Six Sigma Plus is Honeywell’s core process-improvement strategy, later expanded into the Honeywell Operating System (HOS) and now known as Honeywell Accelerator. Honeywell defines a defect as anything causing customer dissatisfaction and uses Six Sigma Plus to speed up improvements in manufacturing, product development, and customer service. HOS added a three-tier maturity structure (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and produced documented results such as a 50% inventory cut in Transportation Systems and a 125% productivity gain at a Silver-level Aerospace site.
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What Is Six Sigma Plus at Honeywell?
Honeywell describes Six Sigma Plus as its main strategy for improving processes. The company states it plainly on its own site. Six Sigma Plus aims to give customers maximum value. It does this by speeding up improvements across every process.
Honeywell also defines sigma itself in clear terms. Sigma measures how well a process performs. This applies to manufacturing, product development, and customer service alike. Honeywell defines a defect simply. A defect is anything that causes customer dissatisfaction.
At Honeywell, Six Sigma is not just a toolkit. The company calls it an overall strategy. It aims to improve both growth and productivity. It also serves as a direct measurement of quality.
Key Takeaways
- Honeywell calls its Six Sigma program Six Sigma Plus, its core improvement strategy.
- Six Sigma Plus later grew into the Honeywell Operating System, or HOS.
- HOS uses three maturity levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
- Honeywell’s Transportation Systems division cut inventory by 50 percent using this system.
- Honeywell’s Aerospace division raised productivity by 125 percent at one Silver-level site.
- HOS later evolved into Honeywell’s current operating system, called Honeywell Accelerator.
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From Six Sigma to a Full Operating System
Honeywell did not stop at Six Sigma tools alone. The company built a broader framework around them. This framework became the Honeywell Operating System, or HOS.
Honeywell’s own investor materials describe HOS clearly. It combines continuous improvement with Lean tools. It also extends into sales, operations planning, and procurement. Honeywell states that HOS now touches every part of the business model.
HOS uses a three-tier maturity structure. Sites progress through Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. Each level reflects a deeper level of process discipline. This structure gives every plant a clear improvement path.
Honeywell also describes a cultural shift behind HOS. Leaders move from directing work to coaching teams. Operators move from simply doing tasks to actively improving them. Honeywell calls this a shift toward rapid, shared problem-solving.
Also Read: Six Sigma at Boeing: A Century of Quality, a Decade of Reckoning
A Real Example: Transportation Systems
Honeywell’s own investor presentation shares real results from this system. Its Transportation Systems division adopted HOS across multiple plants. The results appear directly in Honeywell’s March 2012 investor materials.
One plant cut its daily walking distance sharply. Workers once walked 2.7 kilometers during a shift. After improvement, that distance dropped to 150 meters. This came from removing wasted motion in the process layout.
The same division reduced inventory by half. Honeywell attributes this to operator-led improvements. Employees also submitted more than 100,000 new ideas in a single year. Honeywell notes these ideas moved from local sites to global use.
Visual management delivered another concrete gain. Output per square foot rose by 25 percent. This freed up floor space for future growth. Process standardization made this space visible and usable.
Honeywell also reports plant-level implementation speed improved. Full HOS rollout once took three years per site. That timeline shrank to about one year. Faster rollout meant faster access to these gains.
Quantified Results Across Silver-Level Sites
Honeywell’s investor materials include hard numbers for its Turbo Silver sites. These sites belong to the Transportation Systems division. Four metrics stand out clearly in the data.
Delivery performance improved by 10 percent. Quality, measured in parts per million, improved by 70 percent. Productivity rose by 40 percent at these sites. Inventory levels dropped by 50 percent as well.
Honeywell frames these results as a competitive advantage. The company states this directly in its own materials. It calls the outcome “industry best in class performance.” It also links these gains to customer satisfaction and cost leadership.
Also Read: How Caterpillar Used Six Sigma to Hit $30 Billion in Revenue Two Years Early
Aerospace Adopts the Same System
Honeywell extended HOS beyond Transportation Systems into Aerospace. The company’s Minneapolis site reached Silver-level maturity. Results from that site appear in the same investor presentation.
Delivery performance at this site improved by 60 percent. Productivity rose sharply, climbing 125 percent at Silver level. Quality, again measured in parts per million, improved by 26 percent. Inventory metrics improved by 240 basis points.
Honeywell credits this progress to specific practices. Accountability moved down to the shop floor directly. Sites gained direct connections to worldwide functional teams. Leadership offered coaching rather than only direction.
Honeywell set an ambitious deployment goal for Aerospace. The company aimed for full HOS deployment by 2014. It also targeted 100 percent of manufacturing sites reaching Bronze level or higher. Bronze and Silver sites already showed productivity gains of 50 percent by that point.
What Customers Said About HOS
Honeywell’s investor materials include direct customer feedback. These quotes come from real customers reacting to HOS results. Honeywell chose to publish them without edits.
One customer called HOS an industry best practice. They noted it delivers productivity and quality gains beyond typical manufacturing results. Another customer pointed to strong evidence from recent results. They said HOS projects were paying off directly at their site.
A third comment focused on culture, not just numbers. This customer said HOS felt engrained in daily operations. They also noted visible commitment from site leadership.
The Business Impact
Honeywell connects these operational gains directly to financial results. Its Transportation Systems segment shows this link clearly. Sales grew from 3.2 billion dollars in 2010 toward a projected 4.4 billion by 2014.
Segment margin expanded over the same period. Margin moved from 11.1 percent in 2010 toward a projected 15 percent by 2014. Honeywell frames HOS as a direct driver of this margin growth.
The company summarizes this connection in one clear statement. It calls HOS a driver of both growth rate and margin expansion. Honeywell positions the system as a long-term competitive advantage, not a short-term project.
From HOS to Honeywell Accelerator
Honeywell’s operating system did not stay static after 2012. The company has since evolved it into what it now calls Honeywell Accelerator. Honeywell describes this as its current enterprise operating system.
Honeywell states that Accelerator brings together its frameworks and toolkits. It supports these with a structured learning program. The company describes it as a common language for running the business.
This evolution shows something important about Six Sigma at Honeywell. The company did not treat Six Sigma Plus as a one-time initiative. It became the foundation for a system that keeps evolving.
Frequently Asked Questions on Six Sigma at Honeywell?
Q: What is Six Sigma Plus at Honeywell?
A: Six Sigma Plus is Honeywell’s core process-improvement strategy, aimed at speeding up improvements across manufacturing, product development, and customer service. Honeywell defines a defect as anything that causes customer dissatisfaction.
Q: What is the Honeywell Operating System (HOS)?
A: HOS is the broader framework Honeywell built around its Six Sigma Plus tools, combining continuous improvement and Lean practices and extending into sales, operations planning, and procurement. It uses a three-tier maturity structure of Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
Q: What results has Honeywell reported from HOS?
A: Honeywell’s Transportation Systems division cut inventory by 50%, reduced daily walking distance from 2.7 kilometers to 150 meters at one plant, and raised output per square foot by 25%. Its Aerospace division saw a 125% productivity gain and a 60% delivery improvement at a Silver-level site.
Q: How is HOS different from Honeywell Accelerator?
A: HOS was Honeywell’s operating system built on Six Sigma Plus and Lean tools starting around 2012. Honeywell has since evolved it into Honeywell Accelerator, its current enterprise operating system, which brings together its frameworks and toolkits with a structured learning program.
Q: Did HOS affect Honeywell’s financial performance?
A: Yes. Honeywell’s Transportation Systems segment sales grew from $3.2 billion in 2010 toward a projected $4.4 billion by 2014, while segment margin expanded from 11.1% toward a projected 15% over the same period, which Honeywell attributes directly to HOS.
Why This Case Study Matters for Six Sigma Training
Honeywell’s own data shows what disciplined Six Sigma deployment can produce. Real plants cut inventory. Real teams raised productivity by double digits. Real customers noticed the difference and said so directly.
These results did not come from the tools alone. They came from structured deployment, clear maturity levels, and sustained leadership commitment. This mirrors exactly what strong Six Sigma training should teach.
At Six Sigma Development Solutions, we build our training around this same discipline. Our Green Belt and Black Belt programs teach the tools behind results like these. We connect each tool to a real business outcome, not just a formula.
We offer training in three formats to fit different needs.
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About Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.
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