Title: Capacity waste at thermal power plants in India: a Six Sigma perception

Authors: Pawan Jaglan; Dinesh Khanduja; Parbhakar Kaushik

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Department, NIT Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India ' Mechanical Engineering Department, NIT Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India ' Mechanical Engineering Department, UIET, MDU, Rohtak, Haryana 124001, India

Abstract: Energy is synonymous with progress today and almost every activity consumes energy. In the midst of unprecedented high demand of energy, countries like India are facing highly poor supply of energy. In this context economists and planners are deeply apprehensive about poor productivity levels of the thermal plants and the most serious causes for this malady is high levels of capacity waste at these power plants. The study focuses on exploring the gravity of capacity waste levels and for this, Six Sigma's DMAIC approach has been adopted. The study intends to shatter certain myths on compatibility of Six Sigma in dealing with performance improvement at process industries like thermal power plants. With implementation of the first phase i.e., 'Define', the study has validated the efficacy of Six Sigma in significantly defining the problem of capacity waste. In India, it is quite rare to see successful application in thermal power plants.

Keywords: capacity waste; thermal power plants; six sigma; DMAIC project; define phase; process capability; India; performance improvement; process industries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2013.059769

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, 2013 Vol.8 No.1, pp.22 - 33

Received: 14 Nov 2012
Accepted: 04 Sep 2013
Published online: 03 Mar 2015 *

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