Produce a quality product is not required at high cost | Origin of Six Sigma

Six Sigma was first discussed in 1979, during a meeting to discuss about the quality of the Motorola company. At the management meeting that a named executive Art Sundry states “The real problem at Motorola Is That our quality stinks!”. This is the birth of a new round of six sigma that found an association between high quality and cost improvement is lower.

At that time companies in the U.S. believe that to create a quality product required a higher cost. But Motorola has realized that there is a way where if the manufacturing process is done properly then to produce a quality product is not required at high cost. Motorola finally prove to produce high quality products should reduce production costs.

Bill Smith who at that time served as an engineer at Motorola Communications, secretly studied between products that are processed and how often improved during the manufacturing process. In 1985, Smith presented a paper that describes the product defective and corrected during the manufacturing process, and some products that qualify and until the hands of consumers.

Although the findings of Smith initially greeted with skepticism, consumer dissatisfaction finally make a justification for the concept was initiated by Smith. Are efforts to achieve quality depends on how to detect and repair defective products, or quality can be achieved by preventing defects in the design process and manufacturing processes? Motorola finally start the search for improving quality and reducing production time and costs by focusing on how the product is designed and manufactured.

Concrete results felt by Motorola to see a reduction in defective in the manufacturing process so as to contribute financially significant. In other words, the company will be more proud of their low cost with a quality product. In a period of 4 years Motorola has saved $ 2.2 billion. Motorola Six Sigma has been innovating where other companies do not think about it. In a short time Six Sigma has been adopted by other industries to industry-savings and improved product quality.