Intro to Design for Six Sigma

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 Sometimes in the improve stage, the current concept is no longer viable and
• 00:10 you need to create something brand new.
• 00:12 When that happens, I recommend that you use the Design for Six Sigma process.
• 00:18 Design for Six Sigma is a new product development methodology.
• 00:22 It was developed at Motorola and GE.
• 00:25 They found that approaching a new product or a process design with
• 00:28 Six Sigma in mind could lead to better implementation of the new product.
• 00:34 In particular, they wanted to have a product that was a success from
• 00:37 a Six Sigma perspective right at the time of product launch.
• 00:41 They didn't want to have to do multiple Lean Six Sigma projects to get
• 00:45 the project up to that point, they started at the Six Sigma level.
• 00:50 But that was definitely a different way to do product development.
• 00:54 They still relied on CTQs as goals, but it was interesting in that for
• 00:58 a totally new product, customers could not articulate a clear CTQ because they
• 01:03 didn't know what the product would really do.
• 01:07 In this case, the internal CTQs were usually much better defined.
• 01:11 So a process was developed that was similar to the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC, but
• 01:16 in this case it was DMADV, Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify/Validate.
• 01:23 Let's take a look at each of these stages, and I'll start with the define stage.
• 01:28 In this case, the focus is on defining the project goals and boundaries.
• 01:32 The definition of the need for the new product may be from the product roadmap,
• 01:36 or the business strategy, or some other market forces creating an opportunity for
• 01:41 a new product.
• 01:42 At this state there's no product specification, just some basic functions
• 01:46 and features are established, often by a marketing organization.
• 01:50 In addition to the product features in today's environment,
• 01:53 the product service or connectivity and the processes that will be needed must
• 01:57 also be considered as part of the requirements.
• 02:01 Also, the timing or urgency is established.
• 02:05 The organization often looks at the typical product life cycle to decide when
• 02:09 a new product will be needed.
• 02:11 GE and Motorola also found that they needed to establish the core team at
• 02:15 this point.
• 02:16 This design for Six Sigma projects could last for
• 02:19 several years if it was a major new product development, unlike the typical
• 02:23 DMAIC project that would only be a couple of weeks or maybe a month or two.
• 02:28 The next stage was the measure stage.
• 02:31 In this case, there's no existing product or process to measure.
• 02:35 So instead, what is being measured is the opportunity.
• 02:38 What would really excite and delight the customers?
• 02:42 To do this, you must first identify who are the customers,
• 02:46 both the buyers and the users.
• 02:48 Then, for each of the customer segments, determine what they need and
• 02:52 what they would just kind of like to have.
• 02:55 Try to get those needs into CTQ format so that they can be measurable.
• 03:00 Given the needs, the project team is now able to create a high-level project plan
• 03:04 for the development of the new product.
• 03:07 This takes us to the analyze stage,
• 03:09 where different options are considered until a viable one has been selected.
• 03:14 To do this,
• 03:15 different product concepts must be created that could meet the customer needs.
• 03:20 In order to create the concepts and to evaluate them, a basic product or
• 03:24 system architecture must first be established.
• 03:28 Once that's in place,
• 03:29 the concepts can be created that would work within that architecture.
• 03:33 And during this stage, a primary concept is selected.
• 03:37 For what it's worth, I've normally used the Pew analysis to do that.
• 03:41 With the concepts selected, the final design specifications can be prepared.
• 03:46 Then with the system architecture developed, a concept selected and
• 03:50 specifications prepared, the team can now create a detailed project plan for
• 03:54 how the development project should progress.
• 03:58 Which brings us to the design stage.
• 04:00 Up until this time, we've been deciding what to design, now we can finally
• 04:05 turn the engineers loose to create a new design that meets these requirements.
• 04:10 The team designs and documents the product, and then design and
• 04:13 document the process to make and support that product.
• 04:17 They should be applying design optimization techniques,
• 04:20 including things like design of experiments and
• 04:23 failure mode effects analysis to get ideal performance.
• 04:26 The team also determines the critical process parameters to be certain that
• 04:30 the process is optimized for Six Sigma.
• 04:33 Finally, they create the verification and
• 04:36 validation plan that will be implemented in the next stage.
• 04:39 Which brings us to the final stage, verify and validate.
• 04:43 This will include both testing and initial product launch
• 04:46 to ensure the product can deliver on its promise and meet customer needs.
• 04:50 So it includes verification testing, often done in a lab, and
• 04:54 it includes conducting a pilot production run to be sure
• 04:57 that the business processes and operation are ready to go.
• 05:01 With those in hand, a preliminary launch can be conducted to validate that
• 05:04 the product works within the customer environment.
• 05:07 And at the same time, the process is being evaluated to be sure that the process
• 05:12 capability is meeting the goals of Six Sigma performance.
• 05:16 When all of this is ready, the project can be closed, and the development is over.
• 05:22 Design for Six Sigma relies on a structured process to create a new product
• 05:26 that is poised for success both in the market and with your business.

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