Bill Ross, Founder and CEO (303.517.5579) found statistics and scientific method to be effective for understanding and improving processes and products by determining the underlying causal structure. Early in his career, he was an engineer supporting supplier improvement initiatives (StorageTek). Suppliers included Fortune 500 companies, low and high tech, low and high volume. The use of statistical method and thinking was not part of his degree (Geochemistry, University of Colorado), but was mostly self-taught and developed through numerous applications. Devoutly deterministic, Bill has 35+ years of application experience with over 15,000 sampling plans and designed experiments under his belt. Bill learned from and worked with recognized leaders in industrial statistics (including Drs. Box, Hogg, Bisgaard, Fung, Diamond, Wadsworth, Mundel, Schilling, Shainin, Takahashi, Thyregod, Johnson, McLean, Taguchi, and R. Sanders) including co-instruction with Dr. Taguchi in Japan. He attended advanced classes in analytical statistics from the University of Tennessee (Drs. McLean and Sanders) and the University of Wisconsin (Drs. Box, Bisgaard and Fung). Self-study and vast application experience made Bill proficient at applying proactive scientific method and statistical strategies to research and development, manufacturing and business processes. He was active in the development of national (EIA QRE: EIA-599, IPC: IPC-PC-90) and international standards (ISO TC176, TC 69, and IEC TC 56) to foster the methodology. In 1992, recommended by Dr. Mikel Harry, Bill founded Six Sigma Associates and thus became the first ever consultant in Six Sigma. Under his vision and leadership and working with Drs. Doug Sanders and Tony Cooper, Sigma Science Inc. continuously assesses both the applicability, comprehension and completeness of the material and strives to integrate practical techniques found to understand and improve processes and products. Bill’s role is to act as teacher, mentor, facilitator, motivator, technical advisor and protagonist. He is a strong believer in Socratic Method and has very high expectations for the individuals he mentors.
