Vought Named Top 10 Best Places to Work For Six Sigma Professionals

DALLAS. – Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. has been named to iSixSigma’s list of Best Places to Work for Six Sigma professionals.

“The 10 companies on the list set the standard for what makes a great place to work for Six Sigma professionals,” said Jessica Harper, editor of iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine. “They foster a supportive culture for Six Sigma, develop their Six Sigma talent through training, and offer career advancement opportunities, among other positive attributes.”

Those on the Top 10 list will be recognized at an iSixSigma ceremony on Jan. 15. The No. 1 iSixSigma Best Place to Work will be announced at the ceremony, as will the rankings of the rest on the list. The Top 10 are being profiled in the January/February 2009 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, and the top-rated best place to work will be spotlighted in the March/April 2009 issue.

iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine sponsored the list, which received more than 50 nominations from throughout the world. Sixteen companies met all the requirements and completed surveys involving the senior Six Sigma leader and full-time Six Sigma personnel.

Companies were ranked by totaling the scores from the two surveys. The greatest weight was given to the employee portion, which asked questions in five main categories: job satisfaction, culture, compensation/rewards and recognition, training and career development, and net promoter score (NPS). Of these categories, job satisfaction was weighted as being the most important.

In just two years, 175 Vought employees have completed the Six Sigma green belt training, with 76 receiving certification. Twenty-three employees went on to complete black belt training, and seven of those people are now certified. Projected savings of all black and green belt projects combined exceeds $25 million.

“The reason our program has matured in such a short timeframe has to do with our people and their sense of urgency and pride of process ownership,” said Ruben Coronado, Vought’s Six Sigma master black belt. “Our program is designed around our mantra of Learn It, Live it , Lead it. In Learn It, we focus on understanding and applying the methodologies and concepts behind Lean/Six Sigma . In Live it, we take ownership of the principles and make them part of our daily activities. In Lead it, we lead by example by coaching and mentoring others. I am truly just a coach on a team of all-stars.”

Vought has a long history of applying Lean strategies to its operations. The focus of Lean is to improve the flow and velocity in everything a company does by systematically eliminating waste. The focus of Six Sigma is to improve business by reducing process variation through the use of statistical methods. “These two complementary improvement methodologies, working together, establish the main elements of our Vought Operating System" said Coronado.

The full list of iSixSigma’s Best Places to Work, in alphabetical order:

* Chevron Corp.
* EMC Corp.
* Masco Builder Cabinet Group
* McKesson Corp.
* NewPage Corp.
* Rio Tinto
* Textron Inc.
* Volt Information Sciences Inc.
* Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.
* Xerox Corp.