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Six Sigma's comprehensive approach marks it as different and more powerful than other methodologies reviewed by Comalco. Its scientific precision and discipline appealed to engineers and technologists alike. Senior management launched the programme with an orientation visit to Six Sigma sites in the US, selection of the consultant Six Sigma Qaltec and personal training.

This was quickly followed by the full time appointment and training of black belts, supported by an internal communications programme and information technology (IT) systems to facilitate knowledge capture and knowledge sharing. As well as black belts, green belt technical specialists were trained, as were yellow belt "process owners".

In the first year Comalco spent almost US$3m on implementing Six Sigma. But the speed with which initial improvement projects were implemented added nearly US$5m to the company's bottom line in cost reduction. In addition, Comalco has increased throughput and revenue, and initiated projects aimed at improving health, safety and environment.

Six Sigma's core is a rigorous adherence to data based decision making. Ian Smith, once a performance improvement quality instructor, now Comalco's managing director, smelting, says there is no such thing as a silver bullet to improve performance. "Six Sigma demands that a rigorous and formal process is followed in a step by step process to deliver results. "The practical philosophy that underlies Six Sigma is 'Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control', known as DMAIC.

"The fundamental problem within many companies is that people become familiar with a process and they jump straight to conclusions believing they know all the answers without gathering the data. They do not take the time to define what the real problem is." The DMAIC methodology demands data - without it, improvement projects do not get off the ground.



Six Sigma's comprehensive approach marks it as different and more powerful than other methodologies reviewed by Comalco. Its scientific precision and discipline appealed to engineers and technologists alike. Senior management launched the programme with an orientation visit to Six Sigma sites in the US, selection of the consultant Six Sigma Qaltec and personal training. This was quickly followed by the full time appointment and training of black belts, supported by an internal communications programme and information technology (IT) systems to facilitate knowledge capture and knowledge sharing. As well as black belts, green belt technical specialists were trained, as were yellow belt "process owners". In the first year Comalco spent almost US$3m on implementing Six Sigma. But the speed with which initial improvement projects were implemented added nearly US$5m to the company's bottom line in cost reduction. In addition, Comalco has increased throughput and revenue, and initiated projects aimed at improving health, safety and environment. Six Sigma's core is a rigorous adherence to data based decision making. Ian Smith, once a performance improvement quality instructor, now Comalco's managing director, smelting, says there is no such thing as a silver bullet to improve performance. "Six Sigma demands that a rigorous and formal process is followed in a step by step process to deliver results. "The practical philosophy that underlies Six Sigma is 'Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control', known as DMAIC. "The fundamental problem within many companies is that people become familiar with a process and they jump straight to conclusions believing they know all the answers without gathering the data. They do not take the time to define what the real problem is." The DMAIC methodology demands data - without it, improvement projects do not get off the ground.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer