The Northern Echo and BKR Haines Watts have teamed up to give world-class manufacturing advice to companies in the Tees Valley. This week Paul Bell, of BKR Haines Watts, looks at the concept of six sigma.

Six sigma is a measure of how good a process is. The concept was developed principally by Motorola, who set a target of less than one defect per 300,000 items. At the time this was regarded as a particularly ambitious target.

Internally, Motorola had to address its existing processes, from design to manufacturing and operations, using a quality-based approach. Only by applying a six sigma standard across the whole business could the target be achieved.

It soon became apparent that suppliers and customers also had to also be involved if the target was to be reached, so six sigma became one of the first initiatives to link companies together along their supply chain. This established a process for further improvements.

General Electric imposed six sigma as the worldwide improvement tool for all of their suppliers, allowing the company to get better quality components at much lower prices.

The key to achieving six sigma is to identify which processes are most subject to variation, and then control these. Newcastle University's ISR Unit is a recognised authority in this, and can support companies in setting up processes controls.

Top Tip: You don't need a qualification in statistics to use six sigma. Setting a six sigma standard is about raising quality, not defining probability distributions.

l Paul Bell is the manufacturing and business improvement manager for BKR Haines Watts, working with local companies to improve their performance and profitability. He can be contacted on (01325) 254700.