An Overview....Not a lot of Details!! 6? Overview “Six Sigma” If we can’t express what we know in the form of numbers, we really don’t know much about it. If we don’t know much about it, we can’t control it. If we can’t control it, we are at the mercy of chance. Mikel J. Harry President & CEO Six Sigma Academy, Inc. A Rigorous Method for Measuring & Controlling Our Quality “...will bring GE to a whole new level of quality in a fraction of the time it would have taken to climb the learning curve on our own.” John F. Welch, Jr. 1995 GE Annual Report 6? Overview What Does “Sigma” Mean? Sigma is a Measure of the Consistency of a Process It (???is Also the 18th Letter in the Greek Alphabet! Why Does GE Need A Quality Initiative? GE Raising The Bar New Goal to be “Best in the World” vs. #1 or #2 Customers are Expecting More, we Must Deliver “Ship-and-fix” Approach no Longer Tolerated in the Market Aim to Speed Past Traditional Competitors in 5 Years Goal Consistent with Reduced Total Costs We Must Acknowledge Our Vulnerabilities Poor Quality That Impacts Customers Problems with NPI Too High Internal Costs 6? Overview We Need a Major Initiative to Move From Where we Are to Where we Want to be 6? Overview Why Does GE Need A Quality Initiative? 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 10% 15% 5% Cost of Failure (% of Sales) Defects per Million 3.4 233 6210 66,807 308,537 500,000 Sigma 6 5 4 3 2 1 Estimated Cost of Failure in US Industry is 15% of Sales; Taking GE From a 3? to a 6? Company Will Save ~ $10.5 Billion per Year! Why “Six Sigma”? Proven Successful in “Quality-Demanding” Industries e.g., Motorola, Texas Instruments (many process steps in series) Proven Method to Reduce Costs Highly Quantitative Method – Science and Logic Instead of Gut Feel Includes Manufacturing & Service (close to customer) and Provides Bridge to Design for Quality Concepts Has Support and Commitment of Top Management It Works!!! 6? Overview 6? is Several Orders of Magnitude Better Than 3?!!! Sigma: A Measure of Quality 6? Overview Where Does “Six Sigma” Come From? Mikel J. Harry one of the Original Architects Previously Headed Quality Function at ABB and Motorola Now President/CEO of Six Sigma Academy in Phoenix, Arizona Has Consulted for Texas Instruments, Allied Signal (and others) Currently Retained by GE to Teach the Implementation, Deployment and Application of Six Sigma Concepts & Tools Learning from Those Who Have had Success With 6??Will Accelerate its Implementation at GE