RE: No Conflict Between Deming's Ideas and Six Sigma

["Richard" <Richard@zultner.com>]

Øgland - Petter [mailto:petter.ogland@skatteetaten.no] wrote: 
On the final page of his final book, Deming makes a warning against Six
Sigma, saying that we should keep our eyes on the process not on randomly
set process limits.  He also says that such limits can be adjusted as we
please to make Cpk = 4.5 independently of whether the customers are happy or
not.

[REZ>]  Yes, and in his last public seminars, Dr. Deming beat up on Six
Sigma as well. But what is the dominant approach to organizational
improvement in the 21st century? Six Sigma. 

[REZ>] It would be reassuring to Deming-ites to think that Six Sigma is
"compatible" with Dr. Deming teachings -- but there are multiple reasons why
Dr. Deming condemned it, and multiple reasons why (outside of this list and
one small conference) I can't find evidence that Dr. Deming's teachings are
spreading. [In fact, Eli Goldratt is concerned that his Theory of
Constraints approach will be "as quickly forgotten as Dr. Deming's was".] Am
I missing some great upwelling of Profound Knowledge? 
Deming's teachings are hard, and require more than a four week course of
study to learn to the point of application. Six Sigma meets a market need
for significant improvement in the short term. [At least it is responsible
for training lots of people in applied statistical methods... ]

Regards, Richard Zultner
Deming disciple and Six Sigma Master Black Belt