A study on six sigma applications for developing process performance

The importance of the performance of business processes for the success of organisations is undeniable. For surviving and being able to compete, organisations have to improve themselves by improving their business processes. This explains why process performance improvement is very popular and beneficial today. Therefore, it is used widely in organisations nowadays. There are many studies realised and published on this subject and many new studies are being performed.This thesis aims to integrate the techniques such as process qualification, fifth discipline, sustainability and six sigma, which are used in different points throughout process performance management, to examine the relationships between them and to investigate the possible contributions they may have on each other. In this manner, these techniques and methodologies will become more powerful by being used together and this will provide a more efficient performance management.The thesis shows the cause and effect relationship between process qualification and process performance. How an improvement obtained in process qualification causes an improvement in process performance is demonstrated by an application in an organisation working in automotive sector. Also, the model proposed for ensuring sustainability of realised improvements is given.