Raytheon Six Sigma was developed by benchmarking other companies and leveraging internal best practices. An internal team, supported by a consortium of external experts, worked to explore approaches and to define a strategy unique to Raytheon. This team was guided by the Raytheon’s CEO who planned to bring the company together by embedding Raytheon Six Sigma into the fabric of the organization. His vision was to:

• Make customer success a strategic focus for the company
• Increase productivity
• Transform the culture
• Grow the business 

The integrated business strategy that emerged brings together all of the key areas that were critical to success:

Customer Focus: Customer satisfaction is the top priority. Understand each customer’s culture and needs. Focus on activities that add value to their products and eliminate those which do not. Build lasting relationships and anticipate customer needs to achieve a competitive edge. Be the supplier of choice.

Tools: Identify the constraints and high-leverage opportunities through the business diagnostic process then combine the statistical process-analysis techniques of traditional Six Sigma with the lean manufacturing approach to eliminate waste and non-value-added activity. Provide the right analytical tools for each situation.

Culture: Transform the corporate culture to embrace a process-improvement/measurement focus, teamwork and empowerment. Shift from valuing functional behavior to adopting a business/customer focus.