About Six Sigma

What is Six Sigma

Six Sigma is both a management practice as well as a capability measure.

The fundamental definition of Six Sigma capability refers to a process where "the center of the process is away from the nearest specification limit by six standard deviations of the process". The customer of that process determines the specification limits within which the process has to perform. Sigma capability of a process is a measure and therefore can assume any integer value - "doing six sigma" implies that we move towards this level of sigma capability, not as a pre-requisite, but more as a target destination on a journey.

Six Sigma as a management practice refers to the business initiative undertaken at an enterprise to systematically enhance the capability of its business processes to better meet/exceed customer specifications, resulting in a tangible business gain. This simplified definition describes the implication of "doing Six Sigma".