Six Sigma Becoming a Way of Life in Direct Group’s Ongoing Commitment to Quality

Six key Direct Group executives have completed Six Sigma training at the Green Belt level, three of whom are proceeding to Black Belt certification. The initiative is part of a concentrated, active effort to deliver increasingly higher levels of quality and efficiency to clients.
 
The six Direct Group executives trained as Six Sigma Green Belts represent a broad cross-section of areas within the company, including direct mail, fulfillment, engineering, postal relations and customer service.
 
Six Sigma is a business performance and management model that is based on a methodology called “DMAIC,” which stands for Define – Measure – Analyze – Improve – Control. The core of the Six Sigma methodology is a data-driven, systematic approach to problem solving with a focus on eliminating defects, understanding and controlling variations, and improving the predictability of business processes. These methods are designed to increase speed and accuracy of delivery to clients.
 
“Six Sigma is the next step in the evolution of our vigorous quality program,” said Wayne Oliver, Direct Group Vice President, Engineering & Quality. “Earlier this year, we announced new initiatives to focus on continuous improvement, superior execution and measurable performance – all designed to achieve an even-higher standard of excellence at Direct Group. The Six Sigma training deepens our commitment and will help us deliver greater levels of quality, efficiency and other client-focused benefits.”
 
Chris Ryan, Direct Group Chief Operating Officer, added: “Our clients already give us very high marks in terms of quality, and many of them embrace Six Sigma and other quality standards as core components of their own internal processes.   Adopting Six Sigma brings us into even greater alignment with our clients and will help Direct Group continue to evolve as a best-in-class operation.” 
 
Direct Group’s commitment to quality principles reflects the company’s continuing dedication to client-focused strategies. In the last year, the company has made a number of moves that demonstrate this focus. These include the introduction of product lines such as Postal Optimizer® and ReadSmart®,and the acquisitions of HintonHill – a leading direct marketing management and consulting company – and database management company EMSi. All of these steps have helped Direct Group create an integrated solutions model that employs highly targeted behavioral data, sophisticated analytical decision models and just-in-time delivery to create more personalized, effective, response-driven marketing.