Page 26 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

4 Chapter One

whole lifespan the product/service life cycle. A good quality assurance
program should act on all stages of the life cycle.
Figure 1.1 illustrates a typical product/service life cycle. The earlier
stages of the cycle are often called “upstream”; the latter stages are
often called “downstream.” We will briefly review each stage of the
cycle and the role of quality in each stage.

1.2.1 Stage 0: Impetus/ideation
The product or service life cycle begins with impetus/ideation. The
impetus of a new product or service could be the discovery of a new
technology, such as the invention of semiconductors, with or without
clarity in advance as to how it might be commercialized—a great mar-
ket opportunity identified through some form of market research, or
an obvious need to retire an existing product that has been eclipsed by
the competition, such as the annual redesign of automobile models; or
a new idea using existing technologies, such as “selling books via the
Internet.” Once the impetus is identified and it is determined that a
viable product or service can be subsequently developed, the ideation
phase will follow. The ideation phase focuses on stating the possible
product or service and setting a general direction, including identify-
ing plausible options for new products or services.
There are several keys for success in this phase, including the lead
time to discover the possible new product or service idea and deter-
mine its viability, the lead time to formulate its viable new product or
service option, and the quality of formulation.
For new product development based on new technology, there are
many cases in which the technology works well in the lab but may
encounter great difficulties in commercialization. A very new quality
method called “robust technology development” can be applied to
reduce those difficulties.

1.2.2 Stage 1: Customer and business
requirements study
Customer and business requirements study is the first stage. During
both initial concept development and product definition stages, cus-
tomer research, feasibility studies, and cost/value research should be
performed. The purpose of customer research is to develop the key
functional elements which will satisfy potential customers and there-
fore eventually succeed in the market. The purpose of feasibility study
and cost/value study is to ensure that the new product or service is
competitive in the future market. In this stage, modeling, simulation,
and optimization may be employed to evaluate and refine the product
concept in order to achieve the best possible functionality and lowest
possible cost.