There's some really sound ideas in six-sigma as well as the other practices that evolved from manufacturing like Lean, Kanban, TQM, etc. These approaches work,

There's some really sound ideas in six-sigma as well as the other practices that evolved from manufacturing like Lean, Kanban, TQM, etc. These approaches work, for real. The problems start when they become excessively dogmatic, or as some say cargo-cultish. These systems are intended to help people solve problems in an orderly way, they're not a replacement for common-sense judgement, and original thinking (which, <gasp>, is STILL NEEDED). Sadly, the personality types that tend to go into supply-chain and manufacturing (and that's where I happen to work) tend to be frequented by rigid-thinkers who crave process and prescriptive "checklist" approaches. Whatever new thing these people take up, it's eventually ends up as a turgid mess of dogma.