Xcellenss — Business excellence and quality | xcellenss.com

Xcellenss — Business excellence and quality | xcellenss.com

Six Excellence Frameworks Compared

Six frameworks, one table: what each is for, how it is structured, and what is actually certified, scored or awarded.

The six names get lumped together as quality frameworks, but they answer different questions. ISO 9001 asks whether a management system meets requirements; Six Sigma asks how many defects a process produces; Baldrige asks how good the whole organisation is.

Structure separates them first. ISO 9001:2015 has 10 clauses with requirements in clauses 4 to 10. Six Sigma has 5 DMAIC phases. Baldrige has 7 criteria worth 1,000 points. Lean has 8 wastes under the DOWNTIME mnemonic, and CMMI has 5 maturity levels from Initial to Optimizing.

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What you hold at the end separates them further. ISO 9001 issues a 3-year certificate with surveillance every 12 months. Baldrige issues a score — 450 of its 1,000 points sit on Results. Six Sigma issues nothing but a measured defect rate of 3.4 DPMO or better, and Lean issues nothing at all.

EFQM rounds out the set as a European excellence framework used mainly for self-assessment rather than pass/fail certification. It shares Baldrige's whole-organisation view but is applied by the organisation to itself.

Use the comparison to shortlist, then go deeper: the ISO 9001 Certification Step by Step page covers the audit cycle in order, and Running a DMAIC Improvement Cycle covers the project method phase by phase.

  • Purpose: proof, defect reduction, diagnosis, waste removal or maturity.
  • Structure: clauses, phases, criteria, wastes or levels.
  • Outcome: certificate, number, score, cleaner flow or a rating.
  • Cycle: 3 years with 12-month surveillance, project-based, annual or continuous.

Further reading