Corporate Leadership Profile
Crystal Clear By Elaine Schmidt
When the value of its stock fell 84 percent over three years, Apogee Enterprises knew it was time for change. The glass solutions company was introduced to Six Sigma in 1999, when a customer mandated a deployment at one of Apogee’s plants. That first exposure ultimately led Apogee to adopt Lean Six Sigma enterprise wide to help turn the company around.
Research
5th Annual Global Six Sigma Salary Survey By Michael Marx
Worldwide and regional analysis looks at Six Sigma salaries by role, education, experience and industry. The 20-page report is based on the responses of 2,142 Six Sigma professionals. Findings include:
BBs worldwide are making beween $2,398 and $6,384 more when compared to last year's report.
Most Six Sigma professionals receive bonus pay.
There is no statistical difference between the mean salary of BBs with certification and the mean salary of BBs without certification.
"Final Tollgate" Project Example
Electric Load Forecasting By Rick D. Boyd
When energy producer Dominion joined a regional transmission organization, the costs associated with errors in electric load forecasting escalated. This award-winning DMAIC project resulted in improvements that reduced the DPMO by 49 percent and saved millions of dollars.
The Final Tollgate features a Six Sigma project as it would be presented to a panel of company executives at the final project review. The objectives of such a presentation are to 1) communicate significant results of the project, 2) share highlights of how results were achieved and 3) gain agreement to close the project. The slides are the Black Belts visual presentation and the accompanying text is the verbal presentation. It is assumed that the project leader has been making regular presentations at each tollgate and that the executives in the audience have a basic understanding of Six Sigma. The content for this project was assembled for illustration purposes. It is based on fabricated data from a fictional company. Any similarities to an actual project are coincidental.
Do you have an exemplary Six Sigma project to share? Would you like to see it here? Submit it to us at www.isixsigma.com/submit/.
Strategy
Set Innovation Free By Mary Federico
Six Sigma can combat three forces that restrain innovation: focusing on the 'elite,' not providing time for employees to innovate and rewarding the wrong thing.
Methodology
Show 'em the Money: Four Areas for Measuring Financial Impact of Projects By Roberto Copercini
To properly calculate the financial impact of projects, a business must employ guidelines that will help facilitate communication among the finance department, Six Sigma professionals and business executives. Every company’s financial guidelines should include four main areas that are linked to profit and loss: revenue, costs, risk and customer satisfaction.
Product/Service Guide
Project Tracking Software
This directory provides information about the capabilities and functionalities of some of the Six Sigma-specific project tracking software products.
More Features
Case Study: Conjoint Analysis Drives Website Design Advanced Course: Monte Carlo Simulation as a Process Control Aid Personal Leadership: The Green Belt Balancing Act
Also In This Issue
Editor's Notes
Best Black Belt
Ask an Expert
Six Sigma Basics
Tool Spotlight
Shop Talk
Plugged In
The Cox-Box Cartoon
Open Mike
Digital edition included free!
When the value of its stock fell 84 percent over three years, Apogee Enterprises knew it was time for change. The glass solutions company was introduced to Six Sigma in 1999, when a customer mandated a deployment at one of Apogee’s plants. That first exposure ultimately led Apogee to adopt Lean Six Sigma enterprise wide to help turn the company around.
