What is Six Sigma?
Posted by vedorg on June 16, 2008
Six Sigma is a set of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. A defect is defined as nonconformity of a product or service to its specifications. The particulars of the methodology were originally formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986. Six Sigma is also heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defect.
The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications. A Six Sigma opportunity is then the total quantity of chances for a defect. Process sigma can easily be calculated using a Six Sigma calculator.
