| In the following article, you will come to know | | | | techniques, which were later banded together to |
| exactly how Six Sigma evolved as a quality | | | | create the Six Sigma quality improvement |
| management concept. You will also become | | | | methodology. |
| aware of people who contributed to the | | | | Motorola's Contribution |
| development of the Six Sigma and how their | | | | Any study related to the evolution of Six Sigma |
| contributions have now made Six Sigma one of | | | | will be incomplete without mentioning names like |
| the most creditable quality management systems | | | | Bill Smith and Mikel Harry as well as their |
| in the world. | | | | contributions towards the development of Six |
| The Early Beginnings | | | | Sigma. Their contribution came in the form of a |
| Most people believe that Six Sigma was devised | | | | research project that proved that the |
| by Motorola Company and was used for the first | | | | performance of a product or service was linked |
| time in the late seventies. No doubt this is true, | | | | directly to the adjustments effected in the |
| but giving the entire credit to Motorola will not be | | | | associated business processes. |
| the right thing to do - because what is also true is | | | | The report was no less than a revolution because |
| that the roots of present day Six Sigma can be | | | | it clearly indicated that product performance in the |
| traced back to eighteenth century when industrial | | | | marketplace could be improved just by decreasing |
| revolution was changing the contours of the | | | | the total number of non-conformities at each |
| European subcontinent. | | | | stage of production. It led to the development of |
| The first contribution came from Carl Frederick | | | | "logical filters", which were referred to as |
| Gauss, who gave a conceptual presentation of Six | | | | Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control by the |
| Sigma by using a normal curve metric. Later on, | | | | then CEO of Motorola, named Bob Galvin. These |
| contributions were also made by Walter | | | | filters together represent the present day Six |
| Shewhart, who showed the applicability of | | | | Sigma methodologies, namely the DMAIC, which |
| process corrections based on three sigma | | | | stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, |
| deviations from the mean. | | | | and Control, and DMADV, which stands for |
| The Japanese Contribution | | | | Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify. |
| The popular Japanese belief that nothing is | | | | The evolution of Six Sigma has not stopped. In |
| perfect'; that there is only "better" or "worse", is | | | | fact, the evolutionary pace of Six Sigma has |
| quite similar to the basic Six Sigma objective (i.e. | | | | increased dramatically over the years, mainly due |
| aim for continuous quality improvements). It | | | | to the growing need to accommodate newer |
| proves the fact that Japanese people contributed | | | | business processes and technological |
| a lot to the evolution of Six Sigma. | | | | advancements and breakthroughs. Since, Six |
| It happened in the seventies when a Japanese | | | | Sigma's evolution has helped it to survive the long |
| management was called in to improve the | | | | years, it would not be wrong to assume that it |
| operations of a TV manufacturing unit controlled | | | | would continue doing the same in the years to |
| by Motorola. The Japanese showed their excellent | | | | come as well. |
| workmanship and used innovative tools and | | | | |