Six Sigma was devised to incorporate continuous
improvement in the industry procedures through its methodological systems of
identifying faults and correcting them. In short, it minimizes the number of
errors that may occur while a task is being performed. This is achieved by way
of daily scrutiny of the process and sharpening the techniques used therein.
Initially, Six Sigma was implemented only in the manufacturing stream but
eventually moved on to other fields where it has proved its mettle.
However, with advancing technology and increasing
complexity of situations faced each day mere Six Sigma implementation is not
enough. This is where the Business Process Management gets integrated with Six
Sigma to create a better performance-enhancing tool.
BPM
Business
Process Management are those set of activities, which are undertaken by a
corporation to either better the current processes or alter them to suit new
age requirements. This phenomenon supports and modifies the company’s processes
and gives them useful management strategies, models the data flow, manages
people, resources and systems at any given time.
Reason For The Merger
The
coming together of BPM and Six Sigma was initiated since what one lacked the
other could provide, thereby leading to a better approach towards analysis,
understanding and improvising business techniques. For instance, Six Sigma
lacks the ability to collect large amounts of data, which is instantly provided
for by BPM. Likewise, BPM is deficient in analytical tools to solve a difficult
and complex business crisis and needs Six Sigma methodology to intervene.
Usefulness
Of The Union
Integrating Six Sigma and BPM has led to expansion of a
corporation’s scope of functionality and its service quality. The following
points explain the changes occurring due to the collaboration.
- It
helps in processing long-term performance results of the organization
since there is a considerable amount of reduction in the number of errors
and useless inventory, which in turn eliminates customer dissatisfaction.
- The
entire value chains of the institution are illustrated in a better and
detailed manner, understood in depth and managed properly.
- Both
the processes together give near perfect estimations, which aid in
altering business policies if required and also bring about necessary
changes in management procedures that enhance performance levels.
- As
Six Sigma fails to effectively control business processes and most of the
time relies on the manual methods and control mechanism, which hampers
performance initiatives greatly. BPM involvement aids the controlling
process and terminates the drawback instantly.
- Since
Six Sigma cannot gather the extensive data required for any research and
policy implementation, BPM fills in for this lapse by enhancing the
projects by accelerating the collection and distribution of critical data.
- The
product design is improved due to combine application of BPM and Six
Sigma. Such companies are at a better advantage of creating a superior
product right at the inception time.
- Initializing
physical, feature wise market growth is possible by focusing on customer
expectations and undertaking surveys since BPM is apt at supplying buying
patterns and customer attitude records. Punching Six Sigma data into the
BPM system is much faster and more precise.
