New to Six Sigma ?

Industrial, manufacturing and service organizations are interested in improving their products and processes by decreasing the variation, because the competitive environment leaves little room for error. Variation is the enemy of quality which is defined and evaluated by the customers. We must deliver products and services at the ideal targets demanded by the customers. The traditional evaluation of quality is based on average measures of the process/product and their deviation from the target value. However, customers judge the quality of process/product not only based on the average, but also by the variance in each transaction with the process or use of the product. Customers want consistent, reliable and predictable processes that deliver or exceed the best-in-class level of quality. This is what the Six Sigma process strives to achieve (Kapur and Feng 2005). Over the last twenty years, Six Sigma has been successfully implemented in many industries, from large manufacturing to small businesses, from financial services, insurance industry to healthcare systems.