Abstract

Implementation of Six-Sigma in Motorola

By
Arjun Radhakrishnan 13ME217
Sumukha M Harish 13ME269
Variability and defects in products have been inherent characteristics of production. Variation
can be attributed towards creating inconsistent processes. These inconsistent processes lead to
different experiences for different customers. Experts in the field of quality have been
fighting variation for decades. Defects on the other hand hamper the quality of production.
Quality assurance being the foremost promise of the company to its customers, defects in
production lead to the deterioration of the companys standards and its image in the market.
The Six Sigma philosophy stems from the belief that statistics and numerical facts can be
used to control the quality of manufacturing processes and service organizations. Six Sigma
is a systematic way of thinking to solve quality problems. Six sigma involves use of statistics
to convert raw data into facts about how the processes of the organization are being run. The
thrust is on creating processes which can replicate the same results over and over again with
near 100% predictability. With the implementation of Six Sigma an accuracy of 99.99966%
in production can be obtained corresponding to 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
To beat growing technological and quality demands and to stay in close competition with the
Japanese and Chinese companies, America based company Motorola challenged itself to
improve the performance in the market ten-fold over a period of five years. Mike Harry and
Bill Smith after analysing this situation developed a solution to this problem. Bob Galvin,
CEO of Motorola later launched a long term quality program called Six Sigma Quality
Program. Looking at the success of Motorola, many companies like Texas Instruments and
Allied Signal started using Six Sigma methodology to bring organization-wide
improvements. Today almost every major organization in the world is following Six Sigma
initiatives and making their processes more controlled and more predictable.