Six Sigma Deployment in Supply Chain Management: Enhancing Competitiveness

Abstract

Six-Sigma as a process improvement methodology for enhancing quality levels was developed by Motorola in 1986 for its high volume manufacturing environment in order to increase its competitiveness against Japanese companies. Six Sigma is a well structured knowledge management approach that focuses on reducing variation, measuring defects, and improving the quality of products, processes and services. It is a highly disciplined process that helps organizations to calculate how well a process is performing and focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services. Six Sigma deployments in SCM is important for overall performance and growth of business as it leads to improved productivity, competitiveness, superior value creation, and market performance. Six Sigma offers a route to creating more robust supply chain processes that reduce the risk of non-conformance and hence produce a more reliable and consistent output.

Keywords: Six sigma, Supply chain management, Competitive advantages