It has been almost a full year since I first came to Elopak to work. Last November my colleagues and I arrived to provide your management team Six Sigma Green Belt training. We also provided many of the other leaders in the factory with Six Sigma Yellow Belt training, and we subsequently have also initiated Professional Team Leadership with the management. I’m sure that by now you are wondering, “What the heck is this Six Sigma stuff, and what does it have to do with me?” Good question, and if you read far enough, I will attempt to answer it for you.
First however, I want to say a few words about the Elopak-Fastiv management team. We are very lucky to have such a bright, young, and energetic management team led by our Plant Manager Konstantin Gavriluk. Konstantin and his management team have led the way in terms of bringing our factory up to world class standards. It was Konstantin’s idea to initiate Six Sigma training for the management team. They have worked very hard to launch and complete projects that will make our factory more efficient, less wasteful, and ultimately more productive. After all, that is our common goal.
Six Sigma:
Six Sigma is a management system that strives to make any enterprise or service efficient to the level of 6σ (Six Sigma), or in statistical terms, 3.4 mistakes per/one million operations. That’s not 3.4% mistakes, but 3.4 numerical mistakes per/one million operations. Think about that one! That’s a very high level of efficiency and quality! However, if you have ever flown on an airplane, you want 6σ level of quality – not 3.4% level of mistakes.
The history of the Six Sigma management system goes back to the days after the Great Patriotic War when America, Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan were seeking to retool and rebuild from the destruction of the war. Japan was most interested in the quality movement. USA companies like Motorola and General Electric invented and refined