Six Sigma

11 Pages 2709 Words

nding from a number of fortune 500 companies. In 1993 Mikel Harry left Motorola and went to Asea Brown Boveria (ABB). Here, the strategy changed from Quality First to Business First. Allied Signal implemented Six Sigma in 1994 and claimed savings of $1.2 billion by 1998. The following savings due to using Six Sigma were claimed in the GE Annual Report. Companies that used six¡¦s sigma would like to continue improve their quality strategies to satisfy their customer. Because without them business would be meaningless.
What is Six Sigma?
Six Sigma is a quality philosophy that uses customer-focused goals and measurements to drive continuous improvement at all levels in any enterprise. The goal is processes that are so robust that defects are measured at levels of only a few parts per million. Six Sigma implementation requires top management leadership, since the concept must be embraced throughout the organization.
Sigma, ƒã, is a letter in the Greek alphabet used by statisticians to measure the variability in any process. The sigma level of their business processes measures a company¡¦s performance. Traditionally companies accepted three or four sigma performance levels as the norm, despite the fact that these processes created between 6,200 and 67,000 problems per million opportunities! The Six Sigma standard of 3.4 problems per million opportunities is a response to the increasing expectations of customers and the increased complexity of modern products and processes.
Six Sigma considers a small, but finite, number of defects. The number is so small that it is perceived as "virtual perfection." The fact that it is not zero (albeit small) allows people to "buy into" Six Sigma intellectually. Most people have a problem with "zero" because they are human and cannot believe in "zero." They will, however, be willing to strive for only three parts per million because it is a finite number. They're then willing to try for it, whic...