f toxic water supply a month, 62 10 minutes of telephone services shutdown a week, which most people would find unacceptable. Therefore Six Sigma is not the ceiling; it is a direction in which quality should be delivered. Six Sigma Improves Your Score If you played 100 rounds of golf per year, and played at:Two sigmaYou would miss 6 putts per roundThree sigmaYou would miss 1 putt per roundFour sigmaYou would miss 1 putt every 9 roundsFive sigmaYou would miss 1 putt every 2.33 roundsSix sigmaYou would miss 1 putt every 163 yearsWhat Makes Six Sigma DifferentSix Sigma share some characteristics with the classic quality initiative Total Quality Management (TQM). Its philosophy is the same as that of TQM reducing defects, and the tools that are used to reach this philosophy are even similar. Six Sigma can be plugged into such initiatives as TQM and add power to its punch. Six sigma's metrics of performance are more sharply-defined than most quality initiatives, which have a multiplicity of objectives, ranging from broad operational goals, like reducing cycle-times, to micro-level ones, like reducing waste. The difference between Six Sigma and other quality approaches are that the others measure your abilities to meet some quality. "Six sigma actually measures the output of your processes, therefore it's less theoretical and more real world," points out Scott Bayman, CEO GE India.One way six sigma is different from other quality drives because it relies on the customer to define what a defect is, then uses rigorous data gathering and statistical analysis to drive out defects. Six Sigma is so attractive because it quantitative instead of anecdotal, therefore you know whether you are making progress.Six Sigma Implementation Issues. Some organizations get too involved in "how to count defects" and report defect rates that they lose sight of the real value of Six Sigma. The real value creates process improvement and re-engin...
