İNŞaat mühendiSLİĞİ anabiLİm dali

Sıx Sıgma Methodology And Its Applıcabılıty In Turkısh Forest Products Industry

Six Sigma is a comprehensive and flexible system used in improving the processes and is a methodology and management philosophy guiding the businesses in order to achieve, maintain and maximize success in business. It focuses on increasing the customer satisfaction by ensuring that the processes are improved and redesigned, and in general aims for achieving an excellent level in business activities. The unique mechanism operating the Six Sigma is consisted of deeply understanding the customer needs; using the facts, data and statistical analyses with a discipline; and managing, improving and rediscovering the business processes.

This study aims analyzing the applicability conditions of the Six Sigma methodology in the forestry products sector. Tendency of the businesses to accuracy, reducing the error rate to 3,4 in a million, which is one of the fundamental aims of the Six Sigma, shows an ideal target. Tendency to the ideal target and achievement may be provided only to a certain level with the improvements made by the businesses in their own processes. In addition to own processes of the businesses, the conditions directly or indirectly affecting their processes are also important for success. This study focuses on revealing the existing processes and business management conditions in the forestry products sector in order to address the conditions for implementing the Six Sigma more effectively and faster. For this purpose, the conditions affecting all processes (supplier, input, process, output, customer) have been analyzed with an integrated logic within the scope of SIPOC cycle.
In the study, survey method is used as a tool for collecting information. The study is limited with business employing 25 or more employees in the Turkish forestry products industry. For this purpose, 270 businesses, among 1.022 business, which are considered to meet the criteria set and that information with the requested reliability level can be obtained, have been contacted with. The study carried out with 92 business, determined to be suitable for assessment, provides a reliability level of 95%.
63% of the businesses participated to the study are businesses headquartered in the Marmara Region. Businesses are grouped according to their main line of activity; accordingly, 66% of the businesses operate in furniture decoration area, while 13% in plate industry, 11% in timber, parquet, joinery and palette, and 10% in other forestry products.
The average of age in the Turkish forestry products businesses is 24. Approximately half of the businesses were founded after 1980. While this is a significant indicator for the quick development of the sector, it’s seen as an indicator for lack of institutionalization and continuity. Capacity utilization rate is 71% in average. Business generally think that advanced management techniques are useful. Facts that 54% of the businesses have a quality assurance system and also 23% of them have environmental management system and occupational health and safety system and implemented MRP, ERP, TPM, and FMEA applications are important success indicators for the Turkish forestry products businesses in heading towards the Six sigma methodology. However, the fact that the business cooperate with 114 suppliers in average, and more than half of them to not have independent audit systems although they stated the existence of a supplier assessment system shows that the supply process should be improved for accuracy. 47% of the businesses tell that they experience input related problems more and more. Businesses encounter important problems in their production, production planning and sales processes. For example, intermediary stock quantities, unscheduled stops and order cancellations happen over 10%. The forestry products business evaluate their processes related to the customers as positive and 60% of the businesses tell that they structure their processes according to the requests of the customers. However, existence of a feedback system defined for the assessments related to the customers is around 40%. Customer information collection methods are applied with traditional techniques in 66% of the businesses. In summary, the assessments depend on human relations and subjective tools.
40-55% of the forestry products businesses tell that they experience a storage problem for raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products. 85% of the business have one (or more) registered trademark(s) in the domestic market, only 40% of them think that they have a brand value in the overseas market.
Only 7 of 92 Turkish forestry products businesses have Six Sigma. However, no quantitative assessment is made related to the application and success sufficiency of the methodology. For the success conditions in Six Sigma application, management approach, system support, source, and employees owning the method are considered as the prioritized factors. It’s seen that traditional family structure is effective in the Turkish forestry products businesses.
In general, the forestry products sector has a positive, but cautious approach to the Six Sigma application, and considers it as valuable and required. However, it is not anticipated that the spreading of methodology will take place soon, considering the existing sector conditions. Standard approaches, sector data collection and monitoring systems in management applications are needed for spreading the methodology, as well as the success and effectiveness.
While the businesses perform the required improvements in their main processes, it is also required to create their supply sources and market cycles. It’s believed that the international competition and success of the forestry products sector will quickly increase when the Six Sigma methodology is spread.