Ready for Six Sigma to take your Career to the “Next Level”?
Every profession has it’s certification that represents the pinnacle of excellence, achievement, and competency. In the medical profession, this is the MD, while it might be the PhD in academia or the Culinary School certificate in the restaurant world. For project managers, the Six Sigma and PMP certification are the crown jewels of expertise. With Six Sigma certification, you will be able to effectively improve processes, cut costs, and create streamlined business practices in any organization that you are in – and your skills will be in high demand throughout the business world. The various levels of Six Sigma certification represent the slow climb up the ladder of skill and expertise – and they have a strong correlation with increased salaries and better job responsibilities. If you are serious about making your mark on the business world, Six Sigma is the way to do it.
What is Six Sigma?
Put generally, Six Sigma is a toolkit that business leaders can use in manufacturing and project management to improve every facet of their business operations. The goal of the Six Sigma process is to reduce errors that could be made in the development and manufacturing process, and establish a baseline for quality improvement and consistency. While Six Sigma is considered to be primarily a manufacturing tool – it has become more and more popular in the technology sector as well, where the “output” of the manufacturing process is a complex and internationalized piece of software. Six Sigma Certification is given to processes where there are only 3.4 defects per million products – a quality metric that corresponds colloquially with the process itself.
What can Six Sigma do for you?
If you are currently working in a supervisory or managerial role in a manufacturing company, the benefits of Six Sigma are clear. By increasing the quality of your manufacturing process and developing a method for reducing and catching errors and flaws, you can dramatically reduce the amount of money that your company spends on quality control, unit replacement, and customer support. Additionally, this improved quality and consistency allows your company to forecast revenue more accurately, and it leads to happier customers and an improved brand.
Outside of the manufacturing industry, the Six Sigma process and certification is still useful. Six Sigma is used in companies as varied as software developers and the United States Military – basically any organization that could use some kind of improvement in its internal processes.
Are you a good fit for Six Sigma?
Not every manager or executive is going to be a good fit for the Six Sigma process. There are still corporate leaders out there that make their decisions based on “gut feelings” and intuition, and these leaders will struggle with the analytically-focused Six Sigma methodology. The Six Sigma process is designed to appeal to people that take a rational and logical approach to their business, and who are able to harness the power of Big Data to create a full picture of a company’s activities. If you are someone that loves to get lost in the statistics and data that come out of your company’s operational departments, Six Sigma will help you use that data to make bold and innovative decisions that will improve your company and will benefit your career.
Of course, Six Sigma certification can also benefit you personally. Not only will you be able to use your skills to benefit your current company and help advance in the ranks there, but you will also be adding an internationally recognized set of credentials to your resume that will be in demand no matter where you go next. Companies all over the world use the Six Sigma belt system to classify their employees by their level of project management and process improvement proficiency – and you’ll find Six Sigma Black Belts working in C-suites, production lines, and consulting agencies throughout the world. Six Sigma is also a good spring board for an eventual career in lean manufacturing, and there are now variants of Six Sigma (like Lean Six Sigma) that focus even more on process flow and the minimization of waste in manufacturing industries where margins can depend on tiny amounts of variability in the production process.