| Six Sigma is a process improvement
methodology pioneered by Motorola (initiated
by engineer Bill Smith, known as the 'father
of Six Sigma'). It became prominent through
the success of General Electric, during
the tenure of CEO Jack Welch who was an
advocate for Six Sigma.
The methodology uses process improvement
methods, with an emphasis on statistics
to achieve a quality level of better than
3.4 defects per million opportunities. Key
elements are:
In its classical form, Six Sigma is a project
based approach, tackling projects that will
return $100,000+ savings and take several
months. Many companies now use an approach
that involves more, but smaller, projects,
and is less statistically intensive. These
are often led by Green Belts rather than
Black Belts.
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