Six Sigma is a quality management methodology that aims to:

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Accepted Answer

Achieve near-perfect quality by reducing defects to 3.4 per million opportunities. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven quality management methodology that aims to reduce defects to 3.4 per million opportunities (DPMO), achieving a 99.99966% quality level. The name "Six Sigma" comes from the statistical concept of standard deviations from the mean  -  at six standard deviations, defect rates are extremely low. Six Sigma uses structured improvement processes: DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) for improving existing processes and DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) for designing new processes.

"Eliminate all management hierarchy to improve efficiency" describes a delayering or flat organization strategy, unrelated to Six Sigma. "Reduce product variety to simplify manufacturing" describes product line simplification, which is an operations strategy but not Six Sigma. "Outsource all manufacturing to the lowest-cost producer" describes outsourcing, which is a supply chain strategy unrelated to the Six Sigma methodology.

Six Sigma was developed at Motorola in the 1980s and popularized by General Electric under Jack Welch in the 1990s. The methodology relies on trained specialists  -  Green Belts, Black Belts, and Master Black Belts  -  who lead improvement projects using statistical analysis and rigorous problem-solving tools. Six Sigma has been widely adopted across manufacturing and service industries, and many organizations combine Six Sigma with Lean manufacturing principles (Lean Six Sigma) to simultaneously improve quality and eliminate waste.

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