The history of Six-Sigma

The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard go back to Carl Frederick Gauss (1777-1885) who introduced the concept of normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920´s when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma, from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. As history would seem to have it, the beginnings of Six Sigma really come from 1979 when an exasperated Motorola executive named Art Sundry said, at a meeting, “The real problem at Motorola is that our quality stinks!”. Apparently, this statement led to series of activities that in turn led to the discovery of the crucial correlation between higher quality and lower development costs in manufacturing products of all kinds. The problem was that the common thought was that quality initiatives simply cost too much money. What Motorola realized is that if these initiatives were done right, improving quality would actually reduce costs. Motorola decided to take the approach that high quality products should actually cost less to produce. Motorola reasoned that the highest quality producer should be the lowest cost producer.

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF SIX-SIGMA

What is Six-Sigma

Six-Sigma has at least three different meanings depending upon the context; there is not one answer to what is Six-Sigma.

The first answer to what is Six-Sigma is that it is a management philosophy. Six-Sigma is a customer based approach realizing that defects are expensive. Fewer defects mean lower costs and improved customer loyalty. The lowest cost, high value producer is the most competitive provider of goods and services. Six-Sigma is a way to achieve strategic business results. Another answer to what is Six-sigma is Six-Sigma is a statistic. Six-Sigma processes will produce less than 3,4