Quality Specialist Helps Company Save 1.3M Annually - Receives Green Belt Certification
MAKATI CITY, Philippines- February 2017, James Lawless earns his Six Sigma Green Belt Certification after reducing error count in audit samples, leading to faster pull up time which ultimately leads to an annualized cost savings of P1,313,567.16.
"We don’t grow when things are easy. We grow when we face challenges." - James Lawless, CSSGB
For more Filipino professionals to know how James successfully pulled off his green belt project, and how it led to a whooping 1M+ yearly savings, we've conducted a one-on-one interview with Mr. Lawless himself, and all it needs is little scrolling to gather all the details!
Go ahead! Be inspired, Be Awesome.
Q. What prompted you to take the Six Sigma Workshop?
A. Since I got promoted as Quality Specialist from my previous employer, I’ve always wanted to take the 6Sigma Training. It always fascinates me seeing these 6Sigma Practitioners. They look very well respected and a valuable member of their organization.
Q. What Prompted you to start your project?
A. I, myself has always been keen to details and I like the mentality of working smart rather than working hard. So, I always find a way how can I make things easier. This led me to my 6Sigma Project, which is automating our Quality Audit Sampling Tool.
Q. What was your project about?
A. My project was about Quality Audit Sampling Tool Automation. For the past 2 years, our team had been manually pulling the Weekly Audit Samples from our tools. Automation did not only speed up the time spent pulling samples, but also had a significant decrease in pulling invalid audit samples.
Q. How was it like for you, starting up and executing your own project?
A. It took more than 6 months, several weekends and holidays to finish this project. At first, I collected all the data needed to present to my Sponsors and Stakeholders of this project. It was the easy part. When it came to convincing the other teams, it was burdensome. Setting up the meetings with different project members was challenging. Eventually, after several sync ups of explaining the benefits of this project, I persuaded them and got the buy-in to help.
Q. What were the results of your project? A. The focus of this project was to reduce the error count of audit samples extracted from our sampling tools. Before we started the projects our Process Sigma was at 1.38 with 54.58% Defect Percentage. Additionally, VSM Baseline was 7hrs. & 20mins. After DMAIC, we improved DPO from 54.58% to 5.88% and VSM to 5 minutes. | "That's one reason why companies give high value for Certified Six Sigma individuals. One does not just attend a program and receive his certification, but has to successfully apply and show proper use of tools and methodology with actual work processes. One has to earn his Six Sigma certification,"- Rex Tuozo, “The Six Sigma Guy” |
A. All Quality Specialist are now able to pull their own audit samples within 5 minutes or less. We saved 7hrs. & 15mins which had a Financial Savings of P109,463.93 a Month or P1,313,567.16 per Year.
Q. What was the impact of being a certified Six Sigma Green Belt to you as an individual / professional?
A. Attention and Respect.
Management, colleagues, co-workers and even off site peers are now coming up to me whenever they face challenges in their process, reports etc.
Q. What would be your message to those who are currently taking / planning to take the Green Belt Program or those who are currently conducting their own projects?
A. We don’t grow when things are easy. We grow when we face challenges.
To be certified in Six Sigma, one has to complete an actual Six Sigma project and apply process improvement tools, methodology and techniques learned in class. "That's one reason why companies give high value for Certified Six Sigma individuals. One does not just attend a program and receive his certification, but has to successfully apply and show proper use of tools and methodology with actual work processes. One has to earn his Six Sigma certification," Tuozo said. "If you attend our Six Sigma programs, unlike other training providers, you get continuous support after the program, for no additional cost. You'll be assigned a Black Belt to help you complete your project," Tuozo added. | "If you attend our Six Sigma programs, unlike other training providers, you get continuous support after the program, for no additional cost. You'll be assigned a Black Belt to help you complete your project," –Rex Tuozo, “The Six Sigma Guy” |
Be Inspired, Be Awesome!
We would like to hear from you too! If you have any questions you want to ask us or these newly certified professionals, Email us at ask@6sigmaph.com.