Track: Quality Control and Management

Abstract

Six Sigma (SS) has grown quickly throughout the world, for improving performance such as quality, cost reduction and customer satisfaction. Six Sigma has been proven to be an effective approach for performance improvement in a variety of industries for many years. Six Sigma is a business strategy which is applicable in all industries. SS is set up for identifying and eliminating defects in any process such as products or services. However, many companies had implemented Six Sigma but not successful due to many reasons such as low return on investment, poor leadership and lack of commitment from senior management. Some of the barriers are due to lack of knowledge, insufficient exposure and wrong understanding of the Six Sigma practices. In order to improve business performance, implementation of Six Sigma is very important. The focus of this study is to determine the level of six-sigma implementation and the relationships between Six Sigma factors and their performance in Malaysian Manufacturing. The study is based on quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey in Malaysia manufacturing industry. Random sampling was used in this study and questionnaire had been distributed to 200 companies in Malaysia. Finally, 35 respondents have been received or equal to 17.5% response rate. The results shows that top management involvement and commitment, teamwork and organizational infrastructure factors show high level while training and education and cultural change show moderate level. This study also reveals that there is a significant impact of critical success factors (CSFs) on Six Sigma performance with r=0.41 with p<0.05. This study established a clear guideline on CSFs necessary to adopt in order to ensure the correct implementation of Six Sigma in organizations.