Participant Interview: Udaya Kumar (Black Belt)- Am: Business Excellence, Flextronics.

Recently promoted to AM-Six Sigma Black Belt in Flextronics, Mr Kumar shares his knowledge and enthusiasm related to Six Sigma with readers. Read on....

BSS: Tell me briefly about your career Journey so far.

Udaya: I have overall 7 years of experience of which 5 years are exclusively in BPO/KPO's. I was in Finance Operations for 3 years. For the last 2 years I am into Lean and Six Sigma deployment in multiple Operations of Finance of Flextronics Global Shared Service Centre, (in Chennai) which is a captive wing of Flextronics International, Global Leader in EMS Industry

BSS: Has Six Sigma impacted your career? Have you reaped any benefits from it in your personal life?

Udaya: Yes definitely, Six Sigma helped me to tremendously improve my Problem Solving & Project Management skills, Communication and better people Coordination skills. Overall, my confidence is at a much greater level than ever since I embraced Six Sigma.

BSS: How precisely do you apply Six Sigma skills in your current job at Flextronics?

Udaya: I work full time in our Business Excellence team and I apply the Six Sigma methodology right from Project Selections to setting the Project Baseline, Scoping the project, Identifying Root causes, Solution Identification , Validating the Results, solution implementation & Putting control systems.

I strongly believe in DMAIC methodology, as it is a systematic methodology which helps us to tackle any business problem with the effective use of the tools

BSS: Which Six Sigma methodologies do you use most often?

Udaya: DMAIC

BSS: Did you pursue your Black Belt from BSS? How conducive was the experience?

Udaya: Best thing in Benchmark Six Sigma Training is the real time examples of how six sigma can be used in different industries, whether it is BPO or KPO, IT, Healthcare, Hotels, Banking, Insurance, etc. The trainers (Vishwadeep and Shantanu) are very knowledgeable and have the ability to show the practical application of Six Sigma tools.

BSS: What sort of SS Projects have you working on in past? Kindly mention some.

Udaya: Our projects cover a wide range of Business Critical Issues which includes productivity improvement, yield improvement, accuracy improvement, cost reduction projects, and customer service improvement projects.

BSS: Do you think anybody if willing, can learn Six Sigma? Or it is only meant for academically brilliant people?

Udaya: A person who has strong Belief in Six Sigma, passion to learn, commitment and dedication in applying the tools to solve critical business problems can be part of six sigma journey

BSS: Would you like to give any suggestions to us for improving our program?

Udaya: The current programme covers all the Six Sigma aspects required for a successful Black Belt with practical real time application of Six Sigma in multiple industries

BSS: Would you like to tell us about your future plans? How will your Six Sigma learning benefit you?

Udaya: As the journey with Six Sigma is always full of continuous learning and newer challenges, I would like to explore the Six Sigma concepts to solve the critical business issues in all domains and would like to venture into newer processes/functional areas which I have not yet explored.

BSS: Would you like to give any message for readers.

Udaya: Six Sigma is a wonderful tool. utilize the best part of it in solving the critical business/process issues by applying the tools effectively with dedication and commitment. It can take your career to the next level.