Six Sigma was first practiced in product development and manufacturing environments to improve customer satisfaction. There, significant improvements were achieved and sizable savings realized. After successfully implementing Six Sigma in manufacturing, Motorola applied Six Sigma in support functions and again achieved significant savings. Since then, banks, insurance companies, restaurants, hospitals, schools and many other types of service organizations throughout the world have successfully implemented Six Sigma. Some have even improvised Six Sigma by combining it with lean principles.Service functions have been an integral part of most corporations. Organizing service functions into a business entity creates a totally different mindset. A service organization acts differently because of a focus on customer requirements and prompt feedback from customers. Service offerings are experienced much faster than products, which sometimes are stocked in a warehouse or a showroom: Once service is delivered, the customer experiences it and expresses satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Because problems must be resolved faster, the challenges in service are different. Customers prefer fast service delivery rather than quality of service. Some companies have switched their emphasis from “better, faster and cheaper” to “faster, better and cheaper” performance levels.

 …