Six Sigma Definition

Six Sigma is a methodology developed by Motorola that describes how the management of product and service delivery should be implemented. The management processes emphasize setting extremely high objectives, collecting data, and analyzing results to a fine degree. Once you determine where the defects are in a process, you can work to reduce them. In order for a company to achieve Six Sigma, it cannot produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

The potential benefits of Six Sigma include up to 50% process cost reduction, cycle-time improvement, less waste of materials, a better understanding of customer requirements, increased customer satisfaction, and more reliable products and services. the largest drawback with Six Sigma is that it can be costly to implement and can take several years before results appear on a company's bottom-line

Six Sigma is generally implemented in companies that manufacture products. For companies that are in the business of producing things that are less tangible such as software, the Capability Maturity Model is more often used.

Read more about project management methodologies.

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