Six Sigma

Six Sigma Facts

Six Sigma is a disciplined Total Quality Management Methodology. A management approach that focuses on the organization as a system, with an emphasis on teams, process, statistics, continuous improvement, and delivering products and service that meet and exceed customer expectations. Six Sigma is far more than the latest "quality" trend. Companies that have implemented Six Sigma have achieved outstanding financial results and devoted a disciplined, pragmatic plan for improved financial performance and growth. Motorola, Texas Instruments, IBM, AlliedSignal, GE, etc. have successfully implemented Six Sigma and reduced costs literally by billion of dollars. Jack Welch, the CEO who started Six Sigma at General Electric, called it "the most important initiative GE has ever undertaken," and said that Six Sigma is "part of the genetic code of our future leadership”. The Six Sigma methodology collects data on variations in outputs associated with each process, so that it can be improved and those variations reduced. At the Six Sigma level, there are only 3 defects per million with a yield of 99.99966%, as shown in the following table.   Sigma Level Defects per Million Yield 1 691,462 30.9 2 308,538 69.1 3 66,807 93.3 4 6,210 99.4 5 233 99.98 6 3 99.9996 Six Sigma is a philosophy of managing that focuses on eliminating defects through practices that emphasize understanding, measuring, and improving processes. Six Sigma saves money, because there are fewer throw-outs, fewer warranty payouts, and fewer refunds. And doing all that, in turns, increases profits. The Real Power of Six Sigma is that it combines People Power with Process Power. It represents a statistical measure and a management philosophy. Recent Work Implemented Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)  methodology, assisting in translating the voice of the customer into product  specifications, reducing testing efforts, improving quality and an increase in market deployment by over 40%.  Avaya Communication. Applied DFSS Orthogonal Verification Testing to improve test coverage, quality, and time to market and reduce testing efforts. Lucent Technologies. Managed ISO standards for the AT&T intelligent signaling networks and made and implemented DFSS recommendations to improve quality, system reliability and customer satisfaction.  AT&T  Bell Labs Applied DFSS Pugh matrix for Capacity Management offerings, this tool allowed comparison of several different concepts, creating stronger concepts and eliminating weaker ones until an optimal concept finally was reached.  Sun Microsystems