six sigma motorola case study

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Six Sigma: A Case Study in Motorola

A Six Sigma Overview

Nowadays, organizations are constantly striving to understand and meet the customer’s expectations by focusing on the quality of the products offered. Luckily, there are many tools and techniques available which enable management to improve the quality of their products and services. Six Sigma has proven to be one of the most successful tools in this regard. 

Six Sigma is a methodology which uses specific principles and mechanisms that ensure excellence within the organization. The ultimate goal of this methodology is to create products or services with less than 3.4 defects per million products or services produced. Witnessing its benefits, many of world’s most famous and successful organizations have decided to implement and integrate Six Sigma principles in their business processes.

The Beginning of Six Sigma

A look back in history indicates that the implementation of Six Sigma principles was pioneered by Motorola Company in 1980s. Motorola has always been a high tech company, offering highly reliable products. However, by 1970, every business in which Motorola was engaged in, was already targeted by Japanese. 

During that time, Motorola, like many other American companies, was struggling to keep up with Japanese competition. Motorola’s customers were unhappy with the product defects and customer support. On the other hand, Japanese had already built an amazing quality standard that many American companies simply could not keep up with. As a result, dealing with severe financial pressure, Motorola had to take action. 

The top management summoned the Motorola engineers and sought to reduce the amount of errors in their products before they were even shipped out of their factories. They combined all the quality management practices known till that time and created a methodology that would be the baseline of Motorola’s quality improvement program. Bill Smith, an engineer and scientist at Motorola, developed a methodology that would reduce the amount of product defects. He created the original statistics and formulas initiated the implementation of Six Sigma methodology. Convinced in the huge success that this methodology would have, he presented the ideas to CEO Bob Galvin. Bob came to recognize this approach as the solution to their quality concerns. They followed the four phase Six Sigma methodology (measure, analyze, improve and control) and started their journey of documenting their key processes, aligning those processes to customer requirements, and installing measurement systems to continually monitor and improve these processes. 

As a result, Motorola’s performance improved instantly. However, even though they were doing well, the analysis revealed that Japanese were still way ahead of them.

Thus, to remain competitive, top management vowed to make improvements in their quality by tenfold over a five-year period. Initially, this seemed to be impossible, but by the end of 1985, everyone in Motorola had started working toward that goal. 

By the end of the five year period, every business in Motorola had reached their targeted scale of improvement. Motorola managers decided to fly to Japan to better evaluate how their competition was doing, and what they found out was mind-blowing. They saw that the Japanese companies were doing 2000 times better than them. This was due to the fact that Japanese had been using similar technologies for a longer period of time. 

The information unveiled in Japan changed the objectives of Motorola again. The executives became even more ambitious, and decided to set a tenfold target one more time, but deadline was set for a two year period now. Motorola goal for 1992 was to have 3.4 defects per million opportunities. 

After implementing Sig Sigma, Motorola realized how important the methodology had been in improving their processes. In fact, they have documented more than $16 billion in saving as a result of Six Sigma adoption. Therefore, they decided to make the methodology public for every company that wanted to adopt it in their processes. Since then, tens of thousands of companies around the world have been considering Six Sigma as a way of doing business. 

Bearing in mind the previous points, it can be concluded that Motorola implementation of Six Sigma has been a stepping stone in the modern times of quality improvement. We may wonder where will the Six Sigma journey lead us to. This path, however, will certainly be challenging while we seek perfection. But the highly satisfied customers, motivated employees, increased benefits, among many other reasons, lead to believe that the employment of Six Sigma as the best business support will never cease to exist.

Author:   Hana Tahiri is the Portfolio Marketing Manager for Quality Management System and Transportation, Telecom and Energy at PECB. She is responsible for continually conducting research and writing articles and marketing materials related to QMS and TTE. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her: [email protected] .

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Motorola's Six Sigma Journey: In pursuit of perfection

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Written by Thomas Goodwin of Motorola Mobility

Motorola’s journey to achieve Six Sigma performance began in 1986 when engineer Bill Smith quietly set out to devise a methodology to standardize defect measurement and drive improvements in manufacturing. Developing this new methodology was the first step on our journey and gave us the tools to begin measuring and comparing the quality improvement rates of our business groups. Six Sigma became our performance metric and was reflective of a product or process that has just 3.4 defects per million units or opportunities.

Over the years, we built on this methodology to include the use of statistical tools, and a step-by-step process to drive improvement, innovation and optimization. Through the direction of former CEO Bob Galvin, we made the Six Sigma methodology available to the world. We implemented large-scale training efforts and applied the methodology beyond manufacturing into transactional, support, service and engineering functions. Six Sigma became a collaborative effort between our customers, suppliers and stakeholders and an important tool to engage our employees in a culture of continuous improvement.

Our employees, suppliers and customers quickly discovered this methodology worked and wanted to use it to improve performance. Other companies soon followed suit by adopting their own approach to do the same. The Six Sigma methodology gained a strong following and became widely adopted across numerous industries.

In 2003, Motorola took Six Sigma to the next level by elevating it to a management system and rebranded our efforts as “Digital Six Sigma.”  In this phase, we started with a business-wide balanced scorecard and then determined the activities required to achieve those goals. We assigned our strongest Black and Master Black Belts, based on their change management skills and statistical capabilities, to work on projects with complex problems with an unknown root cause. Each business and functional leader sponsored the efforts and provided the ongoing governance needed to remove barriers and achieve results. The term “Digital” was incorporated to add the requirement that the solutions implemented had to be controlled with a systematic or non-manual control mechanism to ensure that the change was sustainable.

The program further evolved in 2005 when we added Lean concepts to the traditional Six Sigma framework to identify redundancies and reduce costs and cycle time. Our emphasis on reducing waste and non-value added activities was critical in addressing the continuing competitive pressures and increasing our productivity.

In January 2011, Motorola separated into two independent, publicly traded companies: Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. At this point, we had a decision to make – should we continue the use of Six Sigma as a management system, scale it back or discontinue it altogether?  At Motorola Mobility, we chose to take a “back to basics” approach and focus on the essence of Six Sigma – the methodology used to delight our customers by exceeding their expectations and delivering products and services of the highest quality.

SIX SIGMA TRAINING

With that change, the Six Sigma program at Motorola Mobility transformed from a centralized effort with full-time resources to a grassroots effort where individuals use the methodology to solve everyday problems in their functional areas. Fostered by consistent and relevant training, and coupled with mentoring, these individuals have been able to use a range of techniques – from simple graphical tools to more complex analyses.

An example of this recently occurred when a supplier requested to increase the tolerance range for a component in order to meet the capability requirements (Cp/Cpk). The development engineer, who is Green Belt certified, pulled from her Six Sigma experience to examine the data using simple histograms and normal probability plots. Very quickly, she found the data showed a bimodal distribution, resulting in two groups of measurements. In working with the supplier, she discovered that two operators were interpreting the requirement differently. Rather than changing the tolerance range, the supplier followed up with training for the operators and conducted a Measurement System Analysis to validate the measurement technique.

An example of using Lean in the Supply Chain occurred when an inventory management issue at one of our Latin American sites drove the team to construct a Value Stream Map, starting at the shipping dock. The team “walked the process” to create a current-state map, which enabled them to identify opportunities to eliminate non-value added activities. The future-state map removed unnecessary steps, thus reducing rework and simplifying accounting and physical flows.

Looking forward, where will we go next on our Six Sigma journey?  In our never-ending pursuit of perfection, we know we can’t stand still. We will continue to challenge ourselves to evolve how we deploy Six Sigma to best support our business. In fact, we use the approach when considering changes to our methodology. What do our customers want, what data do we have to support the change, how will we know the change was effective?

The quest for perfection will never go away, but how Six Sigma is deployed needs to evolve as the business evolves. At Motorola Mobility, we are very aware of this need. Used in this way, we see the potential for Six Sigma is limitless.

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• Six Sigma - Introduction

The Motorola Six Sigma Story

No understanding of Six Sigma is complete without truly understanding where it came from - Motorola . The backdrop of the story shows how Six Sigma implementations changed the way Multi-National Corporations conducted operations worldwide.

It started in 1981. Motorola like most American companies was reeling under the threat of Japanese competition. Recovering from World War-2, the Japanese had built such a remarkable quality initiative that they were way ahead of any American company and were undercutting them on prices causing grave losses in terms of profitability and market share. Motorola was compelled into action. But the management at Motorola made an ambitious plan. They decided to give the Japanese a taste of their own medicine and beat them at their own game i.e quality.

For this reason, the management summoned the top engineers in Motorola and told them to combine all the best quality management practises known till that time and make an aggregated methodology which would be the base of Motorola’s competitive quality improvement program. Thus was developed the first Six Sigma program.

Motorola immediately took up a loft goal. They already were a respected manufacturing firm and had stringent quality measures. However, analysis had revealed that they were lagging way behind the Japanese and to be competitive they had to improve their quality goals by a 1000% in five years. Thus an ambitious goal of a 10:1 quality improvement came into picture.

Most experts thought it was suicidal for Motorola to attempt to do so, especially given the fact that Motorola was making huge investments in the quality initiative. Media criticised Motorola for using shareholder funds for goals that can be compared to fantasies. However the management did not pay heed. At the end of 5 years, almost every business unit functioning inside Motorola Inc. had achieved the 10:1 goal, boosting the morale of the workforce and silencing the critics.

However, Motorola realised that the Japanese were once again way ahead of them. This is because the Japanese had also launched a similar program. Even though their program was not as good as Motorola, they were ahead because of their previous lead. The Motorola Management became even more ambitious and launched another 1000% improvement drive. This time the goal had to be achieved in two years. The stream of criticisms started once again as to how success had shot to Motorola’s head and how the management was pursuing impossible programs. But to everyone’s surprise Motorola had triumphed once again.

Thus a third program was launched with the same 1000% or 10: 1 improvement in quality program. This time, when the program ended in 1991, Motorola failed. They reached a target of 8:1 when measured on a company wide basis even though some individual units had met the target.

When all these results were done Motorola had achieved a target of 800:1 improvement in their quality. Even the critics were full of applauses. Motorola had defeated the Japanese threat and Six Sigma became the biggest buzzword on the management scene with companies left, right and centre jumping to implement it, trying to reap the same benefits that Motorola did.

This is how Six Sigma was born!

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Six Sigma Case Study: Motorola Pioneers

Motorola was one of the founding organization of Six Sigma as we know it today. We can trace all of Six Sigma’s present-day and past successes back to Motorola’s pioneering work. Without them, we wouldn’t have the essential tools and strategies we used to detect and eliminate defects. Similarly, without their early work developing the methodology, there would be no Belt-based hierarchy, around which Six Sigma pivots. But how did they do it? What were Motorola’s early successes and is Six Sigma still as effective today? Keep reading to learn how they created and first implemented the greatest and most powerful improvement methodology in their work.

The Start of Six Sigma

Back in the seventies, Motorola invested their time primarily in manufacturing Quasar television sets. This was long before the advent of mobile phones, modern computers, the internet, and many of the technologies associated with Motorola. A Japanese company took over control of Motorola’s Quasar factory at the time and began implementing unheard of changes. They set about revamping and restructuring the way factory operations, rebuilding it from the ground up.

Soon, while under new management, Motorola’s Quasar factory began to produce TV sets with one-twentieth the number of defects than before. Simply put, there was something Japanese management brought to the factory that Motorola didn’t. The factory even maintained the same workforce, machinery, and design work. It soon became clear that Motorola management was the problem. It was in the next decade that Motorola knuckled down and started treating quality with the seriousness it deserves. Their then CEO, Bob Galvin, redirected Motorola towards on the quality achieving Six Sigma levels of quality. It was this decision that made Motorola a top quality and profit leader in the business world. Six Sigma was the secret to their success. And it’s just as popular and effective today as it was then!

How Does Motorola Use Six Sigma Today?

For Six Sigma, quality is about helping an organization increase profit. In Six Sigma, quality is a value contributed by a productive enterprise or activity. Motorola uses Six Sigma to maintain high efficiency by eliminating waste and defect as they discover them. This may be on a production line or even in administration.

Six Sigma aims to improve quality by minimizing variation and (overlapping with Lean) reducing waste. This helped Motorola improved its products and services, producing them faster and for less. In basic terms, Six Sigma’s goals are preventing defect, reducing cycle time, and minimizing costs. Six Sigma’s effectiveness comes from its ability to identify and eliminate waste costs, i.e. those that provide no value for customers.

Unlike Motorola, companies that eschew or dismiss Six Sigma ideas tend to have extremely costly operating processes. For those operating at low sigma, the cost of (poor) quality tends to be high, often spending 25%-40% of their revenues addressing issues. Companies operating at Six Sigma, however, typically expend less than 5% to fix problems. The dollar cost of this gap is often considerably large. This has cost companies like General Electric between $8 billion and $12 billion annually. Motorola, however, has enjoyed and still enjoys the benefits of Six Sigma. As one of its leading pioneers, they have perfected it over the years. Their success is not surprising.

SixSigma.com offers both Live Virtual classes as well as Online Self-Paced training. Most option includes access to the same great Master Black Belt instructors that teach our World Class in-person sessions. Sign-up today!

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Motorola Uses Data-Driven Six Sigma Methodology to Improve Production Process

Updated: September 18, 2023 by Lori Kinney

In the early 2000s, Motorola was struggling with defects in its products and a decline in customer satisfaction. In an effort to improve their business processes and regain their competitive edge, they turned to Six Sigma, a data-driven methodology for process improvement.

The Impact of Six Sigma on Motorola’s Semiconductor Production Process

Motorola is a multinational telecommunications company that has been at the forefront of technological innovation for many years. In the early 2000s, the company was struggling with quality issues in their products, which were leading to declining customer satisfaction and lost business opportunities. One of the critical components in many of Motorola’s products is semiconductors, which were a significant source of quality issues at the time.

The stakeholders affected by the semiconductor quality issues were widespread. Customers who purchased Motorola products that contained defective semiconductors experienced reduced reliability and performance, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction. This dissatisfaction led to lost business opportunities and reduced profitability for Motorola. Additionally, employees who worked in the semiconductor production process were affected by the quality issues, as they were responsible for identifying and fixing defects, leading to low morale and reduced productivity.

The problem was significant for Motorola, as they were losing market share to competitors who were producing higher-quality products. The quality issues with semiconductors were a particular concern, as they were a critical component in many of Motorola’s products. Defects in semiconductors were leading to increased costs due to rework and waste, which were reducing profitability.

Implementation of Six Sigma’s DMAIC Method at Motorola

In response to these challenges, Motorola adopted Six Sigma, a data-driven methodology for process improvement, to address the quality issues in their semiconductors production process. Through the use of Six Sigma, Motorola was able to identify the root causes of defects and implement changes that significantly improved the production process, leading to increased quality and customer satisfaction. By solving this critical business problem, Motorola was able to regain its competitive edge and improve its long-term profitability.

Motorola implemented the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) method of Six Sigma, which focuses on identifying and removing defects and variations in business processes. The company established a Six Sigma program, which trained employees to be experts in identifying and solving quality problems.

Motorola’s decision to adopt Six Sigma for process improvement was based on the methodology’s track record of success in the manufacturing industry. Six Sigma has been used by many companies to improve quality, reduce defects, and increase customer satisfaction. The methodology’s focus on data-driven decision-making, process improvement, and customer satisfaction made it a natural fit for Motorola’s quality improvement goals.

Before adopting Six Sigma, Motorola had considered other quality improvement methodologies, such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Statistical Process Control (SPC). However, they found that Six Sigma’s focus on process improvement and its rigorous data-driven approach was better suited to their needs.

Motorola’s expectations for implementing Six Sigma were high. They anticipated that the methodology would help them reduce defects and waste in their semiconductor production process, leading to increased quality and customer satisfaction. Additionally, they expected that Six Sigma would lead to increased employee engagement and a culture of continuous improvement.

The methodology helped to reduce variability in the production process, leading to reduced waste and rework. Additionally, employees who participated in the Six Sigma program became more engaged in quality improvement efforts, leading to a culture of continuous improvement.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges: Lessons Learned from Motorola’s Six Sigma Journey

Like with any major organizational change, Motorola did face some challenges when implementing the Six Sigma process. One of the biggest hurdles was getting buy-in from employees at all levels of the organization. Six Sigma required a cultural shift towards continuous improvement, which can be difficult to achieve without strong support from employees.

To overcome this challenge, Motorola invested in extensive training for employees on the Six Sigma methodology and its benefits. They also established a Six Sigma program that provided employees with opportunities to participate in quality improvement projects, which helped to build engagement and buy-in from all levels of the organization.

Another challenge that Motorola faced was the need to collect and analyze large amounts of data. This was necessary to identify the root causes of defects and track progress over time. Collecting and analyzing data on this scale was a new and complex task for the company and required significant investment in training and resources.

However, despite these challenges, Motorola was committed to Six Sigma, and they learned from their experiences to continually improve their implementation of the methodology. As they gained more experience, they refined their approach, making it more efficient and effective. They were able to identify the most cost-effective ways to implement the methodology and streamline their processes to achieve maximum results.

The Impact of the DMAIC Method on Motorola’s Customer Satisfaction and Profitability

Motorola’s implementation of Six Sigma was instrumental in solving the company’s problem of declining quality and customer satisfaction with their products, particularly the semiconductors that were a critical component in many of their products.

Using Six Sigma’s DMAIC method , Motorola’s Six Sigma team was able to identify the root causes of defects in the semiconductor production process. They analyzed data on defects and waste, identified key areas of variability, and implemented changes to reduce variability and improve quality. For example, they introduced new equipment and software, changed the manufacturing process, and improved employee training.

Through these changes, Motorola was able to reduce defects and waste in the semiconductor production process, leading to increased quality and customer satisfaction. Customers who purchased Motorola products that contained the improved semiconductors experienced increased reliability and performance, leading to greater satisfaction and repeat business. The improvements also led to reduced costs due to less rework and waste, which increased profitability for Motorola.

Additionally, the Six Sigma program helped to create a culture of continuous improvement at Motorola. Employees were trained in Six Sigma methodologies and encouraged to participate in quality improvement projects. This led to increased engagement and ownership of quality improvement efforts at all levels of the organization.

Overall, the implementation of Six Sigma was critical in solving Motorola’s problem of declining quality and customer satisfaction with its products. The methodology helped the company achieve significant improvements in its semiconductor production process, which led to increased quality, customer satisfaction, and profitability. The focus on continuous improvement also helped to create a culture of quality ownership that has had a lasting impact on the organization.

5 Best Practices in Six Sigma Implementation: Lessons from Motorola’s Success

Motorola’s success with Six Sigma was due in part to its adoption of best practices, which are key principles and methods that have been proven to be effective in driving continuous improvement. Here are some of the best practices that Motorola used in its Six Sigma implementation:

1. Senior leadership buy-in

Motorola’s top leadership was committed to Six Sigma and supported the implementation of the methodology throughout the company. This commitment helped to ensure that Six Sigma was a priority and that the necessary resources were allocated to the effort.

2. Data-driven decision-making

Six Sigma is based on data analysis and statistical methods. Motorola used data to identify areas of the production process that needed improvement and to track progress over time. This data-driven approach helped to ensure that changes were effective and sustainable.

3. Process focus

Six Sigma is focused on improving business processes rather than just fixing individual defects. Motorola analyzed the entire semiconductor production process to identify the root causes of defects and implemented changes that improved the overall process.

4. Continuous improvement

Six Sigma is a continuous improvement methodology , meaning that improvements are made incrementally over time. Motorola’s Six Sigma program was an ongoing effort, with regular reviews of processes and data to identify new opportunities for improvement.

5. Employee involvement

Six Sigma is a team-based approach to problem-solving and involves the active participation of employees at all levels of the organization. Motorola’s Six Sigma program trained employees to be experts in quality improvement and empowered them to identify and solve problems in their own areas of responsibility.

By following these best practices, Motorola was able to achieve significant improvements in its business processes and achieve long-term success with Six Sigma.

Takeaways for Other Organizations

Motorola’s adoption of Six Sigma was a pivotal moment for the company as it allowed them to overcome significant quality challenges and regain their competitive edge. The methodology helped them identify the root causes of defects in their semiconductor production process and implement changes that led to increased quality and customer satisfaction.

Their success with Six Sigma was due to their commitment to best practices that helped the company to overcome challenges during the implementation process and create a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization.

Today, Six Sigma is widely used by companies in many industries to improve quality, reduce defects, and increase customer satisfaction. Motorola’s success with the methodology is recognized as a key contributor to its adoption and continues to inspire others.

In conclusion, Motorola’s adoption of Six Sigma demonstrates the power of data-driven methodology to drive continuous improvement in business processes. The focus on process improvement, customer satisfaction, and employee involvement has become a standard for quality management and has helped many organizations achieve operational excellence.

About the Author

Lori Kinney

Motorola’s Customer-Defined, ‘Six-Sigma Quality | Case Study

In this article you will learn case study of Motorola which includes history of Motorola, Motorola’ six steps to Excellence and how Motorola has used six sigma today?

Table of Contents

History of Motorola

The first car radio was invented by Motorola, which is how the name Motorola, which means “sound in motion,” came to be.

It created the first two-way radios (also known as “walkie-talkies”) during World War II, and by the 1950s, Motorola was well-known for its consumer electronics products.

Motorola changed its focus from radios and televisions to advanced telecommunications and electronics products semiconductors, two-way radios, pagers, cellular telephones, and related equipment in the 1970s in response to intense competition, primarily from Japanese companies.

However, at the beginning of the 1980s, Japanese rivals were still outpacing Motorola with better products at lower costs.

In the last ten years, Motorola has made a strong comeback. With a 45% global market share in both cellular phones and two-way mobile radios, it currently dominates all rivals in both markets.

After Intel and NEC, Motorola is the third-largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. Previously in immediate risk of being driven out of the pager industry.

With an astounding 85% global market share, Motorola currently rules that market. Motorola’s amazing success as a leader was made possible by its slavish devotion to quality.

Motorola’s Six-Sigma Quality Goal

Motorola began an intensive campaign to raise product quality early in the 1980s, first by tenfold and subsequently by a hundredfold.

It established the unheard-of “six-sigma” quality goal. The statistical term “six sigma” refers to the six standard deviations from the statistical performance average.

This indicates that Motorola set out to achieve a defect-free product rate of 99.9997%, or less than 3.4 per million manufactured components.

Six sigma ended up being Motorola’s catchphrase. Motorola was honored with one of the first annual Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards in 1988, which recognized “preeminent quality leadership.”

The initial focus of Motorola’s efforts was on enhancing product quality through advances in manufacturing.

To stop defects from arising was the aim. By making things right the first time, every time, and developing products for quality from the start.

This frequently entails enhancing product design.

The extremely successful Motorola MicroTAC foldable, hand-held mobile phone features fewer parts that snap together rather than being connected by screws or other fasteners, reducing component flaws and production problems.

Motorola’s Culture

Everyone in the organization needs to be committed to quality in order to meet the six-sigma standard. As a result, Motorola’s fundamental company culture now places a strong emphasis on comprehensive quality.

Motorola invests $120 million a year in training staff members on quality, and it pays them when they get things right.

Motorola holds its suppliers to the same rigorous quality requirements since its products can only be as excellent as the parts that go into them. Additionally, suppliers who complied saw significant improvements in their own quality.

In more recent times, Motorola has shifted its original emphasis from preventing production errors to emphasizing increasing customer-defined quality and customer value.

The vice president of quality of Motorola says, “Quality needs to do something for the customer.”

Thus, “complete customer satisfaction” is the main goal of the company’s quality movement.

“If the customer doesn’t like it, it’s a defect,” is how we define a defect.

Customer Feedback

Instead of focusing simply on manufacturing flaws, Motorola now asks consumers about their quality expectations, examines customer complaints, and reviews service records in an ongoing effort to increase customer value.

Executives from Motorola frequently go to customers’ offices to learn more in-depth information about their needs.

As a result, Motorola’s total quality management program has accomplished more than just reducing product defects. It has also assisted the corporation in changing from an engineering perspective that is internally driven to one that is externally driven and customer-focused.

The quality program at Motorola now encompasses every department and process. It starts from finance, advertising, manufacturing and product development to market research.

Some critics are worried that Motorola’s devotion with quality would cause pricey products to arrive on the market later than expected. According to Motorola, the opposite is true— superior quality is the most affordable option.

The costs of monitoring and correcting errors may be significantly higher than the expenses of doing things correctly from the start. According to Motorola, its quality initiatives over the previous six years have generated savings of more than 83 billion.

Motorola’s pursuit of excellence so goes on. It plans to achieve near-perfection by 2001, with a staggering rate of just one defect per billion products.

Motorola’ six steps to Excellence

Motorola continues to put quality into our products from the beginning, just as it did in the 1960s. However, by offering a structured method for ongoing improvement, the Six Sigma strategy covers every internal Motorola operation.

This is what we refer to as the “six steps to excellence.” They consist of:

✔Determine the kind of product or service you offer.

✔Determine who your consumers are and what they need.

✔Identify your requirements and suppliers.

✔Define your approach to work and your process.

✔Improve processes and get rid of sources of defects

✔Improve the Sigma level over time.

Motorola is continuously attempting to identify, quantify, and get rid of flaws in every process using the Six Sigma methodology.

Additionally, Six Sigma enables companies to keep their attention on the procedures rather than the people. If systems are created to be perfect, individuals will use them to perform perfectly.

How is Six Sigma used by Motorola today?

For Six Sigma, quality is about assisting a business in generating more revenue. Quality in Six Sigma is a value added by a successful business or activity.

Motorola employs Six Sigma to eliminate waste and defects as they are found, maintaining high efficiency. This may occur in the administration or even on a production line.

By reducing variation and eliminating waste (which overlaps with Lean), Six Sigma seeks to improve quality. Motorola was able to provide products and services more quickly and cheaply as a result of this. The three main objectives of Six Sigma are defect prevention, cycle time reduction, and cost minimization.

The efficiency of Six Sigma stems from its capacity to spot and get rid of waste costs, or expenses that don’t add value for customers.

Companies that reject or avoid applying Six Sigma concepts, in contrast to Motorola, frequently have extraordinarily expensive operational procedures. The cost of (bad) quality is typically considerable for businesses operating at low sigma; they frequently spend 25% to 40% of their sales resolving problems.

However, businesses that use Six Sigma often spend less than 5% of their budget on problem-solving. This gap frequently has a significant financial impact.

Companies like General Electric have incurred annual costs of $8 billion to $12 billion as a result. However, Motorola has benefited from and continues to profit from Six Sigma. They were one of its major innovators and have improved it through time. It is not unexpected that they are successful.

Motorola approaches quality from the standpoint of the customer. Motorola only get one chance with each product they offer to positively affect a customer.

They face the risk of losing that customer if the product falls short of their expectations. Simply meeting industry norms is insufficient. Every single product that is delivered to a customer should adhere to a consistent level of quality.

The first twelve years of Six Sigma at Motorola, from 1987 to 1999, produced notable improvements for our company.

Motorola had gotten rid of 99.7% of all in-process flaws by 1999. On a unit basis, the Cost of Poor Quality was decreased by more than 84%. Overall manufacturing cost savings came to more than $18 billion. Employee productivity rose sharply at the same time, rising 12% yearly.

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General Business

History of Six Sigma: Exploring the Roots

In the field of quality management, the Six Sigma methodology stands out due to its profound impact on process improvement across industries. With its origins in statistical analysis and data-driven decision-making, Six Sigma is the premier methodology for organizations that seek sustainable processes that realize business efficiencies and provide high customer satisfaction.

This article highlights Six Sigma’s early beginnings and those credited for its creation, evolution, integration with lean principles, and examples of its use in various industries.

What is the History of Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a methodology that aims to improve processes by reducing defects and variability. It’s based on the idea that a process should produce no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, which equates to six standard deviations (sigma) between the process mean and the nearest specification limit. This high standard ensures processes are as close to defect-free as possible. Six Sigma uses statistical tools and a structured certification system , with belts ranging from White (basic understanding) to Master Black Belt (highest expertise).

Six Sigma was introduced by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986 to improve manufacturing quality. Motorola registered it as a trademark in the early 1990s. Companies like Honeywell and GE adopted it, with GE’s CEO Jack Welch making it central to his strategy in 1995. By the late 1990s, about two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies had started Six Sigma initiatives. It’s often integrated with lean manufacturing principles to reduce both waste and defects.

Six Sigma Belts

Six Sigma’s belt system , inspired by martial arts, was first formalized in a 1988 contract between Unisys and Mikel Harry. It denotes certified levels of expertise and training in process improvement. The system starts with the White Belt, signifying foundational understanding. Next is the Yellow Belt, indicating deeper knowledge and ability to participate in project teams.

Green Belts can work independently and lead projects or assist Black Belts. Black Belts have advanced understanding, can lead multiple projects, and solve challenging problems. At the top is the Master Black Belt, the highest level of expertise. They’re responsible for strategic implementation and mentoring within Six Sigma.

Six Sigma Methodology Founders

Six Sigma’s history starts with the need to improve manufacturing processes systematically. From statistical experts to visionary leaders, these individuals played pivotal roles in molding and popularizing Six Sigma. 

Six Sigma History: Walter Shewhart 1920s

With his combination of statistics, engineering, and economics into sustainable processes, Walter A. Shewhart is called the “father of statistical quality control.” The American Society for Quality (ASQ) gave their first Honorary membership to Shewhart in part due to his invention of the control chart,  “…a simple but highly effective tool that represented an initial step toward what Shewhart called “the formulation of a scientific basis for securing economic control .”‘

Six Sigma History: Bill Smith at Motorola 1980s – 1990s

As an engineer at Motorola in the 1980s, Bill Smith began applying statistical analysis to achieve process improvement. Smith started to identify and remove the causes of defects through statistical analysis, thus minimizing variability in the associated processes. In 1985, he approached Motorola’s CEO, Bob Galvin, with a proposal to reduce defects by reducing process variations. Through his work, Smith realized that this statistical process improvement method could consistently enhance product quality. Smith is the principal founder of what became the Six Sigma methodology.

Six Sigma History: Mikel Harry at Motorola 1980s -1990s

Mikel Harry worked with Bill Smith to create a four-stage problem-solving approach:

measure, analyze, improve, and control (MAIC). [Later iterations included a fifth stage of “D” to create the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.) The Six Sigma quality management methodology incorporated Smith and Harry’s approach. Harry’s book, Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World’s Top Corporations  (Crown Business, 2000), has  been a bestseller  in  The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek , and Amazon.com.

Six Sigma helped Motorola realize significant financial savings in their organization; at one point, they  documented more than $16 billion in savings  due to Six Sigma efforts.

Six Sigma History: Jack Welch at GE 1990 – 2000s

Smith and Harry’s quality management approach took off when Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric (1981 – 2001), embraced Six Sigma and made it a cornerstone of the corporate culture of this global multi-conglomerate. Under Welch’s leadership, GE integrated Six Sigma into its organizational business culture to realize significant financial savings and inspire other companies to use the quality management approach.

Six Sigma’s Evolution Through Adaptability 

Since its inception, Six Sigma has changed, evolving from a manufacturing quality control method to a universal tool for process improvement across industries such as finance, healthcare, and IT. The evolution of Six Sigma is why it is so long-lasting; Six Sigma applies to various products, industries, and processes. Through carefully monitored process improvements, quality is achievable in almost any setting.

• early 20th century | Frederick W. Taylor and Walter A. Shewhart laid the foundation for scientific management and statistical control of processes
• post-World War II era | Joseph M. Juran emphasized statistical techniques and the importance of management commitment; W. Edwards Deming introduces Total Quality Management (TQM) as a holistic approach that integrates quality into every aspect of an organization.
• 1990s: Bill Smith and Mikel Harry found what they coined “Six Sigma” while at Motorola, and later, Jack Welsh promoted it across General Electric.

Over time, the Six Sigma methodology has adapted to meet the needs of multiple organizational processes and problems. Today, concepts like Lean and Agile methodologies complement traditional quality management practices to help companies achieve continuous improvement.

Lean Six Sigma

Lean, a methodology focused on waste reduction, and Six Sigma, which concentrates on reducing defects, naturally complement each other. The combination, known as Lean Six Sigma, offers a comprehensive approach to process improvement. Six Sigma founding contributor Harry told  Quality Digest in a 2006 interview : 

[“People forget that Six Sigma is not an absolute; it’s a vision,” he said. It’s a vision at the business, operations, and process levels. Six Sigma relies on tools. Lean Sigma, ISO Sigma, and other little “X” Sigmas are exploratory tributaries.]

Organizations that successfully implement Lean Six Sigma enjoy cost reduction, improved customer satisfaction, and streamlined processes.

Six Sigma’s Benefits

Six Sigma remains relevant in the current business landscape because it adapts to technological advancements and global challenges. Businesses that embrace Six Sigma and commit to fully incorporating it across the organization may realize benefits, including reducing errors and waste, maximizing resources, and higher customer quality scores.

Six Sigma’s future is bright as organizations seek innovative ways to enhance efficiency and quality. While the methodology has evolved to include specific types like Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma must integrate advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to remain relevant. By leveraging these technological tools, Six Sigma can continue to evolve with the inclusion of predictive and proactive insights. A company that can address potential processes or customer issues before they escalate has a distinct market advantage.

The use of Six Sigma methodologies will continue to grow in more non-manufacturing industries, such as healthcare and service, by organizations seeking a proven systematic approach to quality management. Six Sigma’s future depends on its ability to evolve, integrate new technologies, and adapt to the changing dynamics of the business environment while maintaining its core principles of quality and efficiency. Continuous improvement, realized through the Six Sigma methodology, is critical to any organization seeking to remain competitive and bring customers the best products and services. 

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The History of Six Sigma

Originally developed by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986, the Six Sigma Training program was created using some of the most innovative quality improvement methods from the preceding six decades. The term “Six Sigma” is derived from a field of statistics known as process capability. The term 6 Sigma refers to the ability of manufacturing processes to produce a very high proportion of output within specification. Processes that operate with “six sigma quality” over the short term are assumed to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Six Sigma’s goal is to improve overall processes to that level of quality or better.

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• Fugee Tsung   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0575-8254 3 &
• Kai Wang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8636-9292 4  

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Six Sigma, which was first launched by Motorola in the late 1980s, has become a successful standard-quality initiative to achieve and maintain excellent business performance in today’s manufacturing and service industries. In this chapter, we provide a systematic and principled introduction of Six Sigma from its various facets. The first part of this chapter describes what Six Sigma is, why we need Six Sigma, and how to implement Six Sigma in practice. A typical business structure for Six Sigma implementation is introduced, and potential failure modes of Six Sigma are also discussed.

The second part describes the core methodology of Six Sigma, which consists of five phases, i.e., Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC). Specific operational steps in each phase are described in sequence. Key tools to support the DMAIC process including both statistical tools and management tools are also presented. The third part highlights a specific Six Sigma technique for product development and service design, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), which is different from DMAIC. DFSS also has five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify (DMADV), spread over product development. Each phase is described, and the corresponding key tools to support each phase are presented.

In the fourth part, a real case study on printed circuit board (PCB) improvement is used to demonstrate the application of Six Sigma. The company and process background are provided. The DMAIC approach is specifically followed, and key supporting tools are illustrated accordingly. At the end, the financial benefit of this case is realized through the reduction of cost of poor quality (COPQ). The fifth part provides a discussion of Six Sigma in current Big Data background. A brief introduction of Big Data is first given, and then the tremendous opportunities offered by Big Data analytics to the core methodology of Six Sigma, i.e., DMAIC, are outlined in detail. The capabilities of each phase that would be greatly enhanced are emphasized. Finally, the last part is given to conclusions and a discussion of prospects of Six Sigma.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks the HKUST Quality Lab student team for conducting an extensive review of Six Sigma for the input of this chapter. Tsung’s research was supported by Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Grants 16201718 and 16203917. Wang’s research was supported by Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) Grant PiH/246/18.

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Tsung, F., Wang, K. (2023). Six Sigma. In: Pham, H. (eds) Springer Handbook of Engineering Statistics. Springer Handbooks. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-7503-2_13

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» Operations Case Studies » Case Studies Collection » ICMR HOME » Operations Short Case Studies » View Detailed Pricing Info » How To Order This Case » Business Case Studies » Case Studies by Area » Case Studies by Industry » Case Studies by Company

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