doctoral thesis

It depends on what point of view you are looking at it from(what institution/dept.):
1. Statistics(Theory)
2. Engineering (Application)
3. Organisational Behaviour (Change Mgmt.)
And also which country you are in, as this will determine what kind of data you get/ experiments you can do.
Raja Setlur

KP,
If you read the threads on this site, you know that:
1) many threads are about change management, the use of tools, or specific projects
2) few if any threads are about “ground rules” to quantify and verify actual benefit in money or other key metrics – for example, I believe that productivity gains must be realized at the gross output level;  in other words, local gains that are consumed downstream should not be recognized.
3) all posters, to their credit, are very passionate about Six Sigma
4) few if any posters are executives
What conclusions can you draw from my comments?
Six Sigma commands attention in the United States, but I’m unaware of any publicly available studies that prove it works.  It does generate much of what we call “lip service” here, and American Executives, as a group, are extremely poor leaders.
India may be a “clean slate”;  perhaps this is a way for you to create a model for Indian Six Sigma and objectively document its effectiveness.  If you look at my point #2, I can tell you that I have never seen any discussion, on the internet, a magazine or a book, of how a financial officer would evaluate a project before it is started.  Few if any American companies have Cost of Quality models.

KP,
First some background – I am an MTech from IIT, Madras with 20 yrs experience in Indian industry – 7 yrs at L&T, Powai, then a PSU Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd, then a Birla Co. Hyderbad Industries ltd etc. In Singapore with a division of ABB for the last 3 years, 2 yrs of which I have been  a BB. Admittedly, in SS I am a beginner.
GE is doing  a lot of Six Sigma work in India. It may help to talk to some MBB there. In the university that you have registered in, keep in touch with a Prof. from the stats dept. and in the  organisation that you  work for /cement plant  talk to the QA people to get a hang of COPQ issues and problems with implementing Quality programs. If your boss and guide are not passionate about Six Sigma, you would find many things difficult.  My understanding of the high level of automation in a cement plant is that there may not be much room to play around with operating parameters to change quality or productivity. Considering the location of cement plants, the literacy levels and awareness of the employees need to kep in mind when looking at Change mgmt.
The comments by DaveG and others are well taken.
Most importantly, you may need to understand and clarify your motives for taking up a project in this area.
Hope I am not adding to your confusion.
 

I have a dream : having a chance to do doctoral thesis in Six Sigma.
The topic in my mind is “Super Six Sigma”.
I would develop the better Six Sigma methodology by blending current approaches (from various training institute) and some other methodologies such as Lean , Shainin ,Taguchi, TQM , ISO etc. and will use best of the best techniques form these.
I would try my Super Six Sigma in some leading companies in my country and see the result.
That is the thesis in my mind. However, it is just my dream.

KP Rao,
I infer that you are probably working in a cement manuf. co. and wish to do PhD at BITS. It is not clear whether you  are a HR person/Engineer. Also whether you have undegone Six Sigma training. Writing about Six Sigma without at least getting trained in GB/BB is like authoring a book on Love or Sex or meditation without having experienced any of them.
Is your own organisation into Six Sigma? What ideas has your boss come up with? Is there any GE company in your town/city? What related topics have PhDs/MTechs been done in , at BITS? These would give you a good starting point. PhD (& probably life) is probably about asking the right questions than about getting all of them answered.
Hope that confuses you enough to get your neurons firing. If not, I can suggest Tony Buzan’s “Mind Mapping” for a creative approach to problem solving.
Good luck !

Please kindly  accept  the  following  suggestion:As  I have wide  experience in  Cement  Industry and similar knowledge  and  experience  in TQM and SS…etc.I  may help  you by  selecting  this  topic:How  to  minimize  defects  and  waste in  Cement  Manufacturing through  using SS  (or Lean-SS) methodologies (cycle  time..etc).I  believe  Lean-SS more suitable for  this  kind  of  Industry,by  using TPM,5Ss and  the  Kaizen  Blitz…etc    

I would not put it quite as “charmingly” as Darth does, but the matter of the fact is that this is absolutely the wrong place to get advice on a doctoral thesis. First off, there is a whole literature on Six Sigma and your dissertation needs to tie into this literature. The current agreed upon model for the investigation of any construct is: antecedents, determinants and consequences of Six Sigma. In most academic fields that touch upon Six Sigma it is viewed as a subset of TQM with a handful of British academics at the University of Lancaster for example attempting to find a niche for their research. Finally, every published empirical research of any quality will have a section on “implications and future research”. This is where you want to find academic sugesstions. No dissertation committee of any stature will accept a concept paper based on the suggestions of gooey, booey or villageidiot (no offense) from the isixsigma forum. Start with reading the literature, and take your first methodology classes. You may find that Six Sigma is probably one of the poorest topics to write a dissertation on.

John,
I am not sure how much you know about the University systems in some of the emerging world, but they are very rigorous in some of these countries.

TQM is  a  large  concept,and  SS is a process  improvement  methodology,no  need  to  make  any  integration??

If you’re in PhD., it should be termed as dissertation and not thesis (for MBA only).
My suggested topics:
1. 1.5 sigma shift — worthy or inaccurate
2. Accuracy and impact of results of a continuous and pseudo-continuous data as applied on stat tools for variable data
3. Design for Six sigma and lean

In academia, a thesis or dissertation is a document that presents the author’s research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification.
The name for an academic thesis and the practice of its writing often vary across different countries and different academic degree obtained.
Canada
At English-speaking Canadian universities, writings presented in fulfillment of undergraduate coursework requirements are normally called papers, term papers or essays. A long paper presented for completion of an honours degree is sometimes called a major paper, or, more rarely, an undergraduate thesis or honours thesis. Major papers presented as the final project for a masters degree are normally called theses; and major papers presenting the student’s research towards a doctoral degree are called theses or dissertations.
At Francophone Canadian universities, the procedure is roughly the same, however, the term applied to a study associated with masters work is referred to as a “mémoire,” and one associated with doctoral work is referred to as a “thèse.” Either work can be awarded a “mention d’honneur” (excellence) as a result of the decision by the examination committee, although these are rare.
A typical undergraduate thesis might be forty pages. Masters theses are approximately one hundred pages. PhD theses are usually over two hundred pages, and may reach nearly five hundred pages in exceptional cases.
UK
At UK universities, the term thesis is usually associated with a Ph.D. (doctoral) or M.Phil. degree, while dissertation is the more common term for the research project required for an undergraduate degree, although it is not always a necessity, and degrees can be certified for completing other equivalent work.
US
In the majority of US doctoral programs, the term “dissertation” can refer to the major part of the student’s total time spent (along with 2-3 years of classes), and may take years of full-time work to complete. At some universities, dissertation is the term for the required submission for the doctorate and thesis refers only to the master’s degree requirement. At many others, the word thesis is used for both.
Graduate students in many programs throughout the US are either required to write a thesis at the end of their studies or have opportunity to take a “thesis track” leading to graduation. Students who opt for the thesis route often are seeking to continue on for doctorates or are seeking employment where such an experience is valued.

Excellent  Idea ,even  Creative.You  should  proceed  forward.I  have proposed  similar concept based on  building what  I  call “the  Pyramid  of  Quality” ,adding some  more  topics  such  like  Cnange  management (& Project  Management) at  the bottom  of  the Pyramid.Good  Luck 

Why not go all the way :
18 = 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 3 + 3 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5
Mikel would love the tolerance stack-up wouldn’t he, the fool …

Dear John,
It’s your kindness if let me know some results of your six sigma projects in cement industry, please inform me by email: [email protected]
Regards,
Ehsan

I’m sorry, I must have missed something.  What is the “great  statistical  discovery” to which you refer ?
Which 1.5 are you talking about  ?  :

Bill Smith’s
Harry version 1
Harry version 2
Reigle

Frank’s ??

Thank You.
Now  it  is  time  to  enjoy  again,regards

No – whether a company accepts the 1.5 sigma shift proposition or not has little bearing on a company’s success or failure.
Giving a person the freedom to either accept it, or reject it, is an entirely different matter.
Yoshi
 
 

We obviously have a lot to learn from more successful companies than Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc.

parastoo – I believe you could expect some very SOLID yet MIXED results in a cement factory and as for automotive parts…well it’s all about HORSEPOWER now isn’t it?
Come on…do some study yourself then pose a more specific question!

Define it and show that it doesn’t work.

May I in turn suggest that you are in no way qualified to recommend doctoral dissertation topics to anyone? 
 
May I also point out to all current respondents to this thread that you’re tagging into a four year old posting?  
 
Either the original twit has realized his or her own incapability of synthesizing and adding to the great Six Sigma body of knowledge or he or she should be well into his or her writing phase by this time.    
 
You should perhaps continue to plow other more current fields – and remember (ye of many screen names), your plowing seems to go faster with your shallow tilt of the blade. 

Bart,
Chill out dude, you should really pay attention to the post before you slam somebody.

crb – your message is not clear to me. Appears you are knocking SS.
If SS has failed at a company it is the fault of mngt in SS’s implementation. There can be nothing inherently wrong with using data to make decisions and following defined, repeatable steps to eliminate variation and non-value add costs.
It’s cannot be bad in and of itself.