The Demand for Six Sigma in the Supply Chain Research Report

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Every business has a supply chain. Supply chain refers to the system of organizations, activities and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. In such a trail of processes and handoffs, opportunities for improvement can be ripe. But while many companies are working on those opportunities through the use of Six Sigma, a substantial number of practitioners have minimal or no experience applying Six Sigma to the supply chain. This iSixSigma research explores how companies are improving their supply chain.

FINDING 1: Many companies are working to improve their supply chain.

FINDING 2: Most practitioners have minimal to moderate experience applying Six Sigma to the supply chain.

FINDING 3: Six Sigma success in the supply chain depends on the same factors as success anywhere.

FINDING 4: Although the majority of companies consider it important to some degree that their suppliers use Six Sigma, the majority do not provide their suppliers with any encouragement to do so.

FINDING 5: Knowledge of supply chain models is far from mainstream.

Survey Methodology
Michael Marx and iSixSigma Magazine designed the benchmarking survey. A special thanks goes to Artagnan Ayala, a Master Black Belt and director of Business and Operational Excellence at Premier Technology Inc., for his help in developing the questions. Business professionals were invited by email to participate in the survey. Additionally, visitors to iSixSigma.com had the opportunity to participate through a link on the website. The survey drew responses from 460 individuals. Some reported totals do not add to 100 percent because of rounding and survey questions that allowed more than one response to be selected.

Author
Michael Marx is research manager for iSixSigma and founder of SixSigmaCompanies.com. He is a certified Black Belt.