G Anand Kumar
Textile industry being a field dealing with a lot of variations and defects in each process is the ideal place for six sigma application, and speedy implementation of the right method will make a significant and successful difference in many of the companies’ future, assert R Senthil Kumar and S Sundaresan.
Textile is among the leading sectors in the Indian economy in terms of production, exports, employment and contribution to the exchequer. India needs to reform its laws, modernise machinery and scale up capacities to global level to exploit this opportunity. Apart from the above factors, the application of management techniques in the business will bring long-term stability in the market and better company reputation. The paramount need for a paradigm shift is essential for today’s business scenario. Six sigma is such a management tool is viewed as a systematic, scientific, statistical and smarter approach to create quality innovation and total customer satisfaction. This paper emphasises the six sigma concepts and possible area of six sigma applications in textile industry.
Six Sigma – Definition:
Six Sigma may be defined in several ways:
• Tomkins defines Six Sigma to be “A programme aimed at the near-elimination of defects from every product, process and transaction.”
• Harry defines Six Sigma to be “A strategic initiative to boost profitability, increase market share and improve customer satisfaction through statistical tools that can lead to breakthrough quantum gains in quality.”
Way of Approach in Traditional (old) and Six Sigma (New) methods:
The essence of Six Sigma is the integration of four elements (customer, process, manpower and strategy) to provide management innovation. Six Sigma provides a scientific and statistical basis for quality assessment for all processes through measurement of quality levels. The Six Sigma method allows us to draw comparisons among all processes, and tells how good a process is. Six sigma provides
Textile is among the leading sectors in the Indian economy in terms of production, exports, employment and contribution to the exchequer. India needs to reform its laws, modernise machinery and scale up capacities to global level to exploit this opportunity. Apart from the above factors, the application of management techniques in the business will bring long-term stability in the market and better company reputation. The paramount need for a paradigm shift is essential for today’s business scenario. Six sigma is such a management tool is viewed as a systematic, scientific, statistical and smarter approach to create quality innovation and total customer satisfaction. This paper emphasises the six sigma concepts and possible area of six sigma applications in textile industry.
Six Sigma – Definition:
Six Sigma may be defined in several ways:
• Tomkins defines Six Sigma to be “A programme aimed at the near-elimination of defects from every product, process and transaction.”
• Harry defines Six Sigma to be “A strategic initiative to boost profitability, increase market share and improve customer satisfaction through statistical tools that can lead to breakthrough quantum gains in quality.”
Way of Approach in Traditional (old) and Six Sigma (New) methods:
The essence of Six Sigma is the integration of four elements (customer, process, manpower and strategy) to provide management innovation. Six Sigma provides a scientific and statistical basis for quality assessment for all processes through measurement of quality levels. The Six Sigma method allows us to draw comparisons among all processes, and tells how good a process is. Six sigma provides
References: 1. Sung H Park: Six Sigma for Quality and Promotion, Asian Productivity Organization, 2003. 2. Michael L George: Lean Six Sigma, McGraw Hill Publication. 3. Six Sigma for the Apparel Industry by Richard Atwell, Manager of Education and Engineering Textile Clothing Tech. Corp in Techexcange.com 4. Timothy G Clapp PhD, A Blanton Godfrey PhD, Dale Greeson, Roy H Johnson PhD, Coleman Rich and Cliff Seastrunk: Quality Initiatives Reshape the Textile Industry, Quality Digest. Note: For detailed version of this article please refer the print version of The Indian Textile Journal July 2010 issue.