What is six sigma?

Answer 1

It should be very clear that six sigma is not the statistical "sigma". (Sigma means standard deviation in Statistics). Moreover it is meant to multiply (literal multiply) profits by systematically reducing defects. It can be applied to any damn activity of an organisation, department, section (including finance, marketing, planning, manufacturing).
Six Sigma is a business process improvement strategy which essentially checks that a business is doing what its customers want, that the process employed is the most effective known and that variation is removed from that process to provide significantly improved consistency. It is equally applicable to any process in any business sector - from banking to construction and much, much more.

It was first introduced in 1986 by Motorola.

Six sigma is a state of process wherein the process is producing no more than 3.4 “defects” per million opportunities.

Six Sigma means something different to every company. For some, Six Sigma is a total management philosophy, for others it is simply a process improvement effort designed to increase productivity and reduce costs. Regardless of the way it is used within your organization, Six Sigma means data driven decision making!

In its most simple sense, Six Sigma is a highly disciplined approach to decision making that helps people focus on improving processes to make them as near perfect as possible.

The term “Six Sigma” relates to the number of mathematical defects in a process. Six Sigma practitioners focus on systematically eliminating the defects so they can get as close to “zero defects” as possible.

Done properly, Six Sigma ensures that internal processes are running at optimum efficiency.

This powerful strategic tool is customer focused and is ultimately designed to increase profit through improved quality. Companies that practise Six Sigma identify and eliminate costs that provide no value to customers. They analyse their processes to find out where and how defects occur, measure them and eliminate the problems. Its benefits are seen as significant cost reduction, improved customer service and enhanced employee productivity. Research is aiming to identify best practice and challenges in Six Sigma implementation.

Even the most efficient or successful companies might be working at 3 to 4 sigma level, means the incidence of defect is much higher. Surprisingly, the companies worling at 4 sigma level is having more than 100,000 defect incidences in a million opportunities. As you go on improving your process, the sigma level increases and beyond 4 sigma level you may have to opt for overhaul of the entire process (say modernisation, removing old machinery). For achieving higher level of sigma, you ought to invest a huge sum of money too.

Believe me it is very interesting field, you would love to be in.

Answer 2

Six Sigma is a methodology to manage process variations that cause defects, defined as unacceptable deviation from the mean or target; and to systematically work towards managing variation to eliminate those defects. The objective of Six Sigma is to deliver high performance, reliability, and value to the end customer.
It was pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986 and was originally defined as a metric for measuring defects and improving quality; and a methodology to reduce defect levels below 3.4 Defects Per (one) Million Opportunities (DPMO).


The term "six sigma process" comes from the notion that if you have six standard deviations between the mean of a process and the nearest specification limit, you will make practically no items that exceed the specifications. This is the basis of the Process Capability Study, often used by quality professionals.
The widely accepted definition of a six sigma process is one that produces 3.4 defective parts per million opportunities (DPMO).

Answer 3

Six Sigma is a methodology to manage process variations that cause defects, defined as unacceptable deviation from the mean or target; and to systematically work towards managing variation to eliminate those defects[1]. The objective of Six Sigma is to deliver high performance, reliability, and value to the end customer. It was pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986[2] and was originally defined[3] as a metric for measuring defects and improving quality; and a methodology to reduce defect levels below 3.4 Defects Per (one) Million Opportunities (DPMO). Six Sigma has now grown beyond defect control.

Six Sigma is a registered service mark and trademark of Motorola, Inc[4]. Motorola has reported over US$17 billion in savings[5] from Six Sigma to date.

Answer 4

Six Sigma at many organizations simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in any process from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.

Answer 5

In ExcelR Lean Six Sigma is not common sense. It is extraordinary sense which requires extraordinary reasoning which is achieved by enabling your skills on the breakthrough Lean Six Sigma concepts. Lean Six Sigma consultants are considered to be paid handsome salaries and they get an opportunity to work alongside the senior leadership team.

Answer 6

in simple terms, six sigma is a technique used in production for reducing the number of defects in the total production. In six sigma, the number of defects is reduced to 3.6 per million products.
Motorola is a very good example which has adopted the six-sigma technique.
For learning more about six-sigma visit:"sixsigmatutorial.com"

Answer 7

Six sigma is a process often applied in multinaltional, commercial businesses, with logical, scientific work processes and best practice sharing within the organisation

Answer 8

A system of constant improvement invented by G.E.

It should be called SICK sigma because it only benefits six sigma consultants and it is not very employee friendly.

What would you expect from someone like Jack Welsh!

Answer 9

I think it is one mistake (in any context - though commonly used in manufactured goods) in a million.

What it means is that you maintain such a high quality of production that one out of a million pieces may be defective.

It is assumed that it is impossible to be perfect but Six Sigma is as close as you can get.

Answer 10

I know that "Sigma Six" is he new G.I Joe cartoon