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Application of Six Sigma to improve the quality of the road for wind turbine installation
E.V. Gijo
SQC & OR Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, India, and

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Received 29 September 2011 Revised 31 December 2011 27 May 2012 Accepted 19 September 2012

Ashok Sarkar
SQC & OR Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Mumbai, India
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply Six Sigma methodology, a systematic and structured approach for quality improvement in wind energy sector. This paper discusses the development of sustainable wind farm roads for an organization engaged in manufacturing, installation and servicing of windmills in India. Design/methodology/approach This paper illustrates the Six Sigma DMAIC approach and its application for development of sustainable wind farm roads. Findings The systematic and data driven approach of Six Sigma methodology identified many root causes for road damages and solutions were implemented to ensure sustainable wind farm roads. Originality/value Six Sigma has been successfully implemented world over in different business processes ranging from manufacturing to service and health care. However its application is very uncommon in areas like road construction. This article demonstrates the applicability of Six Sigma methodology in uncommon areas. Keywords Wind energy, Wind farm roads, Quality improvement, Six Sigma, DMAIC, Construction industry Paper type Case study

1. Introduction In todays global economy, renewable energy sector has a significant role. Prominent among them is the wind energy. Today, wind generated energy is the fastest growing source of renewable energy. Wind power is expected to grow worldwide in the twentyfirst century (Yergin, 2011). Even though this is a relatively newer business, the challenges in this area are far beyond the imagination of usual business. In India, this industry has shown a steady growth for the past decade, attracting more players in the market. Also, companies in this field face fierce competition due to government policies. The cost of doing this business is escalating because of raising land prices and raw material cost. Most of the windmills are located in geographically fragile locations; make it even difficult in terms of execution of activities. The organizations dealing with wind energy faces many challenges because the activities are totally different from the traditional manufacturing setup and can be described as follows: (1) identification of location; (2) (3)
The TQM Journal Vol. 25 No. 3, 2013 pp. 244-258 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1754-2731 DOI 10.1108/17542731311307438

assessment of wind availability; procurement of land; development of land; installation of wind turbine; and servicing the wind turbine for agreed period, generally for 20 years.

(4) (5) (6)

The manufacturing and other related activities of wind turbine take place at factory and some installation parts like transformers come directly to the site from vendors. Procurement of components is another issue that it involves assessment of vendors spreading across the globe. The activities from 1 to 3 listed above are carried out independently and generally organization creates a land bank for future development. The interaction with customers starts after or during development of site. During the interaction, the organization has to demonstrate their capability to develop the site and generate power for the agreed period. Because of relatively new area and lack of skilled manpower, organization needs to take care of the responsibility of servicing for next 20 years. Customers expect timely commissioning of wind turbine and servicing it for agreed period, which help them to get their return on investment (ROI). The power generation guarantee (based on wind availability) has to be taken up by the organization. Any delay in site development, commissioning or servicing affects the power generation/ROI and in turn leads to poor image of the organization. One of the major activities which affect site development, commissioning or servicing, is construction of road and its maintenance. Through the road, they need to transport the whole turbine in which the blade length is of minimum 26 meters. It is a challenge to the organization in developing the road and maintaining it. The sites are generally in the hilltop, coastal areas, deserts, etc., that adds more challenges. In traditional manufacturing organizations, implementation of any improvement initiative is relatively easy, as the organization has to plan its implementation during the routine manufacturing operation. However, in wind energy sector, organization has to start activity a few years before selling a turbine to a customer and maintenance for 20 years after commissioning. Customers will be satisfied only when all the activities are completed and power generation takes place as per agreed upon terms and conditions. In order to improve the overall efficiency and customer satisfaction, Six Sigma methodology is used in this sector also. Organizations world over consider Six Sigma as one of the best known approach for process improvement (Taghizadegan, 2006). Its structured and systematic framework, combined with the employment of statistical techniques, makes it an excellent tool for process diagnostics, which is an integral task of modern managers. In contrast to the other improvement methodologies, Six Sigma metrics and tools are able to measure the defects rate, analyze the performance and improve the quality level in construction projects (Stewart and Spencer, 2006). The methodology has led to significant improvements in various sectors including manufacturing and it is believed that it should also assist wind energy sector to deliver projects on time, at the right cost and of superior quality (Wantanakorn et al., 1999). Studies are more challenging because of its newer application area, large dependency on people and coordination requirement between various agencies. In this paper authors discusses one of the application of Six Sigma methodology for development and maintenance of wind farm roads. The remaining part of this paper is arranged as follows. Section 2 provides a literature review on Six Sigma followed by the case study and the solution to the problem in different stages of the Six Sigma approach in Section 3. Section 4 explains the key lessons learned from the project and. Section 5 provides the concluding remarks and significance of the project.

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2. Six Sigma methodology Six Sigma is a well-structured methodology that focusses on reducing variation, measuring defects and improving the quality of products, processes and services (Breyfogle, 2003). Six Sigma has been widely publicized in recent years as a powerful methodology to combat quality-related problems and to achieve customer satisfaction (Snee and Hoerl, 2004). It has been considered as a strategic approach to improve business profitability and to achieve operational excellence through effective application of both statistical and non-statistical tools/techniques (Hoerl, 2004). Six Sigma methodology was originally developed by Motorola in 1980s and it targeted a difficult goal of 3.4 parts per million defects (Snee and Hoerl, 2003). Six Sigma has been on an incredible run over 25 years, producing significant savings to the bottom line of many large and small organizations (Gijo et al., 2011). Leading organizations with a track record in quality have adopted Six Sigma and claimed that it has transformed their organization (Bisgaard and Freiesleben, 2004). The Six Sigma approach starts with a business strategy and ends with top-down implementation, having a significant impact on profit if successfully deployed (Keller, 2001). It takes users away from intuition-based decisions, to fact-based decisions (Ellis, 2001). A number of papers and books have been published addressing the fundamentals of Six Sigma. Topics include: What is Six Sigma (Harry, 1997; Harry and Schroeder, 1999)? Why do we need Six Sigma (Snee, 2004)? What makes Six Sigma different from other quality initiatives (Pande et al., 2000, 2003)? Six Sigma deployment (Adams et al., 2003); critical success factors of Six Sigma implementation (De Mast, 2007); Six Sigma project selection (Snee and Rodebaugh, 2002); hurdles in Six Sigma implementation (Gijo and Rao, 2005; Gijo, 2011); and organizational infrastructure required for implementing Six Sigma (Park, 2003). The application of Six Sigma is growing almost every day (Halliday, 2001). Moving from the manufacturing industry to service, transactional, administrative, R&D, sales and marketing, healthcare and software-development industries (Mahanti and Antony, 2009; Firka, 2010; Gijo et al., 2011). There are quite a few publications available in various aspects of Six Sigma implementation over the past 15 years (Motwani et al., 2004; Kumar et al., 2009; Gijo and Scaria, 2010; Saravanan et al., 2012; Suresh et al., 2012). Six Sigma approach has been widely used to improve performances and reduce costs for several industrial fields. There are quite a few publications available in literature which discuss different aspects of wind energy sector including maintenance strategy of windmills (Andrawus et al., 2006), prediction of wind speed and wind power (Liu et al., 2010), etc. But, there have been very less number of publications regarding application of Six Sigma in the construction related to wind energy field. This paper demonstrates the application of Six Sigma in an industry-based case study to illustrate its usefulness in a complex scenario like development of sustainable wind farm roads, which no one has tried so far. 3. The case study This case study was executed in one of the windmill manufacturers in India. For installation of projects, the company used to construct approximately 500 kilometers of roads annually in various windmill project sites across the country. Variation of land properties among the sites was a challenge for making good roads. Also high failure rates, i.e., damages of the roads make the road unusable and inaccessible which intern affects the installation and maintenance activities. Because of the high failure rate of the roads, the maintenance cost for road was approximately US$2.0 million annually. Under these circumstances, the management of the company decided to develop

sustainable wind farm roads using Six Sigma methodology. It may be noted that there are two different approaches in applying Six Sigma methodology, namely, design for Six Sigma and define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC). The DMAIC approach was selected for this study, as we are improving an existing process of road construction. The following sections of this paper explain the step-by-step application of the DMAIC approach for completing this study. 3.1 Define phase A team was formed with manager projects as the black belt and site engineer, two supervisors, maintenance engineer as team members. The general manager project execution was identified as champion for the project. During the define phase of the project, the team framed a project charter (Figure A1) with all details of the project including the project title, problem definition, scope of the project, target benefits and schedule (Gijo et al., 2011; Kaushik et al., 2012). After defining the project in the project charter format, the team prepared a supplier-input-process-output-customer (SIPOC) mapping to have better clarity in to the process under consideration for improvement (refer Figure A2). This SIPOC provides a high-level view of the process, defining the scope of the Six Sigma project (Hoerl, 2001). The objective of the project was to make a system for construction of sustainable wind farm roads. The team further elaborated this objective by defining no-failure within six months of construction of the road, which will eventually leads to reduction in maintenance cost for the roads. A target of six-month period was selected because during the first six months of wind turbine project execution, extensive movement of heavy vehicles like cranes, trailers, etc., occurs. Once the project is commissioned, for servicing of wind turbines light vehicle movement is sufficient. The possible failures of the road include cracks, subsidence, stripping, sub-base failure, slippery surface and land slide (Plate 1). The team decided to identify critical to quality (CTQ) characteristic for the project as failures within six months and the unit of measure is defined as 50 meters patch of road. A reduction of 10 percent was targeted for the maintenance cost during this project. 3.2 Measure phase The objective of measure phase in a Six Sigma project is to understand the baseline performance level of the CTQs selected for the project based on the data collected from the process (Gijo et al., 2011). Before collecting data from the process, a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) was performed to understand the complexity of the process and to decide on further data collection in the process (refer Figure A3 for FMEA). Based on the output of FMEA, a data collection plan was prepared with details of characteristics were data need to be collected with details of stratification factors and sampling methods (Montgomery, 2002). The stratification factors identified were failure type and location (different states of India). Pareto charts were plotted with these stratification factors for the collected data (Figure 1). The number of units (50 meters patch of road) considered for calculation of baseline performance is 4,455. Since there were six different types of failures possible, the number of opportunities considered for each unit is six. For these 4,455 units of road, the number of defects was identified as 228, resulted in defects per million opportunities (DPMO) of 8,530 (Gijo et al., 2011). The corresponding approximate sigma level was found to be 3.9. This was the baseline performance of the process. 3.3 Analyze phase The objective of analyze phase in any Six Sigma project is to identify the root cause(s) of the problem under consideration so that corrective actions can be initiated and

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Crack

Land slide

Stripping

Sub-base failure

Plate 1. Different types of failures

Slippery surface Subsidence

improvements can be achieved. Since the team was a cross-functional team for this study, first it was decided to prepare an activity flow chart of the entire process to have a clear understanding of the process by all the members of the team. This activity flowchart helped to identify all inefficiencies and bottlenecks of the process. After a detailed study of the process through the flow chart, the team performed a brainstorming session to identify the potential causes of bad roads (Grant and Leavenworth, 2000; Gijo and Perumallu, 2003; Gijo, 2005). The potential causes generated through the brainstorming session were presented as a cause and effect diagram in Figure 2 (Ishikawa and Lu, 1985). These causes were validated through data analysis and GEMBA (workplace) investigation. Method of cause validation

100 80 Occurence 60 40 20 0
Su bs id en ce su rfa ce C ra ck s sl id e St rip pi ng O th er

100 80 60 40 20 0 Percent

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Failure type

La nd

Sl ip pe ry

Count Percent Cum %

28 28.0 28.0

27 27.0 55.0

21 21.0 76.0

11 11.0 87.0

8 8.0 95.0

5 5.0 100.0

Figure 1. Pareto chart for road failure

depends on the relationship between cause and effect. In case the relationship between cause and effect is known and already established, then we need to see the occurrences of causes through workplace or GEMBA investigation (Womack, 2011). Where the relationship is not established or unknown, the cause needs to be validated by collecting data and subsequent analysis through test of hypothesis techniques. The cause validation in this study was done in two stages. During the first stage, for causes where relationship between cause and effect is unknown, hypothesis tests were performed to validate the cause. For the remaining causes, during the second stage, GEMBA analysis was carried out. Few examples of these are illustrated in the remaining part of the analyze phase. The type of data used for analysis and the results obtained are also explained in detail. For example, one such cause requires validation was the dependency of failure type and the type of terrain. A w2-test was performed for the data between type of failure and type of terrain and the p-value was found to be 0.002 confirming that the failure type and type of terrain were dependent (Montgomery and Runger, 2007). In GEMBA method of cause validation, one need to visit to workplace and observe the practices followed and compared with the specification and/or desired method (Womack, 2011). One of the causes, improper compaction is verified through this method. The requirement for compaction is maximum dry density (MDD) should be 495 percent (Dunn et al., 1980). However during process observation, it was found that 50 percent of the cases (16 cases out of 32), the value is below 95 percent. In order to verify the effect of MDD on road defects, number of defects is also observed in these 32 cases. A two samples Poissons rate (Fay, 2009), analysis is carried out and given in Table I. From the Table I, it may be noted the p-value is 0.000. Hence improper compaction is considered as a root cause.

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Others Geo-Technical Stress concentration Survey Workmanship

Figure 2. Cause and effect diagram for road failure

Road Failure Material Design

Continous rain

Improper supervision Improper compaction Poor subsoil Poor workmanship High pore water Continous movement Improper CD works Improper survey of heavy vehicles Difficult terrain Improper drainage connections Improper blasting Type of rocks Poor maintenance Improper work execution by GWL Improper selection of equipment Non-availability Villagers harassment Depth of expansive of catch basin Non-availability of machinery Increased soil Insufficient manpower Statuatory regulations Soil erosion Inadequate knowledge of

No specific methodology No training for supervisors Poor coordination Inadequate tools and tackles Insufficient cutting bench No corrective actions No preventive measures Insufficient width of carriage Insufficient lead time way Non-availability of required Non-technical contractors materials Improper drainage design Limited budget Land acquisition issues Improper design Lack of good quality Contractor payment delay materials Improper micrositing Insufficient drainage Improper work due to

Management

Similarly all the remaining causes were validated either through statistical analysis or through the GEMBA analysis. The validated seven root causes along with methodology adopted, are given in Table II. 3.4 Improve phase During the improvement phase of a Six Sigma project, solutions were identified for the selected root causes and implemented them after a risk analysis of the selected solution (Gijo et al., 2011). A brainstorming session was conducted with the team and all stakeholders of the process to identify the solutions for the selected causes (Smith, 2003). During this discussion, solutions were identified for all the seven root causes selected during the analyze phase. The selected solutions are presented in Table III.
Sample MDD below 95 percent MDD above 95 percent Total occurrences 15 1 Number of defect 16 16 Rate of occurrence 0.9375 0.0625

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Notes: Difference rate(1)rate(2). Estimate for difference: 0.875. 95 percent CI for difference: (0.385009, 1.36499). Test for difference 0 (vs not 0): Z 3.50, p-value 0.000

Table I. Details of two sample Poissons rate test

Sl. no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Potential cause Inappropriate methodology Inadequate specification Improper supervision Non-availability of required materials Improper work due to urgency Villagers harassment Improper drain maintenance

Validation method GEMBA GEMBA GEMBA GEMBA GEMBA GEMBA GEMBA

Conclusion Root cause Root cause Root cause Root cause Root cause Root cause Root cause

Table II. Summary of cause validation plan

Sl. No. Root cause 1 2 3 4 5 6 Inappropriate methodology Inadequate specification Improper supervision Non-availability of required materials Improper work due to urgency Villagers harassment

Solution Preparation of standard and uniform methodology Quality checklist Recording of the observations at each stage with signature Reconnaissance survey to identify the sources of materials and suggest methodology accordingly Proper planning and review of job status on a weekly basis at site Not to give false commitment to land owners. Commitment to be recorded and circulated among the stakeholders. Develop social relationship with the villagers. Shall discuss with the competitors for uniform commitment Preparing a maintenance manual and protocol for checking at frequent intervals

Improper drain maintenance

Table III. Selected solutions

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In order to prioritize the improvement actions, benefit-effort matrix is used and the same is presented in Figure 3. It may be noted here various methods exists to prioritize the improvement actions based on the perception of team/management and in this project management scenario, benefit-effort matrix found to be most acceptable technique. This benefit-effort matrix identifies the actions in four categories highly desirable, potentially desirable, potential quick hits and least desirable actions. As per the team assessment, the desirable actions are those which require less effort but resulted in high benefit. Based on this analysis the actions are prioritized for implementation. A risk analysis was performed to identify the potential risk associated with the desired actions (solutions for root causes) and it was concluded that there is no risk associated with any of the solutions identified. An implementation plan was prepared with details of actions planned with responsibility and target date for completion. A pilot run of the solutions was tried in one of the selected projects of a customer in one of the states of India. The results of the solutions implemented were observed during the pilot project and shown in Plate 2. The data on defects observed were recorded during the implementation. The DPMO of the improved process was found to be 1,852 which was resulting in an approximate sigma level of 4.40, which shows significant improvement in the process. 3.5 Control phase The objective of control phase of a Six Sigma project is to ensure sustainability of the results achieved during the project. Sustainability can be achieved by standardization of practices and monitoring the performance over time. As a standard practice each improvement is monitored by management for a period of six months. As a first step in control phase, the process flow charts were modified in-line with the implemented solutions (Saravanan et al., 2012). This revised process flow chart was circulated to all project sites and regional offices for strict adherence to the modified procedures.

7 6 1

Highly desirable opportunities Projects in upper left are the most desirable projects. Potentially desirable opportunities Projects in the upper right are potentially desirable, but usually require more analysis to ensure good decision making. Potential quick hits Possibility for Kaizen event or small GB project Least desirable opportunities Projects in the lower right are the least desirable. Effort

Med

High

Low

3 5 Low Med High

Figure 3. Benefit effort matrix

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Plate 2. Road after the project

A quality checklist was prepared for road construction, so that at different stages during the project execution, the engineers can ensure that all necessary steps are taken care. Periodic audit was planned by the corporate team to ensure that all the procedures are strictly followed during the construction activities. The occurrences of road defect in each project site is monitored monthly and being discussed in monthly progress review meeting. 4. Lessons learned Six Sigma methodology helped the people in the organization to understand how a process problem can be addressed systematically. During the project, extensive data collection and analysis were performed to make meaningful conclusions regarding the process. Once data collection started, hidden problems in the process got uncovered. Learning statistical software like MINITAB and JMP along with Six Sigma has strengthened the ability of the people to make data-based decisions. In this process everyone in the top management and the team understood the power of data-based decision making. It is amply demonstrated through the case study that a structured methodology like Six Sigma can be used effectively in road construction. This was the first time in the organization a checklist was prepared for activities related to road construction to control the processes. There were isolated efforts in the organization in the past to implement initiatives like statistical process control, quality circles, small group activities, Kaizen, etc. During the implementation of those initiatives, no systematic effort was made to identify the improvement opportunities in line with business priorities or customer requirements. As a result, the impact was not very visible in the organization whereas in Six Sigma, projects were identified with respect to the voice of the business and the customer, and the problems addressed were of highest priority to the organization. Hence the management decided to use Six Sigma methodology for all future improvement initiatives in the organization.

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The calculation of sigma level depends on creating the unit. In this case study the unit is taken as 50 meters patch of road. Classification of a unit in case of continuous product like road, electrical cables, etc., has a potential for future research. 5. Conclusion The Six Sigma methodology has helped the organization to address some of the vital problems in manufacturing, installation and servicing of windmill for its customers. Six Sigma projects were implemented in manufacturing, procurement, land development, installation and servicing. Like any other business process improvement technique, improvement in road quality must be based on facts, which objectively establish the root cause(s). Six Sigma approach for road quality improvement will not only results in more effective control over the road development process but also permits this objective to be accomplished with saving in time, effort and money. This paper presents a case study of development of sustainable wind farm roads in a windmill manufacturing company, showing how the effective introduction and implementation of a Six Sigma program can lead to breakthroughs in profitability. In the current case study, Six Sigma DMAIC methodology was successfully applied to improve the sustainability of wind farm roads. This project has addressed one of the very critical processes in installation and maintenance of windmills. Quality of wind farm road is a major problem encountered by all windmill manufacturers in India. This is one of the first project in Six Sigma tried in this field in India and was successfully completed. As a result of this project, the failure of roads was reduced significantly. This project has resulted in a direct saving of US$168,000 for the company per annum. This includes the cost reduction in repair of damaged roads and the equipment waiting time cost at various sites across the country. Because the rent of equipments used for repair of road is very high in addition to the waiting of trailers loaded with parts/spares of windmills to be installed/repaired. This also has helped the organization to complete the installation activities on time that was resulting in improvement in customer satisfaction. This project has further helped the organization to ensure availability of spare parts for maintenance activities. In totality, this project was having a significant impact in all the field activities of the company. The results of this project provide greater stimulus for the wider application of Six Sigma methodology across the company in the future. This all may appear simple, but is typically not easy to implement such changes in organizations/businesses that are culturally not used to process innovation. However, it is highly effective and can be accomplished with right organizational infrastructure.
References Adams, C., Gupta, P. and Wilson, C. (2003), Six Sigma Deployment, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, MA. Andrawus, J.A., Watson, J., Kishk, M. and Adam, A. (2006), The selection of a suitable maintenance strategy for wind turbines, Wing Engineering, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 471-86. Bisgaard, S. and Freiesleben, J. (2004), Six Sigma and the bottom line, Quality Progress, Vol. 37 No. 9, pp. 57-62. Breyfogle, F.W. III (2003), Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods, John Wiley, New York, NY. De Mast, J. (2007), Integrating the many facets of Six Sigma, Quality Engineering, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 353-61.

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Dunn, I.S., Anderson, L.R. and Kiefer, F.W. (1980), Fundamentals of Geotechnical Analysis, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, NY. Ellis, K. (2001), Mastering Six Sigma, Training, Vol. 28 No. 12, pp. 30-5. Fay, M.P. (2009), Testing the ratio of two Poisson rates, available at: http://cran.r-project.org/ web/packages/rateratio.test/vignettes/rateratio.test.pdf (accessed April 10, 2012). Firka, D. (2010), Six Sigma: an evolutionary analysis through case studies, The TQM Journal, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 423-34. Gijo, E.V. (2005), Improving process capability of manufacturing process by application of statistical techniques, Quality Engineering, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 309-15. Gijo, E.V. (2011), Eleven ways to sink your Six Sigma project, Six Sigma Forum Magazine, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 27-9. Gijo, E.V. and Perumallu, P.K. (2003), Quality improvement by reducing variation: a case study, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 14 No. 9, pp. 1023-31. Gijo, E.V. and Rao, T.S. (2005), Six Sigma implementation hurdles and more hurdles, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 721-5. Gijo, E.V. and Scaria, J. (2010), Reducing rejection and rework by application of Six Sigma methodology in manufacturing process, Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 6 Nos 1/2, pp. 77-90. Gijo, E.V., Scaria, J. and Antony, J. (2011), Application of Six Sigma methodology to reduce defects of a grinding process, Quality and Reliability Engineering International, Vol. 27 No. 8, pp. 1221-34. Grant, E.L. and Leavenworth, R.S. (2000), Statistical Quality Control, 7th ed., Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Halliday, S. (2001), So what exactly is Six Sigma?, Works Management, Vol. 15 No. 1, p. 15. Harry, M.J. (1997), The Vision of Six Sigma, 5th ed., Tri Star, Phoenix, AZ. Harry, M.J. and Schroeder, R. (1999), Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the Worlds Top Corporations, Currency Book, Doubleday, New York, NY. Hoerl, R.W. (2001), Six Sigma black belts: what do they need to know? (With discussion), Journal of Quality Technology, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 391-435. Hoerl, R.W. (2004), One perspective on the future of Six Sigma, Int. J. Six Sigma Competitive Advantage, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 112-19. Ishikawa, K. and Lu, D.J. (1985), What is Total Quality Control?, The Japanese Way, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Kaushik, P., Khanduja, D., Mittal, K. and Jaglan, P. (2012), A case study: application of Six Sigma methodology in a small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprise, The TQM Journal, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 4-16. Keller, P.A. (2001), Six Sigma Deployment, Quality Publishing House, Tucson, AZ. Kumar, M., Antony, J. and Douglas, A. (2009), Does size matter for Six Sigma implementation?: findings from the survey in UK SMEs, The TQM Journal, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 623-35. Liu, H., Tian, H-Q., Chen, C. and Li, Y. (2010), A hybrid statistical method to predict wind speed and wind power, Renewable Energy, Vol. 35 No. 8, pp. 1857-61. Mahanti, R. and Antony, J. (2009), Six Sigma in the Indian software industry: some observations and results from a pilot survey, The TQM Journal, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 549-64. Montgomery, D.C. (2002), Introduction to Statistical Quality Control, 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, NY. Montgomery, D.C. and Runger, G.C. (2007), Applied Statistics and Probability for Engineers, 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons Inc, London.

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Motwani, J., Kumar, A. and Antony, J. (2004), A business process change framework for examining the implementation of Six Sigma: a case study of Dow chemicals, TQM Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 273-83. Pande, P., Neuman, R. and Cavanagh, R. (2000), The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Pande, P., Neuman, R. and Cavanagh, R. (2003), The Six Sigma Way Team Field Book: An Implementation Guide for Process Improvement Teams, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Park, S.H. (2003), Six Sigma for Quality and Productivity Promotion, Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo. Saravanan, S., Meera, M., Prakash, S. and Gijo, E.V. (2012), Efficiency improvement on the multicrystalline silicon wafer through Six Sigma methodology, International Journal of Sustainable Energy, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 143-53. Smith, B. (2003), Lean and Six Sigma a one-two punch, Quality Progress, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 37-41. Snee, R.D. (2004), Six Sigma: the evolution of 100 years of business improvement methodology, Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 4-20. Snee, R.D. and Hoerl, R.W. (2003), Leading Six Sigma: A Step by Step Guide Based on Experience at GE and Other Six Sigma Companies, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Snee, R.D. and Hoerl, R.W. (2004), Six Sigma Beyond the Factory Floor, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Snee, R.D. and Rodebaugh, W.F. (2002), Project selection process, Quality Progress, Vol. 8 No. 9, pp. 78-90. Stewart, R.A. and Spencer, C.A. (2006), Six-sigma as a strategy for process improvement on construction projects: a case study, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 339-48. Suresh, S., Antony, J., Kumar, M. and Douglas, A. (2012), Six Sigma and leadership: some observations and agenda for future research, The TQM Journal, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 231-47. Taghizadegan, S. (2006), Essentials of Lean Six Sigma, Elsevier, New Delhi. Wantanakorn, D., Mawdesley, M. and Askew, W. (1999), Management errors in construction, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 112-20. Womack, J. (2011), GEMBA Walk, Lean Enterprise Institute Inc, Cambridge, MA. Yergin, D. (2011), The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, The Penguin Press, New York, NY. Further reading Ferng, J. and Price, A.D.F. (2005), An exploration of the synergies between Six Sigma, total quality management, lean construction and sustainable construction, International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 167-87. Imai, M. (1986), Kaizen: The Key to Japans Competitive Success, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Stalk, G. and Hout, T.M. (1990), Competing Against Time, The Free Press, New York, NY. Treichler, D.H. (2005), The Six Sigma Path to Leadership, Pearson Education, Indian Branch, Delhi.

Appendix
Project Title: Development of sustainable wind farm roads Background and reasons for selecting the project: Wind farm roads are currently wearing out within 3 to 6 months. Also there is large variation in the road formation process. Aim of the project: To arrive at best practices for making sustainable wind farm roads so that the life of the road is at least six months. Project Champion: Project Leader: Team Members: General Manager Project Execution Manager Site Development Supervisor Site Development Supervisor Installation Engineer Maintenance Characteristics of product/process output and its measure CTQ Failure rate of roads Measure & Specification Life measured in months and specification is more than 6 months. Defect Definition Road life less than 6 months

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Expected Benefits: Expected customer benefits: Schedule:

Reliability in service, reduction in maintenance cost. Improvement in customer satisfaction Define: 4 Weeks,

Measure: 6 weeks Analyse: 16 weeks, Improve: 8 weeks Control: 8 weeks.

Figure A1. Project charter

Wind Farm Road Construction

Suppliers WRD Consultant Land team Meteorological dept Consultant Design team Road contractor Road contractor Road Survey

Inputs Micrositing drawing Survey Drawings Land Meteorological data Soil investigation Construction Drawings / Specifications Equipment Raw materials Soil Investigation

Process

Outputs

Customers Installation team Service team

Standard and Sustainable Windfarm road

Methodology Selection

Road Construction

Testing and Commissioning

Figure A2. SIPOC

TQM 25,3

OCC

Sustainable road construction/ No failures within 6 months

Development of various types of defects

Land Slide

Improper compaction Absence of toe wall Improper grading Improper camber Improper drainage Low relative density of soil

Lab test

225

Water Stagnation

Inspection Grading guidance Inspection Drainage plan No Control Maintenance procedure No Control

405

258

Increased vehicle Operation cost Road accident

1 9

1 1 5 1 1 9

5 5 1 10 1 10

45 45 45 90 9 810

Figure A3. Potential failure mode and effect analysis

Improper maintenance High stress concentration

About the authors E.V. Gijo is a Faculty in the Statistical Quality Control and Operations Research Unit of Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, India. He holds a Masters degree in Statistics from M.G. University, Kottayam, Kerala and a Masters degree in Quality, Reliability and Operations Research from Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He is an active consultant in the field of Six Sigma, quality management, reliability, Taguchi methods and allied topics in a variety of industries. He is a certified Master Black Belt and Trainer in Six Sigma and Qualified Assessor for ISO-9001, ISO-14001 systems. He has published many papers in reputed international journals. He also teaches in the academic programs of the Institute. E.V. Gijo is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: gijoev@yahoo.com; gijo@isibang.ac.in Ashok Sarkar is a Technical Officer in the Indian Statistical Institute, Mumbai. He has a rich experience in implementation of quality initiatives e.g. Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, SPC, design of experiments in various organisations over a period of the last two decades. His areas of research interest are issues pertaining to implementation of operations management across the organisation.

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RPN

SEV

DET

Process Function / requirements

Potential Failure mode

Potential effect of Failure

Potential Cause(s)/ Mechanism(s) of failure

Current Process Controls