Page 18 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

xvi Preface to the First Edition

flexible manner. Superior service process design will generate a process
that fits customer desires and provides service with quality and low
cost. Superior business process design will generate the most efficient,
effective, and economical business process.
Do the right thing all the time means that not only should we have supe-
rior design,but the actual product or process that we build according to our
design, will always deliver what it is supposed to do. For example, if a
company can develop some very superior products sometimes, but it
also develops some poor products, then this company does not do the
right thing all the time. If people buy cars from a world-class brand-
name, they really expect all the cars from that brand-name to perform
well and that these cars will perform consistently during their useful
life; that is what we mean by ‘do things right all the time’. Do things right
all the time means high consistency and extremely low variation in per-
formance.The term Six Sigma actually means very high consistency and
low variation. Nowadays, high consistency is not only necessary for
product performance and reputation; it is also a matter of survival. For
example, the dispute between Ford and Firestone tires only involves an
extremely small fraction of tires, but the negative publicity and litiga-
tion brought a giant company like Ford into an unpleasant experience.
Implementing DFSS, as previously stated, will involve (1) doing the
right things and (2) doing things right all the time by using “people’s
power” and “process power.” The people’s power involves organizational
leadership and support, as well as a tremendous amount of training.The
process power involves a sophisticated implementation process and a big
collection of methods. Compared to regular Six Sigma (DMAIC), many new
methods are introduced in DFSS. Examples are axiomatic design, design
for X, and theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ).Transfer functions
and scorecards are really powerful concepts and methods to create supe-
rior designs, that is, to do the right things. DFSS also brings another
class of powerful methods, Taguchi’s methods, into its tool box. The fun-
damental objective of the Taguchi methods is to create a superior prod-
uct or process that can perform highly consistently despite many external
disturbances and uncertainties. In other words, Taguchi methods create
a robust product or process, thus achieving do things right all the time.
The implementation of DFSS will take more effort and training than that
of DMAIC, but it will be more rewarding and provide better results.
This book’s main objective is to give a complete picture of DFSS to
readers:
1. To provide an in-depth and clear coverage of all the important, philo-
sophical, organizational, implementation, and technical aspects of
DFSS to readers.
2. To discuss and illustrate very clearly the whole DFSS deployment and
execution process.