Six Sigma
Globalization and instant access to information, products and services
have changed the way our customers conduct business - old business models
no longer work. Today's competitive environment leaves no room for error.
We must delight our customers and relentlessly look for new ways to exceed
their expectations. This is why Six Sigma Quality has become a part of our
culture.
What is Six Sigma?
First, what it is not. It is not a secret society, a slogan or a cliché.
Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps us focuses on developing
and delivering near-perfect products and services. Why "Sigma"?
The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates
from perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure
how many "defects" you have in a process, you can systematically
figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to "zero defects"
as possible. Six Sigma has changed the DNA of General Electric (GE) - it
is now the way we work - in everything we do and in every product we design.
GE began moving towards a focus on quality in the late '80s. Work-Out®,
the start of our journey, opened our culture to ideas from everyone, everywhere,
decimated the bureaucracy and made boundary-less behavior a reflexive, natural
part of our culture, thereby creating the learning environment that led
to Six Sigma. Now, Six Sigma, in turn, is embedding quality thinking - process
thinking - across every level and in every operation of our company around
the globe.
Work-Out® in the 1980s defined how we behave. Today, Six Sigma is defining
how we work and has set the stage for making our customers feel Six Sigma.
Three Key Elements of Quality
Everything we do to remain a world-class quality company focuses on these
three essential elements.
...the Customer
Delighting Customers
Customers are the center of GE's universe: they define quality. They expect
performance, reliability, competitive prices, on-time delivery, service,
clear and correct transaction processing and more. In every attribute that
influences customer perception, we know that just being good is not enough.
Delighting our customers is a necessity. Because if we don't do it, someone
else will!
...the Process
Outside-In Thinking
Quality requires us to look at our business from the customer's perspective,
not ours. In other words, we must look at our processes from the outside
in. By understanding the transaction lifecycle from the customer's needs
and processes, we can discover what they are seeing and feeling. With this
knowledge, we can identify areas where we can add significant value or improvement
from their perspective.
...the Employee
Leadership Commitment
People create results. Involving all employees is essential to GE's quality
approach. GE is committed to provide opportunities and incentives for employees
to focus their talents and energies on satisfying customers.
All GE employees are trained in the strategy, statistical tools and techniques
of Six Sigma quality. Training courses are offered at various levels:
- Quality Overview Seminars: basic Six Sigma awareness.
- Team Training: basic tool introduction to equip employees to
participate on Six Sigma teams.
- Master Black Belt, Black Belt and Green Belt Training: in-depth
quality training that includes high-level statistical tools, basic quality
control tools, Change Acceleration Process and Flow technology tools.
- Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) Training: prepares teams for the
use of statistical tools to design it right the first time.
Quality is the responsibility of every employee. Every employee must be
involved, motivated and knowledgeable if we are to succeed.
To achieve Six Sigma quality, a process must produce no more than 3.4
defects per million opportunities. An "opportunity" is defined
as a chance for nonconformance, or not meeting the required specifications.
This means we need to be nearly flawless in executing our key processes.
Six Sigma is a vision we strive toward and a philosophy that is part of
our business culture.
Key Concepts of Six Sigma
