Implementation of Six Sigma methodology to improve supply chain network in the context of Malaysian manufacturing industries

Six Sigma has been a prevailing methodology used by numerous sectors of manufacturing organisation around the world. Six Sigma is also considered as a business management strategy and a well-structured approach to reduce process variation and waste. However, there is a limited empirical analysis on implementing Six Sigma approaches within a global supply chain network in a developing country as well as addressing the practical issues encountered by these foreign manufacturing investors. This paper aims to address these gaps by intensively analysing Six Sigma implementation strategy and providing an overview status of the implementation of Six Sigma approaches within a global supply chain network in a developing country, i.e. Malaysia through the pilot results obtained by a co-author. In order to be successful in a highly competitive market, many industrial partners need to collaborate in a global supply chain network to produce high quality products and increase competitive advantage. Hence, a generic guideline based on Porter´s model for foreign manufacturing investors is proposed in this paper to ease the implementation of Six Sigma to improve supply chain networks.