Chapter 7: The Convergence of Lean Six Sigma and Seam to Maximize Performance in Organizations

The roots of Six Sigma methodology date back to the early 1980’s from total quality management (TQM) philosophies and the sigma statistical metric that originated out of the Motorola Corporation (Arnheiter & Maleyeff, 2005). The Six Sigma metric was developed in response to sub-standard products traced back in many cases to decisions made by engineers when designing component parts. At Motorola, as products became more complex, defective products were becoming more commonplace while at the same time customers were demanding higher quality. Six Sigma statistical variations were applied to the process to measure the variability in production. The higher the process sigma, the more process outputs, products, and service meets customer requirements or the fewer the defects. In this methodology, the highest quality results in the lowest costs (Pepper & Spedding, 2010). Wall Street and corporations as diverse as Sony, Ford, Nokia, Texas Instruments, Canon, Hitachi, Lockheed Martin, American Express, Toshiba, DuPont, and Polaroid have embarked on corporate-wide Six Sigma programs and have netted in billions of dollars of savings over time (Schroeder, 1999). Proponents of the Six Sigma methodology believe that its application should be of paramount importance to every forward-thinking corporation seeking competitive advantage (Linderman, Schroeder, Zaheer, & Choo, 2003). The Six-Sigma metric is applied in a broad fashion, striving for near perfect performance at the lowest level of activity. Six Sigma programs generally create a structure under which training of employees is formalized and supported to ensure its effectiveness. All employees involved in activities that impact customer satisfaction are trained in basic problem solving skills.