The New Six Sigma

History

U.S. industry was in a slump in the 1970s, and Motorola slumped worse than many. This was the decade when Japan came into its own as a major international competitive force. Aided by an arguably artificially weak yen and by an undeniably superior set of quality processes, the Japanese companies were gaining market share at Motorola’s expense. In 1973, Motorola threw up the white flag in the consumer electronics segment and sold that business to the Japanese. In 1974, the semiconductor industry had eight leaders - five American and three European. By 1979, Japanese companies had dislodged two of the leaders and taken their spots among the top eight semiconductor companies.

In 1979, at a Motorola office meeting, senior sales vice president Art Sundry summed up the customer feedback he’d received in a pithy, pointed observation, "Our quality stinks!" Sundry would play a major role in CEO Bob Galvin’s plan to turn Motorola into a competitor again. The plan, unveiled in 1980, had four points:

• Competitiveness - Motorola would benchmark its performance against competitors. It would design products for global markets. It would take aggressive action...