Six Sigma and Electric Mobility

The electric vehicle (EV) industry is booming and helping to usher in a renewable energy future. The demand for EVs has surged worldwide, posing a challenge for the industry to meet the escalating demand. However, Six Sigma, a management technique, is helping the industry solve its challenges in several ways, which we’ll examine in this article.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a set of management techniques aimed at reducing product defects and improving quality. Its strategies improve business processes by reducing errors and boosting quality, keeping customers satisfied in the long term.

Six Sigma was developed in the 1980s by an American engineer named Bill Smith. Other management experts have tweaked his ideas, which have considerably impacted the nascent EV industry. Let’s observe how Six Sigma makes the EV industry perform better.

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Improved quality control

Quality control is critical in vehicle production, as any little overlooked mistake can lead to an expensive recall later. For example, American automaker GM spent $2 billion recalling and fixing its Bolt EVs because of faulty batteries.

Six Sigma training helps quality control staff analyze the production chain and detect issues before they cause significant damage. It improves quality assurance staff’s abilities to identify and brainstorm solutions to EV defects, helping automakers deliver reliable vehicles to customers.

Resource optimization

Optimizing resources is paramount in automobile manufacturing. Six Sigma teaches employees how to achieve more with less. It imparts practical knowledge to analyze the supply and production chain to find and eliminate inefficiencies and waste. This activity frees up the EV maker’s resources to dedicate to other tasks and boost sales.

Six Sigma enables better resource optimization than other management techniques employed in the automobile sector.

Improving on New, Unknown Processes

Many manufacturing processes in the EV industry are new and unexplored, expected for an industry that’s barely two decades old. Six Sigma trains employees to weigh the pros and cons of these new industries. It guides employees in deciding which new processes to adopt and which to ignore. The analytical thinking employees learn as part of their Six Sigma training helps any EV manufacturer stay competitive in the long term.

Final Words

The EV industry has progressed remarkably and will likely rise further. For reference, over 14 million electric vehicles were sold in 2023, the highest on record. The industry continues to beat records year-on-year as demand increases and more infrastructure becomes available to support electric vehicles.

We’ve explained some ways Six Sigma is helping the EV industry stay successful in the long term. If you want to train your employees in Six Sigma techniques, look no further than us here at 6Sigma. We offer formal Six Sigma certification courses from the White to the Master Black Belt, with in-person, online, or hybrid classes.