Wal-Mart Performance Improvement ProjectWal-Mart has difficulty developing and implementing a process that improves the quality of product materials because so many are involved international suppliers, manufacturers and companies. They must implement a set of standards that every company must adhere to by establishing acceptable standards that must be adhered to at all levels, regardless of whether the company is a local company or a foreign company. Most defective products come from abroad. The process that may provide the opportunity to resolve this dilemma is the process known as Six Sigma. This method is designed to handle process variations that cause defects. The concept of this process is to take an already established defect variation and use a step-by-step chain of events that will work towards managing the variation in order to eliminate the established acceptable defects. The purpose behind selecting this process is because Six Sigma has the ability to provide high performance, reliability, and value to the products purchased from Wal-Mart, giving the customer a better quality product. The process was conceived by Bill Smith while working at Motorola in 1986. The process was initially defined as a defect measurement and quality improvement metric that would establish precedence and standardize defect measurements for all Wal- Tuesday Six Sigma has been so successful in manufacturing that it has moved into other industries such as insurance, banking, telecommunications, healthcare, software, marketing and construction. Fortunately for Wal-Mart this process has not yet made its retail debut. This opportunity will give Wal-Mart a huge advantage over its competitors. I......middle of paper......remain leaders in electronic retail technology, then they will need to take the first step in the right direction regarding Six Sigma processes in the quality of the products they purchase.ReferencesEMA, Inc (2003). Six Sigma process improvements: find and solve problems, maintain profits. EMA, Inc. Retrieved August 17, 2006, from: http://www.ema-inc.com/PDF/MSS-401.pdf Phadnis, S. (2006). Selecting project metrics. iSixSigma. Retrieved August 16, 2006, from website: http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c011008a.aspWikipedia (2006). Six Sigma. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved August 16, 2006, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_SigmaWinings, J. (2005). The six steps to using Six Sigma. SPC Six Sigma. Retrieved August 18, 2006, from website: http://www.sixsigmaspc.com/six-sigma/sixsigma.html#sixsigmaastep