Six sigma methodology and an application in ceramic industry

In this thesis, ?Six Sigma Methodology and An Application in Ceramic Industry? have been studied. In rapidly globalizing world, production centers have begun to shift to the countries which achieve the high-quality production with the lowest cost. Developing management approaches force the firms learn and implement new production and management approaches to sustain in the force of global competition and become the leading sector by creating a difference. The importance of the concept of Quality is being felt more every day. The success of Six Sigma is being discussed today beyond Quality Control and Total Quality Management.In recent years, one of the most widely used methods of quality development is Six Sigma. Six Sigma is the key of customer-oriented products, service quality, improvement in processes, the key to success of organizations and is also a guide using the key points of quality. Six Sigma provides companies lower costs, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.In the first part of this study the concept of quality is explained and Total Quality Management is studied by discussing its historical management and principles. In the second part of this study Six Sigma methodology, one of the methods of quality improvement, is emphasized and in the last part one of the Six Sigma projects which were applied in Kaleseramik Company is undertaken respectively. Project work is implemented to decrease the purchased materials inventory cost in Ceramics Covering material producing factory. Inventory decreasing studies which is created in five stages; Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control has two aims; to reduce the stocks of active materials that are being used by the units and reducing the inactive stocks that are not using by the factory. The output of each stage was determined by using Six Sigma techniques which are Brainstorming, CTQ Tree Diagram, SIPOC Diagram, Cause-Effect Matrix, Pareto Analysis and so on. As a result of the Project 443.000 TL financial income is provided with 22,13 percent annual interest rate by reducing the 2.000.000 TL amount of stock.