SYNOPSIS

LEAN SIX SIGMA IMPLEMENTATION:

Manufacturing Industry Vs IT Industry

By: - Sagar Joshi Registration Number: - 10SBCM0410 Specialization: - Operations Management Submitted To: - Dr. Satish Menon

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Introduction
Quality is not only a strategic weapon for competing in the current marketplace, but it also means pleasing consumers, not just protecting them from annoyances. Therefore, a companys specific advantage is to identify and then compete on one or more of the dimensions of quality. Many organizations have come to realize that achieving zero-defect goods and services can lead not only to customer satisfaction but also to improved internal efficiency and reduced costs. The Six Sigma quality and management programme has been a key basis for the success of multinational companies such as Motorola, GE, Wipro, Accenture, Toyota etc. . According to recent figures, fewer than 10 percent of companies are adopting a Six Sigma program to the point where it is going to make any sort of significant difference to the bottom line in any meaningful period of time. With todays global marketplace, companies face three competing demands-maximizing margins, ensure product performance and comply with environmental regulations. To meet these demands companies are seeking quality and process control systems that enable them to enhance product quality and improve responsiveness to customer needs, while lowering costs. One such system is SIX SIGMA. Six Sigma literally means reducing defects per million to 3.4 or 99.999966% good. There are two challenges implicit in Six Sigma. First, obviously is to attain 3.4 defects per million goals. The second is to maintain the Six Sigma once the defect goal is achieved. Over the years, the services sector has assumed greater importance in our economy. The share of services in our GDP has been on the rise since the mid-1980s, from 61% in 1986 to 67% in 2001. Its share of total employment has also increased from 64% to 74% over the same period and it still continues in 2012. This sector includes many industries like Education, Hospitality, Healthcare, IT services etc. IT services form an important part of the sector and contributes to the majority of the GDP. In the todays fast paced and dynamic world we work in, technology and computers are used to facilitate and speed up regular business processes. IT services and solutions have been developed to exclude human errors and to help them to save the time.

Importance of IT sector
Planning and Management in IT E-Business/E-Commerce and the Internet Knowledge Management
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 Information Systems and E-Business Development Mobile Commerce and Technology Delivering business value through IT systems Enterprise applications Mobile Solutions for Business Data management and recovery Usefulness of Bar codes in identification and fast processing Developing data warehouse and reporting system Controlling of business operations in remote locations IT and its impact on society Customer relationship management Project management etc. All these processes are performed by the companies for other business. To maintain the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of these processes and to make the customers loyal to them, the ultimate thing which can help them is SIX SIGMA. Six Sigma starts with better understanding the voice of the customer and ends with removing or reducing the variation in the process. As IT services involves a lot of customer handling and is purely customer driven, so, the better one performs the more is its survival in the market. For IT service oriented organization three things are important that is customers, data and systems and protecting data and systems is difficult and considered as most prominent factor. The consequences of disasters for such an Organization will be: The number of customers will be decreased Customer relation will be degenerated There will be huge reduction in profit Last but not the least is data loss

Six Sigma will allow understanding each and every process of the company, finding out the defects or variation and suggesting ways to eliminate them, thereby making the processes more reliable and finally gaining advantage over all the above mentioned disasters. The main challenge is to understand how to leverage the value of Lean and Six Sigma in IT services because Lean principles sometimes can be counterintuitive, making it difficult for operations people to embrace the value proposition. Hence, for Lean Six Sigma in IT sector to be implemented successfully, it must be a corporate initiative.

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Problem Definition
Research Objectives
a) To know how Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a quality strategy b) To know how LSS has helped the companies in Manufacturing and IT industry c) Differences in Implementation of LSS and its impact in both industry d) To find out areas where Lean Six Sigma can be applied in an IT company e) What are the tangible and intangible benefits a company can get from Lean Six Sigma

Research Methodology
The research will be conducted with the help of primary data obtained from different companys case studies, Interviews and Questionnaire. Secondary data obtained from research articles, journals by eminent personalities etc. All the collected data will be analysed critically to find the Critical to Quality factors for a IT sector firm and the most important factors that will help the company to have a smooth flow of its operations. The secondary data for this study will be obtained from research articles on Lean Six Sigma and its implementation in Manufacturing and IT Industry and Journals by eminent authors who have successfully implemented published that how Lean Six Sigma can be implemented in IT service sector in all of their operations and has gained huge revenues in very less time. At first, importance of Lean Six Sigma in service sector will be analysed critically and the difference in its implementation and impacts when compared to manufacturing sector. Then Critical to Quality variables for an IT service company will be analysed and then with the help of Six Sigma tools the most important factors that will help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the services rendered by an IT service company will be identified. In the third step, with the help of identified factors and with detail analysis an Improvement Plan can be devised for the betterment of the processes of the sector. In the next step the significance of implementing Lean Six Sigma in IT service sector will be analysed along with the challenges that a company has to face while implementing Lean Six Sigma.

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Expected Outcomes
1. The aim of this research is to explore the most common challenges, difficulties, common myths and problems that both Total Quality Management and Six Sigma met in the service and manufacturing organizations and the way they had been adopted and implemented. More emphasis will be on Service organizations and expected scientific results will suggest that just like any other concept, the extent to which Total Quality Management and Six Sigma will be successful in a service organization depends on both the initial impact and their importance as perceived by members of each service organization.

2. 'Six Sigma' which is statistical method of measuring capability, setting precise tolerances limits for suitable performance. We will be able to see the differences in six sigma implementation and its impacts on Manufacturing sector as well as IT services.

3. When applied to IT, Six Sigma measures attributes like network .speed, reliability, load balancing, etc. But software development is not like manufacturing. Process variation can never be eliminated because: No two modules are alike (performance includes an intrinsic degree of variability), Greater variation in human cognitive processes (differences in skills levels), Quality Assurance processes work differently for manufactured goods. Software products need testing only once before being accepted. 4. With the help of Lean Six Sigma many companies like Wipro, Accenture, HCL etc. which are related to IT services and technology solutions are able to generate huge cost savings and reorganize operations for its clients and its broad range of customers.

5. Conclusions will highlight that although there is no single formula that guarantees success of Total Quality Management or Six Sigma implementation, in practice there are a variety of tactics for implementation. All these tactics of implementation involve the existence of an operational plan for identifying activities that must be met in order to achieve the intended results.

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References
Research Articles:
"TQM and Six SigmaThe Role and Impact on Service Organization" by Mihai Draghici and Andreea Jenica Petcu, June 2010 "The Effects of Six Sigma on a Database Administration Organization" by James Ford Six Sigma, Information Technology and You: Creating a happy customer published by The Info Edge, March 2000 Six Sigma and the value of information Technology By Ashu Bhatia published by Silicon India, September 2005

Links:
www.asq.org.in www.knol.com www.smeitsummit.com

Case Studies:
A multiple-Case Analysis of Lean Six Sigma Deployment and Implementation Strategies by Peter M. O'Rourke Case study on Six Sigma at Wipro Technologies: Thrust on Quality by Dr. Manisha Sharma, Dr. Kapil Pandla and Prof. Prashant Gupta A Six Sigma Case Study for IT Call Centre by Gary A. Gack and David L. Hallowell

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