Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, US

A in 1981.[1] As of 2010[update], it enjoys widespread application in many secto

rs of industry, although its application is not without controversy.
Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and rem
oving the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing
and business processes.[2] It uses a set of quality management methods, includi
ng statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within th
e organization ("Black Belts", "Green Belts", etc.) who are experts in these met
hods.[2] Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a def
ined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction or p
rofit increase).[2]
The term six sigma originated from terminology associated with manufacturing, sp
ecifically terms associated with statistical modelling of manufacturing processe
s. The maturity of a manufacturing process can be described by a sigma rating in
dicating its yield, or the percentage of defect-free products it creates. A six-
sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the products manufactured are statist
ically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million). Motorola set a
goal of "six sigmas" for all of its manufacturing operations, and this goal beca
me a byword for the management and engineering practices used to achieve it.