Integration of IS0 9001 and six sigma in Malaysia manufacturing sector: A baseline study

Most organizations that implemented Six Sigma are supported by the IS0 9000 quality management system. Both IS0 9001 and Six Sigma allow organizations to meet customer satisfaction by adopting the continuous improvement methodology. However, there is a lack of focal points in the integration of IS0 9001 and Six Sigma especially in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. Few researchers believed that IS0 9001 and Six Sigma could be integrated and achieve the advantages through systematic integration, yet the effectiveness of integration has been examined through the manufacturing organization. The structure of the paper is based on the dichotomies within the Six Sigma literature: what are Six Sigma and IS0 9001and what are the success factors for the integration of IS0 9001 and Six Sigma. The investigation process adopted face- to- face semi- structured interviews with quality practitioners from the Malaysian manufacturing sector to provide the research deep knowledge in the area investigated. The identification of similarities and differences of IS0 9001 and Six Sigma enabled the research to define a set of guidelines to ensure successful systematic integration. The study found that IS0 9001 can be incorporated with Six Sigma by developing an integration guideline in generating the integration policy, planning policy, integration implementation and performance assessment guidelines. The study found the fundamental introductory inspiration for IS0 certification and IS0 was to have a powerful instrument to enhance quality management in the organization. In order to visualize the research findings, the research framework was generated for the Six Sigma methodology to be incorporated with the IS0 9001 :2008 process model.