Empirical analysis of Six Sigma project capability deficiency and its impact on project success

Ten commandments for successful implementation of Design for Six Sigma

Purpose

This article aims to provide Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) practitioners, researchers and academicians with Ten Commandments to successfully deploy projects.

Design/methodology/approach

The commandments are the brainchild of four authors' experience and expertise for more than 15 years of DFSS deployment in the spectrum of fields as a consultant, researcher, academic and Master Black Belt in Six Sigma and general quality management and engineering disciplines. Thus ascertained commandments were validated and classified through the “Delphi Study” to ensure its applicability.

Findings

The Ten Commandments from authors' perspective include: alignment of DFSS with organisational strategy; top management support and involvement; listening to the voice of the customers (VOC); effective training programme for right project teams; project selection and prioritisation; linking DFSS with ISO international standards; linking DFSS with organisational learning and innovation; linking DFSS with the 4th Industrial Revolution; effective use of DFSS methodology and the integrated tools within the methodology and reward and recognition schemes.

Research limitations/implications

The commandments presented in this article are the authors' personal experience in different industrial scenarios and settings and demographical locations. The authors are planning to conduct a longitudinal survey to understand further insights of these commandments with the input of several DFSS Black Belts and Master Black Belts, academicians and leading researchers from various countries.

Originality/value

All the organisation's stakeholders can use this article as general guidelines to ensure effective deployment of the DFSS approach.

Lean Six Sigma competitiveness for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME): an action research in the Indian context

Purpose

The aim of the article is to ascertain the challenges, lessons learned and managerial implications in the deployment of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) competitiveness to micro, small and medium Enterprises (MSME) in India and to establish doctrines to strengthen the initiatives of the government.

Design/methodology/approach

The research adopts the Action Research methodology to develop a case study, which is carried out in the printing industry in a Tier III city using the LSS DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) approach. It utilizes LSS tools to deploy the strategy and to unearth the challenges and success factors in improving the printing process of a specific batch of a product.

Findings

The root cause for the critical to quality (CTQ) characteristic, turn-around-time (TAT) is determined and the solutions are deployed through the scientifically proven data-based approach. As a result of this study, the TAT reduced from an average of 1541.2–1303.36 min, which in turn, improved the sigma level from 0.55 to 2.96, a noteworthy triumph for this MSME. The company realizes an annual savings of USD 12,000 per year due to the success of this project. Top Management Leadership, Data-Based Validation, Technical Know-how and Industrial Engineering Knowledge Base are identified as critical success factors (CSFs), while profitability and on-time delivery are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the MSME. Eventually, the lessons learned and implications indicate that LSS competitiveness can be treated as quality management standards (QMS) and quality tools and techniques (QTT) to ensure competitive advantage, sustainable green practices and growth.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the findings and recommendations of this research are based on a single case study, it is worth noting that the case study is executed in a Tier III city along with novice users of LSS tools and techniques. This indicates the applicability of LSS in MSME and thus, the modality adopted can be further refined to suit the socio-cultural aspects of India.

Originality/value

This article illustrates the deployment of LSS from the perspective of novice users, to assist MSME and policymakers to reinforce competitiveness through LSS. Moreover, the government can initiate a scheme in line with LSS competitiveness to complement the existing schemes based on the findings of the case study.

Modelling the barriers of Lean Six Sigma for Indian micro-small medium enterprises

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and develop the interrelationship among them using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matriced Impact Croises Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement (MICMAC).

Design/methodology/approach

Using systematic literature review and expert’s opinions, 26 LSS barriers have been extracted and finalized through statistical analysis, that is importance-index analysis and corrected item minus total correlation methods. The statistical analysis of purified 22 LSS barriers has been carried out and consistency of finalized barriers has been checked through reliability statistical test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Finally, the contextual relationship among finalized LSS barriers is developed using ISM and MICMAC approach.

Findings

The ISM model indicates that insufficient management commitment and involvement, lack of resources, lack of training and education, lack of strategic thinking, lack of training funds are strategic factors; improper project selection, poor selection of employee for belt training, lack of total employee involvement, lack of awareness of about LSS are prudent factors; unclear vision, high implementation cost, resistance to culture change, weak supplier linkage, poor alignment between company’s goal and customer demand are burst factors. Furthermore, MICMAC analysis is splitting the LSSBs in four clusters according to their driving power and dependency. These results provide a clear mind-set to engineering manager for focusing more on LSS barriers according to their driving power and dependency.

Research limitations/implications

There may be biasness in making pairwise comparison matrix of barriers due to involvement of expert’s opinion as human error.

Practical implications

The outcome of this paper provides robust practical implication for LSS researchers and practitioners. The researcher and practitioners must consciously concentrate on the identified LSSBs more conventionally during LSS implementation, and they need to plan strategically to avoid any implementation failure.

Originality/value

For successful implementation of LSS in any organization, it is necessary and permeable to make strategy for controlling LSS barriers at initial stage. So this paper is a leading attempt to highlight main LSS barriers and interrelate them using ISM and MICMAC approach. It provides a clear path for tackling LSS barriers to engineering managers, researchers and consultants.