Appl

y i
ngSixSigmainthe
Ser
viceindustr
y:ARev
iew
andCaseSt udy
Name-
PrashantBhaskar

Emai
li
d-pr
ashant
me019@gmai
l
.com

Ment
or'
sName-Dr
.Fauzi
aSi
ddi
qui

Emai
l
-id-f
auzi
a.hoda@gmai
l
.com

Depar
tmentofmechani
cal
engi
neer
ing,
JECRC,
Jai
pur

1.
Abst
r -
act
Indust ri
esar ei napat hofadopt i
ngnewt echnol ogies,
equi pment ,appr oacht oimprovepr oductiv i
tyand
profitabil
ity.Thechangei nmi ndoft heindust r
iesisdueto
ther aisi
ngdemandf rom thecustomerf oraqual it
y
product sorser v
icesatalowcostwi threducedl eadti
me,
furtheritisf reef rom def
ects.Thesef actor spusht he
i
ndust ri
est of ocusont heiri
mpr ovement s.Thei ntentof
thisr esearchwor kis,toimprovet hequal ityin
manuf acturingsect orbycombi nat i
onofLeanandSi x
sigma.Thi spaperpr esentsanex tensi
ver eviewont he
serv i
ces, si
x- sigma, andappli
cationofsi x-sigmai n
ser
v i
ces.Inordert oimproveservi
cequali
tyfocuson
ser
v i
cepr ocessisnecessar y
.Six-
sigmaisaphilosophy
whi
chal soconcent ratesontheimpr ov
ementofpr ocess.
So,six-
sigmai fproperlyappl
iedcanbeusefulforservi
ces.

2.I
ntr
oduct
ion-
SixSi gma( 6σ)i sasetoft echni quesandt oolsf orpr ocess
i
mpr ovement .I twasi ntr
oducedbyengi neerBi l
l Smi th
whi l
ewor kingatMot orolain1980. [
1][2]JackWel chmade
i
tcent r
al t
ohi sbusi nessst r
at egyatGener alElect ricin
1995.Asi xsi gmapr ocessisonei nwhi ch99. 99966%of
alloppor tuni t
iest opr oducesomef eat ureofapar tare
statisti
callyexpect edt obef reeofdef ectsSi xSi gma
strategiesseekt oi mpr ovet hequal it
yoft heout putofa
processbyi dent ifyingandr emov ingthecausesofdef ects
andmi nimi zingv ariabil
it
yinmanuf actur i
ngandbusi ness
processes.I tusesasetofqual itymanagementmet hods,
mai nlyempi rical,st ati
sti
calmet hods, andcr eat esa
speci alinfrast r
uct ur eofpeopl ewi thi
nt heor gani zat i
on
whoar eexper t
si nt hesemet hods.EachSi xSigmapr oject
carriedoutwi thinanor ganizat i
onf oll
owsadef ined
sequenceofst epsandhasspeci fi
cv aluet arget s, for
exampl e:reducepr ocesscy cletime, reducepol lut ion,
reducecost s,incr easecust omersat isfaction,and
i
ncr easepr ofits.Thet erm Si
xSi gma( capi t
alizedbecause
i
twaswr i
ttenthatwaywhenr egister edasaMot orol
a
trademar konDecember28, 1993)or iginatedfrom
terminologyassociatedwi t
hstatisti
cal model i
ngof
manuf actur i
ngprocesses.Themat urityofa
manuf actur i
ngprocesscanbedescr i
bedbyasi gmarati
ng
i
ndi cat
ingi tsyi
eldorthepercentageofdef ect-
free
productsi tcreat
es—specifi
call
y,wi thinhowmany
standarddev i
ati
onsofanor maldi stributionthef r
act
ionof
defect-f
reeout comescor r
espondst o.Mot orol
asetagoal
of" si
xsigma"f orallofi
tsmanuf act uring.

Whyi
ssi
xsi
gmar
equi
redi
ntheser
vicei
ndust
ry?
Researchcar ri
edoutbyYi l
mazandChat terj
ee( 2000)has
shownt hatmostser vicepr ocessessuchasshi pping,
i
nvoici
ng, bi
ll
ing, pay roll
,cust omeror derentry,baggage
handli
ngpr ocessi ng, etc.,
ar eper f
or mingatl esst hana3. 5
si
gmaqual i
tylev el,withadef ectr ateofov er23,000ppm
or97.7percenty ield.Ifwei mpr ovet hesigmaqual it
ylevel
oftheabov e-ment ionedpr ocessest oa4si gmaqual i
ty
l
evel,t
hedef ectr at ewi l
ldropt o6,210ppm.Thi scl earl
y
i
ndicatesa3. 7-foldi mpr ovementi npr ocessper formance.
Theprocessy i
eldwi l
l beincreasedt o99. 38percent .This
wouldbr i
ngsi gnificantf i
nanci alreturnstot hebot tom l i
ne
ofanyor ganisationengagedi ncont i
nuousi mpr ov ement
progr amssuchassi xsi gma.Ser vicepr ocessescr eate
scrapandr ewor kint hef or m ofcost sofpoorqual it
yj ust
l
ikemanuf act uri
ngpr ocesses( Bisgaar dandFr eiesleben,
2004) .Infact , mostdev elopedcount ri
esnol ongerhav ea
manuf acturing-basedeconomy .Ther eal economyi n
thesecount r
iesi nvolvessuchf iel
dsasf i
nancialser vices,
healthcar e, e-commer ce, andlogi sti
cs, butless
manuf acturing, whichhast endedt omov eoffshor etol ow-
costl ocations.Si xsi gmacanbeusedi nt hiscaset o
reducet hecost sofpoorqual itysot hatamor econsi st ent
processf orser vicedel i
verymaybeachi eved.Anot her
i
mpor tantr easonf ort heint r
oduct ionoft hesixsi gma
strategyinmanyser v icecompani esist hatcust omer sof
todayf eel “processv ar i
abi l
it
y”int hedel iveryoft heser vi
ce
prov i
dedandnotj uston“ processav erageormean” .The
object i
veofasi xsigmast rategyist or educe“ process
variabili
ty”ar oundt heaccept ablet argetser vi
ce
perfor mance.

3.Met
hodol
ogy
HOW ISSIXSIGMAI MLEMENTED-At ypical
processfor
Si
xSigmaprocessimprov ementhasfiv
ephases:Defi
ne,
Measure,
Analyze,
Improve,andControl
,denotedby
DMAIC.TheDMAI Cmet hodol
ogyiscentralt
oSixSigma
pr
ocessimprovementproject
s.Thefoll
owingphases
provi
deapr obl
em solvingprocessinwhichspeci
fictools
areemploy edtoturnapr act i
calpr
oblem i
ntoastati
stical
probl
em, generateast ati
sticalsol
uti
onandthenconv ert
thatbackintoapr act
ical solut
ion.

Def
ine(
D):
Thepur poseoft hedef inephasei stocl ear l
yi denti
fythe
problem, ther equirement softhepr oj
ectandt he
objectivesoft hepr oject .Theobjectivesoft hepr oject
shouldf ocusoncr iti
cal issueswhi char eal i
gnedwi ththe
company ’sbusi nessst rategyandt hecust omer ’
s
requirement s.TheDef inephasei ncl
udes: definecust omer
requirement sast heyr elatetothisproject .Explici
t
customerr equi r
ement sar ecall
edCr i
tical –To-Qual i
ty
(CTQ) char acteri
stics; dev elopdefectdef init
ionsas
preciselyaspossi ble; per f
or m abasel i
nest udy( ageneral
measur eoft hel evelofper formancebef oret he
i
mpr ov ementpr ojectcommences) ;createat eam
charact erandchampi on; estimatethef inanci alimpactof
thepr oblem ; andobt ainseni ormanagementappr oval
ofthepr oject .

Measur
e(M)
:
pur
poseoft
hemeasur
ephasei
stof
ull
yunder
standt
he
curr
entper f
ormancebyident
if
yinghowtobestmeasur e
curr
entper f
ormanceandtostartmeasur
ingit.The
measurement susedshouldbeuseful
andrelevany
i
dentif
yingandmeasuringthesourceofvar
iati
on.Thi
s
phaseincludes
:
•Ident
if
ythespeci
fi
cper
for
mancer equi
rementsof
r
elev
antcri
ti
cal
-To-
Qual
it
y(CTQ)charact
eri
sti
cs;
•Mapr elevantprocesswi thidenti
fi
edinputandoutputso
thatateachpr ocessst eps,t
her el
evantoutput
sandallthe
potenti
alinputs(X)thatmi ghtimpacteachoutputare
connectedt oeachot her
•Gener
atel
i
stofpot
ent
ial
measur
ement
s.
•Anal
yzemeasurementsyst
em capabi
l
ityandest
abl
i
sh
pr
ocesscapabi
l
itybasel
ine.
•I
dent
if
ywher
eer
ror
sinmeasur
ement
scanoccur
.
•St
artmeasur
ingthei
nput
s,pr
ocessesandout
put
sand
col
l
ecti
ngthedata.
•Val
idatet
hatthepr
obl
em exi
stbasedont
he
measurements.
•Ref
inet
hepr
obl
em orobj
ect
ive(
from t
heanal
ysi
sphase)
.
Anal
yze(
A):
Intheanal yzephaset hemeasur ement scoll
ectedin
thmeasur ephasear eanalyzedsot hathypothesesabout
therootcausesofv ari
ati
onsinthemeasur ement scanbe
generatedandt hehy pothesessubsequentlyvali
dated.Iti
s
atthi
sst agethatpracticalbusi
nesspr obl
emsar eturned
i
ntost ati
sti
calproblemsandanal yzedasst ati
stical
probl
ems.Thi sincludes:
•Generat
ehypot
hesesaboutpossi
blerootcausesof
var
iat
ionandpot
enti
alcr
it
icali
nput
s( X’
s)
•Ident
if
ythevi
talfewrootcausesandcr
it
ical
input
sthat
havethemostSignif
icanti
mpactand
•Val
i
dat
ethesehy
pot
hesesbyper
for
ming
mul
ti
var
iat
eanal
ysi
s.

I
mpr
ove(
I)
:
Theimprovephasefocusesondev el
opingi
deasto
removerootcausesofvariat
ion,
test
ingandst
andardi
zi
ng
thosesol
uti
on.Thisi
nvolves
•I
dent
if
yway
stor
emov
ecausesofv
ari
ati
on.
•Ver
if
ycr
it
ical
input
s.
•Di
scov
err
elat
ionshi
psbet
weenv
ari
abl
es.
•Establishoperati
ngt ol
eranceswhi charetheupperand
l
owerspeci f
icat
ionsli
mi t
s(Theengi neeri
ngorcustomer
requi
rement )ofapr ocessforjudgingacceptabi
li
tyofa
parti
cularcharacter
isti
c,andifstr
ictlyfol
lowedwil
l r
esul
t
i
ndef ect -
fr
eeproductsorser vi
ces.
•Opt
imizecr
it
ical
input
sorr
econf
igur
ether
elev
ant
pr
ocess.

Cont
rol
(C)
:Thecont
rol
phaseai
mst
oest
abl
i
shst
andar
d
measurest
omai nt
ainperf
ormanceandtocor
rect
pr
oblemsasneeded,incl
udingpr
oblemswi
ththe
measurementsy
stem.Thisincl
udes:
•Val
i
dat
emeasur
ementsy
stems
•Ver
if
ypr
ocessl
ong–t
erm capabi
l
ity
.
•Implementprocesscontrol
wi t
hcontrol
plantoinsur
e
thatt
hesamepr oblemsdon’treoccurbyconti
nuously
monitori
ngtheprocessthatcreatest
heproductsor
servi
ces.
4.
Cer
ti
fi
cat
ion-
ElectricandMot or ol
adev elopedcer t
ifi
cati
on
programsaspar toft hei
rSi xSigmai mplement ati
on,
veri
fyingi ndi
viduals'commandoft heSi xSigma
met hodsatt her elevantski l
llevel (
GreenBel t
,Black
Beltet c.
).Foll
owi ngthisappr oach,many
organizationsint he1990sst art
edof feri
ngSix
Sigmacer ti
fi
cationst otheirempl oyees.In2008
Mot orolaUniversitylaterco- developedwi thVative
andt heLeanSi xSi gmaSoci etyofPr ofessi
onalsa
setofcompar abl ecer t
if
icationst andardsforLean
Certif
ication.
Cr i
teriaforGr eenBel tandBl ackBelt
certi
ficati
onv ary;somecompani essimpl yrequir
e
parti
cipationinacour seandaSi xSigma
project.Therei snost andar dcer ti
fi
cationbody ,and
diff
erentcer t
ifi
cat ionser vicesar eoff
er edbyv ari
ous
qualit
yassoci ationsandot herpr ovi
der sagainsta
fee.[
self-publishedsour ce]TheAmer icanSoci etyf
or
Qual i
tyf orexampl er equiresBl ackBeltappl i
cantsto
passawr it
tenexam andt opr ovideasi gned
affi
dav i
tst ati
ngt hatt heyhav ecompl et edtwo
projectsoronepr ojectcombi nedwi tht hreeyears'
practical experiencei nt hebodyofknowl edge.
5.
concl
usi
on-
Sigmal ooksatal lworkasaser i
esofpr ocesses
withinherentv ari
ati
ons, whichcancausewast eor
i
nef fi
ciency.Focusingont hosepr ocesseswi t
h
greatestimpactonbusi nessper f
ormance, as
definedbyl eadershipteams, themet hodology
i
nv olvesstati
sticalanalysi
st oquanti
fyrepeated
commoncausev ar
iati
ons-whichcant henbe
reducedbytheSixSigmat eam.SixSigmabecomes
acontinuouspr
ocessf orqual
it
yimprovementand
costreducti
onf
lowingt hr
oughoutthecompany.

6.
Ref
erence
Wi
ki
pedi
aandVar
iousr
esear
chpaperpubl
i
shedonsi
xsi
gma.