TS 16949 |

Quality Systems at Focus: HOPE - Six Sigma

Consumer driven Six Sigma: “You can’t improve what you can’t measure.”

Six Sigma is a highly disciplined methodology that uses data and statistical analysis to measure and improve a company's operational performance by identifying and eliminating "defects" in manufacturing and service-related processes.

In the early and mid-1980s, Motorola engineers determined that the traditional quality levels -- measuring defects in thousands of opportunities -- didn't provide enough clarity. Motorola developed a new measurement standard -- defects per one million opportunities – and developed a new methodology for defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling service and manufacturing related processes. Six Sigma helped Motorola realize powerful bottom-line results, generating more than $16 billion in cost savings due directly to the infusion of the Six Sigma methodology.

Since then, hundreds of companies around the world have adopted Six Sigma as a way of doing business including General Electric, Honeywell, Ford Motor, Sun Microsystems, Home Depot, and many others.

In August 2002, Focus: HOPE embarked on the Six Sigma journey by enrolling five of its colleagues (two full-time employees and three engineering degree candidates at the Center for Advanced Technologies) in the Ford Motor Company’s Consumer Driven 6 Sigma® Black Belt training program. All five Black Belt trainees completed the required four weeks of classroom training in November 2002, and have since been involved full-time in completing each of their assigned projects (three in the manufacturing enterprise, one in education, and one in finance). All five trainees had been previously certified as Six Sigma Green Belts in July, 2002.

In the closing weeks of 2002, an executive-level quality department was formed to support ISO and Six Sigma implementation; and a Six Sigma executive team was created to oversee the initiative.

Focus: HOPE has embraced the Six Sigma methodology as a key component of its business operations going forward, and has directed the development of a comprehensive plan to guide enterprise-wide deployment and the integration of Six Sigma into the culture and business practices of Focus: HOPE. A draft plan was developed by the Six Sigma project managers and presented to the executive deployment team in February 2003. Adoption of a final deployment plan is anticipated in May 2003.

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