From the inception of iSixSigma Magazine, a regular feature of the publication was exclusive research on aspects of deploying Six Sigma. The topics benchmarked have ranged from “Black Belt Return on Investment” in the inaugural issue, January/February 2005, to “The Lean Six Sigma Toolset” in November/December 2009. In addition, the magazine reports each year on the global salary survey that iSixSigma conducts as an industry yardstick.
In the magazine’s fifth anniversary issue, we looked back at some of the research highlights by organizing findings into the following categories: projects, training and development, tools and methods, financial benefits, and culture change.
Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing this benchmarking data with iSixSigma.com readers, starting with project data.
Projects
Improvement projects are the lifeblood of a Six Sigma initiative. Successful project execution, then, becomes a key driver to the success of a deployment. The selected findings pinpoint some of the things that relate to successful projects.
- A higher project completion rate appears to correspond to using a formal approval process in project selection. From: “Project Failure” November/December 2008
- The primary source for project ideas is operational business leaders, but employees are a close second. Employee contributions to the project pipeline increase with an organization’s experience with Six Sigma; moreover, the most successful Six Sigma programs have the highest rate of employee contribution. From: “Six Sigma Project Selection” March/April 2005
| Who is the primary source for Six Sigma project ideas? (N = 980) | ||||||||
|
Length of time (in years) organization has been using Six Sigma |
||||||||
| Role | Total | < 1 | 1 to 2 | 2 to 3 | 3 to 4 | 4 to 5 | 5 to 10 | > 10 |
| Operational business leader | 26% | 21% | 29% | 28% | 30% | 26% | 20% | 13% |
| Employees (includes Green Belts and Yellow Belts) | 20% | 17% | 14% | 21% | 22% | 25% | 27% | 13% |
| Black Belts | 18% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 22% | 24% | 18% | 31% |
| Functional leaders | 16% | 15% | 19% | 21% | 11% | 12% | 14% | 13% |
| Quality/Deployment leaders | 7% | 15% | 7% | 6% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 6% |
| Other | 6% | 6% | 8% | 4% | 7% | 4% | 8% | 13% |
| Master Black Belts | 4% | 4% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 6% | 4% | 6% |
| Quality council | 4% | 7% | 5% | 3% | 3% | 1% | 4% | 6% |
- Customer complaints drive Six Sigma projects to a far greater degree than any other type of customer input. From: “Hearing Voices: How Companies Listen to the Customer” July/August 2008
- Black Belts worldwide complete an average of 2.7 projects per year. From: “Six Sigma: A Global Affair” September/October 2007
