TABLE OF CONTENTS Six Sigma is the most important initiative General Electric has ever taken
Jack Welch
Six Sigma focuses on establishing world-class business-performance benchmarks and on providing an organizational structure and road-map by which these can be realized. This is achieved mainly on a project-by-project team basis, using a workforce trained in performance-enhancement methodology, within a receptive company culture and perpetuating infrastructure. Although particularly relevant to the enhancing of value of products and services from a customer perspective, Six Sigma is also directly applicable to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of all processes, tasks and transactions within any organization. Projects are thus chosen and driven on the basis of their relevance to increased customer satisfaction and their effect on business-performance enhancement through gap analysis, namely, prior quantitative measurement of existing performance and comparison with that desired.
Six Sigma, in current business usage, has a dual meaning. Six Sigma provides, on the one hand, a world-class standard or benchmark for product and service characteristics and for process parameters. On the other hand, Six Sigma refers to the structured process itself aimed at achieving this standard of near perfection. These two meanings contrast with the precise statistical meaning of the term.
Success in Six Sigma is dependent on active senior management leadership and mentoring, an established infrastructure including, the so-called 'judo-like black and green belts', a continuing project focus on 'bottom line' opportunities and results, with established teams trained in using a structured approach and methodology to achieve positive results.
