the role of academic institutions in use of six sigma – an...

Chronicle Of The Neville Wadia Institute Of Management Studies And Research ISSN 2230-9667

Feb., 2012

92

General Management

The Role of Academic Institutions in Use of Six Sigma – An Improvement Tool

N. D. Junnarkar Associate Professor -Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune

Abstract

Six Sigma is a highly disciplined, customer-oriented and bottom-line driven business improvement strategy that relies on statistical methods to make dramatic reductions in defect rates in processes; manufacturing, service or transactional. Organizations that implement Six Sigma have benefited from it in three major ways: reduced defect rate; reduced operational costs; and increased value for both cus-tomers and shareholders. Six sigma has been sweeping the business world with remarkable results over the last 20 years or so. It is now more than hype; it is a recognized methodology for solving process and quality related problems in modern organizations. A researcher in the field of quality engineering and management, many have personally observed over a period of time that six sigma is not widely accepted by many academics in leading business and engineering schools across globe. In many engineering and business curricula, statistical and non-statistical tools and techniques such as Design of Experi-ments (DoE), Taguchi Methods (TMe), Statistical Process Control (SPC), Quality Function Deploy-ment (QFD), Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), Seven Tools of Quality, etc. are often taught as standalone packages. Six sigma is a statistically based quality improvement methodology leads to breakthrough in product / process quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. The concept of six sigma was pioneered at Motorola in the 1980’s and the concept was to reduce the number of defects to as low as 3.4 parts per million opportunities.

This paper aims at focusing the understanding the concept of six sigma , its statistical meaning and ben-efits of implementing Six Sigma , and Six Sigma as a part of regular studies in engineering and manage-ment institutions in the country so that the benefits can go to various sectors of industries like Education, Healthcare, Finance, Manufacturing Engineering and Construction, R&D etc.

Keywords: Six Sigma, Variation, quality Improvement, Educational Institutions

Abbreviations :DoE -Design of Experiments, Tme -Taguchi Methods, SPC- Statistical Process Control, QFD -Quality Function Deployment, FMEA - Failure Mode and Effect Analysis,R&D- Research & Development, DPMO – Defects Per Million Opportunities, DMAIC – Define Measure Analyze Im-prove and Control, DMADV – Define Measure Analyze Design and Verify, LSL – Lower Scale Limit, USL – Upper Scale Limit, CTQ – Critical To Quality, Cp – Process Capability, DFSS – Design for Six Sigma, GDP – Gross Domestic Product , DPMO – Defects per million opportunities, COPQ – Cost of Poor Quality, SQL – Sigma Quality Level, CFS- Critical Success Factor, SME – Small Medium Sized

Chronicle Of The Neville Wadia Institute Of Management Studies And ResearchISSN 2230-9667

Feb., 2012

93

General Management

Enterprise

Introduction :

Six sigma framework can provide an excellent platform for integrating all the statistical most commonly used tools and techniques into the curricula of engineering and business schools. Students in academic institutions will be exposed to real-world problems and cases. Many students in engineering and busi-ness schools do not appreciate the true value of practically useful quality and process improvement tools which require statistical skills and expertise. Academic institutions can certainly offer low cost solutions to many burning problems in the industrial world and the daily routine operations in the social frame work by utilizing the best-in-class practice of six sigma and lean methodologies. Organizations can save several thousands of Rupees (in small companies) and several lacs of rupees (in the case of big corporations) on the training front if future employees are already trained up on the tools, techniques and methodologies of lean and six sigma. Amitava Mitra (2004), Associate Dean and Professor in the College of Business at Auburn University, argues that for companies to survive, they need employees who can continuously improve their products and services, and that academic institutions have both the means and responsibility to train these personnel because they are “a central system of knowledge research and its dissemination”. BITS Pilani India, has tried the similar model in 1970’s and now it is witnessed that many of the multinational companies are offering higher education to their employees in the area of expert domain of the industries through the academic platform provided by the university. Many engineering and business students in European universities develop skills in their own area of study, but largely without any formal training to help them integrate the required skills into a holistic problem-solving framework which requires statistical, management and technical skills. The future engineers and managers should pick up a good blend of statistical, technical and leadership skills for tackling business problems in organizations and It is strongly believed that six sigma and lean strate-gies can provide solutions to such problems. What is the best curriculum in the market to teach both lean and six sigma topics in the business and engineering schools? It is noticed that there is no standard curriculum for six sigma at this stage in many top engineering and business schools in India. Students may take few hours of lectures or in some cases a module covering both aspects of six sigma and lean.( Antony, J. 2004)

However from a research point of view, it is essential to develop a standard curriculum on lean six sigma (which is an integration of lean and six sigma strategies) in both engineering and business schools. The six sigma programs offered in Indian Statistical Institutions and many other professional institutions are worth exploring as a good starting point although programs have too much emphasis on statistical methods.

Six Sigma aims for processes to be improved, so that problems don’t occur, instead of just finding short term solutions to the problems. Finding short term solutions is improving on the second level of learn-ing. Consequently, what organizations should be aiming for is improving on the first level of learning. At its foundation, Six Sigma is teaching everyone in the organization to become more effective and efficient (Eckes, G. 2003).

What is Six Sigma

Six Sigma is often defined as: “A quality improvement program with a goal of reducing the number of


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defects to as low as 3.4 parts per million opportunities or 0.0003%”

Six Sigma is a highly disciplined approach that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. Why Sigma ? The word is a statistical term that measures how far a given pro-cess deviates from perfection. The central idea behind Six Sigma is that if you can measure how many defects you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and get as close to zero defects as possible. The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing .To achieve Six Sigma,a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per mil-lion opportunities. The following table summarizes defects per million opportunities corresponding to Sigma level.

Table 1: Six sigma level and corresponding DPMO (Defects per million opportunities)

Sigma Level Defects per Million Opportunities0 933,1931 691,4622 308,5373 66,8074 6,2105 2336 3.4

Six Sigma Methodology

Six Sigma has two methodologies DMAIC and DMADV both inspired by Deming’s Plan -Do- Check- Act cycle. DMAIC is used to improve the existing business process and DMADV is used to create new product or process design.

The Statistical Definition of Six Sigma

The objective in driving for Six Sigma performance is to reduce or narrow variation to such a degree that standard deviation can be squeezed within the limits defined by the customers specification(LSL & USL) as shown in the fig. 1. For many products, services and processes that means a potential for enor-mous improvement. The statistics associated with Six Sigma are relatively simple. To define Six Sigma statistically, two concepts are required: specification limits and the normal distribution. Specification limits are the tolerance or performance ranges that customers demand of the products or services they are purchasing. Because variability is so ubiquitous in the real world, the specification limits should be set in a way that permits some degree of imprecision in the work done. The following Figure illustrates specification limits as the two major vertical lines in the figure. The target value, shown in the figure as X , is naturally at the exact center between the upper and lower specification limits. These specification limits are independent of the bell-shaped curve of the normal distribution, also shown in the figure 1. The customer expects the result to fall somewhere between the upper and lower specification limits, if not exactly in the center (x¯). It is up to the customer to decide whether or not the extreme values at the specification limits are acceptable quality levels. The values outside the customer specification limits are considered defects, failures, or non-conformities

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Check- Act cycle. DMAIC is used to improve the existing business process and DMADV is used to

create new product or process design.

The Statistical Definition of Six Sigma

The objective in driving for Six Sigma performance is to reduce or narrow variation to such a

degree that standard deviation can be squeezed within the limits defined by the customers

specification(LSL & USL) as shown in the fig. 1. For many products, services and processes that

means a potential for enormous improvement. The statistics associated with Six Sigma are

relatively simple. To define Six Sigma statistically, two concepts are required: specification limits

and the normal distribution. Specification limits are the tolerance or performance ranges that

customers demand of the products or services they are purchasing. Because variability is so

ubiquitous in the real world, the specification limits should be set in a way that permits some

degree of imprecision in the work done. The following Figure illustrates specification limits as the

two major vertical lines in the figure. The target value, shown in the figure as X , is naturally at the

exact center between the upper and lower specification limits. These specification limits are

independent of the bell-shaped curve of the normal distribution, also shown in the figure 1. The

customer expects the result to fall somewhere between the upper and lower specification limits, if

not exactly in the center (x¯ ). It is up to the customer to decide whether or not the extreme values at

the specification limits are acceptable quality levels. The values outside the customer specification

limits are considered defects, failures, or non-conformities

��

The tabular information in Figure 1 indicates the percentage of the area under the normal curve that

can be found within ±1Ã units throughout ±6Ã units centered about the mean, where Ã represents


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Figure 1. Normal Distribution Between Six Sigma Limits

The tabular information in Figure 1 indicates the percentage of the area under the normal curve that can be found within ±1Ã units throughout ±6Ã units centered about the mean, where Ã represents true population standard deviation. For instance, ±3Ã units of standard deviation represent 99.73% of the total area under the normal distribution curve (100%).

Hence the main objective of six sigma methodology is to reduce or narrow variation so that output of the process remains within the limits defined by the customers specification.

Six Sigma Roadmap: Six Sigma methodology provides a rigorous road map for quality improvement. When the objective is to improve an existing product or process, the road map consists of five critical steps DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, as shown in Figure 2.

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true population standard deviation. For instance, ±3Ã units of standard deviation represent 99.73%

of the total area under the normal distribution curve (100%).

Hence the main objective of six sigma methodology is to reduce or narrow variation so that output

of the process remains within the limits defined by the customers specification.

Six Sigma Roadmap: Six Sigma methodology provides a rigorous road map for quality

improvement. When the objective is to improve an existing product or process, the road map

consists of five critical steps DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, as shown

in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The DMAIC activities

The process steps in the DMAIC concept are

Define the customers, their Critical to Quality (CTQ) issues, and the processes involved.

Measure the performance of the processes involved. Analyze the data collected and process map to determine root causes of defects and opportunities for improvement.

CONTROL

IMPROVE

DEFINE

MEASURE

ANALYSISSolution Generation Solution Selection Solution Implementation

Data Collection Plan Data Collection Plan Implementation

Data Analysis Process Analysis Root Cause Analysis

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Figure 2. The DMAIC activitiesThe process steps in the DMAIC concept are :

Define the customers, their Critical to Quality (CTQ) issues, and the processes involved.Measure the performance of the processes involved.Analyze the data collected and process map to determine root causes of defects andopportunities for improvement.Improve the target process by designing creative solutions to fix and prevent problems.Control the improvements to keep the process on the new course.

Key Concepts of Six SigmaAt its core, Six Sigma revolves around a few key concepts.Critical to Quality(CTQ):Attributes most important to the customer Defect: Failing to deliver what the customer wants Process Capability(Cp):What your process can deliver


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Variation: What the customer sees and feels Stable Operations:Ensuring consistent, predictable processes to improve what the customer sees and feels

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS): Designing to meet customer needs & process capability often, our inside-out view of the business is based on average or mean-based measures of our recent past. Cus-tomers don’t judge the company on averages, they feel the variance in each transaction, each product company ships. Six Sigma focuses first on reducing process variation and then on improving the process capability.

Customers value consistent, predictable business processes that deliver world-class levels of quality. This is what Six Sigma strives to produce.

Reported Benefits of Implementing Six Sigma :Education Sector - Education could benefit a great from six sigma theory; therefore, many researcher recommended that six sigma theory should be included in the training programs of the educational lead-ers to face rapid technological evolutions in globalized scenario.

Although various scholars have written on six sigma in academic institutions, the studies have a very narrow focus. While some studies focus on implementing six sigma to assist university administrators with decision-making on issues such as retaining students in academic programs based on extensive data analysis, others focus on integrating the six sigma methodology in an academic program (engineer-ing, statistics, etc.), school or college ( Lawrence O. Jenicke et.al 2008).

Several authors examine the role of six sigma to support decision-making in science and engineer-ing programs at two different universities (Burtner, 2004; Hargrove and Burge, 2002). Burtner (2004) recommends using the six sigma methodology at the Mercer University School of Engineering to pro-vide university administrators with the data they need to make effective changes in programming and policy.

Four projects were identified as potential six sigma projects at Mercer University School of Engineering and these projects address issues ranging from retention and success of students in mathematics classes, reduction in the amount of time taken by students to graduate from an engineering program (Lawrence O. Jenicke & Anil Kumar 2008).

Amitava Mitra (2004), argues that for companies to survive, they need employees who can continuously improve their products and services, and that academic institutions have both the means and responsibil-ity to train these personnel because they are “a central system of knowledge research and its dissemina-tion”. Many engineering and business students in European universities develop skills in their own area of study, but largely without any formal training to help them integrate the required skills into a holistic problem-solving framework which requires statistical, management and technical skills. The future engineers and managers should pick up a good blend of statistical, technical and leadership skills for tackling business problems in organizations and Jiju Antony (2008) strongly believe that six sigma and lean strategies can provide solutions to such problems. Six sigma framework can provide an excellent platform for integrating all six sigma tools and techniques into the curricula of engineering and business schools. Students in academic institutions will be exposed to real-world problems and cases.


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A pilot study was conducted by author to assess & evaluate the student’s performance in the curri-cula and recommend methods for improvement using six sigma methodology. By applying six sigma methodology, various critical to quality factors for improvement in student performance were identified and it was found that by improving upon the factors identified ,students performance can be greatly improved. On similar lines ,many abroad universities have started introducing & applying six sigma principles to form the curricula and improve the quality of education.

Manufacturing Sector - Motorola was the first organization to use six sigma methodology for quality improvements programs. The other organization such as GE, Sony , Allied signal, Kodak, Honeywell, Boeing, Seagate, DuPont,Texas Instruments, Toshiba have successfully applied the six sigma methodol-ogy for quality improvement.

Financial Sector - In recent years, finance and credit department were pressured to reduce cash collec-tion cycle time and variation in collection performance to remain competitive. Typical Six Sigma proj-ects in financial institutions include improving accuracy of allocation of cash to reduce bank charges, automatic payments, improving accuracy of reporting, reducing documentary credit defects, reducing check collection defects, and reducing variation in collector performance (Doran 2003).

Bank of America (BOA) has been one of the pioneers in adopting and implementing the Six Sigma method to streamline operations, attract and retain customers and create competitiveness over credit unions. It has hundreds of Six Sigma projects in areas of cross-selling, deposits, and problem resolution. BOA reported a 10.4% increase in customer satisfaction and 24% decrease in customer problems after implementing Six Sigma (Roberts 2004). American Express applied Six Sigma principles to improve external vendor processes, and to eliminate non-received renewal credit cards. The result showed an improved sigma level of 0.3 in each case (Bolt et al. 2000). Other financial institutions including GE Capital Corporation, JP Morgan Chase, and SunTrust Banks are using Six Sigma to focus on and im-prove customer requirements and satisfaction (Roberts 2004).

Healthcare Sector: Six Sigma principles and the healthcare sector are very well matched because of the healthcare nature of very low or zero tolerance to mistakes and potentials for reducing medical er-rors. Some of the successfully implemented Six Sigma projects include improving timely and accurate claims reimbursement (Lazarus and Butler 2001), streamlining the process of healthcare delivery (Et-tinger 2001) and reducing the inventory of surgical equipment and related costs (Revere and Black 2003).

The radiology film library at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center also adopted the Six Sigma method and improved service activities greatly (Benedetto 2003). Also in the same institu-tion’s outpatient exam lab, patient preparation times were reduced from 45 minutes to less than 5 min-utes in many cases and there was a 45 percent increase in examinations with no additional machines or shifts (Elsberry 2000).

Engineering and Construction Sector : In 2002, Bechtel Corporation, one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world reported a savings of $200 million with an investment of $30 million in its Six Sigma program to identify and prevent rework and defects in everything from design to construction to on-time delivery of employee payroll (Eckhouse 2003). As examples, Six Sigma was implemented to streamline the process of neutralizing chemical agents and at a national telecommunica-tions project to help optimize the management of cost and schedules (Moreton 2003).


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Table 2 summarizes the reported benefits ,improvements and saving in these organizations after six sigma deployment.

Table 2: Reported Benefits and Saving from Six Sigma in the Manufacturing Sector

(Data complied from Frank T. Anbari, 2004)

Company/Project Metric/Measures Benefit/SavingsMotorola (1992) In process defects levels 150 times reductionRaytheon /Aircraft Integration Systems

Depot maintenance inspection time

Reduced 88% as measured in days

GE / Railcar leasing business Turnaround time at repair shops

62% reduction

Allied Signal / Laminates plant in South Carolina

CapacityCycle timeInventoryOn-time delivery

Up 50%Down 50%Down 50%Increased to near 100%

Allied Signal / Bendix IQ brake pads

Concept-to-shipment cycle time

Reduced from 18 months to 8 months

Hughes Aircraft’s Missiles Systems Group / Wave soldering operations

Quality Productivity

Improved 100%Improved 50%

General Electric Financial $ 2 billion in 1999Motorola (1999) Financial $ 15 billion over 11 yearsDow Chemical / Rail delivery project

Financial Savings of $2.45 million in capital expenditures

DuPont / Yerkes Plant in New York (2000)

Financial Savings of more than $ 2 million

Telefonica de Espana (2001) Financial Savings & increases in revenue 30 million euro in the first 10 months

Texas Instruments Financial $ 600 millionJohnson & Johnson Financial $ 500 millionHoneywell Financial $ 1.2 billion

Research and Development Sector : The objectives of implementing Six Sigma in Research and Development (R&D) organizations are to reduce cost, increase speed to market, and improve R&D processes. To measure the effectiveness of Six Sigma, organizations need to focus on data-driven reviews, improved project success rate, and integra-tion of R&D into regular work processes. One survey noted that as of 2003 only 37% of the respon-dents had formally implemented Six Sigma principles in their R&D organization (Johnson and Swisher 2003). Rajagopalan et al. (2003) reported that the development and manufacturing of new prototypes at W. R. Grace (Refining Industry) was cut to 8-9 months from 11-12 months by implementing the DFSS process. The objectives of implementing Six Sigma in Research and Development (R&D) organizations are to reduce cost, increase speed to market, and improve R&D processes. To measure the effective-


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ness of Six Sigma, organizations need to focus on data-driven reviews, improved project success rate, and integration of R&D into regular work processes. One survey noted that as of 2003 only 37% of the respondents had formally implemented Six Sigma principles in their R&D organization (Johnson and Swisher 2003). Rajagopalan et al. (2003) reported that the development and manufacturing of new prototypes at W. R. Grace (Refining Industry) was cut to 8-9 months from 11-12 months by implement-ing the DFSS process. Application of Six Sigma in R & D will help in cutting the cost, applying basic principles of management and as for the universities researchers are working as a teaching members so naturally it will be peculated to education of the new generation, who are the future employees and managers of the industry economy and hence growth of the country.

Six Sigma in Education In education six sigma pertains to improving the quality of services rendered to the students , faculty and staff during the employment, study period and school/college life. Emerging nations are making serious attempts to increase GDP, elevate poverty, become globally competitive and join the ranks of developed nations.

Developed nations on the other hand, wish to maintain their combativeness to prevent a decline in the standard of living of their societies. An essential characteristic of societies successfully competing in the global market place is that their products and services have few defects. Given that six sigma is the approach for achieving low defect levels in all work processes, manufacturing or service, nation really have no choice but to embrace six sigma if they wish to become/remain globally competitive.

Research in Education - Research in education and other sectors has become vital important as in the first place it is compulsory requirement in education sector from UGC to initiate the research activity. In other sectors, research carried out is helping in developing the syllabus and experienced manpower we get to educate the new generations. In education it helps faculty and staff members in getting mo-tivational drive to take up the research topic. Employing organizations are becoming research centers for the faculty members to carry out research work. In turn, it becomes necessary to plan the activity, its budget, resources required and methodology along with the participating organizations and the team members. This is forcing the team members to work on time management, cost and other related fac-tors.

Opportunities for Six Sigma on School/ College Campus As soon as it is realized that a work process is any activity that consists of a series of steps, it becomes clear that all the work on campus is amenable to six sigma analysis and improvement. Cycle time reduc-tion, cost reduction and defect reduction would be the some of the objectives. The complete list of work processes on college campus would be exhaustive but some illustrative examples include

1. Admission Process 2. Registration Process 3. Requisitions and Purchase Orders4. Infrastructure and classes 5. Examinations 6. Repair and MaintenanceAs the demand by the student and parent community is increasing in proportionate to fees paid , then it might be relevant here to mention that deploying six sigma in all operations of campus will give the very best during campus life.

Example on Application of Six Sigma in Education ProcessIn the institutions, examinations are being conducted by the examination departments and we get the result for the different courses. Suppose for one of the course in the examination , total 320 students


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appeared out of which only 15 are failed in the course. The information given above, if we put in Six Sigma calculator, we get the following result.

Here 320 number represents opportunity and 15 represents defects. We get the output as

DPMO = 46875, Defects(%) = 4.69, Yeild(%) = 95.31, Process Sigma = 3.18

Process sigma comes to 3.18 which is lower than six sigma means good amount of scope is there to improve the process so that defects can be reduced to such a level where we can get improved value of process sigma and hence can be brought to the level of six sigma. Similar to this many other examples can be possible where process improvement can be thought of to give better and better results to the students, parents, industry and society.

Transforming Higher Education with Six Sigma (Sujendra S. and Prasad V., 2010)

After deploying Six Sigma in the processes of college campus activities, one can check the outcome of the existing processes and can tune it with the need of the society. Table 3 shows the thought of applica-tion of DIMAC methodology in education sector.

Table 3 . DIMAC for Academic Environment

Implementation Layer Six Sigma Methodology Key Performance Indicators

College Level Define Infrastructure availability

Bench Mark with top institutions

Department Level Measure and Analyze Faculty publications

New recruitments

Alumni contact

Function Level Improve Faculty achievements

Student achievement

Student Faculty Ratio

Administrative Level Control Cost control

Waste Control

Perfect recording

Office Automation

Limitations of Six Sigma and Opportunity for further work Academic institutions have an important role to play in tackling the limitations of six sigma. This sec-tion briefly outlines the limitations of six sigma which need the attention of academics in leading engi-neering and business schools around the world (Antony,J. 2008)

The 1.5 sigma shift resulting in a 3.4 defects per million opportunities is a generally accepted as-• sumption for manufacturing processes. The same is equally applicable and useful for service and other sectors of industries.It is widely accepted that one of the critical success factors for the successful deployment of six • sigma is visionary leadership. However leadership styles interact with the culture of a particular country and culture within an organization. It is noticed through the articles puiblished that a very little research has been carried out to demonstrate the impact of leadership style and culture on the


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successful deployment of a six sigma initiative.It is also noticed that the training contents of six sigma black belt and green belt vary quite signifi-• cantly from one training provider to another and there is an immense variation from one country to another country. No unified standards and procedures have been accepted so far.The relationship between the cost of poor quality (COPQ) and the sigma quality level (SQL) illus-• trated in the literature and widely used in many training programs requires more justification. The relationship between COPQ and its financial impact in small businesses is an under-researched • topic among the academic community. It is rarely observed that small companies take account of quality costs. Project selection and its prioritization is another critical success factors (CSFs) of a six sigma ini-• tiative. Any failure in project execution at the early stage of a six sigma program will result in the casual approach. From the perspective of a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), it is imperative to develop a project selection methodology to identify the high-impact projects at the initial stage of programme.Forecasting and time series methods are usually not addressed in six sigma training programs. Fore-• casting is perhaps the most important analytical tool in many business operations, because forecasts provide the information on which many management decisions are made. Without accurate and timely forecasts, planning, scheduling and procurement decisions can experience serious error lead-ing to waste and inefficiency throughout the supply chain.Last, but not least, six sigma will survive only when it has a strong theoretical underpinning and • linkage with other management theory. The theory of six sigma is lacking and there is no basis for research other than “best practice” studies (Linderman et al., 2003). Thus, the academic fraternity has an important role to play in bridging the gap in the theory of six sigma and understanding the mechanisms by which six sigma influences business processes and performance.

Conclusion :Six Sigma is likely to remain as one of the key initiatives to improve the quality in various spheres of the industries including education sector. Growing organizational interests for six sigma & it’s successful implementation have been exploding in the last few years and Six Sigma concept has become a global trend setter in developing quality improvement strategy.

However it is so, but educational institutions need to work on the standardization of the curricula for the study of Six Sigma and it should be more practiced in education so that industries and country will receive the benefits over the years to come.

It has been noticed that Six Sigma is a highly disciplined, customer-oriented and bottom-line driven business improvement strategy that relies on statistical methods to make dramatic reductions in defect rates in processes; manufacturing, service or transactional.

In the end we can conclude that it is required to understand the concept of Six Sigma , its statistical meaning and benefits of implementing Six Sigma , and its role in education sector as a part of regular studies in engineering and management institutions in the country. The benefits of understanding and practicing implementation of Six Sigma at the college level , will help in bridging the gap between in-dustry expectations and university deliverables. In the long run the knowledge of this will be helpful to various sectors of industries like Education, Healthcare, Finance, Manufacturing Engineering and Con-struction, R&D etc. The difficulty for such effort may arise due to not having practical field experience


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with the faculty and the students during the teaching learning process. To some extent such difficulty can be overcome in case of those students who are going for internship training program in the industry and industries are also taking equal participation in educating students for such skill.

References: 1.Mitra, A. ,2004, “Six sigma education: a critical role for academia”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 293-302.1. 2.Antony, J. 2004, “Some pros and cons of six sigma: an academic perspective”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 303-6.2. 2. Antony,J. 2008, “What is the role of academic institutions for the future” The International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management ,Vol. 3. 57 No. 1, pp. 107-110 2.Benedetto A.R.,2003,Adapting Manufacturing-Based Six sigma Methodology to the Service Environment of a Radiology Film Library,Journal of 4. Healthcare Management,Vol.48,No.4,263-280.3.Bolt C.,Keim E.,Kim S. and Palser L.,2000,Service Quality Six Sigma Case Studies,ASQ’s 54th Annual Quality Congress Proceedings,225-2315. 4. Burtner, J,2004, “The adaptation of six sigma methodology to the engineering education enterprise”, Proceedings of the ASEE Southeast Section 6. Conference 4-6 April 2004,Auburn5.Doran C.,2003,Using Six Sigma in The Credit Department,Credit Management,December, 32-347. 6.Eckes G.,2003,The Six Sigma Revolution,John Wiley & Sons,New York,NY8. 7.Eckhouse J.,2003,In Pursuit of Perfection,Bechtel Briefs,August,Accessed at http://www.bechtel.com/sixsigma.htm9. 8.Elsberry R.B.,2000,Six Sigma:Applying a Corporate Model to Radiology,Decisions in Imaging Economics,Vol.13,No.7,56-6610. 9.Ettinger W.,2001,Six Sigma Adapting GE’s Lesson to Health Care,Trustee, Vol. 54,No.8,10-1611. 10.Frank T. Anbari,2004, Success Factors in Managing Six Sigma Projects, Project Management Institute Research Conference,London,UK,July 11-14.12. 11.Howard S. Gitlow,David M. Levine,2005,Six Sigma for Green Belts and Champions,Prentice Hall.13. 12. Hargrove, S.L. and Burge, L.,2002, “Developing a six sigma methodology for improving retention in engineering education”, Proceedings of the 14. 32nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, November 6-9, Boston, MA, pp. 20-24.13.Jiju Antony and Ricardo Banuelas,2002,Key Ingredients for Effective Implementation of Six Sigma Program,Measuring Business Excellence, Vol 15. 6,No.4, 20-2714.Jitu Antony,2008,International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management16. Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 107-11017. 15.Johnson A. and Swisher B.,2003,How Six Sigma Improves R&D,Research Technology Management,Vol.46,No.2,12-1518. 16.Lazarus I.R. and Butler K.,2001,The Promise of Six Sigma,Managed Healthcare Executive, Vol. 11, No. 9, 22-2619. 17.Lawrence O. Jenicke, Anil Kumar and Monica C. Holmes,2008,A framework for applying six sigma improvement methodology in an academic 20. environment,The TQM Journal, Vol. 20,No 5,pp 453-46218.Moreton M.,2003,Featured Company:Bechtel,ASQ Six Sigma Forum Magazine,Vol.3,No.1,4421. 19.Rajagopalan R.,Francis M. and Suarez W.,2004,Developing Novel Catalysts with Six Sigma,Research Technology Management,Vol.46,No.1,13-1622. 20.Rever L. and Black K.,2003,Integrating Six Sigma with Total Quality Management:A case Example for Measuring Medication errors,Journal of 23. Healthcare Management,Vol.48,No.6,377-39121.Roberts C.M.,2004,Six Sigma Signals,Credit Union Magazine,Vol. 70, No. 1,40-4324. 22.Young Hoon Kwak and Frank T. Anbari,2006,Benefits,Obstacles and future of Six Sigma,Technovation, Vol. 26 ,708-71525. 23. Sujendra S. and Prasad V., 2010, Six Sigma in Higher Education, University News, 48(11), 8-1426. 24. Junnarkar N.D. And Ravi Reosekar, 2011, Quality Improvement Through Systematic Approach – Six Sigma, The Journal of Engineering Education, 27. Vol. XXIV No.3, 1-725. http://www.isixsigma.com/process-sigma-calculator/28.

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