Page 210 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

Value Engineering 181

How Select Review
vendor bids
Scope Assure
competence

Lease Construct Award Secure Prepare Develop
dealership facility purchase order approvals proposal layout
Establish
budget
Resolve
restriction
When Purchase
property
Why Scope

Analyze Secure Obtain Assign Issue Obtain
conditions option data responsibility authorization approval
Estimate
cost
Identify
requirements
Negotiate
contract
Figure 7.18 FAST Diagram for Automobile Dealership Construction

7.8.2 Engineering Department Organization Analysis

This case study is from Park (1999). A leading automobile company spent
about $200 million dollars per year and employed 4000 people, including
engineers, designers, technicians, technical specialists, and financial
analysts. An economical downturn forced the company to cut costs. A
painful lesson had been learned from across-the-board budget cuts, for
which an equal share of the budget was cut across all departments. The
result of this kind of budget cut was that some vital operations were
seriously damaged; others simply slid by. This time, the situation was
critical, the budget had already been cut several times, and no one knew
where to look next. A value-engineering project was initiated in order to
identify hidden, unnecessary costs.

In this project, after 72 hours of total effort by a team of six people, a FAST
diagram was developed that had 72 functions. The chart was then
thoroughly discussed to ensure that it covered all aspects of the operation,
and a glossary of the functions was made to ensure future understanding.