A lot of people ask a very relevant question about the nomenclature of Six Sigma. It is why Six Sigma is called Six Sigma? Well, we will try to answer it most comprehensively in this article. The name Six Sigma is derived from the bell curve that represents standard deviation and is used in statistics. In this way, we can safely say that Six Sigma represents one standard deviation away from one set of mean values.

To understand the concept of standard deviation, you will have to assume a dataset with scattered values. Standard deviation is the measure of how well-distributed is the data relative to the value of its average (mean). The further out the points are scattered, the greater would be the value of standard deviation.

Precisely, Six Sigma is a discipline that focuses on the variations in a process. This is why the ultimate goal of Six Sigma is the reduction and elimination of these variations, which eventually increases the control over the process.

Also Read: Why should you get Six Sigma Certification?

The History of Six Sigma Name

The concept of Six Sigma is often derived back to a 19th-century mathematician, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and hence the name Six Sigma. He was the first person to introduce the bell curves that represented normal distributions and standard deviation. When the industrial revolution arrived, the idea of mass production came into being. Henry Ford adopted this idea and developed an assembly to translate this idea into reality. The biggest problem with any mass production process is its inevitable errors. Teams of highly skilled supervisors and managers were deployed to detect these errors by measuring quantities and control quality.

This practice was aced by Motorola, in the 1980s, when they decided to measure errors per million from errors per thousand for the sake of improving quality produced. This is how Six Sigma methodologies were born which are being implemented upon around the world and saving millions of dollars.

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