Final answer:
Motorola was the early pioneer of the Six Sigma approach, developing it in 1986 to improve manufacturing and business process quality.
Step-by-step explanation:
An early pioneer of the Six Sigma approach was Motorola. The concept of Six Sigma was developed by Motorola in 1986 as a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. Led by engineer Bill Smith, the methodology aimed to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It became widely known after General Electric adopted it under the leadership of Jack Welch in the mid-1990s, which often leads to confusion about its origins. However, it was indeed Motorola that was the early pioneer and first company to implement Six Sigma in an effort to achieve higher levels of quality in its manufacturing processes.