Management Enlightenment

I have been reading up on six sigma and lean six sigma and I am encouraged about the possibilities it presents for my factory. However, the majority of my senior management consider six sigma to be another fad - " good in theory but we havent got the resource to mess about with six sigma".

Our parent company is applying pressure to reduce costs at our factory and I have just been involved in  a discussion with my senior managers regarding the potential financial benefits of improvement. Part of the discussion revolved around levels of return required to support a full time improvement engineer. I immediateley thought of some of the quotes for bb returns but felt unable to substantiate these claims.

Please can you provide any real examples of returns from black belts and if possible express them as a percentage of turnover. I need to demonstrate the potential financial advantages before they consider six sigma as a real opportunity. The factory is a $55M business employing 500 people manufacturing a range of small metal components.

Also any additional advise regarding engaging reluctant senior management  would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Tim