The practices of integrating manufacturing execution systems and Six Sigma methodology

Currently, manufacturing execution systems (MESs) are widely used in the aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, optoelectronic, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries, as well as other sectors. An MES can link with automation equipment to record relevant information automatically and control the quality of work in process (WIP), statistics analysis, production scheduling and the maintenance of equipment and instruments, etc. In recent years, the manufacturing industry has successfully applied the Six Sigma methodology to projects. However, due to insufficient data or a misunderstanding of the Six Sigma methodology, some of the projects failed. This paper aims to discuss the define, measure, analyse, improve, control (DMAIC) phases of integrating an MES with Six Sigma methodology, detailing the phases to improve the above situation and to avoid the extra time and cost of sourcing data. It will improve the process performance and capability, cycle time, rolled throughput yield and operating costs significantly, which, in turn, improves the quality of implementing the Six Sigma methodology quickly and precisely.