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The aim of this paper is to present the results from an empirical investigation of Six Sigma in the Indian software industry

The paper begins with a review of literature of Six Sigma and its role in the software industry. The importance of Six Sigma in the software domain is presented, followed by presentation of the results from an empirical investigation of Six Sigma in the Indian software industry

The research reflects the status of Six Sigma application and implementation in the software industry, identifies the commonly used statistical and non statistical and software engineering tools and frameworks used within software business; and determines the critical success factors (CSFs) for a successful Six Sigma initiative in the software/IT industry. The most important factor was management commitment and involvement. Documentation management and suppliers' involvement were found to be the least important factors.

This study was carried out with some boundaries like the number of companies, available resources, time constraints, etc.

This paper dispels the myths concerning the unsuitability of Six Sigma in the software arena. At the same time it highlights the status of Six Sigma implementation in Indian software organizations and the critical success factors for implementation of Six Sigma.

Little research has been carried out in terms of empirical survey relating to the application of Six Sigma in the software industry like that demonstrated in this paper. The paper will be valuable for quality professionals and management personnel in software organizations.

This study aims to establish a new system to predict the defect liability phase (DLP) cost using the Six Sigma methodology, which investigates sources of variations and reduces the error level to 3.4 per million through five phases: define, measure, analyze, design and verify.

After the initial handover of the construction project, the DLP follows the practical completion. During this stage, the contractor is responsible for the remedy of any defects that appeared in the project. Many researchers have studied defect reasons and their associated costs in different industries, while the construction industry remains a green field for this kind of research. The objective of this study was to develop a model to predict the DLP cost. The research methodology adopted the five stages of the Six Sigma cycle: defining objectives, measuring the data, analyzing performance, designing the model and verifying the results. Twenty factors were identified as potential factors affecting the DLP cost. Factors were categorized into two main clusters: project data and organization data. Interviews were conducted with 42 project management experts, who have 8–35 years of experience in construction project management, to rank the 20 factors based on their importance. Simo’s procedure was used to obtain the weight of each factor affecting the DLP cost based on the opinions of the experts. The Pareto principle was used to select the “Vital Few” factors affecting the DLP cost, and six factors were selected. The design of experiments (DOE) was used to establish a dynamic model to predict the DLP cost using a sample of 41 construction projects obtained from the above-mentioned 42 project management experts. The model accuracy was verified using data obtained from a different sample of five construction projects, which were not used to establish the model.

The results showed that among the 20 factors, only six were found to have a cumulative impact of 50% over the cost of the DLP: type of project, project contract value, nationality of the employer, project manager experience, DLP duration and sector of the employer. A model was established through the DOE to predict the DLP cost using the values of the aforementioned factors.

As a natural limitation of using DOE, the newly developed model can be applied to predict the DLP cost based on data within the range of data used during the model development, which means that model is confined within the specific measured values of factors. Furthermore, it will be beneficial for future studies to study the impact of other factors related to the types of materials or equipment used in building the project because it was not considered during this study because of the huge diversities in these factors and difficulties in determining its impact on the DLP cost.

The unique results of using DOE through Minitab software facilitated obtaining of a dynamic model, which means that researchers can modify any value of the six factors and monitor instantly the expected change in the DLP cost, which will allow a better understanding of the impact of each factor on the DLP cost. Moreover, the new model will help contractors to predict the expected DLP cost to be added for their project budget, which will mitigate the risk of cost overrun resulted from the cost of defect rectification.

A dynamic model was established to predict the DLP cost using the DOE. The new model was validated, and the prediction error ranged from −18% to +21%.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between reported sigma levels and actual failure rates (FRs) of gamma-distributed processes. The added complexity of the non-normality behavior of the gamma distribution is analyzed for the case of the cycle time (CT) of a real procurement process from the oil and gas industry. Then, recommendations and guidelines for the application of Six Sigma methodology for the case study are proposed.

Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the relationship between gamma distribution parameters and FRs considering different quality levels. Then, adjustments for implementing Six Sigma programs for gamma processes are proposed. These adjustments consist of first determining the appropriate probability distribution, the standard CT and the due date, followed by setting performance zones and improvement strategies on target gamma parameters that yield the minimal FR.

For gamma-distributed processes, simply reporting the sigma level is not sufficient to capture the main characteristics of the process. These characteristics include process FR, mean setting, shape, spread and amount of variation reduction (i.e. improvement effort) required. That is why caution must be exercised when dealing with one-sided non-normal quality characteristics such as CT.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the Six Sigma performance has been evaluated for gamma processes to analyze the link between Six Sigma FRs and gamma distribution parameters leading to the development of a modified Six Sigma methodology for non-normal processes.

Six Sigma has been part of our business lexicon for more than a decade. Debates on its emergence as a strategic initiative have created critics who consider it as an old wine in a new bottle. Is Six Sigma a management fad? This article presents some common myths and realities of Six Sigma business strategy. The paper provides an excellent resource for those people who would like to know whether Six Sigma is just a management fad or fact.

The paper discusses some common myths and realities of Six Sigma by critically reviewing the existing literature on Six Sigma and also provides a greater insight into the viewpoints of leading academics and practitioners.

Six Sigma is neither a fad nor just another quality initiative. It relies on factual data coupled with hard work and is a disciplined and structured problem‐solving methodology. The authors strongly argue its integration with other continuous/breakthrough improvement initiatives for sustaining the merits of Six Sigma in the twenty‐first century. The paper also elucidates the role of academia in further developing and establishing the best practices of Six Sigma management strategy. Six Sigma will evolve over time like many other initiatives – however, the key concepts, the principles of statistical thinking, tools and techniques of Six Sigma, will stay for many years, irrespective of whatever the “next big thing” will be.

In the authors' opinion, Six Sigma will continue to grow as a powerful management initiative for achieving and sustaining operational and service excellence. However, what will eventually determine whether Six Sigma is viewed by businesses as just a passing management fad or not, largely depends on the leadership and success of its execution. The authors believe that organisations developing and implementing Six Sigma should not view it as an advertising banner for promotional purposes.

The paper yields a great value to both researchers and practitioners of Six Sigma in dispelling the myths of Six Sigma, which have been quite prevalent in the business fraternity.

This purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the current state of research on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Industry 4.0 and the key aspects of the relationships between them. The research analyses LSS's evolution and discusses the future role of LSS 4.0 in an increasingly digitalized world. We present the benefits and motivations of integrating LSS and Industry 4.0 as well as the critical success factors and challenges within this emerging area of research.

A systematic literature review methodology was established to identify, select and evaluate published research.

There is a synergistic nature between LSS and Industry 4.0. Companies having a strong LSS culture can ease the transition to Industry 4.0 while Industry 4.0 technologies can provide superior performance for companies who are using LSS methodology.

One limitation of this research was that as this area is a nascent area, the researchers were limited in their literature review and research. A more comprehensive longitudinal study would yield more data. There is an opportunity for further study and analysis.

This study reviews the evolution of LSS and its integration with Industry 4.0. Organisations can use this study to understand the benefits and motivating factors for integrating LSS and Industry 4.0, the Critical Success Factors and challenges to such integration.

This is the first systematic literature review on LSS 4.0 and can provide insight for practitioners, organisations and future research directions.

Lean and Six Sigma observers, researchers and managers are awaiting the next step, which many feel could take the form of a combination of the two concepts, known as Lean Six Sigma. The purpose of this paper is to explore an application of Lean Six Sigma in practical improvement work, as a way of identifying factors of importance for improving future Lean Six Sigma applications.

The empirical study was conducted through interviews, meetings, document analysis and observations over a period of four months.

The findings of this study suggest it is unfeasible to apply one standardised approach to improvements in one company. Continuous smaller improvements and larger improvement projects demand different formulas. It is appropriate to use Lean and Six Sigma in parallel but this should be done through clever cross‐fertilisation, such as taking variations in project complexity into consideration.

This paper shows one way of working with an improvement initiative in one particular company. It does not propose that this is the only way to combine Lean and Six Sigma nor does it suggest universal applicability. Further research on other possible combinations would be valuable.

This paper provides an outline of how to structure a combination of Lean and Six Sigma. This could provide valuable insights to managers who wish to structure their improvement processes depending on the type of problem at hand.

This paper expands the theoretical foundation for combining Lean and Six Sigma by studying and analysing a practical application of the concept. As a result, it provides new factors of importance for successful Lean Six Sigma applications, such as having a clear structure that guides the company in terms of what components of Lean Six Sigma to apply and what competences to involve in various projects, depending on the scope and complexity.

Seeks to detail key issues, raised by a specialist training organisation, concerning the implementation of Six Sigma within manufacturing.

Describes the benefits that can be gained from implementing a Six Sigma programme, with some manufacturing examples, but also highlights a number of the “when and how” factors that must be addressed if any Six Sigma implementation is to deliver the expected gains.

The potential benefits of Six Sigma are well proven. But the methodology is no “quick fix” and many companies, as examples show, might find that they are just not ready to introduce the methodology without first undertaking some extensive ground work. Even if companies are “ready”, a successful programme relies on considerable management input and support.

Brings to the attention of managers some of the key Six Sigma implementation issues gained from considerable experience in working with both large and small European manufacturers.

Investigates the underlying principles of W. Edwards Deming’s management theory, the “System of profound knowledge”, to determine whether the managerial leadership properties of this theory reveal distinct profile patterns for Deming and traditional managers. Individuals selected for this study were a random sample of managers from the American Society for Quality Control and the Academy of Management. Statistical analysis revealed distinct profile patterns for Deming managers and traditional (i.e. non‐Deming) managers. The inventory can be used as a management hiring or management development tool with further validation.

Quality improvement is understood by Juran to be the systematic pursuit of improvement opportunities in production processes. Several methodologies are proposed in literature for quality improvement projects. Three of these methodologies – Taguchi's methods, the Shainin system and the Six Sigma programme – are compared. The comparison is facilitated by a methodological framework for quality improvement. The methodological weaknesses and strong points of each strategy are highlighted. The analysis shows that the Shainin system focuses mainly on the identification of the root cause of problems. Both Taguchi's methods and the Six Sigma programme exploit statistical modelling techniques. The Six Sigma programme is the most complete strategy of the three.

As Lean and Six Sigma have become established as influential concepts in the process improvement area, observers, researchers and managers are awaiting the next step, which many feel could take the form of a combination of the two concepts, known as Lean Six Sigma. A considerable amount of literature has been produced regarding the possible benefits of combining Lean and Six Sigma, which has led to greater support for the idea. The purpose of this paper is to explore an application of Lean Six Sigma in practical improvement work.

The empirical study was conducted through interviews, meetings, document analysis and observations over a period of four months.

Based on this paper, it seems unfeasible to apply one standardised approach to improvements in one company. Continuous smaller improvements and larger improvement projects demand different formulas. It seems that using both Lean and Six Sigma in parallel is appropriate but this should be done through clever cross‐fertilisation.

This paper shows one possible way of working with one improvement concept in one company. It does not claim to present the only possible way of combining Lean and Six Sigma nor does it suggest universal applicability. Further research on other possible combinations would therefore be valuable.

This paper provides an outline of how to structure a combination of Lean and Six Sigma. It can provide valuable insights to managers who wish to structure their improvement processes.

This paper expands the theoretical foundation for combining Lean and Six Sigma by studying and analysing a practical application of the concept. Apart from the paper's value for managers, it can also help researchers understand the compatibility of Lean and Six Sigma.