Page 31 - Six Sigma for electronics design and manufacturing

Six Sigma for Electronics Design and Manufacturing
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The war was won and U.S. companies returned to their original
strategy while the defeated countries were rebuilding their industries.
In order to revive the Japanese economy, General McArthur, who was
the governor general of Japan at that time, imported some of the U.S.
pioneers of SQC to help train their counterparts in Japan. These efforts
were largely successful in transforming Japanese industry from a low-
technology producer of low-quality, low-cost products such as toys to
the other side of the spectrum. By the 1970s and 1980s Japanese prod-
ucts were renowned for their quality and durability. Consumers and
companies flocked to buy Japanese electronics, cars, and computer
chips, willing to pay a premium for their high quality. In recognition of
this effort, Japan established the Deming prize for quality, which was
later emulated in the United States, with the Baldrige award.
U.S. companies’ response to their loss of market share to Japanese
companies was to investigate the Japanese companies’ secrets of suc-
cess. Many U.S. companies organized trips in the 1980s to Japanese
companies or branches of U.S. companies in Japan. Initial findings
were mostly unsuccessful. Japanese concepts such as “quality circles”
or “zero defects” did not translate well into the U.S. companies’ cul-
ture. Quality circles, which were mostly ad hoc committees of engi-
neers, workers, and their managers, were created to investigate qual-
ity problems. In many cases, they were not well organized, and after
many months of meetings and discussions, resulted in frivolous solu-
tions. It was also difficult to implement quality circles in unionized
shops. The term zero defects was also ambiguous, because it was hard
to define: Does the fact that a production line produces a million parts
and only one is found to be defective constitute a failure to reach the
zero defects goal?
The industrial and business press in the 1980s was filled with arti-
cles comparing Japanese and U.S. quality. The pressures mounted to
close the quality gap. U.S. Companies slowly realized that quality im-
provements depended on the realization of two major elements—they
have to be quantifiable and measurable, and all elements that make
the company successful must be implemented: superior pricing, deliv-
ery, performance, reliability, and customer satisfaction. All of the
company’s elements, not just manufacturing, have to participate in
this effort, including management, marketing, design, and external
(subcontractors) as well as internal suppliers (in-house manufactur-
ing). The six sigma concept satisfies these two key requirements,
which has led to its wide use in U.S. industry today.
The Motorola Company pioneered the use of six sigma. Bill Smith,
Motorola Vice President and Senior Quality Assurance Manager, is
widely regarded as the father of six sigma. He wrote in the Journal of
Machine Design issue of February 12, 1993: