August 2002
Volume 1 • Number 4
From the Editor
Champions, Leaders and DFSS
By A. Blanton Godfrey
godfrey@asq.org
This issue marks the end of the first year of Six Sigma Forum Magazine. We have been stunned by the rapid growth of the Six Sigma Forum, which now has more than 11,500 members. We have also been extremely pleased with the response to this journal. After only three issues, subscriptions have grown to more than 2,600, far surpassing our goal of 1,000 subscribers by the end of the first year.
We continue exploring issues forum members and readers ask us to cover. “Your Opinion” focuses on Champions, with Larry Smith giving a de-
tailed view of how this crucial role is filled at Ford Motor Co. Two other readers give blunt appraisals of what is and isn’t working in their organizations.
Our guest editorial is by Taz Daughtrey, editor of Software Quality Professional. He extends our thinking about Six Sigma to software quality and makes a strong case that it is time to move this issue to the front burner.
Another area of wide interest is the expansion of Six Sigma to the new product development process. Often called design for Six Sigma (DFSS), this is crucial for most companies to assure growth and continued success. In “Current Literature”, our new associate editor, Ramón León, has assembled suggestions from leading practitioners about the references they find most useful in launching and sustaining a DFSS initiative. In addition, Bob Launsby and Charles Huber share their experiences from numerous DFSS projects.
Keith Bower and Douglas Gorman add a new tool, measurement systems analysis for destructive testing, to the continually growing Six Sigma toolbox. Rick Edgeman and David Bigio answer another common question: What are universities doing to introduce Six Sigma to students?
The question of leadership is critical to Six Sigma. Greg Watson provides a stimulating discussion of lessons learned through the years by one of America’s giants in management theory, Peter Drucker.
An example of true leadership was provided by W. James McNerney, CEO of 3M, at the recent summit with Joseph M. Juran held at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In a very short time McNerney has brought a new intensity to quality management at 3M. It now has over 500 Black Belts and Master Black Belts, with a goal of training all 28,000 salaried employees, plus many hourly ones, at least as Green Belts.
3M is using Six Sigma to create one global business language, common measures for benchmarking across all 45 divisions and a means to leverage ideas and results across the company. As with most companies, 3M introduced Six Sigma internally, first in manufacturing and then other business functions. Now the company is taking Six Sigma external via close partnerships with both suppliers and customers to integrate improvements across the entire supply chain. We give a short summary of 3M’s activities in “Final Thoughts”.
As always we welcome all comments, suggestions and article submissions. We hope to continue expanding the magazine’s scope in many dimensions.
