Six Sigma Roles in Innovation

Organic growth is the key to long term success of any company. GE's aim is to make growth a process that is both reliable and predictable. Innovation is critical to accelerate this organic growth. GE's innovation has strong link to process rigor, which focuses on the customer value and commercial excellence. Initiatives such as simplification, digitization, Six Sigma etc. have provided the capability to drive innovation faster than ever before. In this paper, the role of Six Sigma in the innovation process has been emphasized. A case study is presented to illustrate the approach. Some imperatives in the paper are only authors' personal observations.