Origins of Six Sigma

Check out this previous post about the origins of six sigma: https://www.isixsigma.com/forum/showmessage.asp?messageID=197
I quote:”The engineer who invented Six Sigma died of a heart attack in the Motorola cafeteria in 1993 never knowing the scope of the craze and controversy he had touched off. Bill Smith, a studious midlevel engineer who had never caught much attention, came up with the idea, although some consultants out there would just as well not mention who in fact was the father of Six Sigma…”
(I find the search engine on the forum to be better search of the forum than the one found in the upper right hand corner of the page.)

Stan,
I believe this is the kind of aggression that people in this forum were talking about.  Fernando wasn’t saying the orgins of Six Sigma were at NASA.  He was asking about more of the orgins of Six Sigma and may have incorrectly heard it was NASA.  I think it was a legitimate question.
 
Mark

Stan,
Well, you are partially correct. Bill Smith pioneered Six Sigma at Motorola. He tried to get Mikel Harry’s buy-in but Mikel did not bite on it at first. Eventually Bill got Mikel’s buy-in. Unfortunately, Bill passed away and Mikel continued what Bill started. Once completed, Mikel shared Six Sigma with Bob Galvin (COO of Motorola) and Bob gave it a try. Once Six Sigma was implemented at Motorola, Mikel received Galvin’s approval to implement Six Sigma at an outside company, namely Asea Brown Boveri (ABB).
Jeffrey

What nonsense — you have been reading too many of Mikel’s press releases. You will be hard pressed to find someone from Motorola in this time period that had any positive relationship with Mikel — no one I know thinks he contributed anything but the spin. Great strides were made by many and Mikel was no where to be found.By the way, in addition to being the son of the founder, Bob Galvin was President, CEO, and chairman of the board — not COO. And Bill Smith passed away in the early 90’s, long after most of the great work at Motorola was done. Get your facts straight.

Jeff,
You Write: “In closing, didn’t Mikel and Richard implement the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy at both GE and Allied Signal (Honeywell)? And don’t many organizations benchmark their Six Sigma efforts against these 2 companies?”
I think that it’s unfair to make that statement. Many Six Sigma consulting companies have implemented at GE (I know for a fact because I worked there when the implementation was first done) — and it is all of these contributions that created the Six Sigma GE of today (along with a good PR macine). Much of the initial material came from SSA, but GE MBBs were the experts and deployment masters — not SSA. It succeeded at GE because Jack Welch drove it into everyone, or they were removed from their positions.
It’s hard to imagine that Mikel and Rick created this conviction in Jack — don’t you agree? Jack is pretty opinionated and forward thinking himself. That’s why bureaucracy busting in the 80s took place with WorkOut, and the Change Acceleration Process (CAP) took place in the 90s. What other company has the culture changing tools that GE does? Without these two critical support mechanisms the culture wouldn’t have been as supportive of Six Sigma, and the gains wouldn’t have been so large.
In conclusion, I’d like to put forth the following assertion: GE, and more specifically Jack Welch, built Mike Harry and Rick Schroeder’s empire.
Any rebuttals?

Jeff,
You seem pretty pro-the six sigma academy. Are you associated with them?
Also, what is Mikel doing to improve the quality profession nowadays, besides six sigma wine and roping defenseless animals?
Terry

No, Mikel and Richard did not implement at either. Mikel sold a bag of nonsense to both for a huge amount of money and then basically disappeared from both. There were people who came behind him and cleaned up his mess at both places. You may want to look at his associations during this time. Basically everyone who joined Mikel quickly left because he basically dumped the relationship and maintenance of every contract on others without good taining material or good support.

Hi,
Does it matter who pioneered Six Sigma?
As long as you believe in the concept and the tools…..The rest doesnt matter..
 

It does matter to those that are involved in the
process. My experience with SSA is similar to that
of Stan. As an employee of AlliedSignal and one of
their original BB’s, I know for a fact that Mikel
had very limited application. All of the success
should be attributed to those that did the work
(MBB’s and the “sub-contractors” that Mikel h

I was at RCA when GE bought and raped RCA.  GE did bring many new ideas to the table, i.e.; Workout and CAP, both precursors to GE 6-sigma.  However, neutron Jack went to Larry Bossidy to get the facts on 6-sigma.  Motorola and Allied Signal were onboard before GE; why does everyone applaud John Francis Welch for 6-sigma, to his credit he embraced it and said, to his minions, make it happen.
Maybe GE should have applied 6-sigma methodology to the Hudson River fiasco…should Jack Welch be applauded for that too.

Hi,
  You are absolutely correct about six sigma, who created it and after Bills death, who has really tried, and from I hear, successfully done so, capitalized on it.
  I am his widow and other than my family and Motorola it’s so nice to see that other people realize what has happened. 
   One of the few things I have kept after my move to Florida is a 1992 issue of the Texas Instruments monthy with a picure of Bill on the cover and titled “Father of six sigma”, which indeed he was.
   I would love to hear from you.
                            Sincerely,
                                Betty Smith

NASA ????
Are you kidding.. Six Sigma makes too much sense to be initiated by a government function.
Can you name anything the has been started by NASA other than over budget space ventures?
I think NASA needs to learn six sigma.
 
 

Why Six Sigma?
Can it really revolutionise the whole business process and make every organisational more profitable by reducing the degree of deviation? If this is the case what will be the impact on employment level?Do leaders really want to promote Six Sigma as a mean to reduce the defects’ rate,improve profitability ?How the team memebers feel about this concept?
Would like to know more about 6 Sigma
Thanks
 

Six Sigma is what Demming and Juran were talking about since the 50’s.  The emphasis is on quanitifing.  This is why management has supported Six Sigma.  The basic “show me the money” attitude will prevail. 

Dear Doc,
Two thoughts –
1) Deming did not really have a clue of what Six Sigma was as he did not work inside of  Motorola. It is true that Motorolans were reading and going to see Deming, but he never came to look at what was really happening.
2) Even Juran likes to make money (Six Sigma is really Juran’s Managerial Breakthrough after all).

Recall that I have previously mentioned my long-standing
association with Dr. Harry. It has been nearly 20 years
now since we first met and began to work together. I am
so disheartened by the false accusations (and apparent
disinformation) in this thread. I do not recognize any
names in this thread that was doing any kind of Six Sigma
development work in 1984- 1985 time frame. In fact, I do
not recall any type of descriptive document or manifesto
specifically about Six Sigma until Dr. Harry published his
1985-1986 paper: “The Nature of Six Sigma.”
After being published in the form of a white paper, the Six
Sigma manifesto was republished by GEG Motorola in the
form of a nicely bound booklet and then published yet
again by corporate Motorola in about 1987. Before
publishing the little booklet, Dr. Harry published a full
description of Six Sigma in a large book printed at GEG
Motorola in 1985 called “Achieving Quality Excellence:
The Strategy, Tactics, and Tools.” This book was solely
authored by Dr. Harry … I still have my copy of this 350+
page book. Even by today’s standards, it was full of
breakthrough stuff.
I know how much Dr. Harry admired Mr. Bill Smith
because the three of us worked on the development of
Six Sigma together. In fact, I used to teach “Design for
Manufacturability” with Bill and Mike. Bill used to come
around the Six Sigma Research Institute and have long
conversations with Mike. To my knowledge, Dr. Harry has
never claimed to be the Father of Six Sigma …. in print or
in public. I have heard with my own ears Dr. Harry
present to many executive groups over the years and he
ALWAYS cites Bill Smith as the originator of the Six
Sigma concept. He even DEDICATED his best-selling
book to Bill Smith. He even says (in the book) that the
idea began with Bill Smith.
I do know Dr. Harry has no issue with the title “Godfather
of Six Sigma.” But I can tell you that I have seen many
journalists and other writers go ahead and print that he is
the Father of Six Sigma even though Dr. Harry has told
them otherwise. It seems they don’t care and go ahead
and say it anyway. You must understand that it was Dr.
Harry that created the DMAIC method and married it to
Six Sigma. It was Dr. Harry that focused Six Sigma on
business economics. In the years since its inception, it
was Dr. Harry (and Mr. Rich Schroeder) that was out there
selling, implementing, and perfecting Six Sigma when
others were still pushing TQM. But such is the way of a
true pioneer.You want the truth … there it is as plain as day. Some of
you may try to decieve others but I was there all the way,
through it all, and have seen what really went on. Now I
feel better having said all that. So, take what I have said
and read back through this thread and you wll better
understand how rediculous so much of their rehetoric
really is. Some of you dont want the truth … you just want
someone to beat up on and try to make yourself look
good.

Hello Betty:
My name is Praveen Gupta and recently published a book Six Sigma Business Scorecard. The book is dedicated to Bill Smith as I used to work with him. Please let me know how to contact you.
Regards,
 
Praveen Gupta
847 884 1900

Parveen,
I am currently in Kazakhstan and am interested in gathering information on Six Sigma History and its use.
Would you please let me know how to get the book you mentioned. my email is [email protected]

Mrs. Smith,
As you no doubt have seen, the truth always finds the light of day. 
I first learned of Bill’s efforts in 1990, when ASQ had published a book authored by A. Richard Shores called A TQM Approach to Achieving Manufacturing Excellence.  20 pages of that book belong to Bill Smith.  The chapter was titled “Six Sigma Quality” TQC, American Style.  His paper provided the insight I need to successfully complete a a big project and convinced me to stay in Quality Assurance as a career.  I owe him many thanks.
Please accept my warmest regards.
Michael Ervick   

.Good Afternoon,
     Thank you for your kind remarks – I know Bill would have appreciated them.
Sincerely,
Betty Ann Smith
(Mrs. William B. Smith)

I agree with Pat. I was at Motorola from 1984 to 1990 and I do not recall Dr. Harry’s name, but I do remember Richard Schroeder, George Fisher, Bill George, and Jack Scholls. If Bob Galvin stated that Bill Smith was the founder of Motorola’s Six Sigma then that is good enough for me. The question we should be asking is whether today’s Six Sigma methodology  is the same as the one that Motorola used to outgun all its USA competitors in the late 1980’s. If not is it better or worse.
A couple of days ago I found some overheads I had presented to Motorola’s Quality Council in 1989, showing the effect of multivariate data on X-bar and R charts. They even have Motorola’s Six Sigma icon on them. At that time, Six Sigma meant Cpk = 2, which has served Japanese engineers very well. Since then much of what is known as Six Sigma has changed and not necessariliy for the better. Before these changes, most Motorolan process and device engineers were familiar with the concepts of rational sub-grouping, homogeneity, random and independence, the assumptions of Anova, and why process capabilities are always based on individual measurements. Can the same be said today?

hi praveen,
also would like to know more about the book and its availability
rgds,
[email protected]

hello betty,
Our company is new to six sigma – and one way to promote it, were going  to publish an internal newletter. As planned, our 1st article will be about six sigma history.
In this case, could we kindly request for bill’s photo (other than the one featured here in iSixSigma) ? We had desperately search many sites but we failed.
Thank you.Lala
 
 

Jamie Lynn,
What makes you think that your grandfather is not being recognized as the father of six sigma?
https://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c030915a.asp
I don’t think that anyone denies his role. Even Dr. Mikel Harry references him in his blue book. Who is your concern directed towards…can you be more specific please?
Regards,Trev

Congratulation for your “unique” loyalty.I really like  to “envy” your great  (passedaway) grandfather for having you after him to advocate his creative outstanding work and performance.But as it was once said in this FORUM every presentation (once it was published) it is becoming “common” for the benefit of all existing and potential users .jUST MY  HUMBLE OPINION.WARM REGARDS.

Imran,
I just feel that my grandfather doesn’t get the credit he deserves, people took credit for his ideas. I have yet to see the people who took credit for his work even aknowledge him, that is what i don’t like.

lynn
i agree your point of view, but great people get their struggles reward after a long time. i am sure that your grandfather will get their reward what he deserve.

Dog Sxxt,
I did some research last night and found a few websites where my grandfather was mentioned, I believe I saw your company’s website, but I have yet to see the people who are taking credit for his work recognize him as the “founding father”.

Jamie Lynn,
 
If you are fourteen and the granddaughter of Bill Smith and you post with such passion and knowledge of Six Sigma it will not be too long before people begin to not only further acknowledge your grandfather but to talk of your own contributions to this field or others.  
 
I would not be too dismayed by the many trying to credit themselves as either starting Six Sigma or being in on the first wave – it’s life, it’s the way people are and is really quite a tribute to your grandfather’s work.  
 
When I was first beginning my Six Sigma journey as a young post-doc trying to understand and fix design problems, I researched Six Sigma and there was no doubt from my readings that Bill Smith first thought to apply the terms Black Belts, Green Belts, etc., to his statistically-based approach to problem solving.  It’s recorded, searchable, a fact, and also part of the great folklore of Six Sigma.  
 
You know what?   I think he’d be pretty proud of his granddaughter too!
 Vinny

The only person taking credit for Six Sigma is Dr. Harry. Maybe you should talk with him.
Look at the Motorola website and the MU book The New Six Sigma. They have it right.
Good luck.

I must echo Dog’s remarks.  I certainly pray that “Your grandfather will be remembered as a great contributor to quality’s evolution journey.”
I hate to be a poop, but I must also add:
G. Washington didn’t come up with the idea of the USA, but he is called “the father of our country”.  Why?  The US would have crumbled without his amazing success at defining the office of President.  He helped to make a good idea into something enduring.
James Brown didn’t invent Soul music, but he is the undisputed Godfather. 
History is full of these simplifications.  Why?
Ideas are genesis, but application is equally important.  M. Harry, as unlikeable as he may be, created relevence and a marketing plan for Dr. Smith’s idea.  If your grandpa was ever to be famous, he needed someone to make his idea into something tangible.  As much as I hate to say it, it is not grossly inaccurate to call Mikel the father of Six Sigma. 
I will likely never have an idea as wonderful as the late Dr. Smith’s. But without the contributions of those who made Six Sigma what it is today, including everyone on and off this forum who loves and supports his original vision,  we would not be having this conversation. 
I was unaware of your grandfather’s contributions until this evening.  His name will appear on my presentation materials from this point forward.  I will tell everyone I know. If you ever decide to erect a statue to honor your grandpa, I’ll donate money to help buy it.  But you will never find personal satisfaction by seeking the approval of man.  We’re all too stupid to do the right thing consistently.  Hey!  Isn’ t that what you grandfather said?
In love, Mike
 
 

As far as I know Mike Harry did not call himself the father of Six Sigma. He gave this title to late Bill Smith. The real problem is people like you or some reporters make thing chaos. Mikel is a some kind of “godfather” who make a lot good money from Six Sigma mania.
Jack Welsh is the one make Six Sigma famous to business community, not Mikel Harry.

Mike R.,
 
At the risk of sounding like the academic wienie that I am, “arcane” does not necessarily mean or imply “old”, it very precisely means understood by a few – implied a narrowly focused few.   The body of knowledge could be quite new from a historical perspective and a growing field, such as applied complexity algorithms, but of interest or understood by relatively few and be arcane.  Most of what interests me is arcane and I take no offense to the thought – it frequently leaves me babbling to myself in the corner at extended family functions, but then most of my family is interesting and somewhat arcane along many divergent paths.
 Vinny

Fair enough.  Personally, I fear fame.  If USA Today or “someone like me” labelled me, regardless of the title, I would feel cheapened.
Fortunately the cumulative probability function could correctly be used to confirm that I have little chance of ever becoming famous, even for 15 minutes.
Your description of your family functions is, in my estimation, extremely hilarious. I relate.  Touche’
Mike

Yeah.  I saw Dr. Smith written once in the thread, and decided o err on the side of respecting that possibility.
 

By the way, “erudite anglophone” is more accurate than “academic weenie”, but still not quite, exactly, you know, perfect.

I love it when “the truth” shows up.  It always makes sense.  How could Mikel Harry be the deceitful, arrogant idiot that others portend.  Reminds me of all the Democratic assualts on the US military these past few months.
Can you imagine how tough it was for the Generals to watch the debates?
Anyway, thanks for the insight.
Mike
 

Just remember the video was round worded and acknowledged actually meeting Mikel a few times. I can remeber many Mikel yarns about he and his buddy Bob – what a joke!

For what its worth, I agree …
Andy

Mike,
I don’t think that taking someone else’s work as your own is the best thing, considering the person who did the work is no longer able to defend their ideas, let alone defend themselves.  If my grandfather were still living he probably would have made his ideas into something tangible.  But that doesn’t mean that M. Harry has the right to use my grandfather’s ideas and make a bundle of money off of them, without giving my grandfather an ounce of recognition for them. Just because someone makes something tangible doesn’t mean that it was all done by them or that it was their idea.  The fact that M.Harry is “claiming ownership of six sigma terminology”  deeply sickens me because I think most of the people in this forum know that my grandfather created six sigma and it’s terminology.  My grandfather has been recognized as the father of six sigma in a few websites and even in a few books.  What about all the websites and books who have recognized M. Harry as the creator, father, inventor, whaever you want to call it, the maker of six sigma, those websites and books have yet to awknowledge my grandfather for the ideas or the work he had. 

Hi, Jamie.
 
Of course taking someone’s work as your own is never right.  Sure, everyone who knows should tell everyone who asks who asks that Bill Smith was the man.  Lying is wrong.  Period.
 
However, many people, including me, feed their families and pay their bills teaching Six Sigma.  That is my a tribute to Bill: I’m helping to keep his idea alive.  Do you think that your grandfather would be disappointed to know that thousands of people have left their “real” jobs to teach Six Sigma?  But it’s not his idea that makes me money.  It’s God. 
 
I’m a story teller.  I love a good story, and so do my kids.  Let me tell you one.
 
Six Sigma and Nemo
 
The most powerful part of Six Sigma, in my opinion, is that it gives people hope.  It’s a lot like that scene in “Finding Nemo” where Marlin has lost his son and lost the trail of the boat.  He begins to lose hope, begins to fear that he’ll never see his son again.  Then he literally runs into Dory!  She says she’s seen the boat; she gives Nemo’s dad hope.  But he needs HER skill and knowledge to find it.
 
When I teach Six Sigma, what I say is “I’ve seen a boat!  It passed this way not too long ago.  Follow me!”  THAT is the glory of your grandfather’s idea.  Because of him, there is a boat. 
 
At first, Dory is not helpful.  She even forgets why Marlin is following her.  But the fact that she cares and tries and chooses to help and keep helping time and time again allows them both to succeed.  I show that scene from “Finding Nemo” in my class, because the future leaders of Six Sigma should understand that knowing about Bill Smith’s idea is only a small part of what they must do to make a difference in people’s lives.  They have to help people.  That takes work, time, and love. 
 
Here’s something kind of sad for me, Jamie.  99.9% of the people in this world will die without ever hearing of Six Sigma.  For most of those who DO hear of it, it’s some weird business thing that will never affect them.  I’m one of the fiercest supporters of Six Sigma that you’ll ever meet, and I’m here to tell you that all those people are right.  Six Sigma doesn’t really matter. 
 
What REALLY makes me sad is that most people in this world will die without hope.  They’ll never discover why they were born.  They’ll live sad, angry lives, and they’ll die. 
 
I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my Youth Group at church every Sunday night: great ideas don’t make people great.  If you ask Grandma Betty what made your grandpa such a wonderful man, she probably wouldn’t list his ideas about Six Sigma as high as the way he lived the rest of his life.  Caring about her, standing up for principles, being honest and hard-working. and helping others could be some things she’d say. 
 
This is what I think.  Loving people and loving God is what we’re here for.  Pride is for losers.  Life is NOT fair.  I’m not saying you don’t have the right to be angry.  I’m just saying there are a lot more important things in this world to be angry about.
 
I told God when I started teaching people Six Sigma that I would tell them about Jesus, too.  So I am.
 
In love,
Mike 

Give me a break.  There is no way this person is fourteen years old.  I can’t believe nobody called them on this.  If you believe this, you probably also believe there are 4 Stans. 

First, I though about this subject was interested to read, but then just all nonsenses because I don’t think there is anyone here is related to Bill Smith period. They claimed themselve, but how do we verified? how Betty only 14 and have all that knowledges? If people claimed that they are MBB then they should use six sigma to analysis this subject that is all about arguments and nonsenses.
Anyone here is majoring or graduated in Industrial degree? will know what the hell I am talking about.
I though this subject was exchange of knowledges about six sigma, but  more and more posts just to who will get the credits. Why are we not talking how to use six sigma in companies effectively, min costs/ max profits, management, JIT and quality.
Do you think 99.9% is great? think about airplanes?

Nice font and definitely not Stan. If I choose to post under a different name (I do not – one made up name is the most I can handle), it would be Dog Pxxp – I have children around that are getting enough bad habits from me!

Dern,  and I thought you were Reigle just trying to lure us into a Mikel love fest.

Occasionally I use my pronounced design, DOE and statistical skills to help build confidence in both me and Dr. Harry as the Six Sigma bulwarks we are and my technical wherewithal also helps assure forum readers that my complete adoration for, and devotion to, Dr. Harry is based upon his having begun and led the science of Six Sigma all these many years and has nothing to do with his rugged cowboy dress and bearing.  So when I must build the faith and assuage the fears of the forum I also post as Reigle.  This has certainly been an evening of outings for me.  But, I’m glad that my posting deceits have been exposed.
 Vinny AKA Dog Sxxt AKA Reigle 

Make sure the stomach in the jacket is oversized for the fake rodeo buckle.

The link is here,
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/40/04712512/0471251240.pdf

Thanks for the compliment.  I must admit, I was smiling to find that I’d found you out.  I commend you for coming clean right away.  I would have been easy to tease me.
How did I know?  I just like to read and listen.  I am a fan of dialects, both foreign and domestic.  I often thought it would be cool to have studied language arts instead of chemistry.  You Vinny, who knows “arcane” from “archaic”, are the kind of dude I like to talk to.  Accuracy is so fun, whrn you have the tools.  
I’m from the rolling hills of the central midwest, just an hour north of Kentucky, so I’ve had to clean up my own act to keep from sounding like a hick.  But I’ve been here in Michigan for 17 years.  Still think it’s too cold.
Living in the Detroit area and working in automotive, I get a chance to present to and converse with many foreign nationals.  Your sentence structure seemed to be an unsettling mix of Moscow and Bhopal.
Boris and Natasha:  “Must kill moose and squirrel.  Let us go, Natasha, for to reek more havoc on defenseless world!”  (you can’t hear it can’t )you?
and
Apu, the convenienc store clerk from the Simpsons: “Nooo come into my store!  You mess my squishy machine too much!  No!  Go!
The real tip was in reading past posts, which had smatterings of correct and sometimes complex sentence structure. In your penultimate post, to place the linking verb before, rather than after “God”, was simply too much to miss. 
I’ve told you before that this has been my first 6 days on the forum.  It has been consuming, as you’ve seen from the time-of-day and frequency of my posts.  The anonymity and possible multiple personality of the posters is surprisingly disturbing to me.  That is why I began to post without my last name.  I sensed an incongruent vulnerability.
Dialect Coach was my first and last (maybe) post under an alias.  I wasn’t sure that you would have revealed yourself to me, given recent history. 
I think the forum would be more interactive and useful if you and Darth and Phil (if you are indeed three) didn’t so ruthlessly swarm the new meat.  Maybe it’s too fun for you all to give that up, but it cheapens the forum, which makes me sad.
Darth and Vinny, I’ve gotten much clarity from you(s).  Phil… I certainly hope you are just an evil alter ego, but I sadly sense that you are real.  Lighten up dude.  Let’s have some banter, not so much belligerence.
I’m consulting off site Monday, and training Black Belt all week, so I’m going to try not to check in.  But it is addicting! 
Yours in Christ, and Six Sigma
Mike R.  a.k.a.  Dialect Coach

I believe you JL.   
I was sad to see the post questioning your authenticity, especially after I pounded out a very heart-felt letter to you just prior.  I hope you will read it, but regardless, thanks for giving me the chance to speak about some things that are very important to me.
You are truly a wonderful person.
Love ya,
Mike R.