Design for Six Sigma

Abstract

The concept of implementation of Six Sigma methodology was pioneered at Motorola in the 1980s with the aim of reducing quality costs. Six Sigma methodology has evolved into a statistically oriented approach to process, product or service quality improvement. It is a business performance improvement strategy used to improve profitability, to drive out waste in business processes and to improve the efficiency of all operations that meet or exceed customers' needs and expectations. A performance level of Six Sigma equates to 3-4 defects per million opportunities, where sigma is a statistical measure of the amount of variation around the process average. The average sigma level for most companies is three sigma. The authors offer guidance as to how companies may achieve Six Sigma performance. Organisations that have adopted the principles and concepts of Six Sigma methodology have realised that once they have achieved Five Sigma quality levels the only way to surpass the Five Sigma quality level is to redesign their products, processes and services from scratch. These circumstances have led to the development of what we call today 'design for Six Sigma'. Design for Six Sigma is a powerful approach to designing products, processes and services in a cost-effective and simple manner, to meet the needs and expectations of the customer.