SIX SIGMA 10 A Prospective and Retrospective Study of Six Sigma Former Student ABC University Background According to Tjahjono et al. (2015), Six Sigma was incepted by Motorola in the 1980s after discovering that the poor quality of the company’s products cost much capital in production. Approximately, the cost of production was about 15%-20% of the company’s sales revenues. Its production process had low capacity and a significant percentage of its products matched neither the market standards nor the customers’ requirements. As a result, Motorola incurred huge losses in scrapping, field word, rework, and return or recall of the products that it had already shipped to customers (Sujova, Simanova, & Marcinekova, 2016). The company became aware that improving production process so that only a few or none of its products had defects could significantly reduce the costs associated with poor quality. In fact, Pande et al. (2008) explained that such an approach would directly boost the company’s productivity. The desire to upgrade Motorola’s production prompted its engineer to propose the idea of using the Six Sigma strategy to achieve a quality standard below 3.4 DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities). Since the quality standard of that time was 35,000 DPMO, Motorola set a high target. Six Sigma brought much success to Motorola, Therefore, it was adopted by many Fortune 500 companies during the 1990s. The company’s performance also improved. Some of the large organizations that topped the list of the first adopters of Six Sigma were 3M, AlliedSignal (the current Honeywell), and GE, with the latter using it in various new practices. Later on, GE stated that it had made Six Sigma part of its business strategy and culture. GE’s use of Six Sigma brought much success, which encouraged several small and medium-sized businesses to adopt it. With nearly four decades since its inception, Six Sigma’s purposes have outgrown defect-rate measure to become a crucial, robust improvement method with a set of unique beneficial practices that suit nearly all the operations of a company (Sujova, Simanova, & Marcinekova, 2016). Description of Problem Six Sigma was first incepted by Motorola, and has been used by many organizations from that time. While there is anecdotal evidence to support the overall effectiveness of Six Sigma, academic research on it appears to be in its early phases. This paper’s research problem focuses on the link between Six Sigma and management, with much emphasis laid on how it is used in quality management. In providing a solution to this problem, the research will first review the current study on Six Sigma, after which it will conduct a critical analysis of Six Sigma based on management literature. Research Objectives The primary objective of this research is to incorporate the concept of Six Sigma in companies with a different (lower) system of managing quality to determine the change in their process performa.

1. SIX SIGMA 10
A Prospective and Retrospective Study of Six Sigma
Former Student
ABC University
Background
According to Tjahjono et al. (2015), Six Sigma was incepted by
Motorola in the 1980s after discovering that the poor quality of
the company’s products cost much capital in production.
Approximately, the cost of production was about 15%-20% of
the company’s sales revenues. Its production process had low
capacity and a significant percentage of its products matched
neither the market standards nor the customers’ requirements.
As a result, Motorola incurred huge losses in scrapping, field
word, rework, and return or recall of the products that it had
already shipped to customers (Sujova, Simanova, &
Marcinekova, 2016).
The company became aware that improving production process
so that only a few or none of its products had defects could

2. significantly reduce the costs associated with poor quality. In
fact, Pande et al. (2008) explained that such an approach would
directly boost the company’s productivity. The desire to
upgrade Motorola’s production prompted its engineer to propose
the idea of using the Six Sigma strategy to achieve a quality
standard below 3.4 DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities).
Since the quality standard of that time was 35,000 DPMO,
Motorola set a high target.
Six Sigma brought much success to Motorola, Therefore, it was
adopted by many Fortune 500 companies during the 1990s. The
company’s performance also improved. Some of the large
organizations that topped the list of the first adopters of Six
Sigma were 3M, AlliedSignal (the current Honeywell), and GE,
with the latter using it in various new practices. Later on, GE
stated that it had made Six Sigma part of its business strategy
and culture. GE’s use of Six Sigma brought much success,
which encouraged several small and medium-sized businesses to
adopt it. With nearly four decades since its inception, Six
Sigma’s purposes have outgrown defect-rate measure to become
a crucial, robust improvement method with a set of unique
beneficial practices that suit nearly all the operations of a
company (Sujova, Simanova, & Marcinekova, 2016).
Description of Problem
Six Sigma was first incepted by Motorola, and has been used by
many organizations from that time. While there is anecdotal
evidence to support the overall effectiveness of Six Sigma,
academic research on it appears to be in its early phases. This
paper’s research problem focuses on the link between Six Sigma
and management, with much emphasis laid on how it is used in
quality management. In providing a solution to this problem, the
research will first review the current study on Six Sigma, after
which it will conduct a critical analysis of Six Sigma based on
management literature.
Research Objectives
The primary objective of this research is to incorporate the
concept of Six Sigma in companies with a different (lower)

3. system of managing quality to determine the change in their
process performance. Since this paper primarily uses the
findings of the past studies on this topic, it will also strive to
bridge the gaps in the existing literature on Six Sigma. Lastly, it
will demonstrate how the target companies can use Six Sigma to
ensure improvement of their production process and sustainable
quality.
Methodology
Given the qualitative nature of this research, it will use a set of
methods that conform to its nature. In collecting data, this
research will use literature review, conduct an analysis of the
current quality management strategy used in the target
companies, and application proceeding of the concept of Six
Sigma in the target enterprises. In the case of the latter, the
research will use the findings from the questionnaire survey to
select the enterprises in which the concept of Six Sigma should
be applied. Primarily, it will focus on the industries where
companies do not use the Six Sigma Methodology (SSM) and
achieve low return on equity.
In analyzing the current quality management strategy used in
the target companies, the research will use the questionnaire
method to ask the managers about the overall quality
management in the company. The questions will be grouped in
three categories – standard characteristics (such as the number
of employees, orientation of company operations, branch,
location, ownership, and company’s type of production);
financial results (including turnovers and indicators of return on
equity); and internal operations, including quality control,
processes, and production. For the literature review method, the
research will discuss Six Sigma in tune with findings of past
studies.
The Sample
Primarily, this research will focus on the industries where
companies do not use the Six Sigma Methodology (SSM) and
achieve low return on equity. A sample of 63 companies will be
reviewed to establish how they can use Six Sigma to improve

4. their overall management operations. A questionnaire method
will be used to obtain relevant data on the company’s quality
control strategies.
Limitations
Primarily, the use of Six Sigma is intended to improve the
company’s overall quality, but it is also worth noting that the
approach is associated with several limitations. For example,
quality culture, a project scope and selection, and measuring
and defining metrics are some of the drawbacks that could
affect the success rates of Six Sigma. Additionally, social and
technical supports also affect the successful implementation of
Six Sigma (Zugelder, 2012; Mehrjerdi, 2011).
Findings
The results of the questionnaire survey will show the rate at
which the selected companies use Six Sigma structured in line
with product types, industrial branches, and company sizes. A
cross-tabulation depicting the relative and absolute frequency of
how individual groups utilize the Six Sigma method will be
used to tabulate the findings. The groups will be divided into
the application of the strategy used in process management in
various industrial branches, production type, and the system
used in the implemented quality management in line with the
ISO standards.

5. Using Six Sigma
Yes
No
Frequency
Absolute
Relative (%)
Absolute
Relative (%)
Production Type
Mass
Job-work
Small-lot

6. Non production activity
Batch
Employees
Over 250
51-250
11-50
1-10

7. QMS
Yes
No
Process management
Yes
No
Industry
Furniture

8. Wood cutting
Engineering
Construction
Electrical
Woodworking
Pulp and paper

9. Automotive
Other
The findings will also demonstrate both the expected and
measured frequencies to verify the hypothesis that using Six
Sigma increases the amount of ROE (return on equity). The
relationship between these parameters will be demonstrated in
the following tables:
Empirical ROE Frequencies
Using Six Sigma
Yes
No
Frequency
Absolute
Relative (%)
Absolute
Relative (%)
ROE above 7%
Yes

10. No
Total
Expected ROE Frequencies
Using Six Sigma
Yes
No
Frequency
Absolute
Relative (%)
Absolute
Relative (%)
ROE above 7%
Yes

11. No
Total
The findings will also present both the expected and measured
frequencies to verify the hypothesis that using Six Sigma boosts
the system of implemented quality management in tune with the
ISO standards. The relationship between these parameters will
be demonstrated in the following tables:
Empirical ROE Frequencies
Using Six Sigma
Yes
No
Frequency
Absolute
Relative (%)
Absolute
Relative (%)
Implemented QMS

12. Yes
No
Total
Expected ROE Frequencies
Using Six Sigma
Yes
No
Frequency
Absolute
Relative (%)
Absolute
Relative (%)
Implemented QMS

13. Yes
No
Total
Conclusion and Recommendation
The results of the questionnaire survey will confirm the positive
impacts of using the Six Sigma methodology in driving the
quality control and management as discussed by other
researchers. In particular, it will demonstrate that the companies
that use this management tool do not only attain higher
performance in the business operations, but also boost their
overall corporate performance. With the much emphasis laid on
attaining its objectives, the research will also present the
statistical data that support the fact that depending on the use of
the Six Sigma methodology improves the company’s quality
management operations. Additionally, the study will outline the
flexibility of this management tool by demonstrating how it
compliments other quality management strategies such as the
ISO standards. Just as the research proposal revealed, Six Sigma

14. utilization is associated with some limitations such as quality
culture, a project scope and selection, and measuring and
defining metrics. For that reason, this research recommends that
any company that plans to incorporate the use of Six Sigma
should establish strategies for mitigating the mentioned
drawbacks. Additionally, the research holds that the companies
that do not use Six Sigma should focus on incorporating it with
their management operations to improve their overall
performance. Despite its limitations, this management tool is
associated with several benefits that address nearly all areas of
the company’s activities.
References
Mehrjerdi, Y. Z. (2011). Six-Sigma: methodology, tools and its
future. Assembly Automation, 79-88.
Pande, P., Neumann, P., & Cavanagh, R. (2008). Zavádíme
Metodu Six Sigma ( 1st ed.). Brn: TwinsCom.
Sujova, A., Simanova, L., & Marcinekova, K. (2016).
Sustainable Process Performance by Application of Six Sigma
Concepts: The Research Study of Two Industrial Cases.
Sustainability, 1-21.
Tjahjono, B., Ball, P., Vitanov, V., Scorzafave, C., Nogueira, J.,
Calleja, J., & Minguet, M. (2015). Six Sigma: a literature
review. Bedford: Cranfield University.
Zugelder, T. J. (2012). Lean Six Sigma Literature: A Review
and Agenda for Future Research. Ohio : The Ohio State
University.