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Purpose -The selection of right projects in a Six Sigma program is a major concern for early success and long-term acceptance within any organization. One of the ever-increasing challenges is to define and select right measure for improvement and appropriate problem definition. Many projects encounter the problem of no linkage with business objectives or customer needs, too large or high-level project scope along with unclear problem and goal statement. Improperly, chosen metrics lead to sub-optimal behavior and can lead people away from the organization's goal instead of joining them. This paper aims to propose a project selection methodology for different situations. Design/methodology/approach -This research develops a model for project identification; ensuring well-defined projects are selected having large impact on customer satisfaction or bottom line. The model is described for the situations: availability of performance data, balanced business score card implemented and no data is available. Findings -A "top-down approach" model is developed for project selection, since top management support for Six Sigma initiatives is absolutely critical to see tangible, significant results. The authors suggest establishing the linkage with data (either reactive or survey), otherwise through prioritization tool for project selection. Finally, factors influencing successful Six Sigma projects include management commitment; project selection and control skill, irrespective of whether this is a define, measure, analyze, improve and control or define, measure, analyze, design and validate/verify project. Originality/value -This approach will help the organizations to select the specific project from multivariate organizational and customer needs. Three different methods for project selection are explained with examples and reasons for selection. Merits and demerits of each method are also highlighted.

Six Sigma methodology for process improvement is being used by industries to improve customer satisfaction, business results or both. The success of Six Sigma implementation can be measured by evaluating the effectiveness of the completed projects. The other objective of project effectiveness measurement scheme is to keep the team focused and motivated. A good measurement system should be able to measure and compare projects of various types and need, including benefits from the projects. The project effectiveness measurement scheme should include success factors like project selection, involvement of management, results achieved, conduct of the project and monitoring and review of the project. A Six Sigma project effectiveness evaluation system is generally based on the perception of people that can result in unreliable measurement. To overcome this deficiency, we used a fuzzy approach based on linguistic variables and fuzzy numbers for measuring the project effectiveness in this study by using the perception of management. Two methods for measuring effectiveness of selected sample projects are suggested. The outcome from this research would be helpful for the practicing industries to use this methodology for an unbiased evaluation of completed projects. . In his 14-year research career, he has published more than 180 refereed papers and five textbooks in the areas of reliability engineering, design of experiments, Taguchi methods, Six Sigma, total quality management and statistical process control.S. RAY ET AL.

Purpose -In the service sector, reduction of cycle time is one of the key issues. Lean concepts and techniques are applied to increase the speed of operations. In many cases, improvement projects need to leverage a combination of Lean and Six-Sigma approaches and tools. The purpose of this paper is to present a Lean Six-Sigma case study for reducing cycle time in a BPO operation and to demonstrate application of Lean Six-Sigma methodology in BPO and ITeS industries. Design/methodology/approach -This paper presents an application of Lean Six-Sigma methodology for cycle time reduction in BPO organizations. Findings -Lean Six-Sigma is found to work very well in BPO industries for reducing process cycle time by carrying out process changes. "Improve result by improving the process" -this motto of Six-Sigma is very well demonstrated by this approach of Lean Six-Sigma for BPO organizations. Originality/value -This paper utilizes fundamental Lean and Six-Sigma approaches and presents applications. The main idea behind this paper is to utilize Lean concepts/techniques to speed up Six-Sigma projects. Apart from the paper's value for managers, it can also help researchers to extend this for other areas of business processes.

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