India, as a fast growing economy, cannot afford to compromise on the quality of the products and services delivered. The demand for enhanced quality and reduced cost of the goods and services has coaxed many companies to introduce the Six Sigma system irrespective of the industry to which they belonged to.

In India, Wipro was one of the first companies to introduce Six Sigma into it’s applications in 1997. Wipro’s every business from software development to hardware, FMCG, BPO; all adopted Six Sigma into its processes. It is said that after the initiation of Six Sigma into its projects, the company has been able to complete 91% of its projects on time, when compared to the industrial average of 55%. The metrics are used through out the life cycle of the product, in production as well as in the software development. The need and importance of reducing defects have through the adoption of the Six Sigma has helped companies like Wipro to sustain SEI CMM Level 5.

In pharmaceutical industry, adoption of the Six Sigma technique helped the industry reduce wastage and rework involved in the production. It was said that 5-10% of medicines produced during a period were to be discarded or modified due to the defects. The adoption of Six Sigma helped the pharmaceutical companies to reduce the errors in the production. The success story on the adoption of Six Sigma prompted Pfizer to achieve the Pfizer Global Manufacturing mission of aiming at zero defects through Right First Time. Right First Time or RFT is a technique adopted by Pfizer to its core processes to assure quality to its products and customer services the first time.

Airline industry had to adopt the Six Sigma metrics for its survival. The increased cost of fuel, the competition driven by low budget airlines, etc has made the need for lower cost without a hit to quality the need of the hour. The number of errors in handling the calls from customers, and ticketing is to be minimised drastically. It was with this intention that the airline industry adopted Six Sigma into the organisation. Indian companies like Kingfisher, Jet Airways, and Indian Airlines, all have adopted Six Sigma techniques into its processes.

Hospitality services are another industry which benefited by the adoption of Six Sigma techniques. Providing personalised service to each and every customer by bending to their demands within a limited time without comprising the quality was aided by the Six Sigma matrics. The Six Sigma technique is adopted in every field from maintaining full occupancy to efficient housekeeping, ensuring a balanced inventory supply, and to minimise wastage in the inventory. Starwood hotels and resorts Inc was the first company to adopt Six Sigma in the hospitality sector.

Steel industries like TISCO use this technique to minimise the inadequacies in the design, imperfect products, etc. In 1998, Forbes Magazine applauded the Mumbai Tiffin Suppliers Association or the Mumbai Dabbawallahs for their way of functioning with just one error in every 8 million. Logistics, insurance, call centres, all embrace the Six Sigma techniques for improving the quality of service provided by them.

Irrespective of the type of industry, all companies have to adopt Six Sigma techniques as quality and timely delivery are crucial for their survival.