A STUDY ON IMPACT OF SIX SIGMA PRACTICES AT HARITA TVS TECHNOLOGIES LTD., CHENNAI Six Sigma is a business improvement strategy that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects or mistakes in business processes by focusing on outputs that are all critical importance to customers. It is a methodology based on statistical thinking and methods. This methodology is used to produce very large improvements in business performance and to produce a lot of bottom line savings. Six sigma projects often focus on improving productivity, process yields, production rates and process down time, which results in enhanced process performance, improved customer satisfaction, increased revenue and bottom line savings. It is a strategic approach that works across all processes, products and industries. The Sigma value of a process describes the quality level of that process. Six Sigma is defined by Motorola, as a quality improvement program with an ultimate goal of reducing the number of defects as low as 3.4 defects per million opportunities. The higher the sigma capability, the better is the performance, because it measures the capability of the process to achieve defect free work. A defect is anything that results in customer dissatisfaction.
Six Sigma was originally developed as a set of practices designed to improve manufacturing processes and eliminate defects, but its application was subsequently extended to other types of business processes as well. In Six Sigma, a defect is defined as anything that could lead to customer dissati d issatisfaction. sfaction. The particulars of the methodology were first formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986. Six Sigma was heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects, based on the work of pioneers such as Shewhart, Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Taguchi and others. Like its predecessors, Six Sigma asserts that ± y y y
Continuous
efforts to achieve stable and predictable process results (i.e. reduce process variation) are of vital importance to business success. Manufacturing and business processes have characteristics that can be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled. Achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization, particularly from top-level management.
Features that set Six Sigma apart from previous quality improvement initiatives include ± y y y y
A clear focus on achieving measurable and quantifiable financial returns from any Six Sigma project. An increased emphasis on strong and passionate management leadership and support. A special infrastructure of "Champions," "Master Black Belts," "Black Belts," etc. to lead and implement the Six Sigma approach. A clear commitment to making decisions on the basis of verifiable data, rather than assumptions and guesswork.
The term "Six Sigma" is derived from a field of statistics known as process capability studies. Originally, it referred to the ability of manufacturing processes to produce a very high proportion of output within specification. Processes that operate with "six sigma quality" over the short term are assumed to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities
(DPMO).[4][5] Six Sigma's implicit goal is to improve all processes to that level of quality or better. Six Sigma is a registered service mark and trademark of Motorola, Inc. [6] Motorola has reported over US$17 billion in savings[7] from Six Sigma as of 2006. Other early adopters of Six Sigma who achieved well-publicized success include Honeywell (previously known as AlliedSignal) and General Electric, where the method was introduced by Jack Welch.[8] By the late 1990s, about two-thirds of the Fortune 500 organizations had begun Six Sigma initiatives with the aim of reducing co sts and improving quality. In recent years, Six Sigma has sometimes been combined with lean manufacturing to yield a methodology named Lean Six Sigma. Sigma levels Taking the 1.5 sigma shift into account, short-term sigma levels correspond to the following long-term DPMO values (one-sided): y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y
One Sigma = 690,000 DPMO = 68.26% efficiency Two Sigma = 308,000 DPMO = 95.24% efficiency Three Sigma = 66,800 DPMO = 99.73% efficiency Six Sigma = 3.4 DPMO = 99.9997% efficiency Benefits of Six Sigma The key reasons for implementing Six Sigma are as follows: To be responsive and to be focused on customer needs.Transformation of organizational culture from fire-fighting mode to fire-prevention mode. To improve financial performance and business pro fitability. To be able to quantify its quality programs. Reduced Cost Of Poor Quality (COPQ) (costs associated with late delivery, customer complaints, misdirected problem solving, etc.). Reduced number of non-value added steps in critical business processes through systematic elimination, leading to faster delivery of service. Improved consistency level of service through systematic reduction of variability in processes. Increased employee morale. Increased awareness of various problem solving tools and techniques, leading to greater job satisfaction for employees.
COMPANY PROFILE Harita TVS Technologies Harita TVS is an Engineering Design Services company catering to Automotive and Construction & Industrial Machinery Energy. The company is a part of the prestigious TVS Group and offers end-to-end solutions for next generation products with its Mechanical Design Services (MDS). Harita TVS' service offerings cover the entire spectrum of requirements for any typical µNew Product Development Program¶, as Concept Design, Product Engineering, Predictive Engineering (Analysis), Manufacturing Engineering Services, Physical Testing & Validation, Compliance Engineering and Product Consultancy. o
Within few years of formation, Harita TVS has become a preferred partner for many global OEM & Tier-1 customers across USA, Europe & India for their Engineering Service requirements. Harita TVS has been able to meet these requirements of its global customers consistently, helping them to reach their strategic business goals by reducing time-to-market and cutting costs. Harita TVS is an Engineering Design Services company catering to Automotive and Construction & Industrial Machinery Energy. The company is a part of the prestigious TVS Group and offers end-to-end solutions for next generation products with its Mechanical Design Services (MDS). Harita TVS' service offerings cover the entire spectrum of requirements for any typical µNew Product Development Program¶, as Concept Design, Product Engineering, Predictive Engineering (Analysis), Manufacturing Engineering Services, Physical Testing & Validation, Compliance Engineering and Product Consultancy. Within few years of formation, Harita TVS has become a preferred partner for many global OEM & Tier-1 customers across USA, Europe & India for their Engineering Service requirements. Harita TVS has been able to meet these requirements of its global customers consistently, helping them to reach their strategic business goals by reducing time-to-market and cutting costs. Harita TVS is ISO 9001:2000 certified and is on path to get certified for ISO 27001. An excellent Customer Engagement Model & Delivery System driven by Six-Sigma processes has helped Harita TVS maintain an impeccable track record of excellent and on-time delivery. A highly competent & creative talent managed by PCMM, helps keep pace with the growing needs of customers across different geographies in varied markets. 1.2
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To ensure that the impact of Six Sigma practiced should make the following objectives, y y y y
To Define process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy. To Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data. To Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered. To Improve or optimize the process based upon data analysis using techniques like Design of experiments.
To Control to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in de fects. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, move on to production, set up control mechanisms and continuously monitor the process.
3.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. The research methodology in the present study deals with research design, data collection methods, sampling methods, survey, analysis and interpretation and limitations of the study.
RESEAR CH DESIGN Research design was based on descriptive research. ³A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collections and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure´.
SAMPLING DESIGN
In this study the researcher used stratified random sampling. Meaning of stratified random sampling
If a population from which a sample is to be drawn does not constitute a homogenous group, stratified sampling technique is generally applied in order to obtain a representative sample. From the population the researcher took the sample size of 92. DATA COLLECTION Primary Data
Primary data either through observation or through direct communication with respondent in one form or another. The primary data was collected from the employees, through structured which is given in the annexure.
questionnaire
Secondary Data
It means data that are already available ie, they refer to the data which have already been collected and analysed by someone else. The secondary data was used to support primary data. company report, websites, magazines were widely used. STATISTICAL TOOLS USED PERCENTAGE OF ANALYSIS
Percentage refers to a specific kind of ratio. It is used to describe the relationship comparison of absolute figure that is difficult to compute interpret. Percentages are used to make comparison between two or more series of data. Percentage =
No. of. Respondents Total no of samples
WEIGHTED AVERAGE METHOD
Proper weight age is to be given to various items. The weights attached to each item being proportional to the importance of the item in the distribution. Weighted average method gives the result equal to the simple mean if the weights assigned to each of the variable values are equal.
The steps to be followed: 1.
Multiply the weights by the variable x and obtain the total §wx.
2. Divide the total by the sum of the weight §w
Weighted average mean =
§ WX § W
W = the weights attached to variable values i.e. W1, W2«Wn respectively. X = the variable values i.e., X1, X2«Xn
REFERENCES C.R.Kothari,
Research Methodology Methods & Techniques, Second Edition, New Age
international Publishers,2002 Second Edition.
Gupta S.C.Karppor.V.K. Fundamentals of mathematical Statistics, Ninth Extensively Revised Edition, New Delhi-2003.
Adams,
Cary
W.; Gupta, Praveen; Wilson, Charles E. (2003). Six Sigma Deployment.
Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0750675233. Breyfogle, Forrest W. III (1999). Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter So lutions Using Statistical Methods. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0471265721. De Feo, Joseph A.; Barnard, William (2005). JURAN Institute's Six Sigma Breakthrough and Beyond - Quality Performance Breakthrough Methods. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0071422277. Harry, Mikel J.; Schroeder, Richard (1999). Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World¶s Top Corporations. New York, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0385494378. Keller, Paul A. (2001). Six Sigma Deployment: A Guide for Implementing Six Sigma in Your Organization. Tucson, AZ: Quality Publishing. ISBN 0930011848. Pande, Peter S.; Neuman, Robert P.; Cavanagh, Roland R. (2001). The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0071358064. Pyzdek (2003). The Six Sigma Handbook: A Complete Guide for Green Belts, Black Belts and Managers at All Levels. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0071410155. Snee, Ronald D.; Hoerl, Roger W. (2002). Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma Companies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press. ISBN 0130084573. Taylor, Gerald (2008). Lean Six Sigma Service Excellence: A Guide to Green Belt Certification and Bottom Line Improvement. New York, NY: J. Ross Publishing. ISBN 978-1604270068.
Tennant, Geoff (2001). SIX SIGMA: SPC and TQM in Manufacturing and Services. Aldershot, UK: Gower Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0566083744.
CHI-SQUARE TEST
written Chi-square symbolically, as x is a statistical measure used in the context of sampling analysis for comparing a variance to a theoretical variance. As a non-parameter test, it can be used to determine if categorical data shows dependency or the two classifications are independent. It is calculated as follows:
§ ?O G 2 cal !
i
E i A
2
E i
Where
Oi= Observed Frequency Ei= Expected frequency
Expected frequency=Row total for the ro w of that cell x column total of that cell Grand total
