NWACC Six Sigma training saves companies thousands
Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006
BENTONVILLE - Companies can count productioncost savings in the thousands of dollars through Six Sigma training, company employees showed at a certification ceremony held recently at Northwest Arkansas Community College.
NWACC's Corporate and Continuing Education division presented greenbelt certificates in this proven quality-control methodology to 16 employees of four companies at this month's ceremony.
Charles M. Nadeau of Franklin Electric in Siloam Springs walked graduates through the quality engineering project that his company used to reduce stator ground defects on motors.
Nadeau led a nine-member team that implemented a quality improvement plan during the course of the class. The team reduced defects by almost nine times, saving the company thousands of dollars in re-work costs, he said.
His company wasn't the only one that reduced costs. Superior Industries' teamleader Richard Maclin showed how his team saved his company hundreds of thousands of dollars in flawed wheel welds.
Other companies included in the certification ceremony were Clarke and Rockline Industries. Six Sigma program instructors Tim Plutino and Chad Smith of Black & Decker, said the companies' results were not unusual.
"Six Sigma is a rigorous management discipline that helps organizations systematically achieve breakthrough improvements in their processes," Smith said.
Both Smith and Plutino are master black belts.
The approach is used to eliminate errors, improve the economics of business process and transform an organization's culture to a data-driven, customer-driven, cost-reduction-driven culture, Smith said.
"Six Sigma provides comprehensive and unified tools and techniques that quantify a process's performance, and develops corrections for errors in every step," Smith said. "This achieves near perfection."
"Anyone interested in increasing profits and decreasing operating costs should consider the Six Sigma training at NWACC," said Earl Wells, vice president for quality and research at Allen Canning Co.
NWACC's next course will begin July 31 and run through Dec. 18. The class meets from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays. For details, call Jim Corbin at 936-5160. Those receiving certificates last week from Clarke were Marc Davis, Jerry Makey, Ron Mapp, Terry Martin and Tom Reynolds.
Franklin Electric recipients were Nadeau, Jimmie Peterson, Roe Ryan and Billy Staggs.
Rockline Industries recipients were Sam Kazery and Jason Lind.
Superior Industries recipients were Les Baker, Newel Cline, Richard Maclin, George Philip and Ron Urban.
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