The price of Six Sigma consulting, training and certification has been coming down and, interestingly, so is the amount or the rate of improvement being reported. We no longer hear success stories like Motorola or GE in larger number commensurate with the growth of Six Sigma, as evidenced by the number of Six Sigma books at Amazon.com (from about 200 in 2002 to 400 in 2004). In the absence of any well-established causal relationship between resources and improvement, it can be said that the world of Six Sigma is inefficiently attaining maturity. In other words, the Six Sigma methodology is becoming more and more standardized and is in need of help. Besides Six Sigma, the lean methodology is also being implemented—either alone or in combination with Six Sigma. In addition, there are other methods of interest such as ISO 9001 standard, innovation, complexity management and scorecards. It’s crucial to see beyond Six Sigma and maximize benefits from the knowledge of various methods.

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