An Overview on Six Sigma: Quality Improvement Program

Six Sigma is a smarter way to manage business or department. It is a vision of quality that equates with only 3.4 defects for million opportunities for each product or service transactions, Strives for perfection. We believe that defects free product can be in any organization implementing six sigma. In this paper, we presented an overview of the process which explains how six sigma increase the overall quality improvement task into a series of project management stages: Define, Measure, Analyses, Innovation, Improve and Control. We will describe dependence of six sigma on Normal Distribution theory and also process capability. It gives a small note on the assumptions made in six sigma methodology of problem solving and the key elements involved .A brief view on Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO) Analysis is given. Ultimate objectives of the methodology to solve problems, improve the quality, profitability and customers satisfaction. Like quality management in general six sigma has penetrated into most sectors of today’s business world. Six Sigma is the tool through which we can improve the Quality and profitability by removing the cause of defects and variability in manufacturing and business processes. Six Sigma is perhaps the most widely-accepted initiative by all a broad range of organizations. The DMAIC (Define – Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) approach is followed here to solve the problem of management. The DMADV (Define – Measure– Analyze – Design – Verify) is used in product design improvement. Both of these procedures are developed in the classic Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA) cycle. This paper seeks to synthesize the literature, with an emphasis on establishing its relationship to quality management theories and topics for future research. In doing so, there is an attempt to answer the fundamental questions: (1) what is six sigma? (2) What are its impacts on operational performance? (3) What is its role in quality management? KeywordsSix Sigma; Quality Improvement; DMAIC;