in my experience with six sigma (back at Sun Microsystems) and its various incarnations later it is among the worst things which can happen (though the company has to already be in significant rot to let such parasite in), last nail into the coffin so to say, it is the moment when totally clueless, this time by-design, management - all those six sigma certified belts - overtake the product development and kill whatever last reason and sense that was still there. And that is what article describes happened with GE and Boeing when they got overtaken by such a management. Anyway, the point of the article seems to be not the details of how Jack and his spawn ruined those companies, the point is the climate change related effects of that.