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Case in Point: General Electric (GE)
The Toughest Stretch Goal Jack Welch, the CEO was told that Six Sigma, the quality program pioneered by Motorola, could have a profound effect on GE quality. Although skeptical at first, he initiated a huge campaign - in the GE Way, a way that had never been done before - to infuse quality in every corner of the company. Welch called six sigma the most difficult stretch goal GE had ever undertaken. Within four years, "we want to be not just better in quality, but a company 10,000 times better than its competitors," he announced. "We want to change the competitive landscape by being not just better than our competitors, but by taking quality to a whole new level. We want to make our quality so special, so valuable to our customers, so important to their success that our products become the only real value choice." The Biggest Opportunity for Growth Welch made an official announcement launching the quality initiative at GE's annual gathering of 500 top managers in January 1996, He called the program "the biggest opportunity for growth, increased profitability, and individual employee satisfaction in the history of our company." He has set itself a goal of becoming a six sigma quality company - producing nearly defect-free products, services, and transactions - by the year 2000. Setting Individual Performance Standards
In his letter to all Corporate Executive Council attendees in 1997, Jack Welch described what he felt should be the five characteristics of the people who steer the quality program through its rigors:
Everyday Six Sigma
In bringing Six Sigma quality to GE, Jack Welch recognized that the program was not only for engineers and technical minds. Indeed, it can be used in a variety of situations in which a company’s best and brightest are engaged in this quality program, among them the following:
Virtually anyone — from plumbers to car mechanics to gardeners — can use Six Sigma to better understand their customers’ needs and tailor their service offerings to provide customers with the things they want. Welch does admit, though, that he cannot think of a way Six Sigma could be used by lawyers. He thinks this is because they make a living off variance — the very thing Six Sigma is best at eliminating. Impact of Six Sigma Implementation at GE Results achieved over the first two years (1996-1998):
Five Corporate Measures
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