motorola university case study

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

Motorola U: When Training Becomes an Education

• William Wiggenhorn

At Motorola we require three things of our manufacturing employees. They must have communication and computation skills at the seventh grade level, soon going up to eighth and ninth. They must be able to do basic problem solving—not only as individuals but also as members of a team. And they must accept our definition of […]

At Motorola we require three things of our manufacturing employees. They must have communication and computation skills at the seventh grade level, soon going up to eighth and ninth. They must be able to do basic problem solving—not only as individuals but also as members of a team. And they must accept our definition of work and the workweek: the time it takes to ship perfect product to the customer who’s ordered it. That can mean a workweek of 50 or even 60 hours, but we need people willing to work against quality and output instead of a time clock.

• WW William Wiggenhorn is Motorola’s corporate vice president for traning and education and the president of Motorola University.

Partner Center

Motorola's Six Sigma Journey: In pursuit of perfection

Before you read this, check out the upper-right hand corner of this page to view this article in our digital reader. Trust us, it's way cooler!

Written by Thomas Goodwin of Motorola Mobility

Motorola’s journey to achieve Six Sigma performance began in 1986 when engineer Bill Smith quietly set out to devise a methodology to standardize defect measurement and drive improvements in manufacturing. Developing this new methodology was the first step on our journey and gave us the tools to begin measuring and comparing the quality improvement rates of our business groups. Six Sigma became our performance metric and was reflective of a product or process that has just 3.4 defects per million units or opportunities.

Over the years, we built on this methodology to include the use of statistical tools, and a step-by-step process to drive improvement, innovation and optimization. Through the direction of former CEO Bob Galvin, we made the Six Sigma methodology available to the world. We implemented large-scale training efforts and applied the methodology beyond manufacturing into transactional, support, service and engineering functions. Six Sigma became a collaborative effort between our customers, suppliers and stakeholders and an important tool to engage our employees in a culture of continuous improvement.

Our employees, suppliers and customers quickly discovered this methodology worked and wanted to use it to improve performance. Other companies soon followed suit by adopting their own approach to do the same. The Six Sigma methodology gained a strong following and became widely adopted across numerous industries.

In 2003, Motorola took Six Sigma to the next level by elevating it to a management system and rebranded our efforts as “Digital Six Sigma.”  In this phase, we started with a business-wide balanced scorecard and then determined the activities required to achieve those goals. We assigned our strongest Black and Master Black Belts, based on their change management skills and statistical capabilities, to work on projects with complex problems with an unknown root cause. Each business and functional leader sponsored the efforts and provided the ongoing governance needed to remove barriers and achieve results. The term “Digital” was incorporated to add the requirement that the solutions implemented had to be controlled with a systematic or non-manual control mechanism to ensure that the change was sustainable.

The program further evolved in 2005 when we added Lean concepts to the traditional Six Sigma framework to identify redundancies and reduce costs and cycle time. Our emphasis on reducing waste and non-value added activities was critical in addressing the continuing competitive pressures and increasing our productivity.

In January 2011, Motorola separated into two independent, publicly traded companies: Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. At this point, we had a decision to make – should we continue the use of Six Sigma as a management system, scale it back or discontinue it altogether?  At Motorola Mobility, we chose to take a “back to basics” approach and focus on the essence of Six Sigma – the methodology used to delight our customers by exceeding their expectations and delivering products and services of the highest quality.

SIX SIGMA TRAINING

With that change, the Six Sigma program at Motorola Mobility transformed from a centralized effort with full-time resources to a grassroots effort where individuals use the methodology to solve everyday problems in their functional areas. Fostered by consistent and relevant training, and coupled with mentoring, these individuals have been able to use a range of techniques – from simple graphical tools to more complex analyses.

An example of this recently occurred when a supplier requested to increase the tolerance range for a component in order to meet the capability requirements (Cp/Cpk). The development engineer, who is Green Belt certified, pulled from her Six Sigma experience to examine the data using simple histograms and normal probability plots. Very quickly, she found the data showed a bimodal distribution, resulting in two groups of measurements. In working with the supplier, she discovered that two operators were interpreting the requirement differently. Rather than changing the tolerance range, the supplier followed up with training for the operators and conducted a Measurement System Analysis to validate the measurement technique.

An example of using Lean in the Supply Chain occurred when an inventory management issue at one of our Latin American sites drove the team to construct a Value Stream Map, starting at the shipping dock. The team “walked the process” to create a current-state map, which enabled them to identify opportunities to eliminate non-value added activities. The future-state map removed unnecessary steps, thus reducing rework and simplifying accounting and physical flows.

Looking forward, where will we go next on our Six Sigma journey?  In our never-ending pursuit of perfection, we know we can’t stand still. We will continue to challenge ourselves to evolve how we deploy Six Sigma to best support our business. In fact, we use the approach when considering changes to our methodology. What do our customers want, what data do we have to support the change, how will we know the change was effective?

The quest for perfection will never go away, but how Six Sigma is deployed needs to evolve as the business evolves. At Motorola Mobility, we are very aware of this need. Used in this way, we see the potential for Six Sigma is limitless.

Click here to download Supply Chain Digital’s iPad app!

• The Latest Movers and Shakers in the World of Supply Chain Operations
• e2open drives supply chain efficiency and agility Digital Supply Chain
• Supriya Iyer
• At Google, Supriya Iyer is asking the right questions

Featured Articles

Analysing transit time delays along key global trade routes.

Nidhi Gupta, CEO at Portcast, examines how transit times across major global trade routes have been affected over the past 12 months …

Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE Dubai 2024 Watch On-Demand

Did you attend Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE Dubai in May? Watch on-demand to discover the latest trends and insights in the industry …

UPS, FedEx and DHL Ranked as Most Valuable Logistics Brands

For the 10th consecutive year, Brand Finance's logistics ranking is led by UPS, followed by its big American rival FedEx and Germany’s DHL …

P&SC LIVE: Ben Madin Senior Director at Bamboo Rose

Global supply & demand: key vendors in supply chain planning, 2 new speakers from pwc & versuni join p&sc live london.

• Greener Supply Chains: IKEA, Schneider Electric & npower
• P&SC LIVE Singapore 2024: Watch On-Demand Now
• FedEx Goes for Gold with Paris 2024 Olympics Strategy
• Two Months to Go: Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE London
• Shortlist Announced – The Global P&SC Awards 2024

• SUMMER SALE
• SAVE 20% ON EVERYTHING NOW

The Learning and Development Pioneer: Bill Wiggenhorn

Published 

Bill Wiggenhorn joined Motorola in 1981 as director of what was then called the Motorola Education and Training Center and worked his way to president of Motorola’s learning and development institution in 1986.

The center, which was later renamed Motorola University, wasn’t just set up for employee development. A primary goal was to educate customers — institutions, regulators, suppliers and employees — in newly created markets.

Wiggenhorn, who has since started his own consulting business, Main Captiva LLC, said he loved that he didn’t have a typical “day on the job.”

Travel was a significant part of his job as president of Motorola University, and he got to rub shoulders with foreign leaders such as the prime minister of Malaysia and the president of China. Traveling to visit the company’s operations across the globe enabled him to grasp the needs of local managers, government officials and local customers, and developed targeted learning and development.

He recalls a piece of advice passed along to him by Bob Galvin, who was chairman and CEO for much of Wiggenhorn’s tenure at Motorola.

“Bob said to me, ‘Bill, when you go to a new location, make sure you take two suitcases — one filled with the experience and wisdom we would like to share, and one empty [into which] you will pack the wisdom and knowledge that they share with you,” Wiggenhorn said.

This give-and-take mentality also was reflected in his relationship with Motorola University’s board of directors. The board, which is separate from the firm’s corporate board of directors, included senior executives from each of Motorola’s businesses, regions and major functions, such as HR or IT.

“Part of my job was to keep them informed and also to understand where they felt we needed to make investments in education and training — and to answer their questions regarding what was the return on that education,” Wiggenhorn said.

In his two decades at the company, Motorola University grew from four to 24 locations. At the end of his first year, in 1981, the education arm of Motorola had 23 people; by the end of the 1990s, roughly 2,000 people were working in the function globally on a part- or full-time basis.

“In the beginning,” Wiggenhorn said, “it was really just directing more of a traditional training organization and the focus was on our own [domestic] employees — even though our charter did include customers and suppliers.”

The next phase catered to employees globally, but by the late 1980s into the 1990s, Motorola University also focused on customers, suppliers and government regulators.

It even reached the point where different colleges — such as a college of engineering or sales and marketing; a college of leadership and management — were established within the firm’s learning function. Motorola University also set up a network of educational partners — universities and certification companies — in different parts of the world.

But with all the improvements and changes under Wiggenhorn, the fundamental underpinning of learning at Motorola remained — to ensure education programs empower employees to reach their full potential.

The Business of Learning: Cedric Coco

Search the website

Upcoming Events

2024 chief learning officer symposium, thriving in the new normal: essential skills for organizational success, coaching matters: strategies to scale development, using ai to drive equity and diversity in high-performing teams, unlocking the power of your multigenerational workforce: a fireside chat, being mindful with metrics.

Make learning the foundation of hybrid workplace culture

Leading in an uncertain world: How business executives can adapt

Getting hybrid work right

Case study: How EY brought its employees together with an online learning event

BetterWork Media Group Welcomes First Round of Members to New Corporate Network

Betterwork media group unveils new brand and event dedicated to chief talent officers, chief learning officer selects the winners of the 2023 learning in practice awards, talent management announces winners of inaugural talent trailblazers awards program.

Post a press release

Recommended

Thriving on constraints: Unleashing learning impact with minimal resources

From the editor: God save the managers

Learning Insights: Adam Hopewell embraces the future of learning

What does the new ISO standard mean for L&D measurement?

To read this content please select one of the options below:

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, motorola adapts training to modern business demands.

Human Resource Management International Digest

ISSN : 0967-0734

Article publication date: 1 November 2002

Motorola considers education to be an employee right as well as a responsibility, and every Motorola employee must complete at least 40 hours of training a year. This usually takes place at Motorola University, which is probably the best known and most widely benchmarked corporate university in the world. Not only employees, but also Motorola customers and employees take courses at Motorola University. Moreover, the university offers language training not only to employees, but also to their spouses and other family members, in order to give the learners the chance to practise their skills.

• Employee development
• Learning styles
• Action learning

(2002), "Motorola adapts training to modern business demands", Human Resource Management International Digest , Vol. 10 No. 6, pp. 21-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670730210792223

Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited

Related articles

All feedback is valuable.

Please share your general feedback

Report an issue or find answers to frequently asked questions

Contact Customer Support

• Six Sigma - Introduction

The Motorola Six Sigma Story

No understanding of Six Sigma is complete without truly understanding where it came from - Motorola . The backdrop of the story shows how Six Sigma implementations changed the way Multi-National Corporations conducted operations worldwide.

It started in 1981. Motorola like most American companies was reeling under the threat of Japanese competition. Recovering from World War-2, the Japanese had built such a remarkable quality initiative that they were way ahead of any American company and were undercutting them on prices causing grave losses in terms of profitability and market share. Motorola was compelled into action. But the management at Motorola made an ambitious plan. They decided to give the Japanese a taste of their own medicine and beat them at their own game i.e quality.

For this reason, the management summoned the top engineers in Motorola and told them to combine all the best quality management practises known till that time and make an aggregated methodology which would be the base of Motorola’s competitive quality improvement program. Thus was developed the first Six Sigma program.

Motorola immediately took up a loft goal. They already were a respected manufacturing firm and had stringent quality measures. However, analysis had revealed that they were lagging way behind the Japanese and to be competitive they had to improve their quality goals by a 1000% in five years. Thus an ambitious goal of a 10:1 quality improvement came into picture.

Most experts thought it was suicidal for Motorola to attempt to do so, especially given the fact that Motorola was making huge investments in the quality initiative. Media criticised Motorola for using shareholder funds for goals that can be compared to fantasies. However the management did not pay heed. At the end of 5 years, almost every business unit functioning inside Motorola Inc. had achieved the 10:1 goal, boosting the morale of the workforce and silencing the critics.

However, Motorola realised that the Japanese were once again way ahead of them. This is because the Japanese had also launched a similar program. Even though their program was not as good as Motorola, they were ahead because of their previous lead. The Motorola Management became even more ambitious and launched another 1000% improvement drive. This time the goal had to be achieved in two years. The stream of criticisms started once again as to how success had shot to Motorola’s head and how the management was pursuing impossible programs. But to everyone’s surprise Motorola had triumphed once again.

Thus a third program was launched with the same 1000% or 10: 1 improvement in quality program. This time, when the program ended in 1991, Motorola failed. They reached a target of 8:1 when measured on a company wide basis even though some individual units had met the target.

When all these results were done Motorola had achieved a target of 800:1 improvement in their quality. Even the critics were full of applauses. Motorola had defeated the Japanese threat and Six Sigma became the biggest buzzword on the management scene with companies left, right and centre jumping to implement it, trying to reap the same benefits that Motorola did.

This is how Six Sigma was born!

  Related Articles

• Six Sigma Concepts
• Characteristics of Six Sigma
• Cost of Poorly Performing Processes
• Operational Benefits of Six Sigma
• Six Sigma as a Strategic Tool

View All Articles

Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written and Reviewed by Management Study Guide Content Team . MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider . To Know more, click on About Us . The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.

• What is Six Sigma ?
• What Six Sigma is Not ?
• Understanding Sigma Levels
• Six Sigma Methodology
• Motorola Six Sigma Story
• What is Six Sigma Plus ?

Motorola: A Tradition of Quality

Forty years ago, Quality Assurance (the predecessor to Quality magazine) profiled the quality initiative at Motorola, calling it a "live and vibrant issue." At the time the story was published, Motorola had already become a leader in military, space and commercial communications and was a growing manufacturer of consumer electronics.

Today, quality continues to be a live and vibrant issue, and as Motorola's business has evolved, quality has evolved with it. During the past 40 years, the quality philosophy at Motorola has expanded from an initial focus on the products we manufacture to one of excellence in every facet of our business.

When Quality Assurance first profiled the company, it was clear that Motorola had a commitment to quality in every aspect of product development. This was demonstrated through a three-pronged approach: quality of forethought, quality of workmanship, and quality of objective self appraisal. In other words, the quality program took into account all three stages of production: pre-production, production and post-production. This approach undoubtedly secured Motorola's place at the forefront of American business for the next several years.

During the 1960s, Motorola began to expand into international markets and gradually began shifting its focus away from consumer electronics. The company sold the color television receiver business in the mid-1970s, which allowed us to focus our energies on the emerging high-technology markets in the commercial, industrial and government sectors. This new business focus required a new approach to quality, and we eventually recognized that in order for the company to grow, the quality initiative would have to grow with the business.

First steps In 1980, Motorola took the first step by establishing the position of Corporate Quality Officer. In 1981, the Motorola Training and Education Center (MTEC) was established, providing employees with instruction and coaching in quality process and participative management skills. In 1989, MTEC became Motorola University, an institution that remains an integral component of the Motorola culture today.

By the end of the 1980s, Motorola had grown into a worldwide supplier of cellular telephones. But, the Japanese were still considered the undisputed leaders in the electronics market. A 1986 benchmarking study revealed that while we had made significant strides in quality, we needed to prove that we could compete with the Japanese by creating products that were of equal and higher quality. It was out of this realization that the Six Sigma quality initiative was born in 1987.

The investment in Six Sigma paid off, and in 1988, Motorola was the first large companywide winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, awarded by the U.S. Congress to recognize and inspire the pursuit of quality in American business.

Today, Motorola is harnessing the power of wireless, broadband and the Internet to deliver embedded chip system level and end-to-end network communication solutions for individuals, work teams, vehicles and homes. Our goal is to make business and life simpler, smarter, synchronized and safer by creating leadership products and services that put intelligence everywhere. Our quality program has evolved to support this goal and is now a program of Performance Excellence, based on the Baldrige model. This model demands a commitment to quality across the board--through visionary leadership, organizational learning, company agility, employee engagement, shrewd management and a focus on results. While Six Sigma remains at the heart of our internal processes, our vision has widened to ensure that excellence is permeated through every aspect of our business.

Before Six Sigma, quality levels were measured in percentages, or parts per hundred. However, as modern technology grew more complex, it became clear that older standards of quality no longer applied. Motorola invented Six Sigma to raise the bar and focus the quality debate on parts per million, and in some cases, parts per billion. Today, through Six Sigma, our quality target is 99.99966%, or 3.4 defects per million opportunities. In other words, we strive to optimize our production processes by ensuring that there are six or less standard deviations within the specifications of any given process.

As in the 1960s, Motorola still works to build quality into our products up front. How-ever, the Six Sigma approach encompasses all of Motorola's internal processes by providing a structural approach to continuous improvement. We think of this as "six steps toward excellence." They include:

• Identify the type of product or service you provide
• Identify your customers and their requirements
• Determine your needs and suppliers
• Define the process for approaching and doing work
• Eliminate defect sources and optimize processes
• Continuously improve the Sigma level.

Using the Six Sigma approach, Motorola is continuously working toward capturing, measuring and eliminating defects in every process. Six Sigma also allows us to maintain our focus on the processes, not the people. We believe that if processes are designed to be flawless, people will perform flawlessly using the process.

Motorola views quality from a customer perspective, meaning we have only one opportunity per each product we deliver to favorably impact a customer. If the product doesn't meet expectations, we run the risk of losing that customer. It isn't enough to simply meet industry averages--every single product that reaches a customer should exhibit a uniform standard of quality.

From 1987 to 1999, the first twelve years of Six Sigma at Motorola, our business saw significant results. By 1999, Motorola had eliminated 99.7% of all in-process defects. The Cost of Poor Quality was reduced by more than 84% on a per unit basis, and cumulative manufacturing cost savings totaled more than $18 billion. At the same time, employee productivity increased dramatically--up 12% annually.

Total Customer Satisfaction Six Sigma is vital to ensuring a commitment to quality throughout our internal processes, but it's only the first step. To ensure that Motorola is able to continuously improve customer satisfaction, we take a holistic approach to quality and have looked for ways to build it into the entire fabric of the organization. This means not only meeting customer expectations by delivering high-quality products that are priced competitively, but also shaping customer perceptions by creating an environment of trust through customer communication and engagement. We call this Total Customer Satisfaction. Because quality is driven from the outside by the voice of the customer, we regularly measure customer satisfaction and ask for customer input in developing action plans and implementing procedures that will deliver a superior experience to customers.

This commitment has paid off, and our studies show that customer satisfaction rates remain high. Currently, 79% of our customers say they would continue to purchase Motorola products and services in the future, and 75% say they would recommend Motorola to colleagues. Further, 63% report that they are very satisfied with the ease of doing business with Motorola. By anticipating customer needs, demonstrating innovation and gaining customer loyalty, Motorola is continuously striving to build relationships with customers that are built on a solid foundation of trust.

Focused on the future As technology continues to advance and the economic landscape becomes more challenging, Motorola will continue to focus on providing customers with products that make their lives smarter, simpler, synchronized and safer. We believe the best way to accomplish this is through the successful implementation of the Performance Excellence Business System. The program changes the way we manage our organization by becoming even more focused on the customer and by placing renewed emphasis on delivering business results. The vision of Performance Excellence is realized through seven key areas:

Leadership. A commitment to quality at the top of the organization is crucial to our success.

Strategic Planning. Quality is a key factor in developing Motorola's business strategy.

Customer and Market Focus. Our customers and the quality they demand are at the heart of any strategic plan Motorola develops.

Fact-Based Decisions. Motorola's decision-making processes are driven by facts that are derived through obtaining and analyzing the correct information.

Human Resources. Attracting and retaining good employees and creating a work environment that emphasizes commitment to customers is vital to maintaining high levels of quality.

Process Management. Through Six Sigma, we maintain our focus on continuous improvement of all of our internal processes.

Business Results. Delivering results benefits Motorola, our customers and our shareholders.

Motorola's quality journey has not been without bumps. Along the way, we've learned some valuable lessons that have helped us improve our commitment to quality. These include:

• Top down commitment and involvement. First and foremost, corporate leaders must show a strong commitment and involvement in quality initiatives. They must set the first example and take an active role in auditing processes and searching for ways to improve the business.
• Measurement systems to track progress. At both macro and micro levels, Motorola must always remain committed to finding and tracking measurable results.
• Tough goal setting. To ensure that we are establishing the highest standards for our organization, Motorola regularly benchmarks best-in-class companies to assess our products and services against those of the competition.
• Provide the required education. Employee involvement in the quality process cannot be overemphasized. Employees must be trained in the "whys" and the "how-tos" of quality and what it means tocustomers.
• Spread the success stories. Successes are as important to understand as failures. Communicating organizational successes is a crucial step in ensuring that Motorola can build upon them in the future.
• Never lose sight of the customer's priorities. We must always remember that customers are our first reason for existence.
• And finally, never be satisfied. To survive, Motorola must always strive for continuous improvement.

We believe that Motorola's quality must meet and exceed that of our competition; it must be used to drive bottom-line performance and sustain our competitive advantage. As we move deeper into the 21st century, we will continue to examine Motorola's commitment to quality and search for ways to continuously improve our business and relationships with our customers.

Today, our key initiatives are to improve profits, refocus on our carriers and customers, improve our implementation of the Performance Excellence Business System, and, of course, continue to focus on improving quality. We believe the next 40 years of Motorola history will result in as many innovations in quality as the last 40 years. We hope to share those with you, too.

Share This Story

Restricted Content

You must have JavaScript enabled to enjoy a limited number of articles over the next 30 days.

Related Articles

Face of quality: the path of a quality professional.

A Paradigm Shift to a Culture of Quality

Face of quality: three values for a quality culture, stay in the know with quality’s comprehensive coverage of the manufacturing and metrology industries., enewsletter | website | emagazine.

Copyright ©2024. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing

For those planning training sessions or candidates intending to take an online exam during this period, we will be offering online exam sessions on December 27 and 29, as well as January 5, 2024. You can check the link to online exam events here .

An online learning platform offering expert-led video capsules and certificate programs to unlock a world of knowledge.

A gathering of professionals and experts who discuss on the latest trends and topics

An authentic source of information and inspiration

Online store for ISO and IEC standards, Toolkits, eBooks, etc.

• / Resources

Six Sigma: A Case Study in Motorola

A Six Sigma Overview

Nowadays, organizations are constantly striving to understand and meet the customer’s expectations by focusing on the quality of the products offered. Luckily, there are many tools and techniques available which enable management to improve the quality of their products and services. Six Sigma has proven to be one of the most successful tools in this regard. 

Six Sigma is a methodology which uses specific principles and mechanisms that ensure excellence within the organization. The ultimate goal of this methodology is to create products or services with less than 3.4 defects per million products or services produced. Witnessing its benefits, many of world’s most famous and successful organizations have decided to implement and integrate Six Sigma principles in their business processes.

The Beginning of Six Sigma

A look back in history indicates that the implementation of Six Sigma principles was pioneered by Motorola Company in 1980s. Motorola has always been a high tech company, offering highly reliable products. However, by 1970, every business in which Motorola was engaged in, was already targeted by Japanese. 

During that time, Motorola, like many other American companies, was struggling to keep up with Japanese competition. Motorola’s customers were unhappy with the product defects and customer support. On the other hand, Japanese had already built an amazing quality standard that many American companies simply could not keep up with. As a result, dealing with severe financial pressure, Motorola had to take action. 

The top management summoned the Motorola engineers and sought to reduce the amount of errors in their products before they were even shipped out of their factories. They combined all the quality management practices known till that time and created a methodology that would be the baseline of Motorola’s quality improvement program. Bill Smith, an engineer and scientist at Motorola, developed a methodology that would reduce the amount of product defects. He created the original statistics and formulas initiated the implementation of Six Sigma methodology. Convinced in the huge success that this methodology would have, he presented the ideas to CEO Bob Galvin. Bob came to recognize this approach as the solution to their quality concerns. They followed the four phase Six Sigma methodology (measure, analyze, improve and control) and started their journey of documenting their key processes, aligning those processes to customer requirements, and installing measurement systems to continually monitor and improve these processes. 

As a result, Motorola’s performance improved instantly. However, even though they were doing well, the analysis revealed that Japanese were still way ahead of them.

Thus, to remain competitive, top management vowed to make improvements in their quality by tenfold over a five-year period. Initially, this seemed to be impossible, but by the end of 1985, everyone in Motorola had started working toward that goal. 

By the end of the five year period, every business in Motorola had reached their targeted scale of improvement. Motorola managers decided to fly to Japan to better evaluate how their competition was doing, and what they found out was mind-blowing. They saw that the Japanese companies were doing 2000 times better than them. This was due to the fact that Japanese had been using similar technologies for a longer period of time. 

The information unveiled in Japan changed the objectives of Motorola again. The executives became even more ambitious, and decided to set a tenfold target one more time, but deadline was set for a two year period now. Motorola goal for 1992 was to have 3.4 defects per million opportunities. 

After implementing Sig Sigma, Motorola realized how important the methodology had been in improving their processes. In fact, they have documented more than $16 billion in saving as a result of Six Sigma adoption. Therefore, they decided to make the methodology public for every company that wanted to adopt it in their processes. Since then, tens of thousands of companies around the world have been considering Six Sigma as a way of doing business. 

Bearing in mind the previous points, it can be concluded that Motorola implementation of Six Sigma has been a stepping stone in the modern times of quality improvement. We may wonder where will the Six Sigma journey lead us to. This path, however, will certainly be challenging while we seek perfection. But the highly satisfied customers, motivated employees, increased benefits, among many other reasons, lead to believe that the employment of Six Sigma as the best business support will never cease to exist.

Author:   Hana Tahiri is the Portfolio Marketing Manager for Quality Management System and Transportation, Telecom and Energy at PECB. She is responsible for continually conducting research and writing articles and marketing materials related to QMS and TTE. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her: [email protected] .

• Quality Management System
• Health, Safety, and Environment
• Continuity, Resilience, and Service Management
• Information Security Management
• Risk and Management
• IT Security
• Governance, Risk, and Compliance
• Transportation, Telecom, and Energy
• Cybersecurity
• Sustainability
• Privacy and Data Protection
• Digital Transformation

Latest Articles

What is cyber threat intelligence.

Applying ISO/IEC 27001 in The Telecommunications Industry

AI Under Watch: The EU AI Act

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Training & Certification

• Ethical Hacking
• Training Course Catalog
• Territory Management

Examination

• Exam Rules and Policies
• Online Exam Manual
• Invigilator Guide
• Candidate Handbooks

Certification

• Certification Rules and Policies
• Certification Maintenance
• Certificate Verification
• Master Credentials
• Leadership, Committees and Advisory Boards
• PECB Code of Ethics
• Affiliations

Terms, Conditions, and Policies | Privacy Statement | Cookie Preferences

© 2024 Professional Evaluation and Certification Board. All rights reserved.

Take advantage of your time, International Six Sigma Inc. offers both Instructor-led Live Virtual classes as well as Online Self-Paced training . Enroll Today!

Six Sigma Case Study: Motorola Pioneers

Motorola was one of the founding organization of Six Sigma as we know it today. We can trace all of Six Sigma’s present-day and past successes back to Motorola’s pioneering work. Without them, we wouldn’t have the essential tools and strategies we used to detect and eliminate defects. Similarly, without their early work developing the methodology, there would be no Belt-based hierarchy, around which Six Sigma pivots. But how did they do it? What were Motorola’s early successes and is Six Sigma still as effective today? Keep reading to learn how they created and first implemented the greatest and most powerful improvement methodology in their work.

The Start of Six Sigma

Back in the seventies, Motorola invested their time primarily in manufacturing Quasar television sets. This was long before the advent of mobile phones, modern computers, the internet, and many of the technologies associated with Motorola. A Japanese company took over control of Motorola’s Quasar factory at the time and began implementing unheard of changes. They set about revamping and restructuring the way factory operations, rebuilding it from the ground up.

Soon, while under new management, Motorola’s Quasar factory began to produce TV sets with one-twentieth the number of defects than before. Simply put, there was something Japanese management brought to the factory that Motorola didn’t. The factory even maintained the same workforce, machinery, and design work. It soon became clear that Motorola management was the problem. It was in the next decade that Motorola knuckled down and started treating quality with the seriousness it deserves. Their then CEO, Bob Galvin, redirected Motorola towards on the quality achieving Six Sigma levels of quality. It was this decision that made Motorola a top quality and profit leader in the business world. Six Sigma was the secret to their success. And it’s just as popular and effective today as it was then!

How Does Motorola Use Six Sigma Today?

For Six Sigma, quality is about helping an organization increase profit. In Six Sigma, quality is a value contributed by a productive enterprise or activity. Motorola uses Six Sigma to maintain high efficiency by eliminating waste and defect as they discover them. This may be on a production line or even in administration.

Six Sigma aims to improve quality by minimizing variation and (overlapping with Lean) reducing waste. This helped Motorola improved its products and services, producing them faster and for less. In basic terms, Six Sigma’s goals are preventing defect, reducing cycle time, and minimizing costs. Six Sigma’s effectiveness comes from its ability to identify and eliminate waste costs, i.e. those that provide no value for customers.

Unlike Motorola, companies that eschew or dismiss Six Sigma ideas tend to have extremely costly operating processes. For those operating at low sigma, the cost of (poor) quality tends to be high, often spending 25%-40% of their revenues addressing issues. Companies operating at Six Sigma, however, typically expend less than 5% to fix problems. The dollar cost of this gap is often considerably large. This has cost companies like General Electric between $8 billion and $12 billion annually. Motorola, however, has enjoyed and still enjoys the benefits of Six Sigma. As one of its leading pioneers, they have perfected it over the years. Their success is not surprising.

SixSigma.com offers both Live Virtual classes as well as Online Self-Paced training. Most option includes access to the same great Master Black Belt instructors that teach our World Class in-person sessions. Sign-up today!

No responses / comments so far.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

At home or workplace, we have you covered

Training Options

More than 500 locations

Classroom Training

Learn anytime, anywhere

Online Training

Live instructor-led training

Webinar Training

Customized training programs

On-site Training

Accelerated training programs

Blended Training

For streamlined business plans

Operational Excellence

Exclusive consulting services

Consulting Services

Fully customized programs

Group/Corporate Training

International six sigma inc. accreditation & affiliations.

Email: [email protected] Toll Free in the US: (866) 409-1363

Courses / Training

How and what others are doing in competitive intelligence: the Motorola case study

• January 2008
• SA Journal of Information Management 10(4)

• North-West University

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations
• Jan P. Herring
• J E Prescott
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

Product details

Teaching delivery modes

Case Study: Motorola Supply Chain Transformation

Motorola’s Case Study

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Motorola is a Chicago based firm that was started in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. It is a top producer of handheld cell phones and markets wireless web devices. In 2003, phone gadgets contributed to 40% of the revenue and 60% of Motorola’s operating profits. Motorola is good in communication and technology creativity.

This has been possible through its strong branding and technological innovation. The firm strives to achieve breakthroughs in technology and to emerge at the top of its competitors (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2010). This paper seeks to explain the SWOT analyses of Motorola incorporation, as well as merits and demerits of Motorola’s strategies. Additionally, the essay identifies the levels of strategy in a firm and issues in business administration.

Salient opportunities and threats that exist in Motorola’s external environment

The external environment analysis helps an organization to know if its resources are enough to thrive among its competitors. Opportunities are favorable external environmental factors while threats are unfavorable external environmental factors. Brand is an important opportunity for Motorola.

Its brands are strategically located in the telecommunications market. This increases the chances of customers seeing and buying its products. Additionally, the firm has strong marketing and promotional tactics. It uses various marketing devices such as print media and TV. As a result, it is able to inform millions of customers about its products.

Another opportunity is strong ability and readiness to take risks. For instance, through creation of new products that enables Motorola to achieve a competitive advantage. The innovation of new products brings differentiation to Motorola therefore reducing the prices of its products. Some products like Telco TV have helped the firm to be better placed in the market.

The corporation has also been winning different contracts that enable it to supply its products in large volumes for a long period of time. This has also helped to boost its sales as well as performance. These opportunities have enabled the firm to grow and establish itself internationally. For instance, it has entered other markets like Taiwan and United Kingdom.

The main threat that Motorola faces is competition from new and foreign firms. For instance, in 2003, Japanese, Korean and Chinese businesses were entering the market to produce and supply cell phones. Their products were cheaper and of higher quality as compared to Motorola’s.

This threatened Motorola’s profit margins such that they were almost reaching one percent (Hitt et al., 2010). Additionally, the firm does not enjoy government protection against entry of foreign businesses in to the market. As a result, foreign market players have entered the market and are almost replacing Motorola.

Another threat is barrier to trade in some foreign markets. For instance, Motorola has been facing difficulties in penetrating Japan. Considering that Japan has already entered Motorola’s market, then blocking Motorola from entering Japan seems unfair. The other threat is from Sagem, which achieved the top most market position in France.

It has been difficult for Motorola to surpass Sagem’s performance as it is a very strong company. Its products are of high quality and affordable. Motorola also faces threat from environmental, health and safety rules. For instance, it is required to ensure that the environment is kept clean during its production process.

The costs associated with this are high and they affect the overall profits and performance of the firm. The credit ratings in the market are unfavorable to the company. High credit ratings mean that the company is charged more interest on loans. As a result, this cost is passed over to the consumer therefore reducing the competitive advantage over the other market players.

Motorola’s most prominent strengths and weaknesses

Strengths are internal favorable environmental factors while weaknesses are internal unfavorable factors of a business. Motorola’s strength is that it is a prominent company in provision of wireless handsets, communication devices and the single provider of iDEN network.

Motorola is a leading and strong market player. For example, it acquired and managed Kreaatel therefore gaining higher chances of entering European and North American markets. The other strength is the ability to manufacture large volumes of mobile handsets at a given time. This enables it to meet the market demand with ease. It is also able to enjoy economies of scale that come with large scale production. Additionally, it is able to surpass its competitors by ensuring that its products are readily available.

Motorola’s weakness is that the general quality of its business operations makes customers unsatisfied. This is because at times, the products happen to have defects which make them to function improperly. Therefore, the customers tend to opt for other technological devices which can function smoothly. Another weakness is that their employees are less skilled and trained. They also lack motivation.

They offer substandard services to the consumers because they may not know how to manufacture and operate the mobile handsets. This has reduced quality, customers and sales of Motorola’s products around the world. Another threat is weak profitability.

Motorola’s profits and market share have been dropping because of the weaknesses and threats it has been facing. This requires that the company adopts different strategies in order to regain its market position.

Advantages and disadvantages associated with each of Motorola’s strategic options

Motorola’s strategic plans have been made using intangible and tangible facilities. The intangible facilities are employees who aim at achieving the firm’s goals and experts who possess technological creativity. The tangible facilities are the products such as telephone handsets.

These intangible and tangible facilities enable the company to produce, market, sell and obtain income from its produce. However, this strategy is disadvantageous because there are many IT firms using it. Therefore, Motorola needs to identify and advance other tactics that will enable it to achieve competitive advantage.

Another Motorola’s strategy is the implementation of the new WiMaX expertise. This is an essential strategy for Motorola given that WiMaX has several advantages. It can take the place of many telecommunication facilities and cellular telephone networks. It can also provide internet facilities to Motorola products.

For instance, Motorola has installed WiMax in to its cell phones therefore making it an international performer in technological innovation. Introduction of WiMaX has made other big providers of communication devices to be on toes in order to offer similar facilities.

For instance, Nokia and Cisco Systems are aiming at providing WiMaX services to the mobile industry. However, the strategy of using WiMaX is disadvantageous. For example, there is increased competition since other mobile technology companies are starting to provide the same services.

Additionally, the costs required to use WiMaX are getting lower as more manufacturers turn up. This has increased supply and lowered selling price therefore affecting Motorola’s profits.

How the corporation’s strategy and organizational structure can be designed to solve the company’s strategic issues

There is stiff competition in the technology market. Therefore, Motorola is expected to fight for its place in order to endure and achieve competitive advantage above its competitors. It can do this by differentiation of its products and provision of competitive prices to its customers.

Since there are upcoming and innovative telecommunications providers, it is important that Motorola improves its strategies (Hitt et al., 2010). In order to remain competitive, Motorola can identify and implement different products that have not yet been launched by its competitors. Additionally, it can adopt bargaining power by purchasing its production materials at affordable price. For example, it can buy in large volumes in order to obtain discounts.

This way, it can be able to sell its mobile handsets at a price lower than its competitors. Motorola should also strive to create more products. Since the costs of producing digital products are reducing, customers and demand are also increasing. These customers aim at obtaining variety of products for comparison purposes. They also expect to buy quality products. This should motivate Motorola to increase its production capacity, create new products and advance its technology in order to take advantage of increasing demand.

How Motorola should proceed

In order to improve its strategic planning, Motorola should be highly innovative. This is in order to ensure that plans with the right procedures, mechanisms and technology are introduced. As a result, the future product needs of consumers can be met. The technological plans initiated by Motorola Corporation will need a mechanism of checks and balances which will remove market surprises and errors.

Road mapping is a strategic plan that Motorola can adopt because it can make the company to be different from its competitors. This road map offers a general procedure and database for every Motorola company to follow. This enables the companies to be in a position to advance, build and share their products, missions, visions and strategies with the whole corporation.

Additionally, it is possible to centrally solve issues that are facing various sections therefore reducing problem solving procedures and time. Road mapping can also provide strategic planning which creates a competitive advantage.

Various levels and types of strategy in a firm

Business level strategies are methods that firms use to carry out several operational roles. These strategies are used in order to assign duties and guidelines for proprietors, managers and employees. Some of these strategies are: coordination of unit functions, utilization of labor, development of competitive advantages, identification of market gaps and monitoring of product plans.

Issues in business administration

Human resource issues: These are matters or problems that face the employees. Some of them are: guaranteeing of open communications, balancing of stress and the labor force, setting up of responsibilities and conflict resolution (Bishop, 1991, p. 6).

Structural issues: These are basically the factors affecting the organizational structure. Some of them include competition, characteristics of customers and suppliers and the technological and regulatory environment. Although these issues can affect business, it is important to converse with the administration before changing the organizational structure (Bishop, 1991, p. 7).

Policy and Procedural Issues: This is mainly the authority that is either granted or earned by the employees or owners of a business. Authority entails application of control within a firm. For instance, there are procedures for approving and delegating of responsibilities and authority.

An organization can use Management by Objective (MBO) to coordinate and allocate authority and duties. Current Operating Reports should be made in order to give management and employees an updated schedule of expected goals and objectives (Bishop, 1991, p. 8-10).

Risk management issues: This involves identifying and solving uncertain factors that can affect the profitability or goals of an organization. It is the role of management to weigh the consequences of these concerns on the whole business. Some of these issues are: asset theft, computer offenses, scams and breach of laws (Bishop, 1991, p. 10).

Motorola Incorporation has various opportunities and strengths that allow it to establish a stable market position. Its opportunities are strong marketing and promotional tactics, strong brands which are strategically located, creative technological advances, different contract awards and strong ability and readiness to take risks. Its strengths are the ability to manufacture in large volumes and becoming a leading and strong market player.

On the other hand, Motorola faces threats from its competitors such as Japanese and Korean cell phone manufacturers. They sell related telecommunications devices and sell them at a lower-cost price. The other threat is barrier to trade in foreign markets as well as environmental, health and safety rules. High credit ratings deny Motorola the chance to borrow capital at an affordable rate.

As a result of these threats, Motorola has initiated competitive techniques such as WiMaX technology which has enabled it to attain a competitive advantage. There are various business level strategies that have been initiated in order to assign duties and guidelines for proprietors, managers and employees. There are also issues affecting business administration. These are human resource issues, structural issues, policy and procedural issues as well as risk management issues.

Bishop, J. (1991). Management Issues for the Growing Business: Emerging Business series . Web.

Hitt, M., Ireland, R., & Hoskisson, R. (2010). Competitiveness and Globalization, Concepts: Strategic Management Series.Concepts. Connecticut, U.S.: Cengage Learning.

• Global Strategies in International Business
• Improving Organizational Performance: Comparison Between Wal-Mart and Target Corporation
• Motorola Inc.'s SWOT Analysis and Strategies
• Wireless Technology Proposal: WiMax and Wi-Fi
• Motorola Company: Reasons for PBSO Award
• The Strategy Tripod
• State and Society in Foreign Market Entry Strategy
• Strategic Planning at the Multistate Health Corporation
• Mystery Shopper in JC Penny Stores in US
• V/Line: Implementing Wi-Fi Services
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, April 3). Motorola’s. https://ivypanda.com/essays/motorolas-case-study/

"Motorola’s." IvyPanda , 3 Apr. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/motorolas-case-study/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Motorola’s'. 3 April.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Motorola’s." April 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/motorolas-case-study/.

1. IvyPanda . "Motorola’s." April 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/motorolas-case-study/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Motorola’s." April 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/motorolas-case-study/.

Photo gallery: See the Class of 2028 move in at CWRU

The Case Western Reserve University Class of 2028 has officially arrived! Despite rainy conditions, more than 1,500 students settled into their new homes on campus during first-year move-in Sunday, Aug. 18. Orientation leaders and other student volunteers helped unload packed cars and move boxes, bins, suitcases and more to rooms across North Residential Village.

New students and their families got a taste of a Cleveland favorite when the East Coast Custard ice cream truck pulled up. Now, our newest students will get acclimated to campus during Discover Week before classes begin next week. Follow CWRU’s Facebook and Instagram pages to follow along with the week’s events.

News from Brown

Brain-computer interface allows man with als to ‘speak’ again.

In a clinical trial and study supported by Brown scientists and alumni, a participant regained nearly fluent speech using a brain-computer interface that translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy.

The new BCI system allowed Casey Harrell, a 45-year-old person with ALS, to communicate his intended speech effectively within minutes of activation. Photo provided by University of California Regents

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Scientists with the  BrainGate  research consortium have developed a brain-computer interface that translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy, offering a significant breakthrough for individuals with speech impairments due to conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The technology involves using implanted sensors in the brain to interpret brain signals when a user attempts to speak. These signals are then converted into text, which is read aloud by a computer.

The work is described in a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine published on Wednesday, Aug. 14, that was led by neurosurgeon David Brandman and neuroscientist Sergey Stavisky, both of whom are Brown University alumni and faculty members at UC Davis Health.

“Our BCI technology helped a man with paralysis to communicate with friends, families and caregivers,” Brandman said. “Our paper demonstrates the most accurate speech neuroprosthesis ever reported.”

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affects nerve cells controlling muscle movement, leading to the gradual loss of mobility and speech. BCI technology aims to restore communication for those who have lost the ability to speak due to paralysis or neurological disorders.

The system allowed Casey Harrell, a 45-year-old person with ALS, to communicate his intended speech effectively within minutes of activation. The powerful moment brought tears to Harrell and his family. Harrell, reflecting on his experience with the technology, described the impact that regaining the ability to communicate could have on others facing similar challenges.

“Not being able to communicate is so frustrating and demoralizing. It is like you are trapped,” Harrell said. “Something like this technology will help people back into life and society.”

The first time Harrell tried the system, he cried with joy as the words he was trying to say correctly appeared on-screen. Photo provided by University of California Regents

The study is part of the BrainGate clinical trial, directed by Dr. Leigh Hochberg, a critical care neurologist and a professor at Brown University’s  School of Engineering  who is affiliated with the University’s  Carney Institute for Brain Science . 

“Casey and our other BrainGate participants are truly extraordinary,” Hochberg said. “They deserve tremendous credit for joining these early clinical trials. They do this not because they’re hoping to gain any personal benefit, but to help us develop a system that will restore communication and mobility for other people with paralysis.”

It is the latest in a  series of advances  in brain-computer interfaces made by the BrainGate consortium, which along with other work using BCIs has been developing systems for several years that enable people to generate text by decoding the user’s intent. Last year, the consortium described how a brain-computer interface they developed enabled a clinical trial participant who lost the ability to speak to create text on a computer at rates that approach the speed of regular speech, just by thinking of saying the words.

“The field of brain computer interface has come remarkably far in both precision and speed,” said John Ngai, director of the National Institutes of Health’s  Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies ® Initiative (The BRAIN Initiative®) , which funded earlier phases of the BrainGate consortium. “This latest development brings technology closer to helping people, ‘locked in’ by paralysis, regain their ability to communicate with friends and loved ones, and enjoy the best quality of life possible.”

In July 2023, the team at UC Davis Health implanted the BCI device, consisting of four microelectrode arrays, into Harrell’s left precentral gyrus, a brain region responsible for coordinating speech. These arrays record brain activity from 256 cortical electrodes and detect their attempt to move their muscles and talk.

“We are recording from the part of the brain that’s trying to send these commands to the muscles,” Stavisky said. “We are basically listening into that, and we’re translating those patterns of brain activity into a phoneme — like a syllable or the unit of speech — and then the words they’re trying to say.”

BCI allows man to 'speak’

A new brain-computer interface translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy — the most accurate system of its kind.

The study reports on 84 data collection sessions over 32 weeks. In total, Harrell used the speech BCI in self-paced conversations for over 248 hours to communicate in person and over video chat. The system showed decoded words on a screen and read them aloud in a voice synthesized from Harrell’s pre-ALS voice samples.

In the first session, the system achieved 99.6% word accuracy with a 50-word vocabulary in just 30 minutes. In another session with a vocabulary expanded to 125,000 words, the system achieved 90.2% accuracy after an additional 1.4 hours of training data. After continued data collection, the BCI has maintained 97.5% accuracy.

“At this point, we can decode what Casey is trying to say correctly about 97% of the time, which is better than many commercially available smartphone applications that try to interpret a person’s voice,” Brandman said. “This technology is transformative because it provides hope for people who want to speak but can’t.”

The research included funding from the National Institutes of Health.

This story was adapted from a  news release  published by Nadine Yehya at UC Davis Health.

CAUTION: Investigational device. Limited by federal law to investigational use.

Related news:

Rhode island high schoolers embrace stem lessons at icerm’s girls get math program, new study unveils 16,000 years of climate history in the tropical andes, isabel tribe: examining ancient sediment to predict earth’s future.