Viva DMAIC (Bill Smith) Unisex Long Sleeve T-Shirt

Belt it out: Viva DMAIC!

And look sharp while honoring the, “Father of Six Sigma,” Bill Smith.

This is our long-sleeve version, for the six sigma black or green belt in cooler climates.

Our conversation starter is not available in stores.

Bill Smith is standing in for The King, bringing the house down in Vegas. Far as we know, Mr. Smith was not blessed with Presley’s pipes or sense of fashion, but Smith’s quiet contributions to our world outweighs Presley’s.

#IYKYK

Look fellow quality improvement enthusiasts, it's okay if you don't know Bill Smith. Most people don’t.

Deming, Ishikawa, Juran, Ohno, Shewhart, Shingo… We know them well. We tip our hats to you, gentlemen. But c'mon. No Bill Smith? As vice president and senior quality assurance manager at Motorola, the dude organized and standardized continuous quality improvement into the time-tested methodology we know today.

Only the deepest of divers who have plumbed the Six Sigma archives know the name Bill Smith. His name is not taught in most black belt courses, but he and a couple Unisys engineers literally named those classes. He came up with the belt system, in Salt Lake City, back in 1987.

Unisys in Salt Lake had adopted six sigma as learned from Bill and his crew at Motorola, which was headquartered in Phoenix. Team Motorola were visiting Team Unisys. One of the Unisys's issues was their engineers and analysts showed little interest in signing on to the DMAIC program.

At the time, the specialists who loyally followed the Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control methodology were known as, "process characterization experts." Yikes.

That title barely fit on a business card and it was not cool. So Bill and his buddies conspired. They needed a title with a dash of pizzazz. Something that rand of action. Maybe they were Bruce Lee fans. In any case, they settled on six sigma black belt, and the rest is history.

We at QI Curiosities can understand how a great historical figure can be lost to time, but we are stunned (STUNNED!) by how many people don’t recognize the origins of this design.

It’s The King, bringing the house down in Vegas. Far as we know, Bill Smith wasn’t blessed with Presley’s pipes or sense of fashion, but Smith’s quiet contributions to our world outweighs Presley’s.

• 100% combed ring-spun cotton
• Heather colors are 52% combed and ring-spun cotton, 48% polyester
• Athletic Heather is 90% combed and ring-spun cotton, 10% polyester
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142.4 g/m²)
• 32 singles
• Regular fit
• Side-seamed construction
• Crew neck
• Cover-stitched collar
• 2″ (5 cm) ribbed cuffs
• Blank product sourced from Nicaragua, Honduras, or the US

This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!

Size guide