What is six sigma in manufacturing?
                     What is six 
sigma in 
manufacturing?
INTRODUCTION
The basics of Six Sigma were actually designed to 
improve the performance in the manufacturing industry, 
originally developed as a kind of quality control, 
especially for large scale manufacturing companies. 
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MAIN PURPOSE
The main purpose of this quality control system was to 
improve the manufacturing processes along with 
eliminating the number of defects found in them. Later, 
the Six Sigma methodology was extended to other types 
of industries all over the world. 
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HISTORY 
The concept of Six Sigma was developed in 1986 by 
Motorola as a set of tools and techniques to improve their 
manufacturing processes. In 1995 this concept was used 
by Jack Welch as the main concept of the business 
strategy of General Electric—now used by a number of 
industrial sectors.
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SIX SIGMA IN MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Six Sigma identifies and removes defect-causing 
elements along with reducing the changeability of the 
business and manufacturing processes to improve the 
quality of outputs from a manufacturing process.
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HOW IT WORKS?
In this methodology, an organization follows a defined set 
of steps to quantify the targeted value of the project. An 
application of Six Sigma in manufacturing can help an 
organization reduce pollution, reduce the time cycle of 
one or more processes, and reduce the cost of production 
for increasing profits and satisfaction level of its 
customers.
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REPORTS OF MOTOROLA
Motorola reported some astonishing facts about the 
benefits Six Sigma had for its organization after 
registering its service mark: they disclosed they had 
saved more than $17 billion by the end of 2006 with the 
help of quality improvement processes offered by this 
unique system.
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METHODOLOGY
In the 1980s when the methodology of Six Sigma was 
originated, Motorola recognized an association between a 
decrease in production costs along with an increase in 
product quality. Until then, the common thinking was that 
higher-quality increases the cost of production. It turned 
out that isn’t true.
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FACTORS
According to the basics of the doctrine of Six Sigma, the 
success of a company vitally depends on continuous 
efforts for achieving stable manufacturing processes. The 
factors of these processes are also important to be 
measured statistically so that they can be improved by 
analyzing them.
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FEATURES
The main features of Six Sigma for improvement in the 
manufacturing industry include a clear focus on 
quantifying and measuring the financial returns of any 
project.
All these features allow an organization to clearly define 
the responsibilities and role of every individual within the 
team for improving the manufacturing process of the 
organization.
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GOALS
The prime goal of Six Sigma production is to ensure the 
manufacturing process has minimum defects. The 
occurrence of 3.4 defects per million chances is the 
ultimate goal of this system. This may seem to be an 
unachievable task—but most manufacturing companies 
achieve this final goal by adopting this technique to 
produce quality products.
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