Is It Greek To You? With just 3.4 defects per million units, the Six Sigma strategy may seem somewhat foreign. Welcome to the quality-assurance system the big boys use.

Simon Dolan first heard of Six Sigma in a 1994 book recountingchairman John F. Welch's revitalization of General Electric. Itsounded awesome--a quality measurement goal that allows just 3.4defects per million units. (For comparison, 99 percent accuracyallows for 10,000 failures per million.)

At the time, that quality level seemed almost unimaginable atDolan Industries Inc., a 41-person fastener manufacturing companyfounded by Dolan's father. But within a few years, afterstrenuous effort, the Clinton, Massachusetts, company begansuccessfully meeting the rigorous requirements of the ISO 9000quality standard, which is comparable to Six Sigma.

Six Sigma came up again more recently at Dolan Industries, thistime at a meeting of suppliers for one of the company's largecustomers. All the suppliers were told they must embrace the SixSigma goal to keep selling to the company. Suddenly, achieving SixSigma was no longer a choice--if Dolan Industries wants to keepselling to one of its largest customers, that is. Says Dolan,"Inevitably, we're going to have to achieve SixSigma."