC and DMADV in Six Sigma. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Lean Six Sigma vs. Six Sigma: Choosing the Right Methodology

Traverse now to know the comparison of Lean Sigma and Six Sigma. Lean vs Six Sigma Know which is Suitable for your organization or for your business. Explore now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Implementing 5S Methodology in Six Sigma Projects

Explore the 5s in Six Sigma. Get rid of Industrial waste with best practices of 5S in Lean Six Sigma and how to implement them. Explore the five steps involved in it. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Unlocking Six Sigma Success with Effective Pareto Analysis

Here is a beginners guide to know what is Pareto Analysis. Find out the reasons to use pareto analysis & its roles in quality management. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Six Sigma Belt Levels Demystified: Yellow, Green, and Black Belt Differences

A right article explaining the major difference between yellow, green and black belt in Six Sigma. Gain a better understanding of these belts here. Explore Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Master Measurement System Analysis in Six Sigma for Precision

Here is a latest guide that provides you complete details about measurement system analysis in six sigma. Learn about it's benefits, procedures etc. Explore Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Understanding the Role of Control Plans in Six Sigma

Check out this beginner's guide to understand complete details about control plan in Six Sigma. Learn how it is important in success of a project/process. Explore Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Unveiling the Power of SIPOC Diagram in Six Sigma Practices

An amazing & detailed beginner’s guide about SIPOC diagram in Six Sigma. Get to know more about the steps involved in making a SIPOC diagram. Explore Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Unveiling the Key Elements of Project Charter in Six Sigma

Explore this informative blog to know more about elements of project charter in six sigma. All the 7 major charter elements explained in detail. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Understanding COPIS vs SIPOC: Key Process Mapping Insights

A comprehensive guide about the major differences between COPIS and SIPOC in Six Sigma. Check out all the key differences between them here. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Understanding VSM in Six Sigma: A Comprehensive Guide

Check out this latest blog to understand what is VSM in Six Sigma. Learn about the process of creating VSM & its major benefits. Explore Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Overcoming Hurdles: Addressing Common Challenges in Six Sigma Implementation

Checkout the top common challenges faced by implementing Six Sigma in an organization and how overcoming these Six Sigma challenges to achieve better results. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Demystifying Six Sigma Roles and Responsibilities for Success

An amazing article helping you to understand the day to day Six Sigma roles and responsibilities & how they can ensure the right move to the Six Sigma project. Read Now!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Mastering Six Sigma: Explore Commonly Used Six Sigma Metrics

Learn more about all the commonly used Six Sigma Metrics, their usage and types. All the Key Six Sigma Metrics explained in detail here. Check it out!
Read More
sdvdsvs

Demystifying Process Mapping in Six Sigma Methodology

Learn complete details about process mapping in Six Sigma in this informative blog. Understand all the process map types here. Check it out!
Read More

Request More Details

Our privacy policy © 2018-2025, Simpliaxis Solutions Private Limited. All Rights Reserved

Get coupon upto 60% off

Unlock your potential with a free study guide