The aim of this research is to to identify the availability requirements of the
application of Six Sigma methodology in the companies studied, by identifying the degree
of realization of the importance of employees applying six sigma methodology, a
nd to
identify the suitability of the organizational culture prevailing in the companies studied to
apply the methodology six sigma, and to identify the availability of the necessary skills to
apply six sigma methodology.
The results of this research indicated the low degree of employees’ awareness to the
importance of applying six sigma methodology, and the lack of appropriate organizational
culture currently prevailing in the companies to organizational culture required for the
application of six sigma methodology, and to non-availability of sufficient skills to apply
six sigma methodology.
The most important recommendations of this research reveals the need for the
studied companies to conduct awareness campaigns to raise the employees awareness of
the importance to apply the six sigma methodology, and the need to encourage employees
to work together, and the necessary to orientation of the needs of customers , and follow
the initiative strategy, and train employees on the choice of projects to improve the quality,
and training the employees on the use of statistical tools and management and planning
tools to improve quality.
The increased competition in the global pharmaceutical market and the necessity to reach higher levels of quality of the pharmaceutical products force the manufacturers to seek and adopt more effective and reliable quality management methods and tech
niques which allow them to introduce products with the highest possible quality level and reduced quality costs while maintaining conformance to the pharmaceutical GMPs, technical and legislative requirements. One of the popular modern quality management methodologies is Six Sigma, which proved its high ability to increase business profits and competitiveness within more than 30 years of implementation in manufacturing and service sectors. Recently, Six Sigma methodology has been adopted by global pharmaceutical companies such as Baxter, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis and obtained considerable benefits from its abilities. This research aims at investigating the possibility to improve the quality of medications through implementing the six sigma methodology, and to find out what benefits a pharmaceutical company can get through the implementation of this methodology. A case study was conducted in a pharmaceutical company in Syria (Orient-Pharma) in order to examine the effectiveness and advantages of Six Sigma methodology. For this purpose, a quality improvement project was conducted using DMAIC roadmap to enhance the quality for one of the main products of the company. The obtained results of DMAIC project showed an enhanced process capability, an enhanced process Sigma level, decreased variability in the process outputs, as a result the quality of the medication had been enhanced sufficiently. As a conclusion, considerable benefits can be obtained through implementing Six Sigma methodology in the pharmaceutical industry to improve the medications quality and the production processes as well.
