Six sigma is used for improving office efficiency

Posted by AmandaTom on November 24th, 2013

Operational efficiency is all about bettering the ratio between business operation input and operational output. In simple terms it could be described as improving per employee productivity. In large organizations even a second’s improvement in business operations could amount to great improvement in operational efficiency. However, operational efficiency improvement doesn’t happen just like that. Experts spend hours working on how to improve operational efficiency and various statistical data is analyzed to see the actual improvement. Those companies that are not in the manufacturing sector also look for improving office efficiency. And for those that know improving operational or office efficiency best happens with six sigma implementation.

Six sigma consists of strategies, tools and techniques for improving office efficiency as well as operational efficiency. It was started by Motorola in 1981 and since then it has remained the gold standard in improving operational efficiency. Companies that work at six sigma levels are usually among the most successful companies in the world. When Jack Welch adopted six sigma for GE in 1995 it further came into the limelight. Today when someone asks how to improve operational efficiency the most common answer remains six sigma.

So how to improve operational efficiency using six sigma? Very valid question for someone that doesn’t know how the entire process works. Let us take for example a company looking for improving office efficiency in the form of processing client files faster. How can a six sigma expert help here?

A six sigma expert will take this as a project. They will first form a team of six sigma specialists to work on the project. Typically the person leading the team would be a six sigma master black belt. The other members of the team could consist of brown / yellow / green belts and six sigma champions.

At first the problem statement will be identified. In this case it could be improving file processing time by 10 seconds. A project charter will be created and the charter will clearly state the time when the project will be completed, the list of resources, including manpower, required and the exact benefits that will be derived out of it. This is the project define phase. This will be followed by the measure phase when data about the present file processing process will be collected. The data will be analyzed in the next phase and a new plan will be thought of. This new improvement process will be implemented and tested. Once it shows the desired performance it will be controlled. This is how to improve operational efficiency with six sigma.

To know more about how to improve operational efficiency or improving office efficiency using six sigma you must have information with you. It is possible you are someone looking for a six sigma certification and in that case you also need to find out those training organizations that train and offer six sigma certifications. Jobs in the six sigma market are in great supply because of the values added by this technique.

Improving office efficiency takes some doing. But when you know about six sigma you will know how to improve operational efficiency as well as office efficiency.