Design the Six Sigma Supply Chain: Sean Culey, Managing Director of Sevencs Limited, Describes How the 'Six Sigma' Statistical Approach, As Used in Manufacturing, Should be Applied to Supply Chain Operations As Well (Supply Chain Quality‪)‬

If the question "What is your supply chain?" were asked of 100 business leaders, the replies would vary from the expected "raw materials inward to goods outward" to the more forward thinking organization that would describe an extended chain from the "suppliers' supplier to the customers' customer." However, all of the answers would describe a similar and recognizable set of business processes. Ask the same group of people the question "What is Six Sigma?" and answers could vary from "Is it a classically trained boy band?" to a more informed "Something complicated and probably expensive, invented in Japan, that we might use to improve our business" through to any master black belts present, who will give a complete and informed description. In layman's terms, the knowledgeable response would normally describe a set of statistically valid measurements of business processes, first introduced by Motorola, which provide the opportunity to systematically improve business processes by eliminating defects and reducing variation.