Reduction in delay in procurement of materials using six sigma philosophy

The management of a company was facing the problem of procuring materials in a scheduled time owing to its many pending activities. A study was conducted to reduce the delay in procurement of incoming materials using the six-sigma methodology. The objectives of the study were to understand and internalize the methodology and also to reduce the time taken by critical activities through a disciplined approach. The defect levels for each activity and for the overall system were estimated. The baseline sigma level was found to be 1.8. After taking actions on the critical activities, the average times taken for completing the activities along, with their variabilities, have been reduced satisfactorily. The yield of the overall process has improved to 76% from the level of 62%, leading to an improved sigma level of 2.4.