Page 39 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

Quality Concepts 17

in the product design stage, it is a mapping from the function domain
to the design parameter domain. There are many possible design solu-
tions for the same design task. However, on the basis of its two funda-
mental axioms, the axiomatic design method developed many design
principles to evaluate and analyze design solutions and gave designers
directions to improve designs. The axiomatic design approach can be
applied not only in engineering design but also in other design tasks
such as the organization system. N. P. Suh is credited for the develop-
ment of axiomatic design methods (Suh 1990).
In summary, modern quality methods and the quality assurance sys-
tem have developed gradually since the industrial revolution. There
are several trends in the development of quality methods.

1. The first few methods, SPC and acceptance sampling, were applied
at production stage, which is the last stage, or downstream in the
product development cycle.
2. More methods were developed and applied at earlier stages, or
upstream of product development cycle, such as QFD and the
Taguchi method.
3. Quality methods and systems are then integrated into companywide
activities with participation of top management to ordinary employ-
ees, such as TQM.
4. Aftersale service has also gained attention from the business world.

However, the implementation of modern quality methods in the busi-
ness world has not always been smooth. It is a rather difficult process.
One of the main reasons is that many business leaders think that
quality is not the only important factor for success. Other factors, such
as profit, cost, and time to market, are far more important in their
eyes, and they think that in order to improve quality, other important
factors have to be compromised.
The newest quality movement is the introduction and widespread
implementation of Six Sigma, which is the fastest growing business
management system in industry today. Six Sigma is the continua-
tion of the quality assurance movement. It inherited many features
of quality methods, but Six Sigma attempts to improve not only
product quality itself but also all aspects of business operation; it is
a method for business excellence.

1.4 Business Excellence, Whole Quality,
and Other Metrics in Business Operations
Business excellence is featured by good profitability, business viability,
growth in sales, and market share, on the basis of quality (Tom
Peters, 1982). Achieving business excellence is the common goal for all