Title: Six Sigma and Total Quality Management: different day, same soup?

Authors: Bengt Klefsjo, Bjarne Bergquist, Rick L. Edgeman

Addresses: Division of Quality and Environmental Management, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden. ' Division of Quality and Environmental Management, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden. ' Department of Statistics, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1104, USA

Abstract: For decades now TQM has been a dominant management concept for improving competitiveness and financial results. In recent years, however, TQM seems to have lost some of its nimbus with other concepts and approaches such as Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma launched and increasingly in vogue. The aim of this paper is to look at TQM and Six Sigma, their backgrounds, definitions and ingredients, and their similarities and differences to see whether the two concepts really are different dishes or contain the same ingredients in different proportions.

Keywords: quality management; six sigma; total quality management; TQM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2006.010107

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, 2006 Vol.2 No.2, pp.162 - 178

Published online: 19 Jun 2006 *

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