1. Compareable between lean and six sigma
Compareable between lean and six sigmaProject descriptionPlease write compare between
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great difference between these method ,,,please see the word file which i upload to you…i
want as you creative please write something that can be interested if someone read it the
paper to be the instructure of the paper like belowThe structure of the paper I want to be
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mention the volume and the issue of the paper example for youAilawadi K.L., Keller K.L.
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Journal of Retailing, 80(4): 331-342.Please see the Word file i attach to you can give you
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greatBenefits, obstacles, and future of six sigma approachYoung Hoon Kwaka,*, Frank T.
Anbarib,1aProject Management Program, Department of Management Science, Monroe Hall
403, 2115 G Street,The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USAbProject
Management Program, Department of Management Science, Monroe Hall 302,The George
Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USAAbstractUnderstanding the key
features, obstacles, and shortcomings of the six sigma method allows organizations to better
support their strategicdirections, and increasing needs for coaching, mentoring, and
training. It also provides opportunities to better implement six sigma projects.This paper
examines the evolution, benefits, and challenges of six sigma practices and identifies the key
factors influencing successful sixsigma project implementations. It integrates the lessons
learned from successful six sigma projects and considers further improvements to thesix
sigma approach. Effective six sigma principles and practices will succeed by refining the
organizational culture continuously. Culturalchanges require time and commitment before
they are strongly implanted into the organization.q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.Keywords:Six sigma; Project management; Lessons learned; Organizational
culture; Quality; Business systems improvement1. Intro ductionThe six sigma method is a
project-dr iven managementappro ach to improv e the organiza tion’ s produc ts, serv
ices,and p rocesses by contin ually re ducing defe cts in th eorgan ization. It is a busi ness
strategy that focus es onimprov ing custom er require ments under standing ,
businesssystem s, produc tivity, and fin ancial performanc e. Dati ngback to the mid 1980s,
appl ications of the six sigmamethods allowed many organizations to sustain t heircom
petitive advantage by integrating their knowled ge ofthe process with stati stics, engi
2. neering, and proj ect manage-men t (Anbari , 2002). Num erous books and article s
providethe basic conce pts and benefit s of the six sigma method( Harry and Schroeder ,
2000 )(Hoe rl, 1998, 2001 ). Thechal lenges and realities in imple menting the six
sigmamethod successf ully are imme nse. Howeve r, the benefit s ofapplying the s ix sigma
method to technology-drive n,project -driven organ izations are equally great.Th e objective
of this paper is to review and examin e theevol ution, benefits, and challenges of six sigma
practicesand identify the key factor s influe ncing successf ul six sigmap r o je c t i mp l em e
n ta ti o n. Th e pa p e r al s o in te g r at e s th eles sons learned from successf ul six sigma
projects andtheir pote ntial appl ications in man aging tra ditional projects,and consider s
further improvem ents to the methodo logiesu sed for man aging six sigma projects. Wider
applica tions ofs ix s ig m a p r in ci p le s t o th e o r g an iz a ti o n w il l su c ce e dthr ough
seni or management involvem ent, organizati onalc ommitment, c u ltu ral c h a nge, a nd
effective projectman agement .2 . Two perspe ctives of six sigma proces ses2 .1. Statis tical
viewp ointSix sigma method has two major pers pective s. Th e origino f six sigma comes
from sta tistics and statisticians . Hahn etal. (1999), Hoerl and Snee (2002) , and Mont
gomery (2001)d iscuss the six sigma method from a statist ical, probabil-istic , and quant
itative point of view. From the statisticalp oint of view, the term six sigma is defined as
having lessTechnovation 26 (2006) 708– 715www.elsevier.com/locate/technovation0166-
4972/$ – see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2004.10.003* Corresponding author. Tel.: C1 202 994
7115; fax: C1 202 994 2736.E-mail addresses:kwak@gwu.edu (Y.H. Kwak),
anbarif@gwu.edu(F.T. Anbari).1Tel: C1 202/994-0404; fax: C1 202/994-2736.than 3.4
defects per million opportuni ties or a succe ss rate of99.9997% where sigma is a term used
to represe nt thevariation about the process aver age (Antony and Banuel as,2002). If an
organiza tion is opera ting at three sigma level forquality control, this is interp reted as
achievi ng a succe ss rateof 93% or 66,800 defects per million o pportunities.There fore, the
six sigma method is a very rigorous qualitycontrol conce pt where man y organ izations still
perf orms atthree sigma leve l ( McC lusky, 2000).2.2. Business viewpointIn the business
world, six sigma is defined as a ‘ busines sstrategy used to improv e business profit ability,
to improv ethe effecti venes s and efficie ncy of all opera tions to mee t orexceed cust
omer’ s needs and expectati ons (Ant ony andBanuel as, 2001). The six sigma appro ach was
first applied inmanufac turing operations and rapidl y expanded to differentfuncti onal area
s such as mar keting, engineer ing, pu rchas-ing, servicing, and adm inistrativ e suppor t,
once organiz-ations reali zed the benefits. Particula rly, the widesp readapplica tions of six
sigma were possi ble due to the fact thatorgan izations were able to articula te the benefits
of sixsigma present ed in financial returns by linking proce ssimprov ement with cost
savings.3. Understa nding six sigma3.1. Six sigma strategie s, tools, techniq ues, and prin
ciplesSix sigma is a system atic, data-drive n appro ach using thedefine, measur e, anal ysis,
improve, and control (DMA IC)process and uti lizing design for six sigma method (DFS S)(
GE 2004 ). The fundame ntal prin ciple of six sigma is to‘ ta ke an o rg an iza ti o n to a n im
pro v ed le ve l of s ig macapab ility through the rigorous application of statist icaltools and
techn iques’ ( Antony et al., 2003). It gener allyapplies to p roblems c ommon to p
roduction. Table 1sum marizes six sigma busi ness str ategies, tools, techniq ues,and princi
3. ples.3.2. Six sigma strate gies, tools, tec hniques, and principlesAnbari (2002) poin te d out
that six sigma is morecom prehensi ve than pri or qualit y initiat ives such as TotalQuality M
anagement ( TQM ) and C ontinuous Q ualityIm proveme nt (CQI). The six sigma method
include s mea-sure d and repor ted financi al results, uses additional , moreadvanc ed data
analysi s tools, focus es on custom er concerns,and uses proj ect man agement tools and
methodo logy. Hesum marized the six sigma management method as fol lows:Six
SigmaZTQMð or CQI Þ CStronger Customer FocusCAddi tional Data Analys is ToolsCFinan
cial Results CProject Mana gement3.3. DMA IC proce ssDM AIC is a closed- loop proce ss that
eliminate s unpro-duct ive steps, oft en focus es on new mea surements , andappl ies technol
ogy for cont inuou s im proveme nt. Table 2pres ents the key steps of six sigma using DM
AIC proce ss.3.4. DFSS methodo logyDFSS is a systematic methodology u tilizing
tools,training and measurem ents to enable the organiza tion todesi gn products and
processe s that meet custom er expec -tati ons and can be produc ed at Six Sigma qual ity
levels( Made r, 2002). The goal of DFSS is to achi eve minimumdefe ct rates, six sigma level,
and max imize positive im pactTable 1Six sigma strategies, principles tools, and techniques
(adapted from Antonyet al., 2003 )Six sigma business strategies andprinciplesSix sigma
tools and techniquesProject management Statistical process controlData-based decision
making Process capability analysisKnowledge discovery Measurement system
analysisProcess control planning Design of experimentsData collection tools and tech-
niquesRobust designVariability reduction Quality function deploymentBelt system (Master,
Black, Green,Yellow)Failure mode and effects analysisDMAIC process Regression
analysisChange management tools Analysis of means and variancesHypothesis testingRoot
cause analysisProcess mappingTable 2Key steps of six sigma using DMAIC process (Adapted
fromMcClusky,2000)Six sigmastepsKey processesDefine Define the requirements and
expectations of the customerDefine the project boundariesDefine the process by mapping
the business flowMeasure Measure the process to satisfy customer’ s needsDevelop a data
collection planCollect and compare data to determine issues and shortfallsAnalyze Analyze
the causes of defects and sources of variationDetermine the variations in the
processPrioritize opportunities for future improvementImprove Improve the process to
eliminate variationsDevelop creative alternatives and implement enhanced planControl
Control process variations to meet customer requirementsDevelop a strategy to monitor
and control the improvedprocessImplement the improvements of systems and
structuresY.H. Kwak, F.T. Anbari / Technovation 26 (2006) 708– 715 709durin g the
developm ent stage of the produc ts. It is used todevel op n ew produc ts or serv ices with a
six sigma crite ria,capab ility, and performanc e ( Tennant, 2002). It utilize svariet y of
quality orient ed tools and techniq ues to meetcusto mer require ments and has show n an
increas e in lifecycl e p rofits. As Treichler et al. (2002) noted the essence ofDFSS is ‘ pre
dicting design qual ity up fron t and drivingqual ity measur ement and predictabi lity
improvem ent duri ngthe early desi gn phase s.’ Es sentially, the DFSS process isfocus ed on
new or innov ative desi gns that yield a higherleve l o f performanc e. De Feo and Bar-El
(2002)summa rizeseven elements of DFSS as follow s.† Drive s the custom er-orient ed desi
gn process with sixsigma capability† Predict s desi gn qu ality at the outset† Matches
top– down requireme nts flow down with capa-bility flow up† Integra tes cross-fun ctional
4. design involvemen t† Drive s quality measurem ent and predictabi lity improv e-men t in
early design phases† Uses process capab ilities in making final decisi ons† Mo n it ors pro
ce ss v ari a nce s to v eri f y th at cu sto merrequire ments are metDFSS has been used and
proven succe ssful at DowChemi cal (Buss and Ivey, 2001), W.R. Grace, ( Rajagopal anet al.,
2004 ), Delphi Aut omotive ( Treichl er et al., 2002 ),N CR Co rp o r a ti on (McCl usky, 2000),
Ge n er a l E le ct r ic( W eine r, 20 04), an d othe r proce ss o rie nted indu str ies .Fig. 1
depicts the fiv e step DFSS process(Table 2) .4 . Repo rted ben efits of im plement ing six
sigma4 .1. Manuf acturin g sectorMot orola was the first organizati on to use the term
sixsigma in the 1980s as part of its qual ity performanc emea sureme nt and imp rovemen t
program . Six sigma hassinc e been successfully applied in othe r man ufacturingo
rganization s such as General Elec tric, Boe ing, DuPont,To shiba, Seagat e, Allied Signa l,
Kodak, Honeyw ell, TexasInst ruments, Sony, etc. Th e repor ted benefits and savingsare
com posed and p resented from inve stigating variousli teratures in six sigma (Wei ner,
2004; de Feo and Bar-El,2 002; Antony and Ba nuelas, 2002; Buss and Ivey, 2001;McC lusky,
2000). Table 3 sum marizes the organ izations,p rojects, benefits, improv ements , and
savings by imple-men ting the six sigma process.4 .2. Financ ial sectorIn re cent years, fin
ance and credit department arep ressured to reduce cash collectio n cycle time and
variationFig. 1. Five Step DFSS process (adapted from de Feo and Bar-El, 2002).Y.H. Kwak,
F.T. Anbari / Technovation 26 (2006) 708– 715 710in collec tion perform ance to remain
com petitive . Ty picalsix sigma proj ects in fin ancial institutio ns include improv -ing
accuracy of alloca tion of cash to reduce bank char ges,a ut om at ic pa y me n ts , i mp ro v in
g ac c ur ac y o f r ep o rt in g,reduc i ng doc umentary c redits defe cts, reducing
checkcollection defec ts, and reducing vari ation i n colle ctorperform ance ( Doran,
2003).Bank of Amer ica (B OA) is one of the pioneers inadopting and imple menting six
sigma concepts to str eam-line opera tions, attract and retai n custom ers, and createcompet
itiveness over cred it union s. It has hundre ds of sixsigma projects in areas of cross-selli ng,
deposit s, andproblem reso lution. BOA reporte d a 10.4% increas e incust omer satisfaction
a nd 24% d ecrease i n customerproblem s after implemen ting six sigma ( Roberts, 2004
).Amer ican Expres s appl ied six sigma pri nciples to improv eexte rn al vendor processe s,
and e liminat e non-re cei vedrene wal cred it card s. The resu lt sho wed an im prove
dsigma leve l of 0.3 in each case ( Bolt et al., 2000 ). Otherfinan cial institutions incl ud ing,
GE Capital Corp., JPMorg an Chase, and SunT rust Banks are using six sigma tofocus on and
improv e cust omer require ments and satisfac-tion (Roberts, 2004 ).4.3. Healthcar e
sectorSix sigma princi ples and the heal thcare sector are verywell matched because of the
healthcare nature of zerotoleran ce for mist akes and potential for reducing med icalerrors.
So me of the succe ssfully impleme nted six sigmaproject s include improv ing time ly and
accurat e cla imsreimb urseme nt ( Lazar us and Butler, 2001), streamlini ng theprocess o f
h ealthcare delive ry ( Ettinger, 2001), andreducing the inven tory of surgica l equi pment
and relat edcosts ( Revere and Black, 2003 ).The radiol ogy film library at the Universi ty of
Texas MDAnderso n Cancer Center also adopted six sigma an dimproved service activities g
reatly ( Ben e de tto, 2 00 3).Also in the sam e insti tution’ s outpa tient CT exam lab,patient
prepa ration times were reduc ed from 45 min to lessthan 5 mi n in many cases and there
was a 45% increas e inexaminations with no additional m achines o r s hifts( Elsberr y, 2000
5. ).4.4. Engine ering and construc tion sectorIn 2 002 , Be c htel Corpo r ation, o ne of t he larg
este ng inee rin g a nd c on str u cti on c omp an ies in the wor ld ,repor ted savings of $200
million with an inve stment of$30 milli on in its six sigma progr am to identify and
preventrework and defe cts in ever ything from design to construc -tion to on-time deliver y
of employe e payro ll (Eckhous e2004). For example, six si gm a was implem ented t
ostream line the process of neut ralizing chemic al agents,a n d i n a n a ti o n al tel ec o mm
u n ic at io ns p ro je c t to h el poptim ize the management of cost and schedule s (Moreton
,2003).4.5. Resear ch and developm ent sectorThe objectives of implementi ng six sigma in
R&Dorgan izations are to reduce cost , increas e speed to market ,and improv e R&D
processe s. To measur e the effective-ness of six sigma, organiza tions need to focus on data-
driven reviews, improved p r oj e ct s u c ce s s r at e, a n dintegr ation of R&D int o regular
work processe s. Onesurve y note d that as of 2003 only 37% of the respond entshad
formally implemented six sigma prin ciples intheir R&D organ ization ( Johnso n and
Swisher , 2003).Ra jagopalan et al. (2004) repor ted that the devel opmentTable 3Reported
benefits and savings from six sigma in manufacturing sectorCompany/project
Metric/measures Benefit/savingsMotorola (1992) In-process defect levels 150 times
reductionRaytheon/aircraft integration systems Depot maintenance inspection time
Reduced 88% as measured in daysGE/Railcar leasing business Turnaround time at repair
shops 62% reductionAllied signal (Honeywell)/laminates plant inSouth CarolinaCapacity
Cycle time Inventory On-time delivery Up 50% Down 50% Down 50% Increased tonear
100%Allied signal (Honeywell)/bendix IQ brake pads Concept-to-shipment cycle time
Reduced from 18 months to 8 monthsHughes aircraft’ s missiles systems
group/wavesoldering operationsQuality/productivity Improved 1,000%/improved
500%General electric Financial $2 billion in 1999Motorola (1999) Financial $15 billion over
11 yearsDow chemical/rail delivery project Financial Savings of $2.45 million in capital
expendituresDuPont/Yerkes plant in New York (2000) Financial Savings of more than $25
millionTelefonica de espana (2001) Financial Savings and increases in revenue 30
millioneuro in the first 10 monthsTexas instruments Financial $ 600 millionJohnson and
Johnson Financial $ 500 millionHoneywell Financial $1.2 billion(Sources: Weiner, 2004; de
Feo and Bar-El, 2002; Antony and Banuelas, 2002; Buss and Ivey, 2001; McClusky,
2000).Y.H. Kwak, F.T. Anbari / Technovation 26 (2006) 708– 715 711and manufac turing of
the new prototy pe at W.R. Grace(Refini ng Indus try) was cut to 8– 9 mont hs from
11– 12months by imple menting the DFSS process.Fig. 2 show sthe conce ptua l benefits and
improv ement of impleme ntingsix sigma in R&D projects.5. Key factors for imp lement ing a
successf ulsix sigma programAntony and Banuel as (2002) and Banuelas Cor onado
andAntony (2002) pr esented the key i ngredients for theeffective introdu ction and imple
mentation of six sigma inUK m a n uf a c t ur ing a n d s e r vic es or ga niz a t i on s a s t h
efollow ing.† Mana gement com mitment and involvemen t.† Unde rstanding of six sigma
methodo logy, tools, andtechniq ues.† Linking six sigma to busi ness strategy.† Linking six
sigma to custom ers.† Proj ect selection , review s and tracki ng.† Organi zational infrastr
ucture.† Cult ural change .† Proj ect management skill s.† Liking six sigma to suppl iers.†
Trainin g.† Linking six sigma to huma n resource s (Wyper andHarrison, 2000).Johnso n
and Swisher (2003) provided useful imple men-tati on tip s for succe ssful six sigma appl
6. ications as:† Susta ined and visibl e man agement com mitment.† Con tinuing Educat ion
and training of manager s andpartic ipants.† Settin g clear expec tations and selecting
project leaderscareful ly for leaders hip skills.† Picking and selecting str ategical ly
important proj ects.Star bird (2002)argue d that six sigma proce ss is part of aman agement
system to achi eve busin ess excellence ino rganization s and present ed keys to six sigma
success as:† Start proce ss mana gement: i den ti f y c ore proces ses,cust omer n eeds, and
measures.† Dr ive perf orm ance throu gh rep orting: Le ader s mus tmaint ain and report
opport unity lists , sta tus of act iveproj ects/reso urces, and resu lts from finish ed proj
ects.† Int egrate cham pioning of active proj ects: Sele ct andchar ter project s and require
updat es during existing staffmee tings.Ba sed on vari ous li terature reviews and discussio
ns withsix sigma lea ders in organ izations that adopted the six sigmamethod , t he authors
identified four key e lement s o fsucce ssful six sigma appl ications.5 .1. Manag ement
involveme nt and organizat ionalcom mitmentSix sigma requires top managem ent dedicat
ion andcont ribution to resource s and effort. A good exampl e isGen eral Electr ic’ s former
CEO Jack Welch’ s involvem ent( Hen derson and Evans, 2 000). He was char ismatic
andinflue ntial enough to restru cture the business and changethe attitudes of the
employees toward six sigma( He ndrick s and K elbau gh, 19 98). Th e organiza tions’ CEO s
are often involved in the successful implemen tationo f six sigma. Or ganization al infras
tructure needs to beest ablished with well traine d individual s ready for action.Im plemen
tation of six sigma proj ects mea ns commi tmento f resource s, time, money, and effort from
entire theo rganization .5 .2. Proje ct selection , managem ent, and control ski llsSix sigma
projects have to be carefully reviewed,planned, and s elected to maximize the benefits ofim
plementati on. The proj ect has to be feasible, organ iza-ti onally and financially beneficial,
and cust omer ori ented.Th ere has to be a clear set of measur es and metrics toinco rporate
custom er requireme nts. The project has to berevi ewed perio dically to eval uate the sta
tus of the p rojectas well as the performanc e of six sigma tools andtec hniques bein g imple
mented. The project should be welld ocumented to track project constra ints, mainl y
cost,sched ule, and scope . There shoul d als o be a lessonslea rned mechani sm to capture
the key issues of previousp rojects.5 .3. En couraging and accepting cultura l changePeopl e
facing cultur al change and challenges due to theim plementati on of six sigma mus t
understa nd the changefirst . This require s having a clear commun ication planFig. 2.
Advantages of applying six sigma in R&D projects (adopted fromJohnson and Swisher,
2003).Y.H. Kwak, F.T. Anbari / Technovation 26 (2006) 708– 715 712and channe ls, motiv
ating indivi duals to overco me resist -ance, and educa ting seni or manager s, emp loyees,
andcustom ers on the benefits of six sigma. Anno uncing theresults o f six sigma projects i
ncluding succ esses,obstacl es, and chal lenges will help future projects toavoid mak ing simi
lar mist akes and adopt only the verybest practices .5.4. Continuous educati on and
trainingEducatio n and tra ining give a clear sense for peopl e tobetter under stand the
funda mentals, tools, and techniq ues ofsix sigma. Trainin g is part of the commun ication
techniq uesto make sure that managers and employe es apply andimpleme nt the com plex
six sigma techniq ues effectively.There is usually a ranking of expertise identifi ed by the
beltsystem ( Hoerl , 2001 ). Four different Belt levels (Ma ster,Black , Green, Yellow) mak e
sure that establish ment andexecu tion of six sigma proj ects are done seam lessly. Th
7. ecurric ulum is custom ized and needs to be provided byidentifyi ng key roles and responsib
ilities of individual simpleme nting six sigma projects ( Ant ony and Banuel as,2002).
Organizat ions need to continuo usly learn and adaptthe latest trends and tec hniques that
are outs ide the sixsigma d omain that might be useful to com plemen t the sixsi gma
approac h. The authors found that s ele ction o fknow ledgeable, well -respec ted employe es
for Black Beltassignm ents was a critica l success factor for six sigmaproject s.6. Obstacl es
and challenge s of six sigm a met hod6.1. Issues in strate gyHammer and Goding (2001)
argue d that six sigma hasbeen the target of critici sm and cont roversy in the qualit
ycommun ity characterizi ng it as ‘ Tot al Quality Mana ge-ment on Steroid’ . One of the
main criticism s is that sixsigma is nothing new and simpl y repa ckages tradit ionalprinci
ples and techniques rel ated to quality ( Catherwood ,2002). Organi zations mus t reali ze
that six sigma is notthe universa l answ er to all busi ness iss ues, and it maynot be the mos t
important management strategy that anorgan izations feels a sense of urgen cy to under
stand andimplement six sigma . To ensure the l ong-termsustai nability of the six sigma
method, organiza tionsneed to analyze and accept its strengt hs and weaknes sesand
properl y uti lize six sigma princi ples, concepts , andtools.6.2. Issues in organi zational
cultureQu ality concepts need to be embedded into t heprocess of desi gning rather than
just monit oring thequality at the manufactur ing leve l (McCl usky, 2000).Th e more import
ant iss ue is the change in organ izationalcultur e that pu ts quality into plan ning. Address
ing theprobl ems and issues that are easy to correct and claimi ngthat the six sigma method
is a big success is simpl ydeceivi ng. Organi zations without a comple te under stand-
ingofreal obstaclesofsix sigmaprojectsoracom prehensi ve change man agement plan are
likel y tofail. Senior managem ent’ s strong commitmen t, support,and leadership are
essenti al to dealing wi th any culturaliss ues or difference s relat ed to six sigma imple
mentati on.If the com mitment and suppor t of utilizing variousreso urces do not exist,
organ ization should proba bly notconsi der adopt ing six sigma.6.3. Issu es in traini ng (Belt
Program )Trainin g is a key succe ss factor in imple menting sixsigma projects succe ssfully
and should be p art of anintegr ated approach. Th e belt program shoul d start fromthe top
and be applied to the entire organiza tion. Thecurricul um of the belt program should r
eflect t heo rg a ni za ti o n ’ s n ee d s an d r eq u ire men ts . I t h a s to b ecust omized to
incorpor ate econom ical and manager ialbenefit s. Trainin g should also cover both
qualitative andquant itative mea sures and metrics , leadership , and proj ectman agement
practices and skill s. It is important to notethat formal training is part of the devel opment
plan ofproduc ing differ ent belt leve l experts . Participa nts need tobe well inf ormed of the
latest trends, tools, and techniq uesof six sigma, and com municate with actual data analy
sis.Th e auth ors found that sel ection of less-c apable employ-ees for Black Belt assignm
ents was associa ted withchal lenges to six sigma projects.7. Future of six sigm aSix sigma is
likel y to remai n as one of the keyinitiat ives to improve the management proce ss than
justbein g remember ed as one of the fads ( Johnso n andSwisher, 2003). The primary focus
s hould be onim p ro vin g ov era ll man ag eme n t p erf orm a nc e, no t ju stpinpo inting and
count ing defects . Re searchers and prac-titioner s are trying to integrate six sigma with
otherexis ting innovative man agement practices that have beenaroun d to make six sigma
method even more attra ctive todiffer ent organization s that might have not started or
8. fullyimplemented the six sigma method. Integrating andcom paring principle s and
characterist ics of six sigmaw it h To ta l Q ua li t y M an ag e me nt (Revere and Black,2003),
( Hammer and Goding, 2001), Hum an Resour ceFu nctions ( Wyper and Harrison, 2000),
Lean Produc tion( Antony et al., 2003), ISO 9000 ( Cathe rwood, 2002), ISO9001 ( Dalglei sh,
2003), and the capab ility matur ity model( Muru gappan and Kee ni, 2003) are all part of
the qual ityY.H. Kwak, F.T. Anbari / Technovation 26 (2006) 708– 715 713com munity’ s
effort to maximiz e the positi ve effect of thesix sigma method.8. Conc lusionsSucces sful
impleme ntation and growing organ izationalintere st in six sigma method have been expl
oding in the lastfew years. It is rapidly becomi ng a major driving force forman y
technology-d riven, project -driven organ izations. Fac-tors influencing successfu l six sigma
projects i nclu deman agement involvem ent and organizatio nal commitmen t,project
managem ent and cont rol skill s, cultural change , andcontinuous training. Unders tanding
the key features,obst acles, and shortcom ings of six sigma provides oppor-tunities to prac
titioners for better imple ment six sigmaproject s. It allows them to better support their
organ izations’ str ategic d irect ion, and increas ing needs for coach ing,men toring, and
training.The sta tistical aspects of six sigma must comple mentbusi ness pers pective s and
chal lenges to the organ ization toimplement six sigma projects successfully. V ariousappro
aches to six sigma have been appl ied to increas e theovera ll perf ormance of different busi
ness sectors . Howeve r,integr ating the data-dr iven, structure d six sigma processe sinto
organiza tions still has room for improv ement. Cult uralchange s require time and commi
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