547 SIX SIGMA: GENERATING IMPROVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES DRD. SOARE PAUL-BOGDAN The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies Abstract: Following decades of developments within the area of quality management, contemporary research came to embrace the concept of Six Sigma – business strategy that was developed within the manufacturing environment, that increased it’s importance and came to be used quite extensively also in the service industry. Summary: This article begins by describing the history of the attention provided to quality and then a presentation of the concept of Six Sigma. What is Six Sigma? Where is it being applied? who interests it? why do we need Six Sigma, and where to apply it – answers to these questions will be provided in the second part of the article. This article is describing the standard Six Sigma methodology, which is composed out of 5 stages: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control (DMAIC), which together with the corresponding statistical and managerial tools are used in order to sustain the process. In the third part of the article, a couple applications of Six Sigma are reviewed, and then in the end of the article the emphasis is being placed on perspectives and conclusions. The quality concept, as a term, traces its roots in latin, originating from the word «qualis», which had a meaning of – way of being. The awareness of quality is present in the history of humanity since antiquity; it can be identified with the works of Aristotle, Hagel, being present even also with Dimitrie Cantemir. Following progress in manufacturing, quality moved from not being solely a philosophical concept, but an economical one, becoming an interest for most organisations, being carried out through management. Prior to the industrial revolution, manufacturing was viewed as an art, and quality, the measure of this art. This perception was due to the specialisation of the work that everyone was performing, the master craftsmans were viewed as artists, they were producing works of art and their apprentices looked up to them with expectations of being able to improve their skills with the help of their masters. James Watt brought a fundamental change on work processes through the development of the steam engine, which determined manufacturing to become systemic and collective, resulting in the worker’s depersonification and the necessity for supervision and quality control of every manufactured product. These 19 th century changes to the way manufacturing is managed had beneficial consequences concerning quality. With the involvement of innovators like Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management and one of the first management consultants, the importance of workers specialisation was highlighted together with the progress of quality. Taylor made his contribution to the development of quality management by placing emphasis on standardisation and best practices. Henry Ford highlighted the importance of processes and lean manufacturing, his quality management practices becoming materialised in the assembly lines, beginning with the