Quote:
Originally Posted by Gretch
Six Sigma was bull****.
much like ISO 9000.
both con games designed to make the con man $
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6-Sigma is a very good system, often misused. I was a Black Belt/Master Black belt at 3 different companies and in Wave 2 at GE.
GE's early work on 6 Sigma was good, as it focused on large projects, with high value results. It morphed into a BS program because "more is better". 1 or 2 large projects per organization is good.
But making EVERY employee (at least exempt) run 2 projects a year is BS. Most people just picked some work and then put it in the 6 Sigma framework. So no real help for the company.
CAT did the best implementation, which kept it at a high level and focused on major projects. They also financially audited all projects (multiple on going!) to make sure they actually saved money.
Many of the programs definitely hurt moral. Just before I left Power System, we sold $10B is equipment in one year. This was the "bubble" time. The EPA rules were in Limbo for about 3-4 years and no one wanted to purchase Power Gen equipment in the mid-1990's. ~98, EPA put the rules in place. Huge pent up demand for equipment.
2000 was a "banner year. We sold/shipped $10B in equipment. What was the bonus? We were served lunch, hot dogs, served by the VPs. There was a live Jazz band. And we were given a compressed "post card" T-Shirt. I still have mine, in the compressed format. Makes for good stories.
I was an application engineer, basically working with the commercial sales team and setting up the projects pre-sale, along with performance analysis. From late '98 through the end of Aug '01, I was application engineer to $4B in sales. (196 Gas Turbines).