Erie County’s Six Sigma initiative is set to save 1.5 million dollars by year end. Almost a half million more than the initial goal. Below is the news reporting the story. Interviews with Al Hammonds, Deputy County Executive and former Six Sigma Director as well as the new Six Sigma Director Bill Carey.

http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=61254&provider=gnews

Yet still Erie has naysayers…in bold is the nayism followed by my thoughts:

• Savings could have been found without Six Sigma: True, Al and I both agree on that.But would have the savings been found without any structure, and would have they been able to measure the savings? I think not. If they could have done it, they should have done it, but they were not doing it. Enter Six Sigma. See 1.5 million in savings.
• Wastes employees time, taking them off the job for Six Sigma meetings: No one likes a worthless meeting, but if Six Sigma meetings contribute to the $1.5 million saved…we need to have more Six Sigma meetings. Plus for that to be a valid point we’d have to Pareto chart the actual time wasting activities employees engage in… and see where the biggest opportunities for improvement are. My educated guess is that time “wasted” in Six Sigma meetings is much smaller than say water cooler talk, late to work, sick when your actually not sick…that list is endless.
• Department heads could have found savings themselves: Refer to first bullet.
• Instead of paying Six Sigma Director’s salary of $110,000: Yes, I agree. $110,000 is not what Erie County should be paying the Six Sigma Director. According to iSixSigma’s 2008 Salary survey, the average salary for a Six Sigma deployment leader in the Northeast is $126,250. Give this guy a raise.

Erie County Says Six Sigma Has Exceeded Goals, wgrz.com, October 8, 2008