Six Sigma Jobs

The demand for people with Six Sigma expertise is constantly increasing. More and more organizations are discovering the many ways that the Six Sigma methodology can help them grow and improve. As the methodology spreads to many different industries beyond its genesis in manufacturing, you can now find many service and government organizations advertising for Six Sigma help. Plus, it is no longer the largest corporations looking for Six Sigma help. Smaller companies also are taking on the projects and hiring people as consultants or permanent staff. The need for full-time Six Sigma professionals will only increase.

Types of Six Sigma Jobs

There are many Six Sigma jobs in many industries at junior and senior levels. The positions have descriptions and requirements unique to that organization and its requirements. It is true that many positions are filled internally as organizations train their own people already familiar with the organization's culture in Six Sigma skills. However, organizations frequently reach outside to add personnel with Six Sigma expertise to lead projects or even the full-scale implementation of Six Sigma throughout the organization. These positions are usually dedicated full-time to Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma jobs are advertised under many titles, not always as obvious as "Six Sigma Black Belt," "Six Sigma Consultant," or "Six Sigma Analyst." Other possible titles include things like "Functional Project Lead" "Six Sigma Program Manager," "Lead Analyst/Project Manager," "Director of Operational Excellence," "Business Process Manager," or "Senior Projects Manager." Whatever the exact title, the organization is looking for someone with the skills of a Six Sigma Black Belt. A Black Belt is an individual trained in the Six Sigma methodology and experienced leading cross-functional process improvement teams. They will lead individual Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma Jobs

Very senior Six Sigma positions are sometimes advertised. These are Master Black Belts, individuals trained in the Six Sigma methodology who acts as the organization-wide Six Sigma program manager. They will lead Six Sigma implementation at the organization and will oversee Black Belts and process improvement projects and provides guidance to Black Belts as required. Master Black Belt positions understandably demand the highest level of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Qualifying for Six Sigma Jobs

To be considered for a Six Sigma job, you need a combination of relevant academic and work experience. The first and foremost qualification is to be trained in Six Sigma, ideally as a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. This means formal training from qualified Six Sigma consultants who have extensive experience in training and implementation of Six Sigma. Specific training in Six Sigma DMAIC and/or DFSS methodology is often requested. The best teacher is, of course, experience and organizations will strongly prefer, if not insist, on people who have completed at least one Six Sigma project.

In addition to possessing Six Sigma training and project experience, organizations will ask that you have experience working in the industry of the organization's business. So if the company is a manufacturer, they will usually want you to have direct experience in a manufacturing environment. Organizations will ask that you have a certain minimum period of experience (often five years) in that particular industry.

Management experience is a huge plus and will almost certainly be a requirement for a Six Sigma project team leader. Having on your resume proven project management success within a structured environment and being able to demonstrate good managerial skills will take you a long way. That's because leading and facilitating Black Belts, Green Belts, and business teams through a Six Sigma project is often the role organizations are seeking to fill.

There are also essential personal skills. You need to be able to demonstrate a good understanding of processes and quality methodologies and a willingness to take an initiative and lead change. Another crucial skill is the ability to link strategy to execution. The aptitude to look beyond the surface and be creative to think conceptually about strategic business issues and develop creative but practical solutions is key.

Defining the Six Sigma Infrastructure

Any major change initiative requires a clearly defined supporting infrastructure to drive the program. Infrastructure is defined as the underlying foundation and basic framework of personnel and supporting systems needed to support Six Sigma deployment activities. Because every part of a company participates in Six Sigma activities, the infrastructure must be clear, consistent, and comprehensive.

An effective infrastructure facilitates the development of the core competency that will establish and link Six Sigma project teams to (1) projects, (2) financial targets, and (3) the strategic plan. These project teams will be multifunctional and will need multi-functional support to execute the projects.

If Six Sigma has any chance of being successful, the infrastructure will span from the CEO and his leadership team to business leaders and to people executing the projects. Remember we learned earlier that one of Kotter's eight stages of leader change is "Create a Guiding Coalition." Thus, there is the goal of the Six Sigma infrastructure.

The infrastructure creates a strong network among the Executive Team, the Six Sigma Champions, the Belts, and the functions and businesses. This makes sense because the CEO's leadership team holds the accountability for executing the corporate strategic plan, and Six Sigma projects are instrumental in moving along the strategic plan.

One learning challenge of a Six Sigma deployment involves training the Six Sigma project teams. The human resources on these teams must learn how to work as a Six Sigma team. A new roadmap and a new set of tools, plus a more distinct focus on project accountability, add to the changes confronted by an organization when creating a Six Sigma environment.

Equally more important and complex is the learning challenge of the senior executives. Teaching the leadership team to learn how to lead a team-based organization is essential to strategic and long-term success. Because executing the strategy is a clear responsibility to which the senior executives are accountable, it follows that becoming a dynamic team leader within the Six Sigma deployment will support the strategic efforts.

Executing a good strategic plan entails the coordination of multifunctional internal activities. Senior executives must learn to deal with a multifunctional arena rather than the traditional functions. Hundreds of Six Sigma teams launched simultaneously is the outcome of an exemplary deployment of Six Sigma. Each of these teams need at minimum

1. Clear purpose for the Six Sigma team structure.

2. Clear Six Sigma program expectations.

3. Six Sigma project charters.

4. Six Sigma infrastructure tracking the number of teams.

5. Centralized repository for project results.

6. Six Sigma team goals.

7. Six Sigma team reporting mechanism.

8. Rewards and recognition alignment.

9. Six Sigma training and development plan.

10. Six Sigma team performance measures.

11. Deployment management of Six Sigma teams.

To accomplish all of the preceding requirements demands an extensive infrastructure with supporting systems. Preexisting resources are largely used to staff this infrastructure. Deploying a Six Sigma program, however, does not assume a requirement to add outside resources in a lot of new positions. The additional costs will usually have to do with the external consulting group you hire.

Defining the Six Sigma Infrastructure

For example, the only resource that Larry Bossidy added when he launched Six Sigma into Allied Signal was a corporate program leader. Larry brought in Richard Schroeder from ABB to drive the program. All the other resources for AlliedSignal's Six Sigma program already existed within the company. A small number of additional resources were added by the businesses as needed.

Because accountability represents the hallmark of successful Six Sigma deployments, defining the Six Sigma infrastructure and staffing and training the infrastructure players should happen very early in the Six Sigma deployment. Training is essential since, as Larry Bossidy has advised in his book, Confronting Reality, you must "Learn the guts of the initiative." He also adds that key members of the leadership team should learn the guts of the initiative. Early leadership training becomes a natural part of Six Sigma deployments to allow the program leaders to learn the guts of Six Sigma before the program gets too far along.

Defining the Six Sigma infrastructure is a little tricky. There should be a small centralized unit to ensure consistency and cost effectiveness of Six Sigma activities across the businesses and functions. There should also be a decentralized process that allows each business and function to tailor the Six Sigma deployment to its special needs. There is a big difference in deploying Six Sigma into the Human Resources function when compared to deploying into product development and R&D. So, our recommended infrastructure has both centralized and decentralized elements in it.

Six Sigma Careers - Setting Up the Organization For Success

One reason for the growth in popularity of the Six Sigma methodology is its evolution into a process that finds use in a number of different industries, from services to government organizations.

All of these niches require the use of Six Sigma professionals in order to implement the process so that it achieves its fullest potential.

Organizations both large and small have begun to implement Six Sigma, and as a result, there are more and more open positions for trained Six Sigma professionals as permanent employees or consultants.

Six Sigma Training

The requirements of Six Sigma professionals will be unique, and are dependent on the organization that does the hiring. There are jobs at both junior and senior levels, with many organizations preferring to train their own Six Sigma professionals in house.

This helps when it comes to saving time in training employees in specific processes in house, but many organizations look at hiring externally when they need to implement a large scale Six Sigma program throughout the entire business.

Job Titles

As we said in the previous paragraph, the job titles needed as far as Six Sigma professionals will vary from one organization to another.

You may hear terms such as "Six Sigma consultant", "Six Sigma Analyst", "Six Sigma Black Belt", and so on. In addition, titles may vary according to degree; "Senior Project Manager", "Lead Analyst Projector", "Senior Projects Manager", "Director of Operational Excellence", "Business Process Manager", "Six Sigma Program Manager", and so on will all be floated around when it comes to hiring.

What they all refer to, basically, are the skills of a Six Sigma professional who has been certified as a Black Belt under the Six Sigma training program.

Six Sigma Careers - Setting Up the Organization For Success

These professionals must have training in the Six Sigma methodologies as well as experience in handling cross functional process involvement teams.

Senior Level Professionals

If you come across an advertisement looking for senior level Six Sigma jobs, you can bet that the business is looking for those who have been certified as Master Black Belts.

When hired, these Six Sigma professionals will oversee a corporation wide implementation of Six Sigma, usually in the capacity of program manager. Master Black Belts have been trained in the various Six Sigma methodologies.

They must provide guidance to the Black Belts throughout the process when required, and this position is usually filled by those with the highest levels of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Most organizations will prefer to hire people who have been certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt. The certification indicates that the professional has passed training held by competent Six Sigma consultants with relevant exposure to training and implementation of Six Sigma, with a focus on Six Sigma DMAIC and DFSS methodology.

While some companies may not insist on candidates who have completed at least one Six Sigma project, experience is usually an asset.

Experience Counts

Another common expectation when it comes to companies who hire Six Sigma professionals is that those professionals have experience in a similar industry. As an example, a bank will prefer to hire a professional who has background within the financial sector.

Another big advantage for a Six Sigma professional is management experience as a large part of implementation includes contact with people and organizational abilities.

Organizations love to hire professionals who they know have the experience required when it comes to facilitating efforts between Green Belts, business teams, and Black Belts throughout the projects.

In addition to a deep understanding of business process and business methodologies, successful candidates must also demonstrate creative skills and an ability to take initiative.


Written By: Umair

Business Process Management and Six Sigma: Why Neither Can Stand Alone

What is Business Process Management (BPM)?

BPM is a comprehensive methodology that helps design and maintains all aspects of an organization with the sole purpose of meeting and/or exceeding their customer's wants and needs both effectively and efficiently. BPM attempts to continuously improve the business processes either in incremental steps or with radical changes. One way or the other, such ambitious endeavors requires equipping BPM practitioners with powerful computerized tools and an overarching infrastructure to enable a wide range of problem solving solutions. BPM tools can be classified in four groups:

(a) Strategy - utilizing tools like environmental influence and goal models, problem and opportunities models;

(b) Analysis - using tools like business interaction models, organization and communication models, and process simulation;

(c) Design - workflow and process models, use case and event models; (d) Implementation / Execution - creating sequence and operation models, business classes and system models.

BPM is a combination of these tools (and some more) helping the business to document, understand, measure and improve their business processes. BPM help to create well documented and streamlined processes, which are essential to ensure consistency, traceability and focus towards shared strategy and performance goals.

What is Lean Six Sigma (SS)?

Six Sigma (or its newer offspring Lean Six Sigma, LSS) is also a comprehensive and highly disciplined methodology that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services, by analyzing the underlying business processes and preventing and / or removing defects before reaching the customer. LSS also is a wide range tool set that is used under organized the following "problem- solving" cuasi sequential steps:

(a) Define -some of the deliverables in this step are project charters, CTQs, house of quality, Kano models;

(b) Measure - statistical descriptive and graphical tools, process and value stream mapping, capability analysis, data gathering tools;

(c) Analyze -statistical analysis tools, brainstorming, Pugh matrices, House of Quality (QFD),FMEA, Muda;

(d) Improve - Pugh matrices, mistake proofing, 5S, design of experiments; (e) Control - Process Control plans and Statistical Process Control (SPC).

Given the different origins, skill sets and backgrounds of a "typical" BPM and "typical" Lean Six Sigma practitioner, there are some deployment facts working against both methodologies:

1. Lack of knowledge of each other: Most BPM teams and BPM Software Companies know very little about Lean Six Sigma and vice versa. BPM traditionally has been used and deployed as an information technology effort. LSS has been viewed as an operational tool for manufacturing and / or back office processes, not software development.

2. BPM is almost all the time accompanied by an enterprise-wide software tool, and requires a software vendor on a periodical basis for training, new releases, technical support, etc.

3. BPM is usually deployed as a technology management direction or from higher up management levels. 4. Six Sigma and Lean have been for the most part manufacturing efforts; and most recently operations management directives. As a foot note, some of the most successful Six Sigma deployments were executive management mandates (Motorola, Allied, Bank of America, to mention a few).

5. Six Sigma tools do not have a large technology foot print, with software requirements mostly at some of the organization's desktops. Its deployment is typically driven at the beginning by consulting organizations and then passes to internal resources (a Program Office is a typical modus operandi).

6. Neither BPM nor Lean Six Sigma specialist is traditional a Change and Integration Management expert or trained specialist. This knowledge vacuum causes hiccups in the deployment and acceptance of either methodology by the stakeholders.

7. Neither BPM nor Six Sigma have an integrated data collection tool, creating always a delay in data gathering which hampers a quick deployment and execution. Both rely on a third party layer to perform data gathering and data readying for analysis.

Business Process Management and Six Sigma: Why Neither Can Stand Alone

What does BPM lack?

BPM tools are very effective in creating business interactions and communications models, mapping processes and workflows, as well as capturing key metrics and resources relevant to those processes. However, many BPM teams struggle to understand which processes are the top priority for the business and which defects are the most critical to solve for any given process. BPM lacks of quantitative ranking methods and statistical tools to prove significance. Teams sometimes use a series of "hunches" and past experiences to decide how prioritize design and implementation strategies for new or improved processes. LSS has much to offer BPM teams in this area - through tools like Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA), risk prioritization index and Value Stream Mapping (VSM). So, conceptually, BPM and LSS should be a great fit.

BPM is also a thin methodology to monitor the sustainability of any process change after implementation of such changes. Once process changes have been deployed, a project is closed and the consultant systems analyst goes home, or starts a new project. Tools like statistical process control and non-existent in the BPM tool set, leaving the operational leadership with (maybe) a wealth of reports, at best real-time. LSS offers via SPC, a wealth of proven and robust tools specifically tailored to particular quantitative variables; designed to monitor stability, trending and within control operational status.

BPM tools allows for storage of key data and key metrics for the different artifacts that are created and used in a project. However, does not allow for a strong statistical analysis of the data. As a matter of fact, most of the BPM data stores are for simple figures (like an average), curtailing itself for a more accurate data analysis, like hypothesis testing or a regression model to forecast future process performance. And the few software tools equipped with discrete or Monte Carlo simulators are rarely deployed.

What does Six Sigma lack?

By definition and key to its success, LSS tackles specific defects in a specific set of operations within a specific business process. This approach is very effective in eliminating defects. However, in general LSS lacks of a wealth of enterprise-wide view of the organization strategy, objective and goals, its actors and the organization surroundings. This is an area where BPM has a very strong showing. So, conceptually, BPM and LSS should be a great fit.

Lean Six Sigma also falls short when tries to incorporate tools for computer automation and information technology designs (both vital is most of our business processes with high integration and automation). BPM lends a helpful hand with use cases, event modeling, business class models, subtype and package models. Conceptually, again BPM and LSS should be a great fit.

It becomes very apparent that Six Sigma Lean and Business Process Management (BPM) neither can stand alone. Organizations that master the integration of both will have a higher rate of financial success when designing and implementing process to take any organization for a closer level of customer satisfaction and global competition.

What both methodologies lack?

BPM or LSS do not consider Change nor Integration Management or any of its derivatives when communicating changes to their stakeholders and much less to their customers. These important aspects of buying into the changes and managing smooth transitions and changes are not considered at all in any project plan, or are left to the assumed knowledge of the project manager.

The last section of this paper will present actionable tips to both BPM and Six Sigma practitioners to counter any natural resistance to change that will typically emerge from any organization when facing changes.

Core Reasons why companies don't want to implement BPM

In our experience these are the top reasons as of why there is no need for a formal BPM approach to process problem solving:

1. We have so much low hanging fruit that we know already what to do and where to start, we don't need a Business Process Architecture
2. Mapping out Processes slow things down, and is really over engineering our processes
3. We need savings now and don't have time to map out all of our processes
4. Why don't we just work on Process Control?
5. We don't know how to do Process Owners but we know how to improve processes, we've improved them before, and we can do it again.

If you are a Six Sigma Lean Resource and want a rapid tip to overcome BPM Resistance

One can help frame Six Sigma DMAIC project or initiatives in the larger organization strategy context by quickly leveraging BPM's communication models, opportunity models, business interaction models, etc. as part of the analysis phase of DMAIC.

BPM tools with the appropriate team of analysts and subject matter experts can create process maps and workflows in working sessions on average under one day of duration.

Business Interaction Models show more strategic views than the conventional process model utilized in LSS.

Opportunity models are a powerful tool to quickly establish and detect any missing component or gaps in the deployment of multiple DMAIV projects.

At Metaspire, we develop current and future Business Interaction Models (BIMs) to scope the work for the current organization leading to the future BIM indicating how the various elements of the organization would interact in the future. Without these BIMs, we have seen duplication of efforts and the change one department was hoping for, quickly becomes undone by another department or conflicting priorities or initiatives.

Core Reasons why companies don't want to implement Lean SS

During our consulting activities some of the reasons as of why there is no need for a LSS implementation:

1. Didn't Six Sigma bring down Motorola and became non-competitive - too cumbersome
2. Six Sigma has little to offer and the tools and methods can be found elsewhere
3. Six Sigma stifles creativity and innovation
4. It's too expensive and too slow to implement
5. Too much specialized training and high maintenance of the six sigma group
6. Sounds to me like it would introduce too much bureaucracy
7. I don't understand why I need it in the first place

If you are a Process Improvement Resource and want a rapid tip to overcome Lean SS Resistance

Motorola's Six Sigma methodology has now reached what internally is called Second Generation Motorola Six Sigma, with a process for governance, moving the tool from counting defects in manufacturing processes to an overall business improvement methodology, and in 2006 started Motorola Lean transformation and Software Design for Six Sigma. Thereby integrating Six Sigma tools with Business Process Management mindset.

It is true that Six Sigma have incorporated tools that have been useful in previous quality initiatives (nothing wrong with that). However, the older methods do not magnify the impact of defects using millions of opportunities as a measure of quality, nor move from the traditional three-sigma to our six-sigma as a goal of perfection. Under Six Sigma, defect and defectives counts provide tangible, measurable results that we can use. Rather than being too costly, Six Sigma detractors are very unaware or ignorant of the cost of poor quality (COPQ) in their organizations. They have no baseline, and therefore any number is a high figure. A well-documented fact is that average companies perform at a 3 to 3.5 sigma level, with a COPQ ranging between 24% - 40% of their sales. Companies performing at a 5 sigma level lower their COPQ between 5% - 10% of their sales.

Six Sigma consultants can bring the expertise for a quick proof of concept of LSS effectiveness within the organization. They will help to determine and prioritize any apparent low hanging fruits.

Six Sigma is a business process improvement methodology, and unless deployed within a BPM architecture, has a hard time supporting strategic decision making. We can have a near perfection, defect free process producing Chocolate Cupcakes, and still the company will go down as the horse Chocolate Cupcakes market vanishes (God Forbid!).

Best approaches to LSS deployment happens when the operations staff -project managers, supervisors, managers, directors are the six sigma practitioners. They continue to perform their traditional job related functions, but now they have a quantitative and statistical thinking and they decisions are supported with data facts.

Often times, companies have a multitude of disparate measures and metrics. The Lean SS tool "House of Quality", helps companies focus on identifying customer requirements, where improvement is needed to meet or leapfrog competition, and strategies for making those improvements. As a result of this exercise core customer process measures and metrics are identified and can be re-weighted with a higher significance or introduced to the company.

Why use Six Sigma at all? Most companies gather data and perform statistical analysis and forecasting of some sort, why not use statistically significant tools from Six Sigma to outperform your competitors? Six Sigma tools answer questions like: How do I know that I am measuring the right thing? How do I know that we are satisfying Customers and Shareholders? How can I measure and report the right processes? How do I stop defects before they occur? Six Sigma offers 10-12 tools where you can pick the right tools for the right question.

Supplier Management - Top 10 Tips For Managing Supplier Performance

Superior supplier performance is not a one-time event. It should be a continuous process of improvement. The starting point is to understand current performance and where it can be improved. Here are ten tips for managing supplier performance.

1. Use measures that are appropriate to the type of relationship. Clarify your expectations and priorities for each class of supplier (based on spend value and supply risk or complexity) in ways that are meaningful. For example, suppliers of routine products (such as office supplies) may be measured on price, quality and delivery lead-time. On the other hand, strategic suppliers might be measured on total cost of ownership, quality assurance and process cycle times.

2. Use measures that are linked to objectives. Objectives are the specific targets you set in order to meet your goals. For example, an objective of reducing a purchase price by 10% in the next year can be used to achieve a goal of reducing your purchasing costs. You need supplier measures that monitor these objectives.

3. Use measures that are linked to key processes. A process is a set of tasks and decisions that are needed in order to carry out a procurement activity such as "paying a supplier". Performance measures should tell you when your key processes are under-performing as it may be an indication that they are broken.

4. Use measures that are linked to improvements. Continuous improvement is achieved through an on-going programme of improvement projects many of which will involve suppliers. Use measures that track whether or not these projects will deliver on time and realise the benefits expected.

5. Measures linked to people. All performance measures need to be owned by someone who is responsible for achieving the targets you have set. Allocating accountability and then measuring progress is a key to driving improvement.

6. Assign data collection responsibilities. Not all of the data needed for supplier management indicators will be readily available from systems. In this case, someone needs to be given the responsibility for collecting this data accurately and in a timely manner.

Supplier Management - Top 10 Tips For Managing Supplier Performance

7. Feedback performance measures quickly. The shorter the feedback loop between an action and the measurement of the result, the more likely it is that individuals will learn from their actions and take corrective action for next time. Knowing what went wrong a month or more ago does not help people to find underlying causes of poor performance.

8. Make your performance systems accessible. Speed of feedback is essential. Using web-based performance systems, for example, lets people access performance information as and when they need it.

9. Use dashboards. These are a great way to summarise performance information and relate them to target levels. Colour coding performance (green for good, red for bad) and dials or a scale are great ways of allowing people to see at a glance whether or not they are on track.

10. Keep it simple. Complicated systems will fail from lack of use and from difficulties in maintaining the data needed. So simplify at all times.

Supplier Management - How to Measure Supplier Performance

Good supplier performance is paramount to the effectiveness of your organisation. However, good performance does not always happen automatically. It has to be managed and the first step in supplier performance management is to measure what it is.

Measurement of performance should be on-going using performance criteria that are specified in your contract and based on your business requirements definition.

Typical factors that are measured include the following.

o Price - are you getting the best price?
o Quality - are you satisfied with the quality of your supplies?
o Innovation - do your suppliers regularly inform you of new products and services that might help improve your business?
o Delivery - are your suppliers punctual? Do the supplies arrive in good condition?
o Account management - do your suppliers respond quickly to any orders or queries that you place with them?
o SLAs - are your suppliers living up to their end of the agreement?
What you need to do is to quantify each of these. You can do this by, for example, relating a supplier's performance on each factor on a scale of 1 (poor performance) through to 10 (excellent performance). You may want to weight each factor to take into account their relative importance to you. If you then add up each weighted score you will arrive at an overall performance score for the supplier.

Supplier Management - How to Measure Supplier Performance

If you measure suppliers regularly in this way you can track performance and spot adverse trends early enough to do something about it before it becomes a problem.

The way to do it is to plot successive total performance scores over time (weekly or monthly) on a graph using the horizontal axis for time and the vertical axis for the performance score.

You can then draw a horizontal line across the graph at the performance level that signifies unacceptable performance. If successive scores show a downward trend, you can extrapolate that trend to forecast when the actual score will hit the unacceptable performance level. This gives you time to discuss with your supplier the underlying causes of the trend and correct them before they become a real problem.

This creates a "win-win" for you and your supplier - you get the performance you need and your supplier doesn't incur any costs or penalties for poor performance.

Supplier Performance and Supplier Information Are Useful to Save Businesses Money

Businesses are always looking to increase revenue from sales. Thus, they advertise to increase customers and sales to achieve this. Actions like this often result in increased site traffic and profit.

However, many businesses neglect to evaluate their spending. Spending on supplies, products, services, and other things add up. This is another place businesses can save money for their company.

This area is only neglected because the usual focus is on sales. Many firms online specialize in financial management solutions. One of these solutions is supplier performance to help save money.

Supplier performance solutions continuously evaluate performance. They also identify risks in supplier chains and places to improve. Supplier performance solutions offer customers wonderful results.

Supplier performance evaluates purchasing standards with suppliers. These are helpful in identifying worst case purchasing scenarios. Additionally, supplier performance identifies potential new suppliers.

Potential new suppliers may help a business lower cost on purchases. This can save a business a lot of money which is useful elsewhere. Saved capital may be reinvested or put into additional advertising.

In addition to supplier performance there is supplier information. Supplier information also helps save money on the purchase side. This is where solution monitors and uses information from suppliers.

Supplier information solutions consolidate a lot of information. The information consolidated is on contract agreements and purchases. This solution identifies when a supplier charges a different amount.

Identifying an increase in a charge is vital to saving money. Supplier information solutions help to settle this charge dispute. It allows a business to question a supplier on this increased cost.

Supplier Performance and Supplier Information Are Useful to Save Businesses Money

Supplier information is also useful in identifying supply ability. It pinpoints suppliers who fail to deliver regularly and timely. This allows firms to look at potential suppliers in the industry.

Supplier information and performance are all part of analysis. This is spend analysis which evaluates all company spending. Spend analysis offers detailed reporting on all ways to spend money.

Spend analysis is vital to know exactly how much one spends. This is vital to identify new saving opportunities available. A detailed opportunity assessment is possible with analysis.

Spend analysis is very detailed with supplier data in categories. This analysis is useful to spend one's time on useful actions. This means strategic activities which automates spend classification.

Spend analysis solutions are available to companies everywhere. Financial firms offer spend analysis solutions on a global level. The return on investment for spend analysis is quite high for clients.

How I Make 40$ Daily Working With 30 Minutes By Get Traffic From US Or Canada

10 Powerful Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Web Site

A while back, I started a web site to promote games based on the Android operating system. It had all the bells and whistles: lots of articles, pictures, affiliate promotions, and it looked cool. I was told that to get traffic to the site I would need to optimize it so search engines could find it and send me tons of traffic. So I optimized it. I figured out what key words were the best fit for my site, I shortened my URL structure, made sure my image alt tags were correct, created a site map and lots of other stuff. It was confusing, time-consuming, frustrating, but I did it anyway because I thought it would bring the traffic that I knew my site deserved; my beautiful baby.

So what's a proud parent to do?


Let me suggest to 10 very powerful tools that you can use to quickly drive traffic to your site; and I mean seeing increased targeted traffic within 24 hours.

Purchase Targeted Traffic - O.K., I know what you're thinking. I go to "Guido" of "ShadyTraffic4U", hand over my hard-earned money and end up with thousands of people from countries that don't even speak my language coming to my site. Or worse, a bunch of "robots", not even real people, come visit my site...can robots buy stuff? Well that's not what I mean. Look for companies that will guarantee you traffic from countries that you want, or better yet, from areas of the country that you want. Further, make sure they can also send you people who are interested in the products that you are promoting. For example, I want 100,000 people from the western part of the U.S. that are interested in photography to come to my site. Yes, these services do exist. This will drive a boatload (big boat) of targeted customers to your site right away. And remember, this is a "numbers" game. You may get 0.1 to 0.5% conversion (1 to 5 paying customers for every 1,000 visits) depending on how desirable your product, or service, is. If you find the right traffic provider you should be able to get 100,000 visitors for under $200. That's 100 to 500 paying customers for a measly 200 bucks. If your profit margin on your products averages $10 then you can potentially pocket a nice sum.

Guaranteed Sign-Ups - Is your business model based upon how many people you can get to give you their names, email addresses and phone numbers? Well there are services available to help you with that too. The key here is to look for companies that will guarantee that their sign-ups are from people who are genuinely interested in learning more about your product or service - once again "Targeted" traffic. You also want to make sure that emails submitted are real and 100% fully deliverable. If any are not real, then you should get a credit for them. Finally, make sure you get a tool that gives you statistics on how many sign-ups have been submitted to your site. Expect to pay around $1 for each guaranteed sign up.

Facebook Fans - Everyone has heard of Facebook, right? It's the largest social networking site in the world. With over 80 million active users and an estimated value of over $16 billion, it has become one of the hottest ways to reach the targeted niche groups of people who you can freely market to each and every day. The concept is simple enough for anyone to understand, but in order to make it work, you need fans. LOTS of fans. To do this right you have to find a marketing company that only uses "White Hat" Methods. White Hat methods are those that conform to the guidelines of major search engines and avoid things like spamming and other forms of deception. You also want to make sure fans are delivered quickly, within 4-6 hours, instead of days or weeks. Make sure you can specify where your targeted audience is from, like USA and Canada. Finally you want to make sure you get a guarantee that includes a refund of your money if you don't get the promised fans. You'll find prices around $100 for 1,000 fans.

Facebook Friends - So what's the difference between Facebook Fans and Friends? Good question. Facebook fans are associated with your Facebook business pages and are pretty much unlimited. Facebook Friends are associated into your personal group and are currently limited to 5,000 friends. Fan pages are visible to everyone (unregistered users) and have good visitor tracking tools. Friends groups are invited individuals and have the ability to spread information faster through viral marketing. That is, they talk to their friends, who talk to their friends and so on and so on. If you want to expand your circle of friends to quickly get the word out on your products or services then there are many companies out there that can help you do that. Once again, make sure they use reputable means, you don't want to be kicked off of Facebook due to "Black Hat" methods. You'll find places selling you Facebook Friends for around $1 per friend.

Google Plus 1 - We all know that Google is the number 1 search engine out there. Anything we can do to convince Google that your site is respected by the rest of the world will result in more traffic being sent to you (I know, this sounds like SEO stuff, but just hold on). Google recently released their Google+ 1 button which is very similar to the Facebook Like button but with a major difference. Google is holding the cards when it comes to placement of your website in their search engine. Plus 1 will become an integral part of the overall ranking process as time moves forward. Facebook Likes don't hold a candle to Plus 1 in this regard. So, my suggestion is to find a reputable company to provide you with Plus 1 traffic without being flagged by Google as using "Black Hat" methods and thus risk being kicked off the proverbial Google Island. Find a company that doesn't use automated scripts from bogus accounts. Also look for a company that provides you traffic from people who are actually interested in your business. Look for pricing of around $150 for 5,000 Plus 1 votes.

Twitter Followers - You've seen all the movie stars do it, they Tweet about every little thing that is going on in their lives. And millions of people love it! If you have a site that would benefit from having thousands of Twitter followers then this is another great way to grow your business. But you need to make sure that your Tweets contain content that will keep them coming back. Paying for followers is easy. However, you need to make sure you work with a company that won't get your account suspended or banned. The companies you're looking for don't use spam and are very careful in how they deliver followers to you. You'll find good companies selling you followers for under $50 per 1000.

YouTube Views - If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a million. Promote your business on YouTube. It's free and if you get the right marketing partner you can have thousands of people watch your videos. Also, the more people who come to view your video the higher your ranking with YouTube which will in-turn result in even more videos being sent to you. What a great deal! You can contract with a company to send you videos for around $100 for 10,000 views. Again, make sure you partner with a company that is legit and does not use robots.

Write Articles - Writing articles on a subject related to your business can be another effective way to drive traffic to your site. You write multiple articles so you begin to look like a subject expert, you post them in various reputable e-zine sites and sit back and wait for the customers to pour in. Right? Not so easy. Writing articles is time-consuming, frustrating, tiring, and did I say time-consuming? Yup. So, get someone else to write your articles. You can find sites that will write you a 500 word article for around $30. However, be very careful. Make sure that the writers can write magazine quality articles. Make sure they use professional writers. Make sure that it's written in native content, with no added fluff. Expect to pay more if you want medical journal caliber writing.

Targeted email - I read at least 50 emails a day. Some of it promotes products and services but most of it is work related. I hate it when I get unsolicited spam mail, as I'm sure you do too. The only time I'm o.k. with receiving mail from businesses is when I've said it was o.k. Also, I expect to have the option to "opt-out" of getting future emails from that vendor if it's something I'm not interested in. "Opt-in" means that people signed up from various sources on the internet to receive offers of interest through email newsletters. These email addresses are confirmed twice before added to a list. Members have the choice to remove themselves by clicking a simple link. Opt-In Email is the safest way to email on the internet, it is 100% Spam free and there is no risk involved. Additionally, make sure your service provider can target your emails to only people who are interested in the product/service you're selling. This improves your conversion rate and prevents recipients from getting emails on subjects they don't care about. For a quality provider of email services expect to pay around $100 for 50,000 targeted emails.

Press Releases - Press Releases are a great way to let the world know about your business. Done right, you can get a large amount of visibility in a very short amount of time. I would strongly recommend hiring a professional writer (American writer if you're in the US) that has extensive experience doing this sort of thing. It's a real art and you have to convey a compelling message with minimal writing. Partner with a company that can not only write your release but also has a broad network of news sites, newspapers, publications as well as TV and radio stations. There are options out there where you can get all this done for under $200.

Well there you have it. You now are well equipped to lift your baby over your head and have the world flock to you in droves to admire it. Always remember, however, that your success is going to be, in large part, based upon the integrity and capability of your marketing partner. There are thousands out there eager to take your money so shop around and select wisely.


How To Find Los Angeles Web Hosting:

Are you looking to find a great host for your web site? There are many factors affecting that choice. The most obvious ones are things such as cost, space and bandwidth. Another factor I personally find important is the quality of customer support.

Then there's another aspect that I've noticed many people look for: they want a web host which is physically located close to where they live. Personally, I don't think that is at all important but I can imagine it feels better for some folks to know they can actually go visit the office of their web hosting provider.

Suppose I would like to find a web host close to where I live. How, then, do I most easily find one? Here is one method which I find convenient.

For example: if I live in the sunny Los Angeles area on the US west coast, then I can simply go to Google and type in the search phrase "Los Angeles web hosting" (or "web hosting Los Angeles"). Then, at the top of the results page I should get a neat little map of the LA area - provided by Google Maps - where a bunch of Los Angeles web hosting companies are shown by little red pointers. Beside the map there's information on each of those hosting companies.

When I did that search I got several pages of such mapped results. Of course, depending on where you live you may not get that many. It so happens that there are many web hosting companies in California in general, and especially around the greater Los Angeles area.

If you happen to live in an area where there are very few web hosting companies, your choices will be very limited. In that case, I do not recommend choosing your web host primarily because it is located close to where you are located. Personally, I live in Europe but I use web hosting providers in the US. This is because I generally get better deals there, plus I have an enormous number of hosting companies to choose between. Actually, several of the web hosts I am using are located in southern California!

Finally, I'd like to emphasize the key factor I personally look for when choosing a web host: customer service quality! And how do you find out about that before committing yourself? Well, I recommend you do a search using search phrases like "[host name] + reviews". For a well-known web hosting company, this can bring up dozens of interesting results.

There is a saying that claims we teach people how to treat us both in our personal and well as in our professional lives. For that reason, smart professionals know that to achieve and sustain world-class supplier performance, we each must take an active role in asking for what we need and want. In other words, when we get involved in the process by truthfully sharing our needs regarding supplier performance, we open the way towards realizing a more successful business. If on the other hand, you're not getting what you want and you do nothing to explain your needs, you are actually teaching the supplier that it doesn't matter. Plain and simple, it's up to you to take responsibility for excellent supplier performance by asking for what you want.

Improve Levels of Supplier Performance!

Based on my many years as a senior supply chain executive, business owner and consultant, I have discovered that there are specific ways to improve levels of supplier performance and one of those is using an effective supplier rating system. Without a good system in place, supplier performance is difficult to improve. Founded on that premise, not only have I achieved and sustained a great deal of improved supplier performance, but I feel safe in stating that using a rating system has proven to enhance levels of supplier performance significantly. In fact, my experience has led to the creation of a ten-step process that I use faithfully, and which has been instrumental in my consistently reaching upwards of 20% improvement in supplier performance.

Achieve Upwards of 20% Improvement!

In support of your efforts in achieving improvement in supplier performance, I am about to share this ten-step process, which will help in sustaining world-class supplier performance as well as achieving upwards of 20% improvement. But before presenting the ten-step process, I want to suggest that improving sustainable supplier performance takes more than just having the tools and strategies; it takes the application of an established and disciplined approach. Anyone can use maximum purchasing leverage or even twist the arms of suppliers in an effort to gain improved performance, but that isn't the way to go and it's certainly not a means of sustaining excellent performance. In short, achieving consistent performance in delivery, price, quality and other areas requires diligence and consistency along with a well thought out strategy. The ten-step process I have outlined below will work as you diligently apply the principles.

The Ten Step Process To Sustainable Supplier Performance Improvement

o Step 1. Involve Senior Management in the Process!

The first and one of the most important steps in the process is to involve Senior Management. What that entails is aligning supplier performance targets with total corporate targets within your business plan. In short, your goals can be centered on cost containment, new technology development, new markets, cost of quality and productivity, but approach Senior Management first, prepared with an initial plan to obtain their support in going forward. If and when Senior Management is involved, they are more likely to assist in resource allocation, thereby assuring that targets are achieved.

o Step 2. Develop a Daily Measurement System!

The most powerful opportunities come about by communicating the standards expected, as well as conveying the achievement expected towards those standards every day. Based on this premise, when suppliers realize that you are tracking them on a daily basis, they respond with greater urgency. You know that old saying: "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease." Well, a sound rating system that is monitored both by you and your suppliers can definitely lead to at least a 10% improvement, even if you do nothing else. And that can be achieved in one to two years at the most. Improving long-term supplier performance comes about through a clear, easy to understand daily dashboard with just a few key performance indicators, (KPI's). Instead of measuring ten to twenty things a day, pick a few basic areas such as delivery or quality and display them for all suppliers to see. Keep in mind that it is the rare supplier who can focus all their energy on just one or two customers. Suppliers usually have many customers to keep happy so the customer who communicates their standards, and tracks them each day gets the suppliers undivided attention. With those in place, you're on your way to improving long-term supplier performance.

o Step 3. Know What You Want in Supplier Performance & Then Communicate It!

My recommendation is that suppliers be given an annual scorecard. This scorecard should cover all critical areas of importance such as responsiveness, service, product management and sales support. The primary key is telling the supplier exactly what makes you happy and what you want and require in reference to supplier performance. I suggest developing a set of unique requirements for each supplier, rather than blanket type scoreboards. It may take a little more work, but in the long run, the effectiveness more than doubles that of traditional annual supplier report cards. I also recommend that the target for the following year be given along with the trend the supplier has been on for the last two or three years. In addition, blend numeric ratings and targets with written text describing your issues and requirements to the individual supplier. For example, many companies issue blanket statements or proclamations on targets such as "cost savings of 5% are required for next year." Most suppliers file these away and don't take them very seriously! The bottom line is to make the scoreboard personal. In my experience suppliers find it harder to disassociate themselves when the targets are personalized! The scorecard works with the daily dashboard as they drive home clear standards and accountabilities.

o Step 4. Develop a Total Gap Analysis of your Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Practices!

A true gap analysis will focus on known strengths and weaknesses thereby identifying the organizational changes needed to close the gaps. To get the most out of a gap analysis it should be thorough, candid, honest, and realistic. Never compare yourself to the big guys like Wal-Mart or Dell's logistic system, particularly if you are a mid-market company. Instead, compare yourself with other companies that are in your competitive league. Plain and simple, benchmark your organization with other similar operations and look for areas of complacency, stagnation, and opportunities for improvement. And if you really want unbiased assessment, consider outside help.

How to Achieve and Sustain World-Class Supplier Performance

o Step 5. Develop a Commodity Team Approach to Supplier Management!

When using a commodity team concept, all functional areas responsible for various aspects of supplier performance are brought together under somewhat of a matrix work structure. In such teams, the buyers are usually the team leaders. Depending on how large and complex the supply chain is, quality, logistics / planning, engineering and other groups are all brought into the commodity team structure. To work well, these teams must have staying power. In short, this is not a temporary assignment to meet and work on a short-term set of goals, but instead commodity team members share in supplier management goals and plans. In other words, the members learn and act together to drive supplier improvement. An effective commodity team approach must become a way of life and become ingrained in daily management so as to drive supplier performance over the long term. The complexity of modern supply chains requires more resources than most purchasing organizations possess, but the gains I have personally seen from commodity teams have been enormous.

o Step 6. Training, Training and more Training!

As a Consultant, I am often asked to evaluate a purchasing organization or total supply chain system. What I find is that basic training on internal systems, practices and long-term supplier improvement strategies, as well as the most minimum of industry standards, are usually missing. This translates into a loss of efficiency. Inefficiencies are tough to quantify, but my general experience shows that buyers and supply chain staff are on average 30-50% less efficient than their well-trained counterparts. Buyers need basic reviews on best practices and negotiations training and these should be centered on their supply base, not on some "off the shelf" course. Remember, improving supplier performance means knowing how to reach out to suppliers, showing understanding about their operations, their systems, their practices and helping them to reach new levels of achievement. Training must be centered on what you need from a supplier and how to get it!

o Step 7. Know Your Key Suppliers Well!

When I say know your key suppliers well, I don't mean to audit a supplier and file the paperwork once every year or two. Your commodity teams must visit, and they must visit often. The more they know about the supplier and what goes into the supplier's process, the greater the chances of identifying further efficiencies in cost, quality, delivery, new product development and sustainable supply chain performance. I often find buyers conducting what I have coined as lobby supplier management. This type of buyer never really leaves his desk except to visit the lobby when the supplier comes in for a meeting. This is the closest the buyer gets towards understanding his supplier partner! For greater efficiency, buyers should be encouraged to travel and conduct a hands-on supplier management!

o Step 8. Develop Best Practices Policies Among Suppliers!

Look for good ideas and spread them among the rest of the supply base! I have worked and lived in Asia and managed large supply chain operations and what I discovered is that Asian companies simply make it their business to know who has a better process. It is a standard practice among some of the best Asian companies around the globe and once they glean that information, they use it to learn and improve the rest of the supply base! Obviously, one must stay away from proprietary practices, but the concept is well known. I have to remind supply chain professionals that it is not always how well their internal systems perform; the highest priority is how well the supplier's systems perform!

o Step 9. Align the Number of Suppliers You Manage to your Resources!

The one area I invariably find seriously out of alignment, even in very large multi-national corporations, is the number of suppliers used to manage resources. You can only effectively manage a finite number of suppliers with a significant hands-on approach. To manage suppliers productively, I would recommend the following. Either have enough staff in possession of modern performance measurement tools and resources from other areas, or shrink the supply base to a manageable level, making sure it fits your available capabilities!

o Step 10. Consolidate All of the Above Steps into an Executed Roadmap Document!

A road map of this nature outlines all the steps that will and should take place. This road map must demonstrate who will do what, when and how, and with what resources. It should list the responsibilities, interim goals and targets along with the processes and systems that will be utilized. Most important, it should develop and describe in detail what the desired end state of supplier performance will look like along with all the steps and processes it will take to achieve. In short, involve everyone in the development of this document and then be sure to live by it!

What If You Could Innovate Productively?

Who wouldn't like to swap places with Apple or IDEO? These companies have for nearly a decade consistently topped the list of 50 world's most innovative companies, despite the radical change in the business landscape, that has seen social web upstarts soar to the top.

There is a plethora of proprietary models of innovation, including technological solutions that offer front end or end to end innovation miracles. But here is the SECRET: NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL. In the end you will need to invest in an organic growth and the slow cooking method to sustain the nutritional value of your innovation impact.

Ask yourself: are you innovating for the future or for the next product? Are you building up the value of your finite resources or SELLING your resources like there was no tomorrow?

Your organization won't innovate productively unless some underlying factors are in good shape. If "10″ is outstanding and "1″ is poor, how do you rate your organization on each of these?

This article reinforces the importance of the steps and is a good, unbiased thinking place to start the innovation journey.

How do you or your company rate for innovation productivity?

1. A compelling case for innovation.

Unless people understand why innovation is necessary, it always loses to the core business or the performance engine in the battle for resources. The performance engine is bigger, is the center of power, and can justify resources based on short term financial results. So the case for innovation has to be made, and it better be compelling.

2. An inspiring, shared vision of the future.

Most companies anticipate the future based upon the past. Not surprisingly, the company always looks relevant in that future. However, if the past is suspended and a holistic view of the future is envisioned, then it's easier to recognize the tidal forces of change and (surprise!).

The company may not look so relevant in that future. For this process, it is best to take a 10-20-year perspective. It is not about predicting the future. It is about developing a hypotheses about the future.

3. A fully aligned strategic innovation agenda.

As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." Innovation is a journey into the unknown and there are many paths open to the innovator.

 What If You Could Innovate Productively?

Before starting it is essential to know things like:

1) What business are we in now and what do we want to be in going forward?

2) What is our risk tolerance for pursuing big, game-changing ideas? In our experience, the #1 reason why game-changing innovation fails is because time is not invested up front to align the organization behind one strategic innovation agenda.

4. Visible senior management involvement.

Incremental innovation can be pushed down into the organization. Where the strategy is clear, decision metrics are understood, and management models like Stage-Gate, create a level playing field.

However, game-changing innovation is the opposite. The strategy is fuzzy and traditional metrics can't be applied early in the process. This is because that which is truly new has no frame of reference nor benchmark.

So Stage-Gate models can unintentionally kill potentially big ideas. The pursuit of game-changing innovation only works when the person who can say yes to big spending visibly sponsors and participates in the work and provides air cover to the work team.

5. A decision-making model that fosters teamwork in support of passionate champions.

Breakthroughs cannot survive without a decision-making model that is different from the one used for incremental innovation. It's not about metrics; it's about "the educated gut." Old models don't work.

Autocratic decision-making fails to engage all of the critical stakeholders, while consensus sinks every decision to its lowest possible common denominator. It doesn't work without a passionate champion who can make decisions and engage the team to support those decisions.

6. A creatively resourced, multi-functional dedicated team.

The best teams have three ingredients:

1) Project champions who can make decisions during working sessions and advocate for them with executive sponsors.

2) Relevant capabilities and expertise.

3) Naïve, seemingly irrelevant diversity. Most often a breakthrough starts with the naïve and then the experts determine how to do it.

7. Open-minded exploration of the marketplace - drivers of innovation.

Organizational change is driven by marketplace factors: customers, competition, government regulation, and science and technology. Only by exploring these drivers of change, can a company begin to recognize what it must do to be relevant in its envisioned future.

8. Willingness to take risk and see value in absurdity.

Albert Einstein once said, "If at first an idea doesn't seem totally absurd there's no hope for it." Innovators understand that you have no choice; you must take risks, often big ones, by moving toward the absurd. The "seemingly" irrelevant, in order to create pre-emptive competitive advantage while competitors move in the "obvious" direction.

9. A well-defined yet flexible execution process.

Companies that have been in business for a while are good at executing on small, incremental changes. And that's challenging enough. What they don't know how to do is nurture, support, and modify potentially big new ideas with a more flexible execution process.

There are three elements to innovation execution:

First, build a dedicated team for innovation. Breakthroughs cannot happen inside the performance engine - it is built for efficiency, not for innovation. Second, link the dedicated team to the performance engine so that it can leverage key assets of the core business. Third, evaluate the innovation leader for managing disciplined experiments, not for hitting short-term profit goals.

If your personal ratings total more than 70, you work in a pretty innovative environment. If your ratings fall below 70, then you may want to think about how well you are poised for the future.

Freight Broker Agent - Home Based Career, Business

Being a Freight Broker Agent may be your answer if you are looking for a home based career or business. It is not a quick fix, it will take you some time to build, (6 months to 2 years) but with the proper training, it can be very rewarding in the long run. And the best part is you can train AND work right from your home.

No traveling and no expensive gadgets to buy or sell. All you will need is a computer, a fax machine, a printer, telephone, and a good long distance company. After your training, you will be ready to start working. By now you are probably asking yourself what is a Freight Broker Agent and what do they do.

A Freight Broker Agent is the intermediary for the Shipper and the Carrier. The Shipper has products he/she needs transported. The Carrier is looking for the product to transport. Your job will be to put the two together.

Freight Broker Agent - Home Based Career, Business

You will work under the Brokerage and be paid a commission. Much like a sales position only you are working from home and on the telephone. So if you are a go-getter, enjoy talking to people, can use a calculator, and are able to think fast, this may be the career for you. Even though the Freight Broker Agent business has been around for a few years, it is becoming a new trend for the Brokerage. By being a home based business, the Brokerage can have an Agent or Agents in every State if it wishes. (these are called outside agents, but if the agent works inside the brokerage with the broker, they are called in-house agents) The Freight Broker Agent Business continues to grow both ways.

Written By: Umair