Abstract

Bank of America began its Six Sigma journey several years ago when the company shifted its strategic goals from growth through acquisition and merger to organic growth - acquiring and retaining profitable customer relationships. Despite earlier process improvement efforts, key process performance was still poor and customer delight scores were low. Top executives determined that the more disciplined and comprehensive Six Sigma approach was called for. Senior Six Sigma professionals were recruited from industry to seed a culture of quality throughout the company and to provide an outside view of customer delight. Six Sigma tools were applied across the entire value chain to eliminate variation and errors in key processes. Green Belt projects have increased sales, improved service, and delighted customers. Six Sigma and other quality tools that have become part of the company culture have created benefits of more than $2 billion, proving that Six Sigma can work in financial se!rvices, even outside operational areas.