Six Sigma – What’s Needed to Succeed
Six Sigma, the popular methodology for process improvement, is a statistical concept that identifies the variation inherent in any process. By subsequently working to reduce these variations once it defines them, the Six Sigma methodology diminishes the opportunity for error, thus reducing process costs or increasing customer satisfaction.
The core objective of Six Sigma is to implement a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction. At a high level, this is accomplished through the use DMAIC, an improvement cycle (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) [Note to draft: Link to Six Sigma: Striving for the Perfect Process blog] for existing processes that lack efficiency, and the statistical representation of Six Sigma, which describes quantitatively how a process is performing.
There are, of course, many proven methodologies an organization can consider for process improvement. So, why should they use Six Sigma, and what do they need to make sure they succeed?
When to Use Six Sigma
Given the similarities between continuous improvement methodologies, it can be difficult to determine which one is right for a given situation. To help organizations make that decision, the Six Sigma Council outlines the following scenarios, and the benefits of Six Sigma can bring to solving each one.
When facing the unknown – A process is operating out of control but the problem causing the deficient output is not known.
Six Sigma looks for potential causes and using sigma level calculations prioritizes them. It then sets up the framework to resolve the causes and get to a solution.
When problems are widespread and not defined – The problems in the process are known and understood, but the scope of the solution is not defined, leading to constant scope increases and lack of viable solutions due to their unmanageable size.
With control measures in its methodology, Six Sigma stays clear of unmanageable scope escalations in favor of incremental improvements over time.
When solving complex problems – A problem with many variables causes a complex process, where it’s challenging to identify an approach, definition, and measure for a successful outcome.
Due to its statistical basis, Six Sigma can handle problems that contain large amounts of data and variables, deciphering them to give hypotheses, premises, and conclusions to base changes on.
When costs are closely tied to processes – A process that has a high cost risk due to its very small margin of error – where one incremental change can translate to millions of dollars of loss or gain – requires solution accuracy before implementation.
Six Sigma leans on its statistical process control to create assumptions, therefore when implemented properly, this method is significantly more accurate than its alternatives.
Success in Six Sigma
The Six Sigma method is not without its challenges, of course.
To be successful, Six Sigma requires support – primarily in the form of resources and data – at all levels of an organization. Adequately staffed engagement teams with necessary levels of subject matter expertise are a must for positive results, as is access to consistent and accurate data streams to enable calibration factors and the capturing of necessary KPIs – crucial to data outputs value.
But ultimately, taking advantage of how customizable this approach is to fit your industry and organizational needs will be the key to successful process improvement.
Is It the Right Choice for You?
When starting on a process improvement initiative and considering the Six Sigma methodology, it is important to have all the information first. Knowing when this method is best applied can set you on the path to operational process perfection.
The Six Sigma methodology has been adopted by top operational excellence consulting firms, including Trindent Consulting. Click here to learn more about how we can work with you to utilize this valuable tool in driving the efficiency of your organization.
Hidden Opportunities to Enhance Your Margin
We are pleased to share a new article titled, Hidden Opportunities to Enhance Your Margins, written by our very own, Stephan Rajotte, Executive Vice President and Global Financial Services Leader. The article is featured in the March 2016 issue of Asia Insurance Review.
Read how improving human capital efficiency is an effective way to increase margins and how it will be a key to Asia's success.
About Asia Insurance Review
The Asia Insurance Review publishes breaking insurance industry news. It was first launched in January 1991 to meet the information
needs of insurance practitioners in Asia. It is now considered the premier professional regional magazine.
This article first appeared in the March 2016 edition of Asia Insurance Review.
When to Start a Consulting Project
By Adrian Travis, President
When I meet with executives, the notion of ‘the right timing’ frequently comes up as a question as part of the scoping and structuring process. While there’s never a convenient time to undergo an intensive consulting project that is going to challenge staff and drive business results, there are some relatively good pointers that I can provide. In deciding when to engage in a consulting project, an executive’s prime consideration should always be maximizing the likelihood of a project’s success.
First, a good question to ask is whether your consulting partner has the right people available. Often projects generate sub-optimal returns because a client is in a rush to meet an artificial deadline, or feels pressured to engage by certain point in time – to placate upper management, to meet the constraints of a particular fiscal year, for example. Take the time to ask your consulting partner when the ‘best possible’ staffing scenario would be from their perspective. The relationship should be a two-way dialogue. You should seek to have not only the most seasoned consultants on your project, but also the ones who are motivated and would enjoy the particular consulting assignment. If a consultant is slightly out of their element, or might not be a match for the particular working culture, or geographic location for the project, you can expect lesser results. Be wary of any consultancy that can accept a project on short notice. Strong consultancies have good people and a backlog of work, and typically book their teams three to six months ahead – because there is demand for their expertise. You wouldn’t trust a roofing or plumbing contractor who could start work immediately, would you?
Second, steer clear of starting a consulting engagement in the summer, or immediately preceding the holiday season. While most workplaces never stop, there are some periods of time in the calendar year that significant involve staff vacations, and may slow the pace of delivery on any consulting project. Consulting teams need unfettered access to your staff, and enough people in the workplace to get things done. Also consider the vacation schedules of the consultants staffed to your project – ideally they should be focused on the project.
Third, ensure the setup is done right. A well-run consulting project involves advance data collection, nuanced stakeholder communication, and ensuring that there’s a very clear set of operational and financial objectives for the project. Part of this process is meeting with your consulting partner enough so that there is a clear understanding of the particular problem, and your business objectives. Always ensure that your staff are thorough and careful in providing the right data and information.
The makings of a successful consulting project are rooted in good preparation. If you ensure there’s a good project team on your assignment, ensure that your people are 100% available and engaged in the process, and there is enough time for proper setup and diligence, you stand a much greater likelihood of a resounding success.
The Willingness To Change Operating Workflow
Most hospitals define turnaround time as previous patient ‘wheels out’ to the next patient ‘wheels in’ – where ‘wheels out’ and ‘wheels in’ are the exact times that a patient bed rolls out of or into an operating room (OR). This is a key metric in determining OR efficiency, as long turnarounds reduce available operating time and longer-than-planned turnarounds cause OR delays. Because this is so important, most hospitals know what their OR turnaround times are and if they are increasing or decreasing. What many hospitals rarely have visibility into, however, is why their turnaround times are moving. This is because most hospitals only record their ‘wheels out’ and ‘wheels in’ times. While this provides them their total turnaround time, it fails to provide visibility into how each step in the process is performing. We believe that breaking turnaround time into three areas – namely: clean time, preparation time, and delay time – allows for a complete picture into why turnaround times are changing, and most importantly: where they are changing.
Clean time
Also called turnover time is the amount of time it takes to clean the room from the previous surgery. Hospitals generally manage this area very well, as leadership often thinks this is the key to reducing their turnaround times. Although these times are rarely regularly recorded in a hospital, this area, somewhat surprisingly, has the smallest opportunity area for improving turnaround time since it often has the most policies, procedures, and guidelines surrounding it – not to mention hospitals are subject to certain constraints regarding critical cleaning chemical instructions.
Preparation time
Refers to the amount of time it takes to bring in and arrange the bedding, instrumentation, equipment, and all the other supplies required for the next surgery. This time is more variable as it is more unique to the type of case being conducted. For example, vascular and orthopedic cases have much more complicated equipment requirements than general surgery cases (hernias, for example) and, therefore, take much longer to prepare. In the current environment of updated preference sheets and tray optimizations, it has become a very routine task to set up a room for any type of surgery.
Delay time
Delay time is what most hospitals generally refer to as any delay between the scheduled start time of a surgery and when the patient wheels in to the OR. What hospitals lack understanding on, though, are the three hidden delay buckets, namely:
• Delays between wheels out and clean begin,
• Delays between clean end to prep begin, and;
• Delays between prep end and scheduled start
Opening your eyes to these three hidden sources of waste may be critical as they may have as large of an impact on turnaround time as the usually-documented turnaround time delay (scheduled start time to actual start time). If you, cumulatively, lost five minutes from wheels out to the scheduled case start (or approximately 100 seconds for each of the three aforementioned hidden segments of potential delay) for each turnover and did 160 turnovers per week (~200 surgeries per week) at your hospital, you would lose 800 minutes a week, which is nearly 700 hours of delay per year. Recapturing even half of that time (2.5 minutes) would equate to ~250 additional surgeries per year. This could be ~$750K per year depending on your contribution margin per surgery.
Now that it has been pointed out, the hidden elements of waste in your turnarounds and how minimal improvements here can make a large improvement in your OR, you can address how to capture these metrics, determine causes of delays during these times, and identify solutions to these problems. These items will be addressed in a future post.
Increasing Executive Engagement On Improvement Projects
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” is perhaps the most well known self-help book ever sold. While Trindent doesn’t offer guidance on making friends, we coach our clients on how to ‘manage up’ effectively and exert influence, particularly when it comes to executive engagement in continuous improvement initiatives. This article will focus on three aspects of influencing the behavior of executives:
- Why it’s important to have them in attendance at project milestones
- How to ensure their attendance, and
- How to improve their engagement
Executive Involvement in Project Meetings
First, why is it important to have executives in attendance
at project milestones meetings? Pragmatically, if an executive is providing
resources to a project, whether it’s in the form of personnel or financial
support, they are inherently interested in the results being generated. After
all, they report to shareholders or owners and need to be able to justify their
investment. Tactically, executive attendance signifies the importance of the
project to the company and brings gravitas to the presentation. This signals to
the project team, as well as the rest of the organization, that the initiative
is an important one and deserves respect and attention.
If their attendance is so important, what can we do to ensure it? From the early phases, executive attendance needs to be communicated as a critical success factor to the project, and their commitment and attendance should be requested. If this is an issue, or they aren’t comfortable committing to attending, then it may be time to take a step back to determine if the project is a priority for the organization because if it’s not, it will be challenging, if not impossible, to complete it successfully. Once you have their initial commitment, make sure the meeting is calendared as soon as possible. Then, during the lead-up to the presentation, remind stakeholders of the date and time and provide a countdown, if necessary, to renew their commitment.
Finally, with a commitment from executives that they will be
in attendance, how do you ensure they will be engaged and actively
participating during the presentation instead of checking e-mails on their
phone or otherwise being a passive observer. Being engaged requires preparation, so do them
a favor: pre-wire the presentation along with talking points and questions
ahead of time, which will guide them on how and where to contribute. This is
also a good opportunity to address any potentially contentious questions ahead
of time, rather than allowing them to derail the presentation in progress.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, having your executive sponsor, and if
possible, their superior, attend milestone presentations is important in successfully
executing projects. The easiest way to ensure their attendance is to ask for it.
Get a commitment early and provide
reminders leading up to the presentation. Finally, help them engage in the
presentation by providing them with some reconnaissance: suggest talking
points, questions, and praise on an advance copy of the presentation.
Contact us today to learn more about how our approach to solving complex problems can benefit your organization.
The author of this article - David Kerry is a Senior Engagement Manager at Trindent consulting.