Management Information |
Taking on Six Sigma Programs - Guidelines for In-House and Outsourcing Decisions
Based on a wild guess by a close associate of mine, there are well over 2,000 restaurants in the Manhattan area and its surrounding boroughs. Although I cannot validate the absolute accuracy of his count, I do trust it is in the ballpark, since he happens to be one of those guys who seem to know everything about everything in life (and more). His dream is to be on Jeopardy; if it ever happens, I already feel sorry for the other two contestants, who will undoubtedly be decimated on national TV. And, oh yes, he also happens to be a food- lover. There is definitely some credibility to his estimate. There is a point to be made by this story (trust me!). Despite the overwhelming number of restaurants in the city-that-never-sleeps, there are only a dozen or so which I truly enjoy and actually look forward to visiting. I am certain that even if I try every single one of these 2,000 locations, the "can't-miss" list will be no longer than 50. So, assuming my buddy's figure is fairly accurate, what do I make of the other 1,950 establishments? Not much, I am afraid. Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples like this in life. Having spent many, many years in several universities (too embarrassing a number to admit), I have studied under approximately 100 professors. However, there are only three whom I regard as great teachers-individuals who have significantly influenced my life and whose lessons I actually remember. Tragically, the example does not stop here. There are a plethora of Six Sigma experts out there. A simple search on Google on "six sigma consultant" yielded a whopping 70,000+ returns. Most of these folks, I am afraid, are mediocre at best. So, as you consider or embark on a Six Sigma program, how do you select your competent and trust-worthy advisor(s)? With so many self-proclaimed experts, how do you find one who is right for you? Should you involve outsiders at all? How do you know if you can do this successfully only with your internal resources? As you ponder these fundamental questions, the following guidelines may be of interest. Proper Training and Development of Internal Resources Assistance in Training of Internal Resources Assistance in Delivering Bottom-Line Results Resource and Management Time Requirements Perhaps your organization has had too many distractions in the past and never quite successfully implemented a Six Sigma program. These distractions, in the Biopharma and Pharma industries, can come in many flavors. Typical list of distractions for most FDA regulated organizations include: ? Customer complaints (written and verbal)-collection, analysis and closure; Avoid the common mistake of believing that the Six Sigma program is yet another thing to worry about in addition to the urgent items listed above. Instead, view Six Sigma initiative as a means to effectively resolve the above issues. For example, Six Sigma is not another separate effort on top of your ongoing attempt to improve your quality issues or to shorten a long turnaround time, etc. Rather, Six Sigma tools and techniques should be used as tools to help resolve your quality problems, shorten your lead time, etc. Management also needs to devote some time on its own to learn the basics of Six Sigma. Management does not need to know how to perform DOE and ANOVA but, at a minimum, it should be familiar with the key terms and be aware of the overall approach. There are many operational improvement tools and techniques available-however, understanding of Six Sigma's well-defined, consistently followed and established approach will prove exceptionally valuable. If the management lacks either the knowledge or the experience of running Six Sigma programs, seek external help. In doing so, resist the temptation of letting the external resources taking control of your program. They are your helpers, but the client must take the ownership, set the direction and make the final key decisions. From a potential pool, seek out the ones with both Six Sigma and life science industry-specific knowledge/experience. During the initial screening, make sure that you will feel comfortable with your selection at a personal level. And most importantly, clearly communicate your expectations and demand bottom line results from early on. Relevant Knowledge and Experience Avoid letting this be a training ground for your external resources. Certification may a good indication, but it is often insufficient. Being an expert means much more than just getting the required training and holding a certificate. It takes several years of applying various Six Sigma tools in real- life settings (specifically in life science industry) to be of true value. Remember one simple rule-any external resource you hire should be significantly better qualified in his/her specific area of expertise than your internally available capabilities. Prior to making your final selection, insist on meeting the people who will actually be working with you and your team. This may not be an issue when you are dealing with independent contractors, but can be a major point when dealing with large consulting companies. Look for actual industry experience-avoid lifetime consultants. There is no suitable substitute for real- life experience. Although it is not impossible, it is very difficult for someone who lacks the actual experience to relate to the issues you may be facing. Someone who can recite a hundred cookbooks verbatim but has no real- life cooking experience is not a real chef, in my opinion. Check your consultants' background. Check references and speak with previous clients. Ask about a specific FDA requirement during your initial screening. If ever in doubt, politely walk away-there are literally hundreds more who will be more than happy to do business with you. Some time and effort spent on the selection process will save you lots of headaches and easily hundreds of thousands of dollars (or perhaps millions) in the future. Fair Evaluation of Results Be sure to ask for and to check references. Have the former clients truly achieved success? How long did the relationship last? Any project lasting in excess of six to 12 months may indicate some potential issues ahead. Any good consultant should work him/herself out of a job. If the consultant you are dealing with seems more interested in finding ways to stick around longer, rather than helping you deliver results, then I am afraid you got the wrong person in there. Ask very specific and pointed questions to judge their life science industry knowledge. Are they up-to-date on the latest biotech trends? How many other pharmaceutical clients have they had? Ask about one or two compliance issues they have solved (without compromising confidential agreements with other clients, of course). Have them provide case studies from other organizations that have faced similar situation/issues you are now attempting to resolve. Ask about their approaches, outcomes and the satisfaction of the clients. Ask for references and check them to make sure their clients share the same opinion. Based on the external resources' previous experiences, what range of lead time reduction can you expect? Have they performed significant projects dealing with complaints and/or CAPA? What were the results? What did it take them to implement these improvements? What level of success can you expect in three months? With respect to quality, what tools and techniques do they have to identify sources of variability? Once identified, how do they reduce/eliminate the variability? How many companies have they worked with that were operating under consent decrees? What (if any) specific Six Sigma tools and techniques do they adopt to help with FDA audit process? What (if any) specific experiences do they have in migrating from clinical to commercial production? If a productivity gain was achieved, has the client been able to sustain it after the initial jump? Be sure to get a rough estimate of what the consultants can deliver. Make sure they are consistent with your own expectations and, most importantly, hold them accountable for delivering real bottom line results. Cost/Benefit Analysis of In-House vs. Outsourcing In choosing external help . . . shop around! With so many providers, the difference in cost can be mind-boggling. If you are used to dealing with hourly rates for outside help, expect to pay anywhere between $100/hour (usually for an independent contractor who is getting desperate for work) and up to $500/hour (for a well-established and well marketed consultancy or an individual regarded as one of leading experts). Keep in mind that more expensive consultants or better known organizations do not necessarily deliver better results. With the right approach during negotiations, most consultants will be more than happy to tie their paychecks to performance and/or savings delivered. This can create a mutually beneficial relationship. It will minimize your risk and give competent yet lesser known consultancies/organizations an opportunity to prove its capabilities. If you are willing to go this route, clearly define the roles for the outside consultants and communicate your expectations both verbally and in writing. Another option may be to have your selected external resources to work for a few weeks at a deep discount with the understanding that after the trial period, the rates will increase to a pre-defined level provided that you, as the client, decide to continue the relationship. Despite the long-awaited uptick in the economy, the supply still far outnumbers the demand with regards to Six Sigma consultants. Use this to your advantage and be selective. The success of the program depends mostly on you. Seek external resources to compliment specific areas where you currently lack sufficient knowledge/ experience/resources. Most importantly, be demanding of both your internal and your carefully selected consultants. The journey is not an easy one, but the rewards can be quite satisfying. Abstract: Joong Hyun is the author and a Director of Operations at Tefen (http://www.tefen.com/). For questions or further information regarding this article, please contact Raymond Cheng, Marketing Manager, at info@tefen.com.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Five Overlooked Ways To Hire Winners Here is a true story. My dentist did a "clinical" evaluation of my teeth. Passion for Profits Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their businesses grow and become more complex, they find that they don't have the time to be all things to all people. Your Biggest Problem in Business? Work Ethic US Work Ethic Issues and Lack of serviceWell many of us are getting upset with the lack of service these days and no one cares and somehow we have all lowered our standards to the fact that getting good service is not to be expected, but rather a nice surprise if it ever does occur. Many great companies have derelicts, under achievers, cry babies, and people which could really careless and this is causing a rift between the best customers and businesses. Assertiveness Helps Accomplish Everything When trying to get something accomplished, assertive behavior is the most effective. Although other methods may accomplish the intended ends, the alternatives imperil our own rights or those of others, creating conflict and building mistrust into relationships. Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is a common sense set of discussions that make sure people are clear about what they need to do, have the support to do it and get open and honest feedback on their performance.Any performance management process should answer 4 important questions for your employees:· Direction: What do I need to do and how well?· Feedback: How am I doing? · Rewards: What happens when I do well? · Support/Development: What happens when I need/want help?Lets look more closely at each of these:DirectionEmployees are not mind readers. The Compliance Officers Killer Application It used to be that only the largest multi-nationals needed a Compliance Officer. Today most practices, regardless of size, would be wise to charge someone within their organisation with the responsibility of keeping abreast and managing the compliance process. Recruitment - What Youre Really, Really Looking For Imagine that you're a sports coach and you need a new playeron the team. Would you walk up to someone in the street andsay - "I want you to come and play for my team. Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants With deference to Dr. Covey and his very popular Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (all habits that will make us better consultants!), here are eight skills that all of us as consultants can work on to improve. Provisioning/User Management System Upgrades: Part I -- Ten Reasons Why Not To Do An Upgrade Tommy Sherman daily monitors a helpdesk-provisioning queue for a large company. The current provisioning/user management system was written with homegrown software. Stop Waste, Fraud and Abuse Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste, fraud and abuse. But why would managers throw all that hard-earned money away when there is a reliable way to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse using accounting policies & procedures to create internal controls. A Tricky Supervision Challenge Many managers believe that treating their team members as responsible adults will assure excellent results. The truth is that while this usually is effective, some people need much firmer limits than others to perform their jobs. Inspiring Loyalty and Contentment in Your Workforce One of the first things I look at when I take over a new department or division is the attitudes of the managers and /or supervisors.I ask myself the following questions;Do they inspire loyalty in their staff?If not, why not?If they do, how do they do it?The workforce of any company is normally the lifeblood of the business, the oil that lubricates the machinery. Management Procedures Usability - How to Improve Are your people consistently following your procedures? Each year, organizations lose thousands of dollars through common mistakes and lapses in usability. But what does that mean for business owners and executives?Ask yourself: ? Are your required actions described thoroughly and accurately, or are the details left open to interpretation?? Is your content consistent and complete, or are your writers leaving gaps no one has noticed?? Are revisions controlled, or are different people using different versions?? Are your procedures compliant with regulations? Are you sure?? Are all documents written to produce clear, measurable results?If you're unsure about any of the answers to these questions, there is good news: you can make your procedures clear and complete without combing through all of them yourself line by line. Performance Evaluations Can Be Beneficial THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING: It's a fact - most supervisors and employees have negative feelings toward performance appraisals and appraisal interviews. It's often necessary to shift people's thinking from the perception that the interview is a time of judgment to the perspective that supervisors can provide support and direction to employees who want to improve their productivity and be involved in the process. Why Would Anyone Hold a Bad Meeting? Pssst, want a stock tip that will make you rich? Okay, here it is: phone a public corporation and ask to speak with the CEO.If a secretary tells you that the CEO expects to be busy in meetings for the next six hundred years, call your broker and sell the stock short. Follow Up: It Makes A Difference A while back the headlight switch on our minivan quit working, so early one Saturday morning we took it to the neighborhood repair shop that has been mailing postcards to us the past three years. They said it would take 90 minutes to check things out. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Dont Leave Your Key Stakeholders Guessing Communicate! Don't leave you key stakeholders guessing.We are generally not very good about keeping others informed about the progress we're making, especially if there isn't much. Innovation Management: Radical Innovation Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Creativity and Innovation Management - Idea Progression Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. The Power in Praising People One of the keys to success is to have successful relationships. We are not islands and we don't get to the top by ourselves. |
home | site map | contact us |