While Six Sigma is the livelihood of some companies, it is eschewed by others who claim it's just another fad.
Some experts claim Six Sigma is just another passing quality trend, others say it offers nothing beyond what is covered by statistical process control and total quality management, while still others claim it is time to jump on the Six Sigma bandwagon.
In the latest Quality Online survey, 56.5% of the respondents said their companies have not adopted Six Sigma, while 43.5% of respondents do work for companies involved in Six Sigma. Of the companies not involved in Six Sigma culture, 65% indicated lack of management support as the reason. Other reasons for not implementing Six Sigma include inadequate staff resources, 42%, insufficient funding, 39%, and employee skepticism, 31%. One respondent said that his company hasn't implemented the methodology because the company has "too many process-related issues that don't need the analytical extent of Six Sigma," while another claimed that Six Sigma is "just another fad."