The Six Sigma Method: Leading The Way To Customer Satisfaction

By Author: Rigoberto Stokes
Total Articles: 1
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Social experts have emphasized the significance of achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty in business. To achieve this, pioneering multi-national companies like Motorola, GE and Citibank have adopted a method that follows a more customer-oriented approach rather than a product-oriented one. This method is called Six Sigma.

Focusing on customers instead of products is the way that the Six Sigma method aims to improve business processes. The method involves the execution of four basic steps to achieve this, namely: 1) identifying what satisfies the customer, 2) measuring the gap between customer needs and the organization’s current performance level, 3) analyzing the reasons why such gaps exist, and 4) devise methods to eliminate said gaps. As customer-oriented solution, Six Sigma helps organizations eliminate mistakes, enhance product quality, and innovate products.

Eliminating Defects

Six Sigma aims to eliminate defects in a company’s operation by identifying the root cause and finding alternatives to solving these defects. The next step will be to identify the best solution and implement it. For ...
... instance, if a doctor’s patients identify having to wait for an appointment as a major problem, Six Sigma tries to find ways to improve the existing process of scheduling appointments to reduce patient waiting time.

Improving Quality

Six Sigma’s focus on customer satisfaction allows an organization to make better quality products and consequently gaining customer loyalty. A customer-oriented approach strives to understand what the customer wants, driving the organization to develop a product that matches or exceeds these requirements. On the other hand, a product-oriented approach will only pit the product against the competitor’s products, and the customer’s needs are relatively ignored.

Product Innovation

Contrary to what a lot of project managers believe, Six Sigma leads to innovation. It is important to bear in mind that consistent innovation comes from a disciplined approach. Six Sigma teaches about the necessary discipline to achieve this for, without discipline, innovation will remain a hit-and-miss prospect.

Employee Satisfaction

Aside from customer satisfaction, Six Sigma also touches on employee motivation. Employees deal with customers either directly or indirectly. Therefore, without their participation, the whole issue of customer satisfaction will not be achieved. Employee satisfaction can be achieved by involving them in the decision-making, increasing their salary, ensuring a healthy working environment, sending them on training, promoting them in due time, and more.

The end results for Six Sigma will be: increased productivity, increased profit, reduced cost, and, most importantly, customer satisfaction. These are what every business strives for. You may find answers to frequently asked questions about Six Sigma on this link, isixsigma.com/new-to-six-sigma/getting-started/six-sigma-qa/.