Six Sigma In Indian Industries

Six Sigma is an important part of the modern world industries, it helps in the reduction of errors and thereby making the whole processes better. As in relationships, you never have to say sorry, in statistics, you never have to say you’re certain. To understand the effects and how it makes the industries more efficient, we need to understand the foundations of Six Sigma.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is defined on Wikipedia as a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. A Six Sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of all opportunities to produce some feature of a part are statistically expected to be free of defects. It aims to improve the quality of output of a process by removing the elements which generate the defects and minimize the effects of variability of the process itself. It requires various quality management methods to achieve this, primarily empirical and statistical methods, and a special framework of individuals within the organization who are experts in these methods. Another important aspect is the value target set for each step, in an already defined sequence.

Fig 1. Motorola Headquarters Canada.

It was formulated by an American Engineer Bill Smith, while he was working at Motorola in 1986, while Jack Welch made it a central part of his business strategy at General Electronics. The name is derived from the statistical modeling processes, which were described by a sigma rating describing the yield of percentage of satisfactory products created, and from the normal distribution where a Sigam is used as a symbol for standard deviation.

Six Sigma projects follow two project methodologies, which have five phases in them, DMAIC and DMADV.

          DMAIC which is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control; is used for projects aimed at improving a pre-existent process

          DMADV or DFSS which is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify, and is also called DFSS i.e., Define For Six Sigma; is used for projects aimed at creating new products or processes.

Fig 2. A visual representation of the DMAIC process.

Now that we have a basic level of understanding about Six Sigma, we can absorb how it is being implemented in various industries, and ensuring a better standard in the output generated, directly affecting the customer satisfaction, as well as providing better profits, ultimately being better for the producers and consumers both.

Where and who would like to use it?

The primary users of the Six Sigma methodology are large organizations, which is exemplified by General Electronics, who announced the millions of dollars they had saved because of Six Sigma. Small organizations, with less than 500 employees are not the interested audience for the methods, at least directly, but some changes and tweaks in the standard applicative way are reflected by them to be beneficial. But the arsenal of Six Sigma brings with it, a lot of tools that work suitably well in small to mid-sized organizations. Even if the scope is dependent on the place of implementation, it can produce significant success based on the application.

Many organizations have come ahead to share their success with the use of Six Sigma practices, with international giants like Johnson and Johnson, Texas Instruments, being able to improve their direct savings, and the likes of Sony and Boeing getting big cuts in their waste management expenditure. In one of the biggest construction companies: Bechtel Corporation, where savings of $200 were made on an investment of $30 million in a Six Sigma program that aimed to prevent and rework the defects.

It has helped in shaping the industries, making it easier to control cash flow, accurate reporting, reducing a wide range of types of defects, and thereby less variable performance in the products. Bank of America has reported a reduction of customer issues by 24% due to the inclusion of Six.

In healthcare, there is zero-tolerance for errors and mistakes involving equipment. Thus, Six Sigma has a big goal to cover in this sector, which includes reducing the inventory of costly items, making the process more efficient, and refining reimbursements. A study at the University of Texas released a record 40 minutes preparation time for patients from 45 minutes to 5 minutes with well preparedness, and no extra expense.

Fig 3. Top 5 principles of Six Sigma

In India….

The manufacturing industries are the prime users of the Six Sigma Processes, we assume that the

It can be divided into several parts as there is a culture change, the education or the properly certified professionals, and other factors. The methodology has a specific mindset to be approached. Which according to the successful industries can be best done by communication, motivation, and education about the things. It is seen that there is a significant lack of desire by new companies to adopt the method.

Another important factor involving this is the infrastructure of the organization, industries require a good long term strategy, team building, and teamwork skills, along with the necessary interpersonal skills. These things need to be accounted for as well. Additionally, training and education are critical parts of the process, certain certifications are available to be gained, as well training can be provided from the top to the bottom in an industrial hierarchy. It is observed that most Six Sigma projects fail or are discontinued in between, because of a lack of proper management skills.

Fig 4. Six Sigma Certification structure in training

Indian industries should develop methodologies required for effective implementation, instead of walking the path set by the foreign giants, as there is no perfect template, and needs to be modified to the specific needs. It also makes the processes more profitable, while reducing variability, leading to high scrap rate and high rework rate, and low productivity. It is also necessary to pay attention to the customer, as they are the most important part of any business is the customer, to provide the best products, there is a need to reduce variability, which can be achieved by choosing and staying with the same suppliers which can provide the specific Sigma requirements. Training people is although an important aspect, can not be done by a lot of Indian companies, maybe due to financial constraints or due to other reasons, and hence cannot make the best out of the process implementation by training.

We can confidently say that Six Sigma brings a lot of benefit with it, and it can help in achieving long term goals in all types of activities. But a proper mindset needs to be taken towards it, and surely the satisfaction to the customers, as well as the profits expected can be achieved.

Fig 5. A Mumbai Dabbawala, contributing to the 99.99999% accuracy.

Various industries in India have already adopted the Six Sigma methodology, like Tata Steel, and Asian Paints, to the most famous example of Mumbai’s Dabbawalas, it is always proven that the methodology has a great scope in the growing world of Indian industries, from all perspectives.