The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance

CHAPTER 12Identifying Core Processes and Key Customers(Roadmap Step 1)

Introduction

In Chapter 5 we introduced the example of “Company Island,” a place where a lot of stuff is flowing around, but no one really has a grasp of the “big picture.” Whether you start your Six Sigma effort with Step One, or loop back to this effort later, the objective here is to develop the high-level view of the organization—in essence, a “map” of your island showing how essential work gets done.

The “map-making” approach we’ll describe here is somewhat like putting a puzzle together. We’ll begin by forming a basic idea of how the puzzle should look—just as you’d get from the top of the puzzle box. Then we’ll assemble the edges of the puzzle first—or, since we’re ...