Understanding “Six Sigma”

I asked myself this question: “Are there certain business principles that always stand the test of time?”  It prompted me to reach for and dust off...an old workbook from a shelf in my business library.  It was from a course that I attended in 1990.

As part of my on-going work with a manufacturing client, they requested that I participate in a program taught at Motorola University.  It was called: Understanding Six Sigma.

A sigma is collections of similar items, people or objects.  It shows variation among the members of the collection.  A Six Sigma process would produce .0000002% defects or 99.9999998% defect-free work.

For example, Six Sigma, would produce 3.4 defects per million parts...or moments of customer opportunity.   Motorola was using Six Sigma, to achieve their commitment to total customer satisfaction.  To them, Six Sigma meant:

• a measure of goodness; the capability to produce perfect work

• a defect is any mistake that causes customer dissatisfaction

• sigma indicates how often defects are likely to happen

• the higher the sigma, the lower the defect rate

• the lower the defect rate, the higher the quality

Six Sigma, (in the 20th century and now in the 21st)...can still help drive total customer satisfaction with:

1. constant respect for your fellow human-being

2. uncompromising integrity

3. best-in-class practices with people, sales, marketing, manufacturing, technology, products, services, etc.

4. increased market share

5. outstanding financial performance

6. the realization...that business is about:

        a.        customer acquisition

        b.        customer satisfaction

        c.        customer retention

And that...is a powerful six-pack!