Tivo Case Study

C ase Study

S ix Sigma at 3 M, Inc.

O n January 1, 2001, 3 M a nnounced t hat W. James

McNerney Jr. was elected t he c hairman and c hief ex­

ecutive o fficer o f t he f irm (see A ppendix 1 f or t he

a nnouncement). A t t he a nnual shareholders meet­

ing in May 2001, McNerney announced t hat " At t he

t op o f my agenda is a h eadlong a nd c ompanywide

i mplementation o f t he Six Sigma a pproach t o

process and business i mprovement . .. I've seen f irst­

hand h ow Six Sigma can energize an o rganization,

increase sales and cash f low, satisfy customers better,

and s trengthen m anagement d evelopment."

M cNerney i nitiated a massive t raining p rogram

f or h undreds o f senior executives. Senior executives

w ere c harged w ith l eading t he t raining e fforts f or

all o f m iddle managers and c oming u p w ith a list o f

100 key six sigma projects.

A ccording t o some sources, McNerney h ad al­

ready " sold" 3M's board o f d irectors o n t he c oncept

b efore he t ook t he p osition.'

.

Historically, 3M competed p rimarily on p roduct

leadership and q uality-and a lmost never on price.

Many 3 M managers believed t hat t he f irm was already

a quality company, w ith many high-quality products

such as Post-it Products and Scotch tape commanding

very high m arket shares in t heir respective markets.

However, 3M's financial performance was " flat" and

was n ot expected t o i mprove unless some m ajor

changes were made. The decision had already been

made t o d eploy a Six Sigma program. The question f or

t he senior management o f t he f irm was h ow t o use

t he Six Sigma program as a key lever f or t ransforming

t he f irm t o become more competitive.

.

HISTORy1

3 M was f ounded in 1902 a t t he Lake Superior t own

o f Two Harbors, Minnesota. Five businessmen a greed

t o m ine a m ineral deposit f or g rinding-wheel abra­

sives. B ut t he deposits proved t o be o f l ittle value,

and t he n ew M innesota M ining and M...