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Six Sigma is a business improvement strategy that seeks to find and eliminate causes of
defects or mistakes in business processes by focusing on outputs that are all critical importance
to customers. It is a methodology based on statistical thinking and methods. This methodology is
used to produce very large improvements in business performance and to produce a lot of bottom
line savings. Six sigma projects often focus on improving productivity, process yields,
production rates and process down time, which results in enhanced process performance,
improved customer satisfaction, increased revenue and bottom line savings. It is a strategic
approach that works across all processes, products and industries. The Sigma value of a process
describes the quality level of that process. Six Sigma is defined by Motorola, as a quality
improvement program with an ultimate goal of reducing the number of defects as low as 3.4
defects per million opportunities. The higher the sigma capability, the better is the performance,
because it measures the capability of the process to achieve defect free work. A defect is
anything that results in customer dissatisfaction.
Six Sigma was originally developed as a set of practices designed to improve manufacturing
processes and eliminate defects, but its application was subsequently extended to other types of
business processes as well. In Six Sigma, a defect is defined as anything that could lead to
customer dissatisfaction.
The particulars of the methodology were first formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986. Six
Sigma was heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies
such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects, based on the work of pioneers such as
Shewhart, Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Taguchi and others.
Like its predecessors, Six Sigma asserts that ±

ï‘ ›ontinuous efforts to achieve stable and predictable process results (i.e. reduce process
variation) are of vital importance to business success.
ï‘ Manufacturing and business processes have characteristics that can be measured,
analyzed, improved and controlled.
ï‘ Achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire
organization, particularly from top-level management.

Features that set Six Sigma apart from previous quality improvement initiatives include ±

ï‘ A clear focus on achieving measurable and quantifiable financial returns from any Six
Sigma project.
ï‘ An increased emphasis on strong and passionate management leadership and support.
ï‘ A special infrastructure of "›hampions," "Master Black Belts," "Black Belts," etc. to lead
and implement the Six Sigma approach.
ï‘ A clear commitment to making decisions on the basis of verifiable data, rather than
assumptions and guesswork.

The term "Six Sigma" is derived from a field of statistics known as process capability studies.
Originally, it referred to the ability of manufacturing processes to produce a very high proportion
of output within specification. Processes that operate with "six sigma quality" over the short term
are assumed to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities
(DPMO).[4][5] Six Sigma's implicit goal is to improve all processes to that level of quality or
better.
Six Sigma is a registered service mark and trademark of Motorola, Inc.[6] Motorola has reported
over US$17 billion in savings[7] from Six Sigma as of 2006.
Other early adopters of Six Sigma who achieved well-publicized success include Honeywell
(previously known as AlliedSignal) and General Electric, where the method was introduced by
Jack Welch.[8] By the late 1990s, about two-thirds of the Fortune 500 organizations had begun
Six Sigma initiatives with the aim of reducing costs and improving quality.
In recent years, Six Sigma has sometimes been combined with lean manufacturing to yield a
methodology named Lean Six Sigma.

 
Taking the 1.5 sigma shift into account, short-term sigma levels correspond to the following
long-term DPMO values (one-sided):

ï‘ One Sigma = 690,000 DPMO = 68.26% efficiency

ï‘ Two Sigma = 308,000 DPMO = 95.24% efficiency
ï‘ Three Sigma = 66,800 DPMO = 99.73% efficiency
ï‘ Six Sigma = 3.4 DPMO = 99.9997% efficiency
ï‘ (  !
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ï‘ The key reasons for implementing Six Sigma are as follows:
ï‘  To be responsive and to be focused on customer needs.Transformation of organizational
culture from fire-fighting mode to fire-prevention mode.
ï‘  To improve financial performance and business profitability.
ï‘  To be able to quantify its quality programs.
ï‘  Reduced ›ost Of Poor Quality (›OPQ) (costs associated with late delivery, customer
complaints, misdirected problem solving, etc.).
ï‘  Reduced number of non-value added steps in critical business processes through
ï‘ systematic elimination, leading to faster delivery of service.
ï‘  Improved consistency level of service through systematic reduction of variability
ï‘ in processes.
ï‘  Increased employee morale.
ï‘  Increased awareness of various problem solving tools and techniques, leading to
ï‘ greater job satisfaction for employees.

‘ 
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Harita TVS is an Engineering Design Services company catering to Automotive and
›onstruction & Industrial Machinery Energy. The company is a part of the prestigious
TVS Group and offers end-to-end solutions for next generation products with its
Mechanical Design Services (MDS). Harita TVS' service offerings cover the entire
spectrum of requirements for any typical µNew Product Development Program¶, as
›oncept Design, Product Engineering, Predictive Engineering (Analysis), Manufacturing
Engineering Services, Physical Testing & Validation, ›ompliance Engineering and
Product ›onsultancy.
 Within few years of formation, Harita TVS has become a preferred partner for many
global OEM & Tier-1 customers across USA, Europe & India for their Engineering
Service requirements. Harita TVS has been able to meet these requirements of its global
customers consistently, helping them to reach their strategic business goals by reducing
time-to-market and cutting costs.

Harita TVS is an Engineering Design Services company catering to Automotive and

›onstruction & Industrial Machinery Energy. The company is a part of the prestigious
TVS Group and offers end-to-end solutions for next generation products with its
Mechanical Design Services (MDS). Harita TVS' service offerings cover the entire
spectrum of requirements for any typical µNew Product Development Program¶, as
›oncept Design, Product Engineering, Predictive Engineering (Analysis), Manufacturing
Engineering Services, Physical Testing & Validation, ›ompliance Engineering and
Product ›onsultancy.

Within few years of formation, Harita TVS has become a preferred partner for many
global OEM & Tier-1 customers across USA, Europe & India for their Engineering
Service requirements. Harita TVS has been able to meet these requirements of its global
customers consistently, helping them to reach their strategic business goals by reducing
time-to-market and cutting costs.
Harita TVS is ISO 9001:2000 certified and is on path to get certified for ISO 27001. An
excellent ›ustomer Engagement Model & Delivery System driven by Six-Sigma processes has
helped Harita TVS maintain an impeccable track record of excellent and on-time delivery. A
highly competent & creative talent managed by P›MM, helps keep pace with the growing needs
of customers across different geographies in varied markets.

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To ensure that the impact of Six Sigma practiced should make the following objectives,

ï‘ To Define process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and the
enterprise strategy.
ï‘ To Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data.
ï‘ To Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the
relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered.
ï‘ To Improve or optimize the process based upon data analysis using techniques like
Design of experiments.

To ›ontrol to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects.
Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, move on to production, set up control
mechanisms and continuously monitor the process.

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 š‘ Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem
š‘ It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically.
š‘ The research methodology in the present study deals with research design, data collection
methods, sampling methods, survey, analysis and interpretation and limitations of the
study.

RESEAR›H DESIGN
Research design was based on descriptive research. ³A research design is the
arrangement of conditions for collections and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine
relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure´.

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In this study the researcher used stratified random sampling.

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If a population from which a sample is to be drawn does not constitute a homogenous group,
stratified sampling technique is generally applied in order to obtain a representative sample.
From the population the researcher took the sample size of 92.
DATA ›OLLE›TION

##)  
Primary data either through observation or through direct communication with
respondent in one form or another.
The primary data was collected from the employees, through structured questionnaire
which is given in the annexure.

$!'#)  
It means data that are already available ie, they refer to the data which have already been
collected and analysed by someone else.
The secondary data was used to support primary data. company report,

websites, magazines were widely used.

STATISTI›AL TOOLS USED

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 Percentage refers to a specific kind of ratio. It is used to describe the relationship
comparison of absolute figure that is difficult to compute interpret. Percentages are used to make
comparison between two or more series of data.
Percentage = No. of. Respondents
Total no of samples

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Proper weight age is to be given to various items. The weights attached to each item
being proportional to the importance of the item in the distribution. Weighted average method
gives the result equal to the simple mean if the weights assigned to each of the variable values
are equal.

The steps to be followed:

1. Multiply the weights by the variable x and obtain the total ßwx.

2. Divide the total by the sum of the weight ßw

ß´
Weighted average mean = ß´

W = the weights attached to variable values i.e. W1, W2«Wn

respectively.
X = the variable values i.e., X1, X2«Xn



›.R.Kothari, Research Methodology Methods & Techniques, Second Edition, New Age

international Publishers,2002 Second Edition.

Gupta S.›.Karppor.V.K. Fundamentals of mathematical Statistics, Ninth Extensively Revised

Edition, New Delhi-2003.

Adams, ›ary W.; Gupta, Praveen; Wilson, ›harles E. (2003). Six Sigma Deployment.
Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0750675233.

Breyfogle, Forrest W. III (1999). Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical
Methods. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0471265721.

De Feo, Joseph A.; Barnard, William (2005). JURAN Institute's Six Sigma Breakthrough and
Beyond - Quality Performance Breakthrough Methods. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Professional. ISBN 0071422277.

Harry, Mikel J.; Schroeder, Richard (1999). Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy
Revolutionizing the World¶s Top ›orporations. New York, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0385494378.

Keller, Paul A. (2001). Six Sigma Deployment: A Guide for Implementing Six Sigma in Your
Organization. Tucson, AZ: Quality Publishing. ISBN 0930011848.

Pande, Peter S.; Neuman, Robert P.; ›avanagh, Roland R. (2001). The Six Sigma Way: How
GE, Motorola, and Other Top ›ompanies are Honing Their Performance. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0071358064.

Pyzdek (2003). The Six Sigma Handbook: A ›omplete Guide for Green Belts, Black Belts and
Managers at All Levels. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0071410155.

Snee, Ronald D.; Hoerl, Roger W. (2002). Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on
Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma ›ompanies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press. ISBN
0130084573.

Taylor, Gerald (2008). Lean Six Sigma Service Excellence: A Guide to Green Belt ›ertification
and Bottom Line Improvement. New York, NY: J. Ross Publishing. ISBN 978-1604270068.
Tennant, Geoff (2001). SIX SIGMA: SP› and TQM in Manufacturing and Services. Aldershot,
UK: Gower Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0566083744.

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written ›hi-square symbolically, as x is a statistical measure used in the context of sampling
analysis for comparing a variance to a theoretical variance. As a non-parameter test, it can be used to
determine if categorical data shows dependency or the two classifications are independent. It is
calculated as follows:

ß R

2
á á
a 2 

á
Where Oi= Observed Frequency
Ei= Expected frequency

Expected frequency=Row total for the row of that cell x column total of that cell
Grand total