Mapping macro/micro level critical links for integrating Six Sigma DMAIC steps as a part of company's existing QMS: an Indian SME case study
by Anand K. Bewoor, Maruti S. Pawar
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage (IJSSCA), Vol. 6, No. 1/2, 2010

Abstract: Industries are continuously facing fierce competition and the challenge of meeting increasing demands for higher quality products at economic costs. The success of an organisation is directly related to how effective its implementation of continuous improvement (CI) is. For any industry, quality management system (QMS) and Six Sigma are important CI methodologies. Effective understanding of these methodologies and their relationship will provide an industry with a competitive advantage. Many industrial organisations today are using either QMS or Six Sigma or both as the core for their CI efforts. As such, the relationship between QMS and Six Sigma is worth further investigation. In this paper, QMS and Six Sigma are introduced followed by a thorough comparison. More particularly, this work analyses Six Sigma-DMAIC methodology steps w. r. to QMS [viz. ISO 9000:2000, TS 16949, QS 9000] requirements and identified macro/micro level critical links between them. Further, managerial and operational level frameworks for the integration of the Six Sigma-DMAIC steps as a part of company's existing QMS is proposed. Finally, this case study based research work concludes that, integrating 'QMS + Six Sigma' is an effective and novel approach which will provide an improved approach for CI.

Online publication date: Wed, 25-Aug-2010

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage (IJSSCA):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com