SIX Sigma

SIX Sigma

Abstract

Pressures continue to increase on boards of directors and CEOs to maintain a competitive edge in everything their companies do to achieve complete customer and shareholder satisfaction. Many organizations think they are as good as they can be, or if they acknowledge that there is room for improvement, do not realize there is a solution. Evidence related to an advanced concept called Six Sigma is proving that major progress can be made toward reducing defects, raising the quality of products and services to unheard of levels and improving customer satisfaction. Six Sigma is a statistical term that refers to 3.4 defects only per million processes undertaken by, or products made by, a company. Sigma, from the Greek alphabet, denotes standard deviation or the measure of variation in a process. Most organizations design or produce parts or products, or provide customer services, at the Three Sigma level—or 66,000 defects or mistakes per million units or service operations. Resting on reputation or frustrated with failed attempts at a variety of quality efforts, many boards and managers have wasted massive resources in people and funds trying without success to reduce rejects and improve quality to acceptable levels.                       
The name Six Sigma, coined by Motorola in the 1980s,represents what is now the most advanced quality initiative available. Faced with aggressive Japanese competition, Motorola began a formal effort to reduce defects in its products. Company management set its target on the Six Sigma level of quality needed to achieve competitive advantage. Once implemented, it became a continuous program for improving quality in virtually everything Motorola does .Six Sigma has become the world standard for improving all kinds of product and service operations. Dr. A. Blanton Godfrey, chairman and CEO of Juran Institute, has said, “We are entering another and an entirely new world of quality management with Internet-focused businesses. In a world where customers can compare prices, quality and service offerings from several competitors in a matter of minutes, companies are rethinking their entire quality strategy and systems. ” If there is any doubt about the urgency to begin the development of a sustained process like Six Sigma, one must remember the realities underlying strategic planning for most organizations. Powerful forces are propelling inevitable changes in all levels of the work force, with customers, suppliers, governments, shareholders and other groups with vested interests, as well as with competitors.