3. Do you think Tyko can avoid the Six Sigma initiative suffering the same fate as the TQM initiative? ‘This is not going to be like last time. Then, we were adopting an improvement programme because we were told to.

This time it’s our idea and, if it’s successful, it will be us that are telling the rest of the group how to do it.’ (Tyko Mattson, Six Sigma Champion, GCR)

Tyko Mattson was speaking as the newly appointed

‘Champion’ at Geneva Construction and Risk Insurance.

He had been charged with ‘steering the Six Sigma programme until it is firmly established as part of our ongoing practice’. The previous improvement initiative that he was referring to dated back many years to when GCR’s parent company, Wichita Mutual Insurance, had insisted on the adoption of total quality management (TQM) in all its businesses.

The TQM initiative had never been pronounced a failure and had managed to make some improvements, especially in customers’ perception of the company’s levels of service. However, the initiative had ‘faded out’ during the 1990s and, even though all departments still had to formally report on their improvement projects, their number and impact was now relatively minor.