Page 138 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

Design for Six Sigma Deployment 113

pilot phase, both DM and DV are factors with variation. The pilot
phase is company-dependent and is measured in years. Once deploy-
ment reaches steady state, the variation can be driven to minimum.
When Six Sigma becomes the way of doing business, day-to-day and
project-to-project DV and DM can be approximated by constants. Note
that deployment mass and velocity can be increased by attacking pro-
ject failure modes. A deployment FMEA is very useful in order to doc-
ument and track corrective actions. A prominent failure mode is
incorrectly scoping a project, that is, a “hidden factory.” The champions’
role is significant to foster growth in deploying momentum.

4.4.1 DFSS deployment momentum
The health of DFSS deployment can be measured by momentum. In
addition to its meaning in physics, momentum is a commonly used
term in performance. A DFSS team that possesses the momentum is
on the move and would require some effort to stop. We can apply the
same analogy to deploying companies. In physics, momentum refers to
an object’s mass in motion; here, this term applies to a deploying com-
pany, division, or black belt team. A DFSS team which is “on the move”
has the momentum.
The amount of momentum that a black belt has is dependent on two
variables: how many projects are moving and how rapidly they are suc-
cessfully closing (ending). Momentum depends on the variables of
mass and velocity. While mass is a scalar quantity, velocity is not. It is
a vector with magnitude and direction, the successful project’s closure.
In terms of an equation, the momentum is equal to the mass of the
object times the velocity of the object as expressed in Eq. (4.1).
To calculate a deployment entity momentum, all black belts who
have finished their training are considered. Usually in massive deploy-
ments, black belts update their projects in the company tracking sys-
tems and on a timely basis, offering a measurement system for
momentum calculation. The mass and velocity can be pulled out from
such a system and applied to the momentum equation. The lowest
deployment entity’s (a black belt’s) momentum is calculated first. The
results of these calculators are then aggregated and rolled up to the
next-higher deployment entity (a division). The process is repeated up
to the enterprise level. This method provides an estimate on deploy-
ment health and should be revisited periodically.

4.4.2 Black belt momentum
The black belt momentum (BBMO) variable is used and defined as the
product of velocity V times the mass M, or BBMO V
M. The mass
M is the weighted sum of two types of mass (see Fig. 4.3).