Six sigma in textile industry:

Textile industry being a field dealing with a lot of variations and defects in each process is the ideal place for six sigma application, and speedy implementation of the right method will make a significant and successful difference in many of the companies future, assert R Senthil Kumar and S Sundaresan. Textile is among the leading sectors in the Indian economy in terms of production, exports, employment and contribution to the exchequer. India needs to reform its laws, modernise machinery and scale up capacities to global level to exploit this opportunity. Apart from the above factors, the application of management techniques in the business will bring long-term stability in the market and better company reputation. The paramount need for a paradigm shift is essential for todays business scenario. Six sigma is such a management tool is viewed as a systematic, scientific, statistical and smarter approach to create quality innovation and total customer satisfaction. This paper emphasises the six sigma concepts and possible area of six sigma applications in textile industry. Six Sigma Definition: Six Sigma may be defined in several ways: Tomkins defines Six Sigma to be A programme aimed at the near-elimination of defects from every product, process and transaction. Harry defines Six Sigma to be A strategic initiative to boost profitability, increase market share and improve customer satisfaction through statistical tools that can lead to breakthrough quantum gains in quality.

Way of Approach in Traditional (old) and Six Sigma (New) methods:

The essence of Six Sigma is the integration of four elements (customer, process, manpower and strategy) to provide management innovation. Six Sigma provides a scientific and statistical basis for quality assessment for all processes through measurement of quality levels. The Six Sigma method allows us to draw comparisons among all processes, and tells how good a process is. Six sigma provides efficient manpower cultivation and utilisation. 3 Cs in Six Sigma Concept: Change: Changing society Customer: Power is shifted to customer and customer demand is high Competition: Competition in quality and productivity The pace of change during the last decade has been unprecedented, and the speed of change in this new millennium is perhaps faster than ever before. Most notably, the power has shifted from producer

to customer. The producer-oriented industrial society is over, and the customer-oriented information society has arrived. Competition in quality and productivity has been ever-increasing. Second-rate quality goods cannot survive anymore in the market. Six Sigma Process Models: Six sigma facilitated proactive approach through rigorous measurement. Some six sigma models are given below. DMAIC is used to improve the existing process and DMADV is used to employ the new products. 1. DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) Define - Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) deliverables. Measure - Measure the process to determine current performance. Analyse - Analyse and determine the root causes of the defects. Improve - Improve the process by eliminate defects. Control - Control future process performance. 2. DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) Define - Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) deliverables. Measure - Measure and determine customer needs and specifications. Analyze - Analyze the process options to meet the customer needs. Design - Design (detailed) the process to meet the customer needs. Verify - Verify the design performance and ability to meet customer needs. Critical Success Factors of Six sigma The system needed to achieve Six Sigma creates a culture characterised by: Customer centricity Financial results Management engagement Resource commitment Execution infrastructure Six Sigma - Organizational Structure Seven Steps for Six Sigma When a company intends to introduce Six Sigma for its new management strategy, the author's would like to recommend the following seven-step procedures: 1. Top-level management commitment for Six Sigma is first and foremost. Then organise a Six Sigma team and set up the long-term Six Sigma vision for the company. 2. Start Six Sigma educations for Champions first. Then start the education for White belt- WBs, Green Belt-GBs, Black Belt-BBs and MBBs in sequence. 3. Choose the area in which Six Sigma will be first introduced. 4. Deploy Critical to Quality - CTQs for all processes concerned. The most important is the companys deployment of big CTQy from the standpoint of customer satisfaction. Appoint BBs as full-time project leaders and ask them to solve some important CTQ problems.

5. Strengthen the infrastructure for Six Sigma, including measurement systems, statistical process control (SPC), knowledge management (KM) and database management system (DBMS). 6. Designate a Six Sigma day each month, and have the progress of Six Sigma reviewed by top-level management. 7. Evaluate the companys Six Sigma performance from the customers viewpoint, benchmark the best company in the world, and revise the Six Sigma roadmap if necessary. Go to step 1 for further improvement. Possible Areas in Textile Industry for Six sigma application: Textile/Fashion Houses/Export Houses or Buying Houses have potential of applying Six Sigma in following improvement projects: 1. Reducing rejections in shipments. 2. Improving first sample approval percentages while working with buyer. 3. Improving supplier evaluation processes. 4. Improving AQL performance in shipments. 5. Improving merchandiser performance. 6. Reducing non conformances in audits by buyer. 7. Improving processes at the source (including fabric purchase and inspection, stitching, embroidery, packing and shipping) to reduce rejections at later stages. 8. Eliminating manufacturing errors/defect. Convincing apparel executives to accept the process, other than as a selling tool, has been a difficult task. About the only agreement reached is that every garment cannot be manufactured to the perfect specification. However, the typical manufacturing plant is producing apparel at about a 3 sigma level with 2.5 to 4% defects. That is 4 defects per 100 not the 3.4 defects per 1,000,000 produced by a Six Sigma manufacturer. The gap is wide enough that significant improvement can be made in any such plant. Two financial facts are important to note. Historical studies have shown overall savings in the $10,000 to $20,000 range for an improvement of just one Sigma. Apparel managers are generally astounded by the True Cost of Quality in their manufacturing facility. Typically, these costs are hidden in overhead but include inspection and marking, sorting, transport, reinspection, supervisor time, downstream operator repair, cleaning, and irregulars. Therefore, any improvement in quality has a triple effect of reducing indirect labour, lowering total fabric cost, and improving customer satisfaction. DuPont uses the programme for its productivity and quality improvement strategies. It considers Six Sigma a business-management process that concentrates on eliminating defects from work processes. The company now has more than 4,000 completed or in-process Six Sigma projects. Other textile companies, such as Burlington Industries, Collins and Aikman, and PGI have also started Six Sigma initiatives. Seven basic SQC tools used in Six Sigma process: 1. Cause and effect diagram 2. Check sheet

3. Control chart 4. Histogram 5. Pareto chart 6. Scatter diagram 7. Stratification Conclusion Six Sigma is a new strategic paradigm of management innovation for company survival in this 21st century which implies three things such as statistical measurement, management strategy and quality culture. Six Sigma with its 4S (systematic, scientific, statistical and smarter) approaches provides flexibility in managing a business unit. Textile industry being a field dealing with lot of variations and defects in each process is the exact place for six sigma application. The speedy implementation of the right method will make a significant and successful difference in many of the companies future. References 1. Sung H Park: Six Sigma for Quality and Promotion, Asian Productivity Organization, 2003. 2. Michael L George: Lean Six Sigma, McGraw Hill Publication. 3. Six Sigma for the Apparel Industry by Richard Atwell, Manager of Education and Engineering Textile Clothing Tech. Corp in Techexcange.com 4. Timothy G Clapp PhD, A Blanton Godfrey PhD, Dale Greeson, Roy H Johnson PhD, Coleman Rich and Cliff Seastrunk: Quality Initiatives Reshape the Textile Industry, Quality Digest. Note: For detailed version of this article please refer the print version of The Indian Textile Journal July 2010 issue. R Senthil Kumar Department of Textile Technology Kumaraguru College of Technology, Saravanampatty Post Coimbatore 641 006. Email: sen29iit@yahoo.co.in. S Sundaresan Department of Textile Technology Kumaraguru College of Technology, Saravanampatty Post Coimbatore 641 006.