V. Rishi Kumar

Hyderabad , Dec. 10

AS domestic companies acquire global ambitions and India gradually becomes a favoured outsourcing destination, companies are in the process of fine-tuning their internal management strengths with accent on quality control.

What started with information technology is now percolating to other sectors such as manufacturing. Interestingly, the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment, is now aggressively taking to this challenge.

The Regional Head for Six Sigma Advisory Services, KPMG, Mr Yashvardhan Shukla, told Business Line: "These are early days but the momentum has picked up as quality is a key differentiator between one company and another.

"From the information we have, it is clear that about 40 per cent of those who have gradually drifted to Six Sigma practices are from IT sector but the number in other sectors is gradually swelling."

Typically, Six Sigma was something only large enterprises and particularly those in the technology sector would take to.

The traditional model was such that there would be one black belt for every 100 or 200 people and 25 per cent of them green belts and would take about three years for the transition.

This is a capital-intensive model which is difficult for SMEs to follow.

The approach has therefore changed to a hybrid model that suits rapid deployment and yet enables these corporations to drift swiftly.

This has ensured more SMEs into the fold, he explained.

"For instance, companies from the textile sector, which are gearing up for the opening up of the quota regime, auto ancillaries, which are gradually embarking on large scale exports, are all keen to adopt this model to be globally competitive and match up to the competition from overseas markets," he said.

At KPMG, the Six Sigma practice has emerged as one of the fastest growing business.

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