Ge and Six Sigma

Six Sigma (6¦Ð¢) ЁC A Revolution for the G.E. Culture

The history of General Electric and it's products and research is one that is outstanding

and marked by inventions which serve as milestones in technological advancement

throughout time. Such inventions and technological advancements span from Edison's

invention of the light bulb to jet-engines. Specifically, General Electric's entrance into the

refrigeration market around 1923 (Cowan 132) can be further analyzed by first focusing

on the times leading up to the invention and further production of refrigerators.

Prior to any type of mechanical refrigeration, families and commercials alike utilized ice

to keep their foods cool. Such practices required large amounts of ice making ice a

"commodity for export"(Lynes, 123) giving rise to ice manufacturing. Households and

businesses would have ice blocks delivered to them where they would then be stored in

ice boxes. This early form of refrigeration was costly and required maintenance, but

began to expand the capabilities of shipping and preserving food. Cowan states that "the

need for mechanical refrigeration was growing as cities began to expand, both in Europe

and in the United States, and ever larger quantities of food had to be preserved for longer

periods of time as people continued to move farther from the places where it was

grown."(Cowan, 129). The emergence of the mechanical refrigerator in the 1900's

revolutionized the preservation, transportation and refrigeration of food and had far

reaching effects on the economy, the national diet, and home life of America.

The mechanical refrigerator can be divided into two types, the gas refrigerator also

known as absorption refrigerator, and the electric or compression refrigerator. Both types

of refrigerators operate by the actions of "vaporization and the condensation of a liquid

1

called the refrigerant" (Cowan, 128) The difference in the two types of mechanical

refrigerators lies in how each controls the condensation and the vaporization of its

refrigerant. (World book Encyclopedia, 199-202) The electric refrigerator uses a

compressor which is a piece of machinery requiring electricity that acts as a pump. The

gas refrigerator on the other hand does not require electricity but gas to heat the

refrigerant. The gas or "absorption refrigerator consequently does not require a motor"

and "need have no moving parts at all, hence no parts that are likely to break or to make

noise". (Cowan, 129) Prior to the mass production of refrigerator though, not only was

owning one considered to be rare and expensive for the individual but also hard to

maintain for the commercial owner. (Cowan, 130) This left room for improvement in the

market of refrigerators and led to the development of refined production techniques.

Production of refrigerators was on the rise but not produced on a large-scale until

1918 by Goss and Copeland called the Kelvinator company (Cowan, 131) and it was

about this time that General Electric became interested in entering the market. A man by

the name of A.R. Stevenson was hired to research the market. He found that 56

companies were involved in the business at the time, some of which were heavily

capitalized. Also at this time in 1923 the cheapest unit would have cost the consumer

$450 which was an rather large amount considering the $2000 average salary. (Cowan,

132) Considering these factors as well as the fact that many of these refrigerators required

constant service, with many parts, the market held opportunity for improvement and

profit, so consequentially GE entered the business. "By the 1920's, General Electric was

an enormous corporation with vast resources and had its finger in almost every aspect of

the electrical industry in the United States." (Cowan, 135) "In the fall of 1925, limited

2

production began, and the "Monitor Top" was introduced to G.E.'s sales force and to the

electric utility companies. During 1926, construction of an assemble line began (at a total

cost of eighteen million dollars)" and "in 1927, a new department of the company was

created to promote and market the machine." (Cowan, 136) "In 1927 General Electric

became the first manufacturer to make a hermetically sealed motor and to sell the box as

an integral part of its refrigerating machinery. (Cowan, 134) "By 1929, fifty thousand

Monitor Tops had been sold." (Cowan, 136) It could be deducted then that G.E. was

making considerable advancements but their next step, to invest heavily in switching

from water to air cooling proved to be their most advantageous maneuver. Since the

"electric power bill of the air cooled machine would be about $1.30 more in 6 months

time than the water