A Manufacturer can provide a quality which is highly dependent on -

1. The Suppliers and the suppliers of suppliers (reaching some times upto mining or extraction of a natural product)
2. Clients and clients of clients. (going through value addition by clients, and moving through Distributors, Stockists and Retailers finally reaching the end user)

Somebody who is managing the supply chain has to manage the issues of quality and delivery across supply chain. This means he has opportunities if doing DMAIC and DFSS projects involving suppliers and intermediaries.

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White Belts are at the bottom ladder of Six Sigma, which means that they go through a high level overview on Six Sigma with the primary objective of familiarizing them with terminology related to Six Sigma (mean, standard deviation etc.).Mostly all the employees in the company are trained at the White Belt level. White Belts may help Green Belts and black belts in data collection.

Next level is Green Belts who are trained in Six Sigma at a much more detailed level. Their training may range from a few days up to few weeks. They are trained in process improvement techniques including the Six Sigma DMAIC road map for improving results. Green Belts usually lead smaller projects within their business unit or support portions of larger projects led by a more experienced Black Belt. Green Belts usually undertake process improvements in their specific functional areas. Green Belts are usually not exposed to advanced Six Sigma concepts, so they are not equipped to solve really tough problems.

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There are two primary methodologies in Six Sigma: DMAIC and DFSS.

Following are some of the salient features of Six Sigma methodology:

• Six Sigma is a data driven approach – Six Sigma provides us with information on which and what type of data should be collected, how it should be collected and how it should be analyzed.
• Six Sigma is a process focused methodology- Everything that is done at the workplace has a process behind it. For bringing improvements it is always good to study the underlying process along with the results, especially if we are looking for a long lasting improvement and not a temporary quick-fix solution
• Six Sigma provides a structured step by step roadmap – If a business problem is being resolved by a cross functional team over a period of time, it pays to utilize a structured methodology (like Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) with review stages.
• Six Sigma uses non common-sense approaches – Example – To improve customer satisfaction index by 25% in 4 months time, you would need not one but a series of non-common sense approaches which Six Sigma provides.
• Six Sigma integrates the best of tried and tested management methodologies over the years – Six Sigma has weaved various time tested management techniques in one roadmap. Also, Six Sigma is not rigid. It is an evolving methodology. New tools are being added to the Six Sigma toolkit by innovative practitioners.
• Six Sigma improvement projects are mostly validated by financial benefits or by impact on a KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
• Six Sigma works on improvements on a project by project basis by people trained as improvement experts (called Green Belts and Black Belts) – Improvements can be brought on a project by project basis and by no other way. Unless improvement areas are converted into projects, with assigned responsibilities and authorities to correctly trained people, the problems remain what they are.

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