MSG Team's other articles

10955 Reliability and Redundancy in Production Management

Introduction Product quality determines the success with the product. One of the key drivers of quality is the performance of the product over a period of time. Performance of product is determined by the reliability and redundancy. Reliability increases the efficiency while redundancy increases the current capability and expectations. Any production organization sets a goal […]

11537 The Gender Pay Gap Debate

April 10th is considered to be “Equal Pay” day all over the world. This day has been commemorated since the year 1996 to remind the world that women are allegedly being paid less than men to do the same amount of work. As per the data from Facebook COO’s non-profit organization, women only receive 80% […]

9291 Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

All products and services fail! Even the processes which have already achieved six sigma precision fail. However considering the possible sources of failures, the effects that they are likely to have and how prioritizing failure modes makes the product, service, process plan more robust. Considering possible failure modes and integrating them into the design goes […]

10199 Looking beyond BRICS for the Next Economic Hotspots

Looking Beyond BRICS: The MINT Grouping The BRICS or the acronym given to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in so far as promising economic growth is concerned, has now reached a stage where global investors are on the lookout for the next emerging economic hotspots. Indeed, for much of the […]

8890 Demand Planning and Master based Planning

Demand Planning: The objective of this function is to create a demand plan, based on historical sales data. The demand plan resulting from this function is the starting point for Supply Planning. The demand plan contains forecasted demand for an item, using standard forecasting methods. If the past data is inappropriate or insufficient, the forecast […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Six Sigma is a data-based methodology to improve performance by reducing variability. It requires thorough understanding of product and process knowledge and is completely driven by customer expectations.

In other words, it is a methodology to achieve 3.4 defects per million opportunities. It can also be used to bring breakthrough improvements in the process. It focuses on the bottom-line and is a proven methodology for problem solving.

Goals of Six Sigma

  • To reduce variation
  • To reduce defects /rework
  • To improve yield /productivity
  • To enhance customer satisfaction
  • To improve the bottom-line
  • To improve top-line
  • Shortening cycle-time

Sigma Level Vs Number of Defects

Sigma LevelNumber of defects per Million
2 Sigma308537
3 Sigma66807
4 Sigma6210
5 Sigma233
6 Sigma3.4

Evolution of Six Sigma

The need for process improvements and a continuous improvement methodology like Six Sigma came into existence only due to

  • rising customer expectations in terms of quality, delivery and cost,
  • global competition - Japanese and Chinese threats,
  • proven technique for quantum jumps in business results.

In the year 1980, Motorola started facing survival problems due fierce competition from Japanese companies. The CEO of Motorola - Bob Galvin was determined to overcome the competition. He challenged his organization to achieve a ten-fold improvement in performance over a period of five years. To achieve the same, strong emphasis was given to training of employees and also performing global benchmarking.

Bill Smith was a veteran engineer in Motorola and he wrote a research paper on product quality and its performance after delivery to customer. In his report he discovered that the products with fewer non-conformities (high quality) were the ones that performed well after delivery to the customer. It was accepted by everyone but the challenge that came in front of Motorola executives was to develop a solution to tackle this problem.

Mikel Harry having a doctorate from Arizona University worked with Bill Smith in developing a four-phase problem solving approach - Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. A few years later Bob Galvin launched a long-term quality program called “The Six Sigma Quality Program” in Motorola.

Looking at the success of Motorola, many companies like Texas Instruments, Allied Signal etc started using Six Sigma methodology to bring organization-wide improvements.

In 1990’s Jack Welch launched Six Sigma in GE in a big way. He implemented Six Sigma in all areas and ensured that the entire organization participates in the initiative. He changed the performance incentives and made them based on individual’s ability and enthusiasm to take part in Six Sigma initiatives. He transformed GE to a state where Six Sigma had become the culture of the organization and not just a methodology for brining organization-wide improvements.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

The Cost of Poorly Performing Processes – Need for Six Sigma

MSG Team

What is Six Sigma ? – A Tool to Conquer Variability

MSG Team

What Six Sigma is Not ? – Fallacies about Six Sigma

MSG Team