Six Sigma was developed by Motorola in 1981, as a manufacturing strategy to create products which are nearly 100% defect free. Not until the mid 90s did this method take off and become fully accepted by the general public however. Although no protocol exists behind it ,there are tools in the six sigma program, along with strategies to help you develop nearly error free products for consumers. These case studies will showcase how businesses used six sigma to develop these perfect products for consumer purchase.


Study 1 -

A company producing steel hardware used six sigma to keep up with the demand for their product line. Employees worked to find improvements in cycle time, work progress level, and change over time. A value steam map was developed to see bottlenecks in production and where decreased production was taking place. One such example was machines being located at different areas in the factory. By creating more efficient work cells and removing the need to constantly fork lift items, production was increased by 25%.


Study 2 -

By reducing lead time, an aluminum casting company sought out to increase production. Due to the fact that items were made to order, they never knew how long it would take to produce. The strive was to decrease average production time from three weeks, down to two weeks per order.Using data from the three previous months the value steam map showed the production process. Inefficiencies were noted, such as a single mold made by workers, rather than double molds, in addition to the handling of raw materials in the factory. By getting average orders down to two weeks, the company was able to draw in more new customers.


Study 3 -

Six sigma typically focuses on manufacturing, but this study takes a look at a call center office. Average call times were cut by up to 18%, by removing promotional pitches, and other inefficient tactics by their call center reps. Value stream maps were also used to find errors and inconsistencies. The end result was the ability to increase efficiency, without having to increase the amount of money being spent by the call center in order to do so.


Study 4 -

A company which makes and sells formed steel wires, was the final study which was looked into, by incorporating the six sigma program technique. The company wanted to reduce cost in production. The length of individual wires was found to be of lesser importance than was initially anticipated by the manufacturer. The wires were cut down to the lowest tolerable length, and product costs were reduced by 1.3%. Although it doesn't seem like much, this came out to just under $400,000 dollars.


Although complicated, six sigma does provide value to customers, and it must be fit into each model in production, in order to truly help an organization reduce operational costs. Each case has a unique strategy, so in most cases, the homework which should be done, is to see what has worked for other organizations, to see if it might work within your organization as well.