International OPEN ACCESS Journal Of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) | IJMER | ISSN: 2249–6645 | www.ijmer.com | Vol. 4 | Iss. 3 | Mar. 2014 | 44 | Implementation of Six Sigma Using DMAIC Methodology in Small Scale Industries for Performance Improvement Ivan Sunit Rout 1 , Dipti Ranjan Patra 2 , Smruti Snigdha Patro 3 , Madhusmita Pradhan 4 1,2,3,4 (Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, C.V.Raman College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar, India) I. INTRODUCTION Six Sigma is business performance improvement strategy that aims to reduce the number of mistakes/defects to as low as 3.4 occassions per million opportunities. Sigma is a measure of “variation about the average” in a process which could be in manufacturing or service industry. Six sigma improvement drive is the latest and most efficient technique in quality engineering and management spectrum. It enables organizations to make substantial improvements in their bottom line and quality line by designing and monitoring everday business activities in ways which minimize customer satisfactions. While all the quality improvemet drives are useful in their own ways, they often fail to make breakthrough improvement in bottom line and quality. Voelkel, J.G contents that six sigma blends correct management, financial and methodological elements to make improvement in process and products in ways that surpass other approaches. Six sigma has a major impact on the quality management approach, while still based in the fundamental methods and tools of quality management. Six sigma is a strategic initiative to boost profitability, increases market a share and improve customer satisfaction through statistical tools that can lead to breakthrough quantum gains in quality. Six sigma is a disciplined, data-driven methodology for eliminating defects in any process. To achieve six sigma quality a process must produce no more than 3.4 defects per mill ion opportunities. Six sigma’s basic value propositions is that principle for process improvement, statistical methods, a customer focus, attention to process and management system focusing on high return improvement project results in continuous improvement and significant gains. Six sigma is highly disciplined process that helps on focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and service. The central idea behind six sigma is that it can measure how many “defects” you have in process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and gets as close to “zero defects” as possible. Sigma is a measurement that indicates how a process is performing. Six sigma stands for six standard deviations from mean. Six sigma methodology provides the technique and tools to improve the capability and reduce defects in any process. Six sigma is fact-based, data-driven philosophy of improvement that values defect prevention over defect detection. 1.1 Concepts of Six Sigma The word “ Sigma” is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection as a new methodology using old tools. Six sigma is a comprehensive system for achieving, maintaining and maximizing business success. The basics of six sigma is a detailed knowledge of customer requirements, disciplined use of facts and objective data, statistical analysis and ongoing efforts focused on optimizing business processes. Six sigma revolves around a few key concepts: Abstract: The fast changing economic conditions such as global completion, declining profit margin, customer demand for high quality product, product variety and reduced lead time etc had a major impa ct on manufacturing industries. To respond to these needs a new paradigm in this area of manufacturing strategies is six sigma. The six sigma has been increasingly adopted world wide in the manufacturing sector in order to enhance productivity and quality performance and to make the process robust to quality variations. This paper deals with an application of six sigma using DMAIC methodology in a gas industry which provides a frame work to identify, quantify and eliminate sources of variation in an operational process in question, to optimize the operation variables, improve and sustain performance viz process yield with well executed control plans. Six sigma improves the process performance of the critical operational process, leading to better utilization of resources, decreases variations and maintains consistent quality of the process output. Keywords: Control process, DMAIC, Improvement, Gas cylinder, Six sigma.