Role of Six Sigma in Manufacturing Industry

07-Apr-2020

A company or an industry runs on the internal processes that go on inside the workspace to accomplish a task and to deliver services to the end-users. The internal processes thus are the pillars of the industry. Hence a smooth functioning is necessary to ensure a proper flow of things in an organization.

To understand the role of Six Sigma in the manufacturing industry, first, we need to understand what exactly is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma - An Overview

Motorola was the pioneers of Six Sigma and they developed it around the 1980s. The new technology was brought into effect to do away with all the defects in its processes in order to achieve the desired performance rate and to establish a defect-free environment in its organization.

Six sigma is a process-based enhancement methodology that was first developed in manufacturing environments only. Since then it is constantly shaping and enhancing the manufacturing processes to deliver fruitful results for the organization.

There are several success stories that are a testament to prove the efficiency of Six Sigma in the manufacturing environment. In an industry set up, work is achieved through team effort or collaboration. To ensure this collaboration goes smoothly, this is where Six Sigma comes into effect. The processes of six sigma continuously work towards eradicating the routine wastes and disparities and by doing so accelerates the performance rate to achieve desirable outcomes.

Six Sigma gives a transformational push to the industry and strives to eradicate defects and wastes.

Benefits of Six Sigma in Manufacturing Industries

There are numerous benefits associated with Six Sigma as far as manufacturing industries are concerned. A few are listed below 

Cost Reduction - the principles of Six Sigma work toward achieving a reduction in costs during the processes involved in the completion of a product that reaches the end-users. 

Elimination of Waste Chain - elimination of waste is a prime concern as far as principles of Six Sigma are concerned. The processes work in order to reduce defects and in turn wastes are eliminated to give only value-added services.

Contemplating Customers’ Requirements - a business in working has everything to do with the customers. They are the ones who pay for the services and add up to the revenue generation in an organization. To ensure a flowing revenue in the organization, Six Sigma strategies focus on the requirements of the customers and market. It helps to understand what is trending to get desirable outcomes.

Improvement in Quality Performance - six sigma strategies and methodologies always advocate for quality as far as performance is concerned. The utmost importance is given to quality and processes are framed keeping in mind the enhancement of the standards and rate of performance to achieve a task.

Robustness - risk-tolerant systems are framed in the Six Sigma strategy to ensure the functionality of the products and the services that are rendered to the consumers. Robustness is a very important trait as far as manufacturing environments are concerned.

Role of Six Sigma in Manufacturing Industries

Six Sigma plays a very important role in ensuring overproduction does not create any problems or financial waste in manufacturing industries. It provides a platform to maintain a check on the production of goods and services that are not required or are in no demand, thereby reducing the risks associated with the storage of such items and helps in generating what is really required by the consumer. The cost of inventory is reduced because preservation is less likely to occur. This particular trait is achieved owing to the fact that Six sigma approaches consider customers' requirements and act likewise.

Another most important role of Six Sigma is to minimize the defects in the internal processes. Defect reduction helps in breaking the waste chain and therefore profit maximization takes place to the fullest. Because its focus is on the standard and quality management, hence low-quality products are not produced as liabilities this in turn also eliminates wasting of materials, energy and inventory space which then can be utilized for storing and preserving in-demand goods. When the demands are going good there is no stopping of the profits.

Six sigma functions as a sole provider of proper management in the manufacturing industry, if applied properly. It tackles the poor management system and thus creates a well-balanced management system that can function properly to achieve desirable results. It also helps in saving the human energy which might have lost due to motion because of improper organization.

The contemplation of demands is done properly in order to save the time and process between the manufacturing stages and the delivery stages. When demands are comprehended accurately, the time and resources get saved which otherwise would have gone in vain if demands were not understood carefully. This way storage spoilage risks, energy resource consumption and idle time during production can be lessened entirely.

The most important function of Six Sigma is to deploy services that can identify what needs to be done in order to achieve the goal. Its role is to see the clear big picture that lies ahead once things are managed in an organization. This results in proper assigning of work by the authorities such that everything works individually to finally come together to produce desirable results as far as the production of goods is concerned. 

How Six Sigma Can be Implemented in Manufacturing Industries

Implementation involves eight stages:

1. Recognition - this step involves envisaging a vision that can give desirable results and then deploy the same to achieve the outcomes. All the possibilities are taken into consideration and then processes and steps are formulated to achieve the same. 
2. Define - in this phase, identification of stakeholders and contemplating their concerns is of prime importance. The mapping of the macro-level processes also takes place in the define phase.
3. Measure - it refers to the measure of the uncertainties associated with the CTQs. a proper comparison is drawn to ensure a proper working strategy to achieve the goals identified in the first place.
4. Analyze - to identify the hindrances and problems associated with the CTQs that come under this phase. Various kinds of control charts are used for this and then the results are obtained to work out a proper resolution of the issue.
5. Improve - all the variations are taken into consideration and then the best possible methods are devised to eliminate the variations. The determination of factors responsible for fruitful output also occurs in this phase. This improvisation gives a push towards the productive transition.
6. Control - in this phase the improved plan is sustained to keep up with the process standards. Control is maintained to ensure the smooth running of the improvised plans that can bear desirable outcomes.
7. Standardize - this phase plays a crucial role in standardizing things to maintain high-quality outcomes. This ensures favorable outcomes for the manufacturing industries.
8. Integrate - routine business management is achieved through the integration of the process and services. This, in turn, results in proper functionality to ensure the smooth running of the manufacturing industry.

Six sigma is the need of the hour and its proper utilization can create wonders for the industries especially the manufacturing ones.

Education Professional