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Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains to reduce customer

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388 Int. J. Productivity and Quality Management, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2012

Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply

chains to reduce customer end-rejections: a case
study in an Indian SME

T. Senthilkumar*, S. Karthi, S.R. Devadasan

and N.M. Sivaram
Department of Production Engineering,
PSG College of Technology
Coimbatore – 641 004, Tamil Nadu, India
Fax: +91-422-2573833
E-mail: sendilt.kumar@gmail.com
E-mail: kartikcbe@gmail.com
E-mail: devadasan_srd@yahoo.com
E-mail: nmsivaram@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

C.G. Sreenivasa
Department of Industrial and Production Engineering,
University BDT College of Engineering,
Davangere 577 004, Karnataka, India
Fax: +91-8192-233412
E-mail: sreenivasacg@gmail.com

R. Murugesh
Darshan Institute of Engineering and Technology,
Rajkot – 363 650, Gujarat, India
Fax: +91-2822-293008
E-mail: drmurugesh_m@yahoo.com

Abstract: In recent times, the integration of managerial models is envisaged in

manufacturing of products and offering of services to face intense global
competition. In this scenario, the establishment of supply chain management
(SCM) becomes vital, as the manufacturing of sub-components are scattered
geographically. Few of the researchers and practitioners have slowly started to
integrate the Six Sigma concepts with SCM to achieve high quality of products
and offering of services in the supply chain. In order to project the importance
of integration of Six Sigma with SCM, the literature arena is reviewed in this
direction. Following the literature review, a managerial model named ‘Six
Sigma SCM’ and a roadmap to implement the same is contributed in this
research paper. In order to validate the prowess of ‘Six Sigma SCM’
managerial model, a case study has been carried out in a supply chain involving
an Indian small/medium enterprise. The customer end rejections have been
improved from a sigma level of 3.75 to 5 through the implementation of this
‘Six Sigma SCM’ managerial model in the reported case study.

Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 389

Keywords: Six Sigma; supply chain management; SCM; Poka-Yoke; define-

measure-analyse-improve-control; DMAIC; case study; India.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Senthilkumar, T., Karthi,

S., Devadasan, S.R., Sivaram, N.M., Sreenivasa, C.G. and Murugesh, R. (2012)
‘Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains to reduce customer
end-rejections: a case study in an Indian SME’, Int. J. Productivity and Quality
Management, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp.388–409.

Biographical notes: T. Senthilkumar is an undergraduate scholar pursuing his

Bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering in PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore. His areas of research includes Six Sigma, supply chain
management, agile manufacturing.

S. Karthi is a Research Scholar pursuing his PhD degree in the Department of

Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He
holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a
Masters degree in Applied Electronics Engineering. He is a graduate in
Industrial Engineering. He has a Six Sigma Black Belt from Indian Statistical
Institute. He has published a paper in an international journal. His fields of
research interests include Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, theory of constraints
and ISO 9000 certification.

S.R. Devadasan is a Professor in the Department of Production Engineering,

PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He holds a Bachelors degree
in Mechanical Engineering, a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering, a PhD
degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in
Mechanical Engineering. He has 22 years of teaching and research experience.
He has published over 90 papers in international journals. He is an Editorial
Advisory Board member of the European Journal of Innovation Management.
His fields of research interests include agile manufacturing, Six Sigma, total
quality management and total productive maintenance.

N.M. Sivaram is a research scholar pursuing his PhD degree in the Department
of Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. He
holds a Bachelors degree in Production Engineering and a Masters degree in
Industrial Safety Engineering. His fields of research interests include total
quality management, total productive maintenance and safety management.

C.G. Sreenivasa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and

Production Engineering, University BDT College of Engineering, Davangere,
Karnataka, India. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and
a Masters degree in Production Engineering System Technology. He has eight
years of teaching experience. He has published five papers in international and
national journals and seven papers in international and national conferences.
His fields of research interests include agile manufacturing, lean manufacturing
and industrial engineering.

R. Murugesh is the Principal of Darshan Institute of Engineering and

Technology, Rajkot, Gujarat, India. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical
Engineering, a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering and a PhD degree in
Mechanical Engineering. He has more than 22 years of experience in teaching
and research. He has published 20 papers in international journals. His fields of
research interests include strategic productivity management, total productive
maintenance, management information systems, web engineering and executive
support system.
390 T. Senthilkumar et al.

1 Introduction

During the past three decades, the world has witnessed theoreticians and practitioners
adopting various managerial models to make the organisations to be competitive (Karthi
et al., 2011; Natarajan et al., 2011). Some of the models developed in this time period are
Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, supply chain management (SCM) and agile
manufacturing (Prabhushankar et al., 2008; Esfandyari et al., 2011; Setijono, 2010;
Baghdasaryan et al., 2010; Shalij et al., 2009 and Sreenivasa and Devadasan, 2011). The
implementation of several managerial models to achieve competitiveness has also been
endeavoured in Indian enterprises and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Kumar et
al., 2011; Gnanaraj et al., 2010). In order to enhance the competitiveness, the
theoreticians and practitioners utilised more than one of these models at a time, resulting
in synergised managerial models like Lean Six Sigma and agile SCM (Karthi et al., 2011;
Salah et al., 2011; Kumar et al., 2010). In line to these synergising efforts, few attempts
have been made to implement Six Sigma in the SCM (Aboelmaged, 2010). The Six
Sigma quality at the rate of 3.4 ‘defects per million opportunities’ (DPMO) is realised
through the implementation of define-measure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC)
methodology (Jones et al., 2011; Reddy and Reddy, 2010).
During the recent times, DMAIC methodology is increasingly applied in the supply
chains (Chappell and Peck, 2006; Amer et al., 2010; Wei et al., 2010). Succeeding the
few case studies of Six Sigma in supply chains reported in the literature arena, this
research paper reports a case study of implementing integrated Six Sigma and SCM
model (hereafter referred to as ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model in this paper) in an Indian SME.
This paper is organised in seven sections. The second section describes the research
methodology utilised to carry out this case study. The third section illustrates the
literature works reviewed before and during the conduct of this case study. The fourth
section describes the model applied for the implementation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model.
The fifth section describes the case study involving the implementation of ‘Six Sigma
SCM’ model in an Indian SME. The results and discussions are presented in the sixth
section and the paper is concluded in the last section by stating the benefits that might be
reaped through the implementation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model.

2 Research methodology

The research methodology followed to implement a case study on integrating Six Sigma
with SCM is shown in Figure 1.
As shown, in the first stage the literature works relating to integrating Six Sigma with
SCM is reviewed. In this stage, the conceptual contributions and the case studies reported
in the direction of integrating Six Sigma with SCM were reviewed. During the second
stage, based on the literature work reviewed, the ideas required to adopt a model were
consolidated. This model was developed from two research works carried out in the same
direction. During the third stage, a roadmap was developed to implement this model in
organisations. The purpose of developing a roadmap is to provide practical guidelines
that could ease the implementation in organisations. During the fourth stage, this model
was implemented in an Indian SME. The implementation of the reported model was
carried out through the guidelines provided in the roadmap. In the fifth stage, the model
and roadmap were refined based on the experience in conducting the case study.
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 391

Figure 1 Research methodology for implementing ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model in an Indian SME
 
Literature review on integrating Six Sigma
with supply chain management

Adopting a model for Integrating Six Sigma

and supply chain management

Development of a roadmap to implement

‘Six Sigma SCM’ model

Implementation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model

in an Indian SME

Refinement of the roadmap and model of

‘Six Sigma SCM’ model

3 Literature review

The recent times have witnessed the implementation of Six Sigma in both service sectors
and Indian SMEs (Sambhe and Dalu, 2011; Neves and Nakhai, 2011). In the context of
this research paper, the literature arena was reviewed in two stages. Initially, the papers
reporting the integration of Six Sigma with SCM were reviewed. In the second stage, the
papers reporting the case studies reporting the synergising of Six Sigma and SCM were
reviewed. The availability of case studies reporting this application in Indian SMEs was
also checked.

3.1 Conceptual contributions of integrating Six Sigma with SCM

The idea of integrating Six Sigma with SCM first occurred in the book titled Lean Six
Sigma: Combining Six SIGMA Quality with Lean Speed (George, 2002). Following this
work, the literature arena witnessed few of the papers reporting the integrated works of
Six Sigma and SCM. The researches reported in these research papers are described in
this subsection.
Dasgupta (2003) utilised the computation of Six Sigma metric to continually improve
the effectiveness of a supply chain. This author also discussed the framework of the Six
392 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Sigma metric in supply chain involving a market research as a case. Garg et al., (2004)
developed a notion for Six Sigma supply chains and later these authors extended the
notions as a mathematical programming problem dedicated for ‘design of Six Sigma
supply chains’. This mathematical programming problem has been employed for
studying design optimisation and strategic decision-making across the supply chains.
Gowen III and Tallon (2005) have depicted that the ‘Six Sigma based belt training
systems’ and ‘Six Sigma concepts’ have been aiding companies like Ford to develop
efficient supply chains. The usage of Six Sigma normal distribution curve illustrating the
variation of supply with respect to demand in a supply chain network has been discussed
by Knowles et al. (2005). Antony et al. (2006) have contributed a heuristic based genetic
algorithm model that enhances the supply chain performance at Six Sigma level. This
algorithm focuses on optimising the total price and the profitability in the delivery within
the constraints of customer specifications.
After studying the deficiency in the United States Automakers, Bandyopadhyay and
Jenicke (2007) have contributed a practical model that could perhaps be constructive for
envisaging Six Sigma level quality assurance in the supply chains. In the research paper
reporting the integrated SCM and Six Sigma at Samsung, Yang et al. (2007) have
discussed the various methodologies of Six Sigma to design or improve the Samsung
supply chain. Aboelmaged (2010) has reported an intense literature review on Six Sigma
that encompasses a section portraying the Six Sigma implementations in the supply
chains discussed by various authors. Jones et al. (2010) have developed a
multi-objective stochastic supply chain model to assess the trade-off between the profit
and Six Sigma level quality in the supply chain to meet customer expectations.
Huehn-Brown and Murray (2010) have depicted that, the importance of education,
training, knowledge and execution of Six Sigma needs proper communication along the
entire supply chain. These authors have also stated that, continuous improvement along
the supply chain could be brought out only through proper execution of the improvement
programmes like Six Sigma.
The prowess of lean design for Six Sigma has been discussed by Lee and Chang
(2010) with respect to SCM. Salah et al. (2011) have illustrated the application of Lean
Six Sigma’s value stream mapping in supply chains. Jin et al. (2011) have depicted the
importance of a cross functional team to achieve Six Sigma reliability in a supply chain
network. After reviewing the above papers, it was inferred that Six Sigma has high
potential for application along supply chains to improve their performance.

3.2 Case studies reporting the integration of Six Sigma with SCM
The contributions of papers reporting the implementation of Six Sigma in SCM have
been described in this subsection.
Chappell and Peck (2006) have discussed about the possibility of applying Six
Sigma’s DMAIC methodology in the military supply chains. The root cause analysis of
problems in the areas namely, Navy customers, pack-to-dispatch and warehouse has been
addressed in the DMAIC project discussed by Chappell and Peck (2006). However, a
limitation remained in their reported case study as they did not strive to explore the
control phase.
In the global retail supply chains of a retail store, Amer et al. (2010) have employed
the order fulfilment model comprising design for Six Sigma and fuzzy logic. These
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 393

authors have utilised the cause and effect diagram to achieve perfect order fulfilment. The
order fulfilment model provides opportunities to improve the external supply chain that in
turn results in the improvement of business outcomes. Wei et al. (2010) have reported a
case study in which DMAIC methodology was implemented in Amway Taiwan supply
chains. The improvements in the replenishment process in Amway direct selling
company is addressed with the help of DMAIC methodology.
All these papers reviewed in this subsection have validated the proficiency of
implementing Six Sigma in SCM. However, there has been no paper available in the
literature arena depicting the implementation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model in an Indian
SME.

Figure 2 Model adapted for implementing ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model

  C1

R1
C2
W1

R2 F1 Re1
C3
W2

R3 F2 Re2
C4
W3
R4
C5

Raw materials Factories Warehouses Retailers Customers

Coordination
unit

Six Sigma’s DMAIC Projects for continual improvement

of the supply chain

4 Model and roadmap for integrating Six Sigma with SCM

As reported in the previous section, a few research papers in the literature arena
have reported the conceptual features and case studies of Six Sigma implementation
in supply chains. Yet, the theoretical background of integrating Six Sigma with
394 T. Senthilkumar et al.

SCM through a constructed model is seldom discussed in the literature arena. This
research gap is overcome in this research paper through contributing a conceptual
model and roadmap to implement the model in organisations. The forthcoming two
subsections illustrate the conceptual model and roadmap to implement the same in the
organisations.

4.1 Conceptual model

During the research work being reported here, a conceptual model was adapted by
conjoining the works of Dasgupta (2003) and Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke (2007) to
integrate Six Sigma with SCM in organisations. The conceptual features of this
‘Six Sigma SCM’ model are depicted in Figure 2. As shown, the entire supply chain
is managed by a coordination unit. The quality of the manufactured products and
services provided across the supply chains are reported to the coordination unit.
These problems arising in any of the supply chains directly prevent the attainment of
Six Sigma level quality. These problems are identified by the coordination unit. The
Six Sigma belt team working in the coordination unit treat these problems as Six Sigma
projects. These projects with the goal to achieve 3.4 DPMO are executed using
DMAIC methodology. The coordination unit identifies the means of implementing the
solutions envisaged from the Six Sigma across the required parts of the supply chain.
Execution of more such projects aids the supply chains to perform at Six Sigma level
quality.

4.2 Roadmap to implement ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model

This subsection illustrates the roadmap to implement the ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model. This
roadmap is shown in Figure 3. As shown, the first step of implementation is the
establishment of a SCM coordination unit. This is carried out by a coordination unit that
interacts with all the units in the supply chain. The coordination unit develops
information based on various data obtained across the supply chain. The second step in
the roadmap is to implement a belt team comprising Green Belts and Black Belts
(Aboelmaged, 2010). The decision on whether to have a Master Black Belt purely
depends on the number of the members in the coordination unit and the size of the supply
chains. The third step is the identification of problems relating to quality occurring in
supply chain. The problems relating to quality are identified based on the expertise
possessed by the members of the coordination unit. The information developed from
gathering of data across the supply chain strengthens this expertise level in the
coordination unit. The fourth step facilitates the solving of these problems using DMAIC
methodology. The successful execution of the Six Sigma project through the DMAIC
methodology depends on the competence level of the belt team. The final and the fifth
step envisage the communication of the improvement brought through the DMAIC
methodology to the whole supply chain and to leap back to third step to identify some
other quality issues.
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 395

Figure 3 Roadmap for implementing ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model

 
Establishment of a supply chain management
with a coordination unit

Train the members of the coordination unit

as Six Sigma Green Belts and Black Belts

Identification of Six Sigma level

quality issues in the supply chain

Solve the quality issues using Six

Sigma’s DMAIC methodology

Communicate the improvements achieved

through the DMAIC projects in the supply chain

5 Case study

The first author of this paper approached a gear housing manufacturing company located
in Chennai, Tamil Nadu State, India to implement the ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model proposed
in this research paper. This gear housing manufacturing company is categorised as an
SME as its turnover is less than 20 million USD. Hereafter, the SME is referred to as
SME-X. SME-X is located in the middle of a supply chain pertaining to the machining of
gear housing component. SME-X has several suppliers and customers to its both ends
along the supply chain.
The first author of this paper, after an introductory discussion with the General
Manager of the Quality Assurance Department (GM-QAD) derived an information that,
all the supply chains of SME-X are coordinated by the GM-QAD himself. The other
information gathered was that, the GM-QAD is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.
After this introductory discussion, the GM-QAD agreed to allow the first author of this
paper to be the coordinator for implementing the ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model in the SME. In
order to test the validity of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model, GM-QAD allotted one of its supply
chains involving the manufacturing a product by name Euro II gear housing as the pilot
area of implementation. This supply chain is shown in Figure 4. As shown, the product
Euro II gear housing has four suppliers (hereafter referred to as Supplier-2, Supplier-4,
396 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Supplier-5 and Supplier-20 in which the numerical values indicate the distance of
location of the suppliers from the SME in unit kilometre). The machined Euro II gear
housings are delivered to the customer located at Jamshedpur situated at Jharkhand State
of India (hereafter this customer is referred to as CustomerJAM).

Figure 4 Supply chain considered for conducting validation study on ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model
  M1
S2
I1
M2

S4
M3

S 20 M4 I2 P1 CJAM

M5
S5

M6 I3

M7

Suppliers  Machines Inspections Packing Customers

Coordination
unit

The GM-QAD also involved in the ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model implementation in Euro II
supply chain as Six Sigma belt team head and a Black Belt. The coordinator and a
subordinate of GM-QAD served as Green Belts while implementing ‘Six Sigma SCM’
model in the pilot supply chain area. A person representing the CustomerJAM was also
involved in the whole project. These personnel constituted the coordination unit of the
Euro II supply chain. The second step of the roadmap is to establish a belt team to
implement Six Sigma project. This was accomplished in SME-X by the belt team
comprising the Black Belt and two Green Belts. The third step in the roadmap is to
identify Six Sigma projects along the supply chain. The pilot supply chain chosen by the
belt team was subjected to the identification of chronic quality issues. One of the major
chronic syndromes overcome in the pilot supply chain was the customer end rejections.
According to the stipulation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model (see Figure 4) this problem was
solved using DMAIC phases. The implementation of five phases of the DMAIC
methodology is described in the forthcoming five subsections.
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 397

5.1 Define
The primary objective of the Define phase was to establish a Project charter comprising
the problem statement, project objective, voice of customer, project scope and team
formation. The project charter developed during the case study by reported here is shown
in Table 1. As shown in the project charter, the problem stated was the customer end
rejections that have been occurring in the assembly section due to fitment issue in the
gear housing bore. According to the problem, the project objective was targeted to reduce
the customer end rejections in terms of sigma level. The customer end voices complained
on the bends occurring after the dispatch during transits and the misalignments with
respect to the machining specifications. The project scope was limited to the supply chain
pertaining to the CustomerJAM. The team to execute this Six Sigma project was formed
with four members.

Table 1 Project charter of the DMAIC project

Elements Charter of the elements

Problem Alarming customer end rejections occurring in the assembly section due to
statement fitment issue in the gear housing bore.
Project objective Reduction of the customer end rejections in terms of sigma level.
Voice of Bends occurring after the dispatch transits and alignment issues with
customer respect to the machining specifications.
Project scope Limited to the supply chain involving CustomerJAM.
Team formation 1 Black Belt: GM-QAD
2 Green Belts
a the coordinator
b subordinate to GM-QAD
3 A representative from CustomerJAM

5.2 Measure
The Black Belt of this project examined the samples of bores of gear housing bore
components with the help of a measuring gauge. The gauge and sample gear housing
component are shown in Figure 5. After this examination, the Black Belt insisted the
Green Belts to measure the variations of the parameters from the nominal value using
coordinate measuring machine (CMM). The parameters to be measured were identified as
‘dowel-hole position diameter’, ‘Flexible Impeller Pump (FIP) bore position diameter’,
‘compressor bore position diameter’ and ‘flatness of the engine mounting face’. The
nominal tolerance values of these four parameters are specified as 0.08 millimetre (mm),
0.05 mm, 0.05 mm and 0.1 mm respectively. The CMM would indicate the deviation
from the specification. For example, if the actual value of the FIP bore position diameter
is 0.0583 mm, then the CMM would display the value as 0.0083 mm.
398 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Figure 5 Examination of the bore in gear housing with a gauge (see online version for colours)

Gauge

Sample gear
housing
component

Table 2 Supplier-wise machine allotment

Supplier code Code number used for the CNC machines

Supplier-2 M1
Supplier-4 M2
Supplier-20 M3 (1st machine), M4 (2nd machine) and M5 (3rd machine)
Supplier-5 M7 (1st machine) and M6 (2nd machine)

In total seven computer numerical control machines (CNC machines) were used by the
four suppliers. The number of CNC machines used by the four suppliers is indicated in
Table 2. The Black Belt taught the Green Belts, the method of collecting data the
deviations of the parameters of gear housing. These data were with respect to the
following factors.
Time block based data collection: According to this approach, data on variations of the
four parameters were gathered twice in a day with a time gap of three hours. When the
first set of readings were gathered, then that time was denoted as T1. The second sets of
readings in a day were taken after three hours. This time of measurement has been
denoted as T2.
Machine based gathering of data: The data on the four parameters were gathered from
each machine from the three gear housing machined consecutively.
Part to part gathering of data: These data were gathered among the three gear housing
machined consecutively.
These data were used to analyse the variations in the four parameters between gear
housing to gear housing. The data thus gathered are shown in Table 3. As shown, from
each machine six readings were taken. Three readings in two different time blocks
namely T1 and T2 were used to assess the repeatability of the variations produced. The
samples aggregated for a total of 42 for all the seven machines in two different time
blocks (T1 and T2).
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 399

Table 3 Parameter readings measured by Green Belts

Variation Variation Variation

Variation in fuel in the in flatness
Time Gear
Machine in dowel injection diameter of of engine
block housing
number position bore the bore mounting
number number
(mm) position compressor face
(mm) (mm) (micron)
T1 M1 G1 0.0053 0.0583 0.0985 0.1698
T1 M1 G2 0.0386 0.0518 0.0809 0.311
T1 M1 G3 0.0513 0.0559 0.0944 0.1869
T1 M2 G4 0.1046 0.0412 0.138 0.3768
T1 M2 G5 0.1263 0.032 0.0445 0.4424
T1 M2 G6 0.0769 0.0277 0.1148 0.3099
T1 M3 G7 0.1549 0.1061 0.1194 0.1647
T1 M3 G8 0.077 0.1073 0.1236 0.1513
T1 M3 G9 0.1845 0.1087 0.107 0.168
T1 M4 G10 0.0162 0.1232 0.0887 0.185
T1 M4 G11 0.0358 0.1022 0.0917 0.2407
T1 M4 G12 0.0566 0.1346 0.1092 0.1628
T1 M5 G13 0.0909 0.1073 0.0657 0.1901
T1 M5 G14 0.1344 0.0882 0.0793 0.2935
T1 M5 G15 0.1361 0.1115 0.0639 0.1785
T1 M6 G16 0.0782 0.1047 0.1876 0.639
T1 M6 G17 0.0722 0.0981 0.1789 0.6256
T1 M6 G18 0.0657 0.1121 0.1942 0.5754
T1 M7 G19 0.0041 0.0691 0.1643 0.5054
T1 M7 G20 0.0388 0.0708 0.1589 0.6447
T1 M7 G21 0.0067 0.0709 0.1715 0.5666
T2 M1 G22 0.188 0.0942 0.1626 0.2405
T2 M1 G23 0.1 0.1011 0.1442 0.1144
T2 M1 G24 0.0709 0.1032 0.1779 0.3077
T2 M2 G25 0.1884 0.0637 0.1622 0.2959
T2 M2 G26 0.0269 0.0243 0.1066 0.3016
T2 M2 G27 0.0867 0.0803 0.069 0.5255
T2 M3 G28 0.2085 0.1085 0.129 0.1791
T2 M3 G29 0.1565 0.1192 0.1448 0.1713
T2 M3 G30 0.0746 0.104 0.1333 0.1523
T2 M4 G31 0.1647 0.1309 0.1475 0.166
T2 M4 G32 0.0741 0.1284 0.133 0.1094
T2 M4 G33 0.0053 0.1115 0.0959 0.1862
T2 M5 G34 0.1168 0.1043 0.0696 0.1493
T2 M5 G35 0.0541 0.1048 0.0655 0.279
400 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Table 3 Parameter readings measured by Green Belts (continued)

Variation Variation Variation

Variation in fuel in the in flatness
Time Gear
Machine in dowel injection diameter of of engine
block housing
number position bore the bore mounting
number number
(mm) position compressor face
(mm) (mm) (micron)
T2 M5 G36 0.0432 0.1052 0.0777 0.18
T2 M6 G37 0.0145 0.0894 0.1491 0.6155
T2 M6 G38 0.06 0.1226 0.2006 0.7499
T2 M6 G39 0.0336 0.1171 0.194 0.6937
T2 M7 G40 0.0195 0.0704 0.1659 0.6042
T2 M7 G41 0.027 0.0684 0.1657 0.5881
T2 M7 G42 0.0014 0.0632 0.1637 0.564

5.3 Analyse
The data gathered during measure phase were analysed using nested analysis of variance
(ANOVA). This task has begun by pasting the gathered data (Table 3) in the spreadsheet
of the MINITAB software. Subsequently, ‘Stat > ANOVA > Fully Nested ANOVA’ was
selected in MINTAB. The first three columns of Table 3 were selected as factors and the
fourth column was selected as response for analysing the variation in dowel position
diameter. Further, by keeping factors constant, the responses were changed to analyse the
variations in FIP bore position, compressor bore position and flatness of engine mounting
face. The results obtained by conducting nested ANOVA with respect to the dowel
position, FIP bore position, compressor bore position and flatness of engine mounting
face are shown in Figures 6−9. The results indicated that among the four parameters
there was no significant difference in variation with respect to the time blocks. The
multi-variate analysis was carried out in MINITAB to rank the machines based on the
machine to machine variations. Subsequently MINITAB displayed the multi-variate
analysis results depicting the machine to machine variations with respect to the four
parameters. These results displayed in the encircled numerical values in the figures
indicate that except in the case of dowel position, machine to machine variation play the
most significant role against all parameters. By referring to these results, the machines
were ranked against the four parameters. The procedure followed to rank machines is
illustrated by citing the first rank allotted to machine M7 against dowel pin position in
Table 4. In Figure 8, it is found that the variation with respect to dowel pin position is
minimum (very close to 0) in the case of M7. Hence, M7 is marked as rank 1 in Table 4
against dowel position. Likewise, as shown in Figure 8, the variation in minimum next to
machine M6. Hence, M6 is second ranked against the factor ‘dowel pin’. The same
procedure was followed to complete Table 4. Subsequently, the ranks of these machines
were summed. This method is indicated in Table 5. As shown, M1 is ranked fourth for
dowel position and flatness. Therefore, its value is marked as ‘4’ in Table 5. These values
were summed up and these values have also been summarised in Table 6. The highest
summed rank indicates its least priority. Hence, as shown in Table 6, machines M6 is to
be the least preferred while machine M5 is to be the highest preferred. In other words, the
machine allotted to Supplier-5 was showing the highest deviation. Supplier-5 is followed
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 401

by Supplier-20 and Supplier-2 in the priority list. The Supplier-5 was making using of
automatic hydraulic fixtures and the other suppliers were using manual fixtures.
Figure 6 Nested ANOVA results for dowel position

Figure 7 Nested ANOVA results for FIP position

402 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Figure 8 Nested ANOVA results for compressor position

Figure 9 Nested ANOVA results for flatness of engine mounting face

 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 403

Figure 10 Machine to machine variations in dowel position, FIP bore position, compressor bore
position and flatness of engine mounting face (see online version for colours)

Table 4 Machine rankings based on the multi-variate analysis results

Rank of the machines with respect to different parameters

Response 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Dowel M7 M6 M4 M1 M5 M2 M3
FIP M2 M7 M1 M5 M6 M3 M4
Compressor M5 M2 M4 M3 M1 M7 M6
Flatness M3 M4 M5 M1 M2 M7 M6

Table 5 Ranks of the machine and their summed ranks

Rank with respect to

Machine Sum of ranks
Dowell FIP Compressor Flatness
M1 4 3 5 4 16
M2 6 1 2 5 14
M3 7 6 4 1 18
M4 3 7 3 2 15
M5 5 4 1 3 13
M6 2 5 7 7 21
M7 1 2 6 6 15
404 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Table 6 Sum of ranks of machines

Machines M6 M3 M1 M4 M7 M2 M5
Sum of ranks 21 18 16 15 15 14 13
Overall rank 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

5.4 Improve
As the machine M6 was found to show highest variations in the multi-variate analysis,
this machine was targeted for improvement by the belt team. The improvement actions
were taken based on the rankings obtained from the multi-variate analysis carried out in
the analyse phase. The belt team started to carry out the root cause analysis to identify
reasons for the deviations observed in the machine M6 available with Supplier-5. In the
initial stage, few errors in the CNC program were found out and the same were corrected.
This action increased the sigma level from 3.75 to 4 within one month. In the second
stage, the improper clamping of component on the fixture used in M6 was detected. This
situation prevailed as the supporting butting pad in the hydraulic fixture was flat. This
created problem whenever the component inclined through minor angle with the budding
pad. This problem could be overcome through the usage of ball rounded flat. This
rectification could provide the adjustments when the minor inclinations were made by the
component. These proposals were implemented at Supplier-5’s end. Since, Supplier-5
also has been using machine M7, the same proposals were implemented on this machine
also. This improvement action resulted in increasing the sigma level from 4 to 4.4 within
a period of one month. These results are summarised in Table 7.
Table 7 Sigma level improvements achieved through the action taken by the coordination unit
in the Improve and control phases

Sigma value Sigma value

Activity Actions taken by the coordination
Phase before taking after taking
no. unit
action action
1 CNC program error correction Improve 3.75 4
2 Implementation of supporting Improve 4 4.4
butting pad and fixture
improvements
3 Poka-Yoke implementation Control 4.4 4.74
4 Design change of wooden casings Control 4.74 5.04
for train transits

5.5 Control
As a third stage of improvement, process audit was conducted at Supplier-5’s end. After
conducting process audits, the belt team found out that fixture design has to be improved
in order to improve the sigma level further. For this purpose, the implementation of
Poka-Yokes was proposed. In accordance with the suggestions made during the improve
phase, three Poka-Yokes were installed for controlling the three parameter deviations.
Figure 9 shows the Poka-Yokes used for controlling the deviations using dowel pins, FIP
bore position and compressor bore position. The first Poka-Yoke was setup to detect the
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 405

presence of hole in the casting. A plate shown in Figure 11 was developed with dowel
pins in the positions to enable the casting with holes in right position to get seated. Before
machining, in CNC machine, the casting will be seated on this Poka-Yoke plate. In case
the casting is denied of the hole or the holes are located in wrong position, then
Poka-Yoke plate will not allow the casting to get seated. The castings which are not
seated in the Poka-Yoke plate will not be loaded in the CNC machine. This Poka-Yoke
plate prevents the loading of defective casting on the CNC machine. The second
Poka-Yoke was setup to detect the FIP bore with diameter 50.0 mm. A protrusion is
provided in the drilling fixture. The components with FIP bore diameter less than
50.0 mm will not fit in this protrusion. Such components are not passed to the next
operation. The third Poka-Yoke was setup to detect the compressor bore with diameter
less than 101.6 mm diameter. A protrusion of diameter 101.6 mm has been provided in
the drilling fixture. The components with compressor bore with diameter less than
101.6 mm will not fit in this protrusion. Such components are not loaded on the CNC
machine. Thus these Poka-Yokes prevent the loading of defective castings on the CNC
machine.

Figure 11 Poka-Yokes installed for dowel position, FIP bore position and compressor bore
position (see online version for colours)

Poka-Yoke for dowel Poka-Yoke for FIP

hole position bore position

Poka-Yoke for compressor

bore position

The installation of the abovementioned three Poka-Yokes increased the sigma value
increased from 4.4 to 4.53, 4.62 and 4.74 in the consecutive three months. However, the
belt team did not take necessary action to prevent the problems during the transit of the
goods. Certain amount of customer end rejections had been occurring because of the
problems in the wooden casings used during the transits. To rectify this problem, the belt
team modified the design of wooden casings to increase the sigma level to 5.04. The
sigma level remained above 5 for more than six months. The improvements in the sigma
level achieved through the improvement actions executed during the Improve and
406 T. Senthilkumar et al.

Control phases are tabulated in the Table 7. Presently, the belt team is making initiative
to extend the implementation of solutions to the other three suppliers as well.

6 Results and discussions

The implementation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model provided a high scope for improvements
along the supply chain in realising Six Sigma level quality in products and services. The
case study illustrated in the previous section indicated the achievement of five sigma
level from its earlier stage of 3.75 sigma level through the implementation of ‘Six Sigma
SCM’ model. In the case study conducted in the Indian SME, a Black Belt already exists
in the coordination unit. This made the ease of implementation of the ‘Six Sigma SCM’
model from the perspective of belt team formation. The usage of multi-variate analysis
conducted during the analyse phase facilitated the identification of root causes of the
problems. The implementation of three Poka-Yoke techniques was useful in sustaining
the improvements achieved during the control phase. The coordination unit is making
efforts to extend its achieved improvements to the other suppliers in the chosen pilot
supply chain.
The Indian SME reported in this research paper has several other supply chains. The
expansions of the Six Sigma project initiatives in these other supply chains provide an
enhanced scope for improvements. The belt team under GM-QAD is progressing in this
direction to expand the implementation of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model in supply chains
involving the Indian SME.
The ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model implemented in SME-X revealed that the following
findings and managerial implications.
• The ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model showed high potentiality in identification of various
quality issues across the supply chains in SME-X.
• The investment required in the Six Sigma belt based infrastructure in the
coordination unit is highly less when compared to developing the Six Sigma belt
based infrastructure for the entire supply chain.
• the SCM is strengthened highly in the direction of continual improvement towards
achieving the organisational goal of Six Sigma level quality.
• From the management’s point of view, implementing SCM and Six Sigma in the
same direction is a positive outcome.
The model and the roadmap adopted for implementing ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model did not
vary with respect to practical implementation. Hence, the theoretically designed ‘Six
Sigma SCM’ model and roadmap have not been refined after the conduct of the case
study.

7 Conclusions

The provision of high quality products and services to the end customers involves the
coordination of the entire supply chain network (Olson and Xie, 2010). Recently, the
researchers and practitioners have been reporting the implementation of Six Sigma
 Implementation of DMAIC methodology in supply chains 407

programmes along the supply chains to efficiently improve the quality of the products
and service (Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke, 2007; Wei et al., 2010). In line to this
development, this research paper has contributed a model and a roadmap to implement
Six Sigma along the supply chains in an Indian SME. The practical implementation of the
‘Six Sigma SCM’ model resulted in achieving five sigma level in one of its supply
chains. The DMAIC project executed, involved all parts of the selected supply chain. The
application of ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model was vital in identification of the root causes of the
problems that were found in the supply chain. The ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model aided the
Indian SME practically to increase the sigma level from 3.75 to 5. In order to achieve Six
Sigma level, more Six Sigma projects have to be executed. The main barricade in
implementing ‘Six Sigma SCM’ model is the training of the coordination unit personnel
as Green Belts and Black Belts. From the management’s perspective, ‘Six Sigma SCM’
model provided high scope for continual improvement towards goal of Six Sigma level of
quality. The research work presented in this paper opens two new areas of research based
on the limitations envisaged. The first futuristic area of research is the application of the
‘Six Sigma SCM’ model in different organisations involving diverse supply chains. The
deviations in the results achieved by different Six Sigma belt trained coordination units
may perhaps be another area of research in the near future.

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