[VaBthang4]

Six Sigma is no buzzword for the chic yuppie crowd. From inside GE it doesnt attract the beautiful people. It is run by the quiet geeks and statistic nerds.

It is legitimate and I have watched it completely dismantle failing divisions [Commission Accounting as well as New Business Dept] and make them some of the most profitable areas in GEFA.

It is legitimately one of the driving factors behind GE's worldwide success. As a matter of fact...if you can find an Executive in GE who isnt equipped with a GE driven Six Sigma background...I'll show you a guy heading for early retirement. They dont last.

People who ignore Six Sigma are hurting themselves. It is no toy. It produces...big [I'm wondering when they are gonna finally drop it on the NBC division...haha].

[blam]

"People who ignore Six Sigma are hurting themselves. It is no toy. It produces...big [I'm wondering when they are gonna finally drop it on the NBC division...haha]."

I agree. I implemented it into my chip making 'line' at TI about 14 years ago. It is amazing. (...and then we made all our suppliers do the same.)

[Willie Green]

Six Sigma is no buzzword for the chic yuppie crowd. From inside GE it doesnt attract the beautiful people. It is run by the quiet geeks and statistic nerds.

Been there, done that.
I'm a full blown believer / practitioner in the proper utilization of statistics in manufacturing process quality assurance and control.
I also recognized that it's often totally misused and abused in a fashion that makes Political Correctness look amateurish by comparison.

The Six-Sigma Nazis are far worse than the most fanatic anti-tobacco, vegan, atheistic charter member of PETA, NOW and the Sierra Club that I ever came across.

If you should be so unfortunate to cross paths with one, I would hope that your affairs are in order and your loved ones have been provided for.

[The Duke]

It is legitimately one of the driving factors behind GE's worldwide success.

Sounds like a technocrat's wet dream to me.

We have our own process improvement system at my company - it's called "three strikes and you gotta go work at GE" - works great!

[Campion]

It is legitimately one of the driving factors behind GE's worldwide success.

Well, the part of GE I used to work for (before they laid me off, I mean) was "worldwide successful" right into the dumpster, and has now been sold. We had Six Sigma all over the place. What we didn't have was a marketing organization that could (a) come up with insightful ideas for products that real customers would want to buy; or (b) get beyond the infantile, "Everything bad here is engineering's fault!" fingerpointing stage.

Six Sigma, TQM and the like are wonderful tools for identifying processes, systematizing them, documenting them, and subjecting them to planned improvement. They don't substitute for innovation, imagination, insight, intelligence, or any of those other "i" words.