While the exact nature of the tie-up is yet to be finalised, the two groups have already begun their partnership by holding a series of seminars in six different cities in the country. "Trying to sell the Six Sigma concept won't work. What we plan to do is create awareness, and then if companies are ready to incorporate the concept, we plan to be there to help," Motorola University managing consultant Charles Loew says.

The Six Sigma concept was first adopted by Motorola in 1987 to reduce the total number of defects in its manufacturing process. Subsequently, the huge success of theconcept led to the incorporation of the concept to other areas of Motorola's business as sales per employee rose substantially. The concept was then adopted by General Electric and a host of other multinationals to boost their bottomlines.

At the moment there are only two companies in the country incorporating the Six Sigma concept -- Wipro and CitiBank. CitiBank has adopted the concept for its worldwide network. However, according Eicher Consultancy chief consultant Debu Bandyopadhyay, more and more companies are showing interest in this approach to quality management. Prospective clients include Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, Whirlpool and Pidilite.

Eicher Consultancy already has a joint-venture partnership with Strategic Design Group for strategic consulting and another working partnership with consultancy firm WCS for consultancy in operations management for Total Productivity Manintenance projects. It now plans to formalise a similar partnership with Motorola University.

According to Loew, "Getting clientsis not the chief criteria. We have to get organisations which genuinely believe that the customer is the true driver of an organisation and therefore work towards complete customer satisfaction." A formal decision on the precise nature of the tie up between the two companies should be finalised in the next couple of weeks.