Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) or Six Sigma Product Development (SSPD) implementation programme

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) provides a roadmap, methodology and toolkit for innovative new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI). DFSS differs from "classic" Six Sigma in that it focusses reducing product performance variance and defects early in the design process not just at the production stage.
It can be tailored for: physical products and associated services; non-physical products and Services; Business to Business (B2B); Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to End-User (B2E) applications.

The term sigma refers to standard deviation which is a measure of variance or scatter in a process. Sigma is a measure of how
well a process is performing compared to a benchmark variance of 6sigma. Sigma therefore measures the capability of a process
to deliver defect free product and therefore maximise customer satisfaction.

Using this principle in the early stages of design enables the choice of controllable design factors to minimise variance as well as the minimisation of variance due to uncontrollable external factors such as operating conditions. Minimising variance increases product consistency and performance in order to maximises customer satisfacton. For a process that produced 1million parts a six sigma capable process is one that produces less than 4 defective parts for every 1million produced.

The key principles are:

reducing variance in products and services: "design it right first time"

understanding, analysing and using market information and Voices of Customers to determine needs

translating customer needs into product specifications

quantifying allowable variability

delivering innovative product solutions

applying robust design and development techniques

applying Design for X (DfX) (Design for Performance; Design for Cost; Design for Reliability; Design for Manufacture ….. )

Roadmap or phases: The classic set of phases are DMADV:

Define requirements
Measure performance
Analyse relationships
Design solution
Verify functionality

However, other variations can be tailored to a client's situation, for example:
DMADOV: Define, Measure, Analyse, Design, Optimise, Verify
DCCDI: Define, Customer, Concept, Design, Implementation
IDOV: Identify, Design, Optimise, Validate
DMEDI: Define, Measure, Explore, Develop, Implement

Toolkits:
While many of the classic Six Sigma tools form part of the toolkit, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) utilises an additional advanced set of tools to achieve a customer oriented and creative approach for new product development. These include:

Voice of the Customer tools
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
Design for X ( Cost, Manufacturability, Service, Reliability….)
Design Risk Management including Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analaysis (FTA)
Design of Experiments and Robust Design

Software Packages and Templates
Many of the tools are provided with Excel or Web based software packages or templates to facilitate practical use and ease of learning.

Implementation Programme
Each programme is tailored to the client's situation, but typically comprises the following deliverables: roadmaps and models; toolkits, facilitated workshops and software.
A typical programme comprises:

An assessment of current roadmaps and tools

Agreement of programme deliverables

Tailoring of roadmap, toolkit and software for client's specifics

Facilitated workshops, 1:1 and 1:n coaching

Off-line telephone and e-mail support

Skills transfer to black belts and product design and development folks.

We can also provide a formal in house training programme on the above topics, tailored to your specific needs. For more details click below:

Design for Six Sigma Product Development Management Training Workshop
Voice of the Customer
QFD and Product Definition
DfX
Design to Cost (DtC) and Target Costing (TC)
Design Risk Management
Robust Design

Free Proposal
We can provide a free proposal, including programme outline with costing, to meet your requirements - please contact us.

For more information click on the links below:

Product Marketing and Management
Product Strategy and Product Portfolio Strategy: framework and tools
Product Definition (PD) and pragmatic Quality Function Deployment (pQFD)
Voice of Customer (VoC) and Market Research
Competitive Analysis and Competitor Analysis
New Product Introduction (NPI) or New Product Development (NPD)
In Life or In Market Management of Current Products
Product Value Proposition and Value Propositions Portfolio
Product Development, Marketing and Management Software Applications
Product Management and Product Manager Training