Integrates @RISK into Six Sigma portfolio to help clients assess business process risks

Ithaca, NY – 15 July 2010 – Palisade Corporation has entered into a partnership with Six Sigma Professionals, Inc., a consulting and training firm that specializes in helping management address the challenges of delivering innovative products, processes and services. The agreement with Palisade will enable Six Sigma Professionals to integrate @RISK, a decision analysis tool based on Monte Carlo simulation, into its entire portfolio of Six Sigma strategies for process and product improvement.

Monte Carlo simulation is a leading-edge analysis method used to support many decisions that must be made under uncertainty, especially in business, engineering, and finance. Because of its precision in forecasting, Monte Carlo simulation is now of great interest to Six Sigma practitioners.  Using @RISK will enable Six Sigma Professionals to help its clients understand the risks associated within their projects and take only informed and calculated business risks.

An add-in to Microsoft Excel, @RISK quickly presents users with a spreadsheet showing the probabilities of different process outcomes occurring.  @RISK further provides a wide range of process capability metrics such as CpK, Cpm, and much more, to help identify and reduce variability in processes.

Dr. Basem El-Haik, the founder and CEO of Six Sigma Professionals, has trained, certified, coached and mentored more than 600 Green, Black, and Master Black belts in Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) and Six Sigma, as well as authoring best-selling books on the topics.  Commenting on the company’s partnership with Palisade, Dr. Haik said:  “The inclusion of Monte Carlo simulation in Six Sigma methodologies is becoming crucial to achieving process optimization.  @RISK performs risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation, with a major advantage being that it can be used without data based on statistical assumptions.  In effect it provides a virtual world in which users can make decisions about whether to select option A or B, continue with the incumbent solution or find a new alternative if none of the others are feasible.”

“@RISK is our tool of choice and, in addition to integrating it into all our methodologies, we are also considering a joint training initiative as part of our Six Sigma education programme,” Dr. Haik continues.

Randy Heffernan, Vice President, Palisade Corporation, added, “Uncertainty and variability lie at the core of the analysis of Six Sigma methodologies, whether they are DMAIC, Design for Six Sigma, Design of Experiments, or any other. @RISK enables users to identify and measure the root causes of variability in product and service processes, which is why it is gaining such popularity in the Six Sigma industry.”