Impact of Six Sigma approach on SMEs of Northern India - an empirical investigation

Six Sigma is a management approach for reducing waste by implementing DMAIC cycle. Different tools have been employed by manufacturing SMEs to improve the performance of manufacturing operations and by optimised organisational achievements. The present study is an attempt to study the impact of six sigma DMAIC approach in manufacturing SMEs by measuring the level of usage, level of difficulty of different tools of DMAIC cycle and important benefits occurred after successful implementation of this approach. The impact of DMAIC approach is investigated by measuring the impact of tools used in various phases of six sigma implementation. By investigating the role of DMAIC cycle towards performance improvement, impact of this approach on industry has been determined. The result of investigation demonstrated that manufacturing SMEs have less educated man power and also they are lacking in providing adequate training to them for effective implementation of six sigma tools. Moreover, correlation analysis indicates that DMAIC cycle is significantly used to improve the quality of product.