A review of the Six Sigma belt system for manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises

Abstract

The Six Sigma methodology creates many possibilities for radically improving process and product quality. While Six Sigma was initially applied within large corporations, the interest of small and medium-sized enterprises in improvement initiatives is increasing. A decade ago, small and medium-sized enterprises became aware that they can enhance their capability, improve quality, and increase their profitability by using Six Sigma. One of the most critical success factors for the implementation of Six Sigma is a strong organizational infrastructure led by different Six Sigma belts. Thus, the aim of this article is to examine the Six Sigma belt system for small manufacturing companies based on a detailed literature review. The fact that few research papers have been published regarding this research field indicates the Six Sigma belt system for small and medium-sized enterprises has not yet been adequately studied and thus opens the door for future research. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the original Six Sigma belt roles used by large organizations cannot simply be transferred for the application in small enterprises, as there are too many differences between these two company types. This means an extensive organizational infrastructure like in large organizations is not needed in small enterprises. There are various expert opinions but almost no empirical evidence regarding the availability, proportion to the total workforce, working time, hierarchy, project executions, and cost savings of the various Six Sigma belts in small enterprises. For this reason, this paper highlights the need for a standardized approach of the Six Sigma belt system for manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises.

KEYWORDS:

• Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, small and medium-sized enterprises, systematic literature review, belt system, black belt, green belt, white belt

About the authors

Roland Stankalla is a Ph.D. researcher in quality management at the Tomas Bata University (Czech Republic). His research focus is on the area of Six Sigma in small and medium-sized enterprises. He is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt. Stankalla received a master’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). He has participated in a number of research projects as well as conferences. Alongside his activities as researcher, he works as quality manager in the automotive industry.

Felicita Chromjakova is head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Information Systems at the Tomas Bata University (Czech Republic). Her research interests include operations management, industrial engineering, Industry 4.0, and total quality management. She has published in a number of journals and conference papers on the topic. Chromjakova has implemented more than 250 projects on the presented research topics that involved research work within grant schemes, as well as practical application in industrial companies in Central Europe.

Oksana Koval is a Ph.D. researcher in industrial engineering at the Tomas Bata University (Czech Republic). Her research interests include continuous improvement, digitalization, and service operations improvement, steaming from the previous professional experience. She holds a master’s degree in business management and public administration from Chernigiv National Technological University (Ukraine). Throughout the exchange program, Koval has studied at Lincoln University of Missouri, as well as at the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland. At present, her work focuses on establishing conditions and strategies for high-performing continuous improvement programs in the context of services firms. She has participated in a number of research projects and conferences, and has published on operations management topics.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are thankful to the Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University in Zlín IGA/FaME/2018/005 as well as Visegrad Fund (Grant No. 51700045) for financial support to carry out research.