Tejaskumar S.Parsana et al Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 3(Version 1), March 2014, pp.663-673 www.ijera.com 663|Page A Review: Six Sigma Implementation Practices in Indian Manufacturing SMEs Tejaskumar S.Parsana 1 , Dr.Darshak A. Desai 2 PG Scholar, Industrial Engineering, G. H. Patel college of Engineering & Technology, Gujarat, India, Head,Department of Mechanical Engineering, G. H. Patel college of Engineering & Technology, Gujarat, India Abstract At present competitive market is focusing on industrial efforts to produce high quality products with the lowest possible cost. To help accomplish this objective, various quality improvement philosophies have been put forward in recent years and of these Six Sigma has emerged as perhaps the most viable and efficient approach for process quality improvement. The objective of this paper is to review and examine the advancement and encounters of six sigma practices in Indian manufacturing SMEs and identify the key tools for each step in successful Six Sigma project execution. The paper also integrates the lessons learned from successful six sigma projects and their prospective applications in various manufacturing SMEs. Large scale organizations are expecting high quality products from their suppliers and are owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The vast range of products are manufactured in the SMEs, the nature of the export composition makes it amply clear that products from mostly smaller enterprises have hardly improved quality through supportive engrossments towards product/process modernizations, diversification and larger market access. In today scenario, many Indian SMEs’ operate their processes at the two to three sigma quality levels. So there is Six Sigma implementation needs and have been appealing much attention. Keywords:Indian Manufacturing SMEs, Review, Six Sigma, DMAIC I. INTRODUCTION Since its origins in the mid-1980s, the Six Sigma approach for process improvement has become widely embraced and many Fortune 500 firms have adopted Six Sigma. Early successes in high profile companies such as Motorola, Allied Signal (now Honeywell), and General Electric helped to popularize the approach and dozens of books have been devoted to the topic. The traditional quality management approaches, including Statistical Quality Control (SQC), Zero Defects and Total Quality Management (TQM), have been key players for many years, while Six Sigma is one of the more recent continuous quality improvement initiatives to gain popularity and acceptance in many industries across the globe.Six Sigma derives from Total Quality Management (TQM). Like its predecessor, Six Sigma relies on the use of statistical analysis and other quality tools to identify and eliminate defects but provides a framework for using them and extends its focus beyond quality to other strategic areas of the organization. Six Sigma on the other hand, is a continuous improvement plan that is intended to reduce variability. [1] II. Six Sigma Methodology As it is well known, Six Sigma was developed in the 1986’s by Motorola in an effort to improve their quality by reducing variability in their manufacturing operation as they competed in the semiconductor industry. This allowed Motorola to become the first American company to win the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, in 1988. Though Fredrick Taylor, Walter Shewhart and Henry Ford played a great role in the evolution of Six-Sigma in the early twentieth century, it is Bill Smith, Vice President of Motorola Corporation, who is considered as the father of Six-Sigma. Fredrick Taylor came up with the methodology of breaking systems into sub systems in order to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process. Henry Ford followed his four principles, namely continuous flow, interchangeable parts, division of labour and reduction of wasted effort, in order to end up in an affordable priced automobile. The development of control charts by Walter Shewhart laid the base for statistical methods to measure the variability and quality of various processes.[2] 2.1 Six sigma definition Six Sigma is a data-driven structured problem solving methodology for solving enduring issues facing a business. It is a highly disciplined approach used to reduce the process variations to the extent that the level of defects are drastically reduced to less than 3.4 (DPMO). The approach relies heavily on advanced statistical tools. Sigma (σ) is Greek RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS