Page 111 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

86 Chapter Three

Based on the work of Huthwaite (2004), the following approaches
can be used to reduce the unnecessary complexities in the product
design and to create lean products:
■ Reduce unnecessary product functions and parts.
■ Loosen up unreasonable tolerances.
■ Use standard/off-the-shelf parts.
■ Control technical immaturity.
■ Avoid complicated user/operator requirements.
■ Avoid complicated interface requirements.

In the Toyota product development system, standardization is exten-
sively used to reduce the information consumption in product design.
One of Toyota’s product development principles is called utilizing
rigorous standardization to reduce variation and create flexibility
and predictable outcomes. This principle calls for applying the fol-
lowing four kinds of standardization over the product development
organization:
1. Design standardization. Engineering checklist, standard architec-
ture, share common components
2. Process standardization. Standardizing common tasks, sequence of
tasks, and task duration
3. Skill set standardization
4. Standardized skill inventories
This principle uses the fact that standardization will reduce com-
plexities in product design and reduce confusion in communications
among engineers. Standardization will make each job more trans-
parent and uniform, so you can have more predictable outcomes.
Standardization will also reduce the waste caused by reinvention, mis-
match, information loss, and recreation.

3.5 What Is Design for Six Sigma?
Customer-oriented design is a development process of transforming
customers’ wants into design solutions that are useful to the customer.
This process is carried over several phases starting from a conceptual
phase. In this phase, conceiving, evaluating, and selecting good design
solutions are difficult tasks with enormous consequences. Design and
manufacturing companies usually operate in two modes: fire prevention,
conceiving feasible and healthy conceptual entities, and firefighting,