Summary

Six sigma is an industry accepted and proven methodology or tool that helps any organisation to
achieve superior performance and improved profitability. This is effective for both service as
well as product base industries. Six sigma is an organised process of analysis off data. It is
statistical measurement of variation . Six sigma focus on continuous improvement. The full six
sigma is equal to 99.9997%. Motorola was the first company to develop six sigma methodology
in mind 1980's.

Process of six sigma

Six sigma works on principle of minimizing the variation. Dmaic can be thought of as a roadmap
for problem solving and product / process improvement. Dmaic is define, measure, analyse,
improve and control. Six sigma is continuous improvement tool so all these tools work
continuously in cycle. Dmaic will produce consistently better results than most of other methods.

Define

Define phase is the first phase of six sigma improvement process. This is the critical phase in
which the leaders of the project create a high level view of the process and begin to understand
needs of the customer.

Measurement

Measurement is critical process collecting data. It is a time taking process. Start point of the
process and looking for clues to understand the root cause of the process should be considered at
the start of the project.

Analyse

The data collected in measurement phase is used in this phase. This data can be adjusted
according to requirements in order to narrow down and verify the root cause of face waste and
defect.
Improvement

In this stage management works on ideas and solutions to reduce waste and effect. Improvement
stage is started once the project teams are satisfied with their data and determined that additional
analysis will not add to their understanding of the problem.

Control

In this stage documentation is done exactly how they want to pass that structure on to the
employees who work within the process.

Six sigma belts

This belts are based on level of competence in understanding enabling related tools.

Green belt is for less complex projects and black belt for more complex and do project with the
help of green belts. Master black belt leads project reviews and train other belts.

An attempt was made to introduce and implement dmaic methodology in garment industry
located in solapur.

Define phase

Garment industries were suffering from high rate of rejection due to defects in products and
variations. The goal of the project to reduce the defect percentage to minimum level and thereby
improve quality reduce waste and increase productivity of garments.

Measure phase

Objective of measure phase was to prepare data collection plan about baseline performance. The
team collective three months of data of various garments produced in the organisation and it was
found that shirt the garment that faces maximum defect problem. Percent defective pieces was
6.84 percent and sigma level was 2.6.
Analyse phase

Data was analysed and it was found at maximum defects were due to padlock, label match,
broken stitch, button miss etc.

Improve phase

Ideas were developed to remove root causes of variation add to improve the process and
standardization of process. So the overall action taken was operator training for printing, sewing,
and counting buttons before passing the product. It was found that percentage defective pieces
were reduced to 4.34 percent and sigma level was increased to 3.2.

Control phase

After six sigma implementation some feedbacks were given to the factory like change in layout,
good quality raw material, continuous training program for workers, the management should
give higher payment for high quality performance and focus should be on preventing defects
rather than correcting defects.