Int. J. Engineering Management and Economics, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2011 81 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Enigma of ‘Six Sigma’ for foundry SMEs in India: a case study Bikram Jit Singh* Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Kothi No. 461, Phase-2, Urban-Estate, Patiala-147003, Kurukshetra, Hrayana, India E-mail: Chann461@yahoo.com E-mail: chann461@gmail.com *Corresponding author Dinesh Khanduja Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Residence of 510/13, Urban Estates, Phase-13, Kurukshetra, Harayana, India E-mail: dineshkhanduja@yahoo.com Abstract: Six Sigma provides the opportunity and discipline to eliminate mistakes, improve morale, and save money (Henderson and Evans, 2000). Doing things right in the first time and keeping them consistently is the only idea behind Six Sigma. Its fundamental objective is to achieve customer satisfaction with continuous improvement in quality. An empirical investigation has been carried out in a make-to-order type (medium-sized) foundry, in which a modified Six Sigma approach DMAIC(S) has been implemented successfully, to decrease the scrap (or defects) of piston castings appreciably. The study focuses on scrap reduction in foundries and tries to find out the reasons of low productivity index. It also tends to shatter the various phobias of SMEs in the context of Six Sigma concepts and its implementation by validating the compatibility of it by performing a case study in an Indian foundry itself. Keywords: design of experiments; DOE; measurement system analysis; MSA; failure mode and effect analysis; FMEA; non-conforming products; cost of poor quality; hypothesis testing; defects per million opportunities; process capability; DMAICS; analysis of variance; ANOVA; India. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Singh, B.J. and Khanduja, D. (2011) ‘Enigma of ‘Six Sigma’ for foundry SMEs in India: a case study’, Int. J. Engineering Management and Economics, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.81–105. Biographical notes: Bikram Jit Singh is an Assistant Professor and the Department In-Charge in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Jasdev Singh Sandhu Institute of Engineering and Technology Kauli, Patiala, India. He received his Masters in Engineering with distinction in Industrial Engineering from Thapar University, Patiala. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra. He had a three-year