Dr. Harry's contributions to Six Sigma

Historically speaking, Six Sigma has evolved from a quality improvement tool in the mid 1980’s to a fact-driven system of business management in the 2000’s. Over the last 20 years there have been many events and contributions that have shaped Six Sigma. Even today, the evolution of Six Sigma continues – growing in both power and diversity, throughout the world.

Over the last two decades, there have been an array of contributors to Six Sigma. Through their efforts, Six Sigma has steadily progressed from art to science. The purpose of this webpage is to provide a document-based accounting of Dr. Harry’s contributions to the creation and propagation of Six Sigma.

The milestones below link to archived Acrobat PDF files of source documents that validate many of the key milestones in the evolution of Six Sigma. In order to view them you will need Adobe Reader. Clicking the document Download links will open the document in a new browser window. If you would like to download the documents for later viewing Right-Click (Windows) or CMD-Click (Mac) the Download link and select Save As...

Invert Date Order

Year Milestone Document

1979

Art Sundry ignites the quality improvement effort at Motorola during 1979 annual officer's meeting

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1 page(s) 215 KB

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19 page(s) 3287 KB

1980

Motorola names Mr. Jack Germain as its first corporate quality officer

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1 page(s) 65 KB

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2 page(s) 448 KB

1981

Motorola begins corporate focus on product quality

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1 page(s) 106 KB

 

Motorola establishes Corporate Training and Education Center (MTEC)

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1 page(s) 81 KB

 

Motorola Corporate Quality Council established

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1 page(s) 81 KB

 

Motorola establishes 5 Year 10X improvement goal

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1 page(s) 81 KB

1982

Motorola initiates business-wide Quality Survey Reports (QSRs)

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1 page(s) 106 KB

 

ASU doctoral student Mr. Mikel Harry begins intensive research on a scientific data-driven system of problem solving subsequently named the "Logic Filters"

 

Mr. Mikel Harry forms "Research Dynamics," a statistical engineering consulting firm located in Tempe, Arizona and contracts work from several top industrial firms within the Phoenix area

1983

Mr. Mikel Harry begins his ASU doctoral internship at Motorola GEG Radar Operations under the guidance of Mr. Murry Allen

 

Mr. Mikel Harry works as an external consultant with Motorola GEG training department to establish a statistical problem solving curriculum and then teaches several of the resulting courses

 

Mr. Mikel Harry finalizes the "Logic Filters" problem solving strategy as a doctoral student within the Division of Technology, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Arizona State University

 

Mr. Mikel Harry begins working with Mr. Dorian Shannin at Motorola GEG on several engineering problems and latter teahes the Shannin Methods for the GEG training department (Advanced Diagnostic Tools)

 

Mr. Mikel Harry initiates the design and construction of a comprehensive statistical problem solving curriculum for Motorola GEG

1984

Motorola engineer Mr. Bill Smith studies the relationship between product failures and latent defects

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2 page(s) 446 KB

1985

Motorola Government Electronics Group formally adopts the "Logic Filters" problem solving strategy invented by Dr. Mikel Harry

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1 page(s) 159 KB

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1 page(s) 110 KB

 

Motorola engineer Mr. Bill Smith publishes internal white paper relating product failures to latent defects and design margin

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3 page(s) 348 KB

 

Application of statistical methods are highlighted within several Motorola business units

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4 page(s) 522 KB

 

Motorola engineer Mr. Bill Smith coins the term "Six Sigma" to describe an expected level of design margin and product quality

 

Dr. Mikel Harry publishes the Logic Filters problem solving process (predicessor to the Breakthrough Strategy)

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3 page(s) 230 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry publishes nine instructional manuals through Motorola GEG, covering Statistical Process Control (SPC), Applied Diagnostic Methods (ADM), and Design of Experiments (DOE)

1986

Following nearly two years of work, Dr. Mikel Harry publishes the textbook entitled: "Achieveing Quality Excellence: The Strategy, Tactics, and Tools"

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7 page(s) 761 KB

 

Motorola engineer Dr. Mikel Harry publishes first formal description of Six Sigma within the book entitled: "Achieveing Quality Excellence: The Strategy, Tactics, and Tools"

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5 page(s) 660 KB

 

Motorola engineer Dr. Mikel Harry publishes the first white paper on Six Sigma: "The Nature of Six Sigma Quality"

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1 page(s) 139 KB

 

Motorola engineer Dr. Mikel Harry defines and documents a career development path for SPC experts

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1 page(s) 76 KB

1987

Top management (executive committee) of Motorola commits to Total Customer Satisfaction

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1 page(s) 109 KB

 

Motorola sets Six Sigma quality goal and distributes the "Motorola Card" to all employees

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1 page(s) 89 KB

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1 page(s) 78 KB

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1 page(s) 72 KB

 

Motorola engineer Dr. Mikel Harry inititates Six Sigma collaboration with the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Arizona State University

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1 page(s) 111 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry begins to work with top management of GEG and key corporate executives to spread the word of Six Sigma throughout Motorola

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1 page(s) 63 KB

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1 page(s) 787 KB

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1 page(s) 647 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry initiates and leads first Motorola GEG class of SPC experts (forerunner of the Six Sigma Black Belt curriculum)

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1 page(s) 656 KB

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1 page(s) 80 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry invents and applies the Black Belt naming convention at the Salt Lake City Printed Circuit Facility, Unisys Corporation

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1 page(s) 185 KB

 

Motorola business units begin benchmarking and reporting product quality on the sigma scale of measure and discover the average capability to be about four sigma

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1 page(s) 86 KB

 

Motorola corporate leadership adopts 2 year 10X improvement, 4 year 100X goal, and Six Sigma by 1992

1988

Unisys Corporation continues its quality initiative and formally trains Black Belts, Brown Belts, and Green Belts

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8 page(s) 1589 KB

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6 page(s) 1121 KB

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2 page(s) 435 KB

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5 page(s) 817 KB

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5 page(s) 775 KB

 

Motorola's Government Electronics Group (GEG) Six Sigma training program is formally recognized by the US Navy Best Manufacturing Practices Program

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1 page(s) 231 KB

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1 page(s) 240 KB

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1 page(s) 236 KB

 

Motorola engineers Dr. Mikel Harry and Mr. Reigle Steward create and publish the Six Sigma Mechanical Design methodology

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4 page(s) 1155 KB

 

Motorola engineers Dr. Mikel Harry and Dr. Ron Lawson create and publish the Six Sigma producibility analysis and process characterization methodology

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5 page(s) 1148 KB

 

Motorola is awarded Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award

 

Motorola maps ISO 9001 into QSR

1989

Motorola's Government Electronics Group (GEG) announces Design for Manufacturability initiative

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1 page(s) 358 KB

 

Motorola GEG engineers Dr. Mikel Harry and Russ Benson leads the creation and implementation of Six Sigma performance metrics and supporting documentation

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4 page(s) 526 KB

 

Motorola engineer Dr. Mikel Harry creates and leads GEG's Statistics Advisory Board (SAB)

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3 page(s) 485 KB

 

Motorola engineers Dr. Mikel Harry, Mr. Reigle Stewart, and Mr. Ray Currens works with US Navy to develop and publish product design producibility guidelines (later integrated into the practice of Six Sigma)

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2 page(s) 488 KB

1990

Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS) team process starts corporate-wide at Motorola

 

Bob Galvin accepts Dr. Mikel Harry's approach for accelerating the spread and use of Six Sigma through Black Belts

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6 page(s) 2702 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry continues the collaboration with Arizona State University

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1 page(s) 238 KB

 

Motorola sponsors Design-of-Experitments (DOE) symposium

 

Motorola Six Sigma Research Institute is founded and directed by Dr. Mikel Harry

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1 page(s) 446 KB

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2 page(s) 520 KB

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8 page(s) 3336 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry works with the Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC) to create the Statistical Process Control Standard ANSI/IPC-PC-90

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5 page(s) 1061 KB

1991

Six Sigma Research Institute establishes Black Belt Steering Committee

 

Dr. Mikel Harry develops the Six Sigma Electrical Design Methodology and supporting instructional course

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1 page(s) 364 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry establishes standardized process for creating a cadre of Motorola Six Sigma Black Belts

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2 page(s) 546 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry initaties planning to create the Motorola Six Sigma Technical Institute

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2 page(s) 546 KB

 

Motorola SSRI Director (Dr. Mikel Harry) initiates and leads the Six Sigma Black Belt concept at Motorola

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4 page(s) 990 KB

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1 page(s) 124 KB

 

Motorola SSRI Director (Dr. Mikel Harry) formulates and plans the Six Sigma Technical Institute (SSTI)

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1 page(s) 254 KB

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1 page(s) 250 KB

 

First operations review of the Six Sigma Research Institute (SSRI)

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4 page(s) 507 KB

 

Stalking Six Sigma quality briefing by Bob Galvin and George Fisher

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19 page(s) 3287 KB

1992

Motorola SSRI Director (Dr. Mikel Harry) prepares white paper specifying the operational details for creating Six Sigma Black Belts

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21 page(s) 5042 KB

 

Motorola Six Sigma Research Institute (SSRI) holds first Six Sigma Partnership Conference

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3 page(s) 381 KB

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1 page(s) 217 KB

 

Motorola's Six Sigma program captures national interest

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1 page(s) 393 KB

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1 page(s) 575 KB

 

Motorola's Six Sigma Research Institute (SSRI) holds first corporate partnership conference

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4 page(s) 1493 KB

 

Motorola's Six Sigma Research Institute (SSRI) announces corporate Black Belt thrust

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3 page(s) 1304 KB

 

Addison-Wesley publishes book on producibility analysis and process characterization authored by Dr. Mikel Harry and Dr. Ron Lawson

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4 page(s) 1025 KB

 

Top Motorola executives underscore their commitment to the realization of Six Sigma

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2 page(s) 1002 KB

 

SSRI launches first Six Sigma Technical Institute (SSTI) under the direction of Dr. Mikel Harry

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6 page(s) 431 KB

 

Dr. Harry documents the Black Belt infrastructure for Motorola through the Six Sigma Research Institute

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21 page(s) 5042 KB

 

Six Sigma Research Institute conducts business partnership conference and aligns major corporations to the vision of Six Sigma

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3 page(s) 381 KB

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1 page(s) 217 KB

 

Motorola chief executive officers review the progress of Six Sigma and look beyond its history to its future

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2 page(s) 1002 KB

 

First Motorola Black Belts recognized in Asia and United States

 

Motorola Six Sigma Research Institute formalizes partnership with IBM, Kodak, Digital, ABB, and Texas Instruments to advance Six Sigma practices

1993

Dr. Harry releases version 1.0 of the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy

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1 page(s) 386 KB

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1 page(s) 227 KB

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2 page(s) 554 KB

 

Motorola Six Sigma Research Institute (SSRI) corporate partners sponsors first annual Black Belt Symposium

 

Mr. Bill Smith publishes article on Six Sigma Design in IEEE Spectrum magazine (September 1993)

1994

ABB corporate Vice President Dr. Mikel Harry releases version 2.0 of the Breakthrough Strategy

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5 page(s) 466 KB

 

ABB corporate Vice Presidents Dr. Mikel Harry and Mr. Richard Schroeder augmentents the focus of Six Sigma with strong emphasis on cost reduction

 

Dr. Mikel Harry forms the Six Sigma Academy in Scottsdale Arizona and subsequently engages Mr. Rich Schroeder as a full partner in the consulting firm.

 

Dr. Mikel Harry establishes the Six Sigma Academy (SSA) in 1994 as the prime contractor for installing Six Sigma in Allied Signal corporation

 

Dr. Mikel Harry publishes second edition of "The Vision of Six Sigma" series and case studies

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13 page(s) 2610 KB

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3 page(s) 359 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry launches Six Sigma Black Belt training within the large-scale transformer business of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) corporation

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1 page(s) 204 KB

1995

Dr. Mikel Harry introduces the concepts, practices, and benefits of Six Sigma to the corporate officers of General Electric

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2 page(s) 149 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry trains first wave of General Electric Master Black Belts and provides initial leadership to spearhead the Six Sigma thrust at GE

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3 page(s) 1185 KB

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2 page(s) 344 KB

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3 page(s) 442 KB

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7 page(s) 1164 KB

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1 page(s) 107 KB

1996

Motorola Semiconductor Product Sector (SPS) forms Black Belt steering committee

 

The Motorola "Introduction to Black Belt Program" replaces the Six Sigma Technical Institute course

 

Dr. Mikel Harry featured in the international magazine "The Globe and Mail Report on Business" for his involvement with General Electric and Six Sigma

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3 page(s) 1391 KB

 

General Electric Annual Report calls out Six Sigma as a global strategic business initiative

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3 page(s) 670 KB

1998

Motorola Automotive Group (AIEG) reintroduces Black Belt program

 

Dr. Mikel Harry publishes the Six Sigma Vision in Quality Progress magazine

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2 page(s) 883 KB

1999

The book "Jack Welch and the GE Way" published by Mr. Robert Slater recounts the origins of Six Sigma at General Electric and acknowledges Dr. Mikel Harry's role

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5 page(s) 689 KB

 

Six Sigma Academy forms strategic partnership with the American Society of Quality (ASQ) to propogate Six Sigma

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1 page(s) 370 KB

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4 page(s) 984 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry recognized as the world leader in Six Sigma by Quality Progress magazine

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4 page(s) 1904 KB

2000

Dr. Mikel Harry and Mr. Richard Schroeder publish best selling book "Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations"

 

Quality Digest publishes a narative history of Six Sigma

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1 page(s) 657 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry introduces Six Sigma to the J.D. Powers International Automotive Roundtable

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1 page(s) 223 KB

 

The business book "Six Sigma" by Dr. Mikel Harry and Mr. Richard Schroeder tops the charts and is bestowed the title "Best Seller"

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4 page(s) 1448 KB

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1 page(s) 223 KB

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1 page(s) 49 KB

2001

Process Quality Associates, Inc. prepares a comprehensive history of Six Sigma

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3 page(s) 510 KB

 

Mr. Jack Welch, Former CEO and Chairman of GE, publishes his landmark autobiography (Jack Straight From The Gut) and cites the goal of Six Sigma in GE and Dr. Harry's contribution toward that aim

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3 page(s) 383 KB

2002

Dr. Mikel Harry invents the ICRA business improvement strategy and ushers in Generation III (G3) Six Sigma with a focus on value creation

 

Dr. Mikel Harry forms the Six Sigma Management Institute (SSMI) and establishes a strategic and operational partnership with Arizona State University to advance Generation III (G3) of Six Sigma

 

Dr. Harry interviewd for the book entitled "Six Sigma Leadership Handbook" by Rath & Strong

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7 page(s) 2183 KB

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2 page(s) 623 KB

 

USA Today article "Feds May Unleash Six Sigma on Terrorism" takes Six Sigma to new unchartered territory

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1 page(s) 843 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry endorsed and recommended for leading Six Sigma initiative for United States Homeland Defense

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2 page(s) 953 KB

 

Dr. Mikel Harry receives the ASU Engineering Excellence award for extraordinary contribution to society

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3 page(s) 682 KB

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1 page(s) 112 KB

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1 page(s) 485 KB

2003

Arizona State University in conjunction with Dr. Mikel Harry and the Six Sigma Management Institute begins development of Six Sigma On-Line X-Belt Certification Program

 

Arizona State University joins the Six Sigma Federation

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2 page(s) 781 KB

 

SSMI and Ideal Hire corporation develops the Six Sigma Global Registery (SSGR) in conjunction with Arizona State University in order to provide professional certification to Six Sigma X-belts

2004

Korean steel manufacturer POSCO and Chairman Lee adopts Generation III (G3) Six Sigma and value creation focus

 

Korea holds first Six Sigma Mega Conference in conjunction with the Korea Standards Association (KSA), Arizona State University (ASU), and the Six Sigma Management Institute (SSMI)

 

India holds first Six Sigma Mega Conference in conjunction with the government of India, Arizona State University (ASU), and the Six Sigma Management Institute (SSMI)

 

Quality Digest magazine acknowledges Dr. Mikel Harry as the world's foremost expert on Six Sigma and creator of Six Sigma as it is practiced today

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1 page(s) 500 KB

2005

Dr. Mikel Harry completes research on the cognitive roadmap underpinning Six Sigma, later to become known as “The Proven Path”.

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Dr. Mikel Harry prepares an extensive FAQ section for iSixSigma.com.

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2006

Dr. Mikel Harry cited by Quality Digest magazine as the world’s foremost expert on Six Sigma.

 

Quality Digest recognizes Dr. Harry’s Six Sigma work with the US government for the war terrorism.

 

Dr. Mikel Harry rejoins the Six Sigma Academy, Inc. as Vice-Chairman and Chief Knowledge Officer.

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Dr. Mikel Harry formulates the Breakthrough Process that underpins The Great Discovery.

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Dr. Mikel Harry extensively interviewed by the Journal of Health Care Quality.

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Dr. Mikel Harry recognized by Quality Digest magazine as the “Father of Six Sigma”.

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2007

Dr. Mikel Harry works with Delfino Media Group in Hollywood to introduce the Six Sigma for Kids Program.

 

Quality Council of Indiana recognizes Dr. Harry’s leadership of Six Sigma at Motorola.

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2008

Dr. Mikel Harry continues philanthropic work with institutions, charities and individuals.

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Dr. Mikel Harry creates Six Sigma Scholarship at Ball State University.

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Delfino Media Group in Hollywood releases the Six Sigma for Kids Program featuring Dr. Mikel Harry and The Great Discovery Breakthrough Process.

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iSixSigma.com, the generally accepted Six Sigma community, unveils the Six Sigma for Kids program.

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Dr. Mikel Harry cited as one of the original innovators of Six Sigma by the World Congress on Engineering, London, UK.

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Motorola Inc. recognizes Dr. Mikel Harry as the originator of the Black Belt naming convention.

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Motorola Inc. recognizes Dr. Mikel Harry and Mr. Bill Smith as the original creators of Design for Six Sigma.

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2009

Dr. Mikel Harry partners with Element K to offer The Great Discovery to the commercial marketplace.

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Dr. Mikel Harry works with Ball State University to create a Six Sigma minor for the Engineering Technology Degree Program and installs MindPro as the online training resource.

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Dr. Mikel Harry releases The Great Discovery Practitioner Program.

2010

Dr. Mikel Harry releases The Great Discovery Associate Program.

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Dr. Mikel Harry recognized and cited on the QualityGurus.com website.

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Dr. Mikel Harry and Mr. Bill Smith cited as the originators of Six Sigma by eHow.com website.

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