Bill Smith

Who was Bill Smith?

Bill Smith is the "Father of Six Sigma". Born in Brooklyn, New York, Smith graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and studied at the University of Minnesota School of Management. In 1987, after working for nearly 35 years in engineering and quality assurance, he joined Motorola, serving as vice president and senior quality assurance manager for the Land Mobile Products Sector.

In the late 1970s, as John F. Mitchell was on the ascendancy to being named President & COO in 1980, he was joined by other senior managers, notably, CEO Bob Galvin, Jack Germain, and Art Sundry who worked in John F. Mitchell's Pager organization to set the quality bar 10x higher. Sundry was reputed to have shouted "Our Quality Stinks" at an organizational meeting attended by Galvin, John F. Mitchell and other Senior Executives; and Sundry got to keep his job. But most importantly, the breakthroughs occurred when it was recognized that intensified focus and improved measurements, data collection, and more disciplined statistical approaches John F. Mitchell's untiring efforts, and support from Motorola engineers and senior management, prevailed and brought Japanese quality control methods back to the USA, and resulted in a significant and permanent change in culture at Motorola. "We ought to be better than we are," said Germain, director of Quality Improvement. The culmination of Motorola quality engineering efforts occurred in 1986, with the help of an outside quality control consultant who joined Motorola, Bill Smith when the Motorola University and Six-Sigma Institute was founded. Two years later, in 1988, Motorola received the coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award which is given by the United States Congress. Smith died of a heart attack in the Motorola cafeteria in 1993.