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Six Sigma

Six Sigma is often described as a “highly technical method used by engineer’s and statisticians to fine tune products and process “.measures and statistics are a key ingredient in a Six Sigma Improvement.

Definition of Six Sigma is that “it’s a goal of near perfection of customer requirements. In fact Six Sigma refers to a statistically derived performance target of operating with only 3.4 defects for every million activities or opportunities its a goal few companies or process can claim to have achieved.”

Still another way to define Six Sigma is as a sweeping "culture change" effort to position a company for greater customer satisfaction, profitability, and competitiveness. Considering the companywide com¬mitment to Six Sigma at places like General Electric or Motorola, "cul¬ture change" is certainly a valid way to describe Six Sigma. But it's also possible to "do" Six Sigma without making a frontal assault on your company culture.
Based on our experience-and examples set by the growing number of companies seeking Six Sigma improvement- a definition that captures the breadth and flexibility of Six Sigma as a way to boost performance:

SIX SIGMA:

Comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sus¬taining and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to manag¬ing, improving, and reinventing business processes!

This is the definition that will provide the foundation for our efforts to unlock the potential of Six Sigma for your organization. The types of "business success" you may achieve are broad because the proven ben¬efits of the Six Sigma "system" are diverse, including:

• Cost reduction
• Productivity improvement
• Market-share growth
• Customer retention
• Cycle-time reduction
• Defect reduction
• Culture change
• Product/service development

Former Motorola quality manager Alan...