What Makes Six Sigma Work

 

What Makes Six Sigma Work

 

Some consultants are earning seven figure salaries, CEOs of large companies are claiming billions of dollars saved, conferences, books, and seminars are popping up everywhere, and yet one can argue that there isn't much new about Six Sigma that we didn't have with TQM. Is Six Sigma just the latest management buzzword or is Six Sigma a Quality Management program that really works?

 

Six Sigma does have a few new twists. These new twists make Six Sigma different enough to exist on its own and are what makes Six Sigma work much better than any other quality methodology of the past.

 

Six Sigma only appears to be a little different than TQM in terms of Quality tools, techniques, and principles, but from a global perspective it's a whole new animal for the following reasons (in order of importance):