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Championing quality
As a core part of its quality management programmes, BIC is continually seeking ways to improve quality and competitiveness. Companies in many industries have achieved world-class quality through continuous improvement in processes with the help of Six Sigma.
The aim of Six Sigma is to reduce process variation so that virtually all the products or services provided meet or exceed customer expectations. Projects will be led by BIC facilitators trained to continuously enhance their own quality improvement performance through a series of development steps — "Green Belt" through to "Black Belt" and beyond. In each location Six Sigma "Champions" support facilitators and select projects — indeed the Six Sigma programme must be started by the "Champions".
BIC was fortunate to have a day's master-class recently from Mika Koivisto of Nokia. 14 BIC managers from across Europe and America met to be trained as "Champions" and to set the ball rolling in their own companies. Although there are well-known difficulties in applying statistical quality management to batch industries such as paint, these can be overcome by careful project design. As Roland Ek, BIC Business Co-ordinator Coatings for Mobile Phones, summed up, "the way forward for BIC is to run a series of initial Six Sigma projects, making them restricted enough to enable success, and then to share the experiences in the Champions forum."
Released: May 2006