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To Reach the
Highest Customer Satisfaction
It is a solution to improve processes with
very high quality combined with high volume.
To Avoid
Improvement Pitfalls.
::
design for
six sigma.
Design
for Six Sigma (DFSS) utilizes
the most powerful tools and methods known today for developing
optimized designs. These tools and methods are ready to plug
directly into your current product development process.
DFSS
provides many tangible benefits to companies. For instance,
the DFSS approach results in long term cost reductions
associated with a product. There are many ways this savings is
realized; the most pronounced are (1) development and
verification, (2) manufacturing (both tooling & facilities
and variable), and (3) after sale service and support. DFSS
reduces time to market (but not on the first project as there
is a learning curve) and thereby ensures fresher product
feature sets. DFSS also improves quality at introduction
through a clearer definition of customer priorities and
effective incorporation of manufacturing issues.
Reducing
life cycle costs is one of the primary goals of a Design for
Six Sigma project. In the product development process, when
first applying DFSS, some costs will go up while others will
go down. The increase in initial cost is associated with
capturing and understanding customer requirements; however,
this cost will easily be recovered through improvement of the
downstream activities. Design and development activities will
have clear priorities and requirement sets thereby reducing
design iterations and clarifying verification approaches.
Manufacturing
issues are considered in every DFSS project thereby maximizing
re-use of facilities and equipment. Where investment is
required, the optimum configuration and capability can be
established with clear data on requirements.
Service
and support issues will be addressed throughout the DFSS
project so that the two major cost drivers (insufficient
function and failures) are alleviated prior to release of the
product.
Time
to develop new products is a critical success factor in almost
any business today. DFSS facilitates long term time reduction
by deploying lessons learned throughout the development and
manufacturing set-up process. First DFSS incorporates a
customer knowledge base through QFD (Note: initially this
requires more effort than traditionally dedicated to gathering
customer requirements, but this effort will be paid back with
better focus and higher quality products). Next DFSS
incorporates logical, objective based tradeoffs for time to
launch verses customer/market benefit. Where time is spent, it
will be clearly value added.
Quality,
it turns out, is the key outcome from all of the prior
mentioned activities. Being able to improve quality, and at
the same time improve cost and cycle time, is the name of the
game. The DFSS approach is very strong here; (1) establish
clear requirement sets (customer, company, and regulatory),
(2) look for inventive ways to satisfy those requirements, (3)
mitigate the things that could go wrong, (4) optimize the
function of the design, (5) optimize the cost/benefit
associated with the manufacturing tolerances, and (6) verify
that product meets the requirement set. The tools and methods
built into DFSS are the key enablers for accomplishing all of
the goals.
Putting
together and managing a DFSS project is not a trivial matter.
All of the key enablers must be in place to realize the
maximum benefit. All of the players need to know what role
they play and their performance must be tied to their rewards.
The
substantial knowledge base and analytical methods are best
maintained on a computer. The system needs to utilize common
formats and detail level so that communication is enhanced.
People
that have a significant part in the DFSS process need to be
properly trained in the tools and methods that they will be
expected to utilize or support. To that end, a formal
certification process is established to insure that all
critical skills and knowledge are in place to support a
successful DFSS project.
A
proper DFSS team represents all of the key functions that
contribute to defining the product (and its constraints),
designing the product, testing the product, manufacturing the
product and servicing the product. Some of the representatives
will see the project from the beginning to the end, others
will contribute only during specific phases.
Proper
representation by function is important; if the selected
representative does not have the requisite functional
expertise and knowledge their contribution will be negligible
(and sometimes negative). Each team member has specific duties
and responsibilities that must be effectively carried out to
make the project successful.
Supporting
a DFSS project requires many levels of involvement. First are
the company sponsors. They need to allocate resources,
interface to the companies governing body, and ensure that the
project is on track.
The
DFSS Expert helps the teams and the Project Leaders with the
more difficult aspects of a DFSS project, they act more as
consultants than managers. They must be experts in the tools
and methods of DFSS as well as have good consulting skills.
The
DFSS Project Leader manages the day-to-day activities of the
team – they are the integrator of all of the various tools
and methods into a successful product.
DFSS
Practitioners bring specific skills and knowledge to the team,
some are core team members, others only support as needed.
Examples include testing, finance, manufacturing, etc..
No
DFSS project will be successful without a strong sponsor. This
person must have the authority to make significant things
happen, anything from spending money to redirecting company
resources must be within their purview. The team cannot be
expected to fight for support at every step of the process and
still have time to do their primary job, which is to bring a
Six Sigma product to market.
The
sponsor is generally the executive that would have been
responsible for the new product, but here their primary role
is to support the process.
The
DFSS Expert is the primary source for technical knowledge
around the Six Sigma tools and methods. As such, this person
must not only be highly respected technically, but must also
be able to effectively consult with teams and senior
management. This person takes years to develop the proper
knowledge base and a substantial part of that is company
specific.
This
is not a typical technical position, for instance, if the DFSS
Expert is subordinate to the project Sponsor, you will not get
the type of reviews and challenges that the sponsor and team
need to stay on track.
The
certification process for a DFSS Expert is substantial, it
cannot be completed in less than one year, even if the person
has all of the required knowledge in the tools. Expert
certification attests to more than knowledge and skills; it
requires significant successes, consulting on a number of
projects.
A
DFSS Project Leader is responsible for coordinating the
various tasks and activities that contribute to a successful
project. Many of these tasks and activities are defined and
deployed as part of a companies current new product
introduction process. The key challenge for a DFSS Project
Leader is effectively integrating the DFSS tools and methods
into the current (NPI) process.
The
DFSS Project Leader typically reports directly to the Sponsor
in the chain of command.
The
Project Leader may at times need help integrating the DFSS
tools and methods into their project; this is where the DFSS
Expert comes in, they provide the guidance and technical
support to help keep the Project Leader on Track.
Each
of the training phases of this DFSS program has been designed
to be delivered in four days. The phases are separated in time
to provide the teams time to apply the tools and methods prior
to the next session. During this time between classes DFSS
experts will provide coaching and guidance in the use of the
tools and methods. Each phase of training will have
deliverables that are to be used in the next phase, each of
these deliverables will have an associated template (form) to
enhance communication.
The
training to support a DFSS project is delivered in four
phases. Each phase covers specific DFSS tools and methods and
puts them in the context of the full scale project. The Phase
I training should be delivered as close as possible to the
start of a new product introduction process. Timing for Phases
II, III & IV is more flexible as their concepts play out
in an iterative fashion throughout the new product
introduction process.
Phase
I has two primary objectives, (1) get the project started on
the right foot, and (2) clearly define the product
requirements to design to. Each of the deliverables plays a
part in meeting these objectives. Participants come into Phase
I with a project that has some key assumptions already
defined. In Phase I the project will be documented in the form
of a project charter, which will include the business case for
the effort. Phase I will also cover a powerful method (QFD)
for transitioning the voice of the customer into design
requirements.
Phase
II of the DFSS project deals with methods for identifying
alternatives and evaluating them. The key methodology employed
in DFSS for identifying design alternatives is TRIZ. As far as
evaluating design alternatives, the first pass is centered
around the Pugh concept selection technique. This will allow
the DFSS team to select (or improve upon) the best
alternatives. The next mode of evaluation is based on the FMEA
process. Here teams will evaluate a selected design concept
for potential failure modes so that they can be addressed
early in the design effort.
Phase
III of the DFSS process focuses on design optimization
techniques. The most powerful of these is Robust Design. This
phase does more than identify best nominal settings for design
parameters, it also provides a key set-up for the verification
activities that come later.
DFSS
Phase IV continues the theme of design optimization with
Tolerance Design techniques. This technique provides a logical
and objective basis for setting manufacturing tolerances.
After the tolerancing issues are addressed, the team will turn
to the final verification and validation activities. These
activities range from (1) ensuring that the product as
designed meets the requirement set to (2) establishing process
controls in manufacturing to ensure that critical
characteristics are always produced correctly. Also in this
phase the team creates a final cost/benefit report with key
lessons learned. This enables long term improvement in the
process.
DFSS
is the way for companies to realize the full benefits of Six
Sigma performance. DFSS has a substantial effect on long term
profitability through improved products (and improved
efficiencies) which results in increased customer satisfaction
(and reputation) which results in improved market share which
leads to increased profit potential.
To
prepare people to support this DFSS process a four phase
program has been developed, each phase is followed with expert
consulting to ensure that the tools and methods are being
properly applied.
An
important ingredient for a successful DFSS project is clear
role definition and solid role execution. The best process
will not work if the players don’t perform their parts well,
this is especially true in a large scale, complex effort like
DFSS.
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