Interview with Kent Sterett, Lean Six Sigma Leader
Interview by Stephanie Donaldson
Kent is a Senior Fellow with The American Strategic Management Institute. Kent has years of experience consulting and training in corporate performance, quality improvement, Six Sigma, Lean, and Strategic Planning. Kent has worked with such organizations as Motorola, Allied Signal, ABB, York, General Electric, ASQ, ING, the Singapore Government, and PwC. Kent’s past continuous improvement projects include Manufacturing, Service, Healthcare, Financial services, and Government organizations.
When was the first time you encountered Six Sigma?
I first encountered Six Sigma, although not named that at the time, when Motorola was implementing quality improvement methodologies. It was actually in 1986 when Bill Smith defined the particulars of the Six Sigma.
When was the first time you implemented Six Sigma methodologies into your work?
I was working as the Vice President at Florida Power & Light (FPL) where I spearheaded and led all aspects of FPL’s improvement effort. We were the first American company to win the Deming Prize.
The Deming prize, established in December 1950 in honor of W. Edwards Deming, was originally designed to reward Japanese companies for major advances in quality improvement. Over the years it has grown, under the guidance of Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to where it is now also available to non-Japanese companies, albeit usually operating in Japan, and also to individuals recognized as having made major contributions to the advancement of quality. The awards ceremony is broadcast every year in Japan on national television. (1)
From your experience, what are the largest obstacles to overcome using Six Sigma?
The largest obstacle is management. Management must understand the tools completely because they must be able to manage the process and implement the tools at the same time.
What is the one thing people should know when thinking about implementing Six Sigma?
Be sure to name and maintain executive involvement, opposed to just having their support in leading the process.
What are the top critical success factors for Six Sigma implementation?
1. Management involvement
2. Knowledgeable leadership
3. Measurement system that enables prioritization
4. Mandatory and regular reviews
In what industry have you seen Six Sigma make the biggest impact?
Financial Industry
Would you recommend an organization implement Lean or Six Sigma, or both?
My thought is that every company has their own mix of issues and problems and may have one problem in the morning and another one in the afternoon. So they should also have a mix set of tools to help solve those problems. Leans and Six Sigma should not be seen as two different set of tools but a continuation of tools and are best implemented on an integrated basis. So I guess my answer is both.
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deming_Prize
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