Among the various tools, methodologies or frameworks currently available in the Quality Management Buffet, Six Sigma stands out as one of the best methodologies for breakthrough improvement in products, services and processes. Impressed by Six Sigma success stories in a few global companies, many CEOs of leading companies try to follow their track. The immediate reaction is usually that they send their selected QA Managers for its training or hire a Six Sigma Green/Black Belt and expect them to implement this program in their firms. In most cases this doesn’t work out as they expected. A few succeed whereas many fail to make any breakthrough.

This presentation is for organizational leaders who have tried out or will be trying out to implement Six Sigma in their organizations. It will provide tips and guidelines on its successful implementation together with a critical analysis of success and failure factors by sharing practical examples and three case studies of different companies where the author was himself involved in the implementation of six sigma programs. In 3-4 years of time, around one hundred six sigma projects teams were established and resulted in tremendous financial gains through process, product and service improvements.

While leadership commitment or focus is generally considered as an important aspect, it’s not the only factor in the failure of six sigma programs. Even with strong leadership commitment, the risks of failure of this methodology prevail. Leadership for the deployment of six sigma methodology also requires conceptual clarity for aligning Six Sigma with their organizational vision, suitable and workable implementation plan, forming an appropriate six sigma program structure, project management process, adding special knowledge and skill sets in management, and overcoming different levels of cultural resistances.