Page 211 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

182 Chapter Seven

Table 7.22 gives a partial list of functions for this engineering operation.
Here is a sample term from the glossary of functions:
Create Design To generate a new system, assembly, or component,
measured by time, which include time to come up with design ideas, design
and layout time, engineers’working time, programming time and etc.
The FAST diagram provided some interesting information. Most importantly,
it showed that many functions were performed to satisfy functions outside the
scope of engineering responsibilities. Many of these functions contributed to
higher-order functions to support other company operations, such as the pur-
chasing and legal departments.

The next step was to determine how much each function cost and how funds
were distributed among all the functions. To do that, departmental managers
were asked to distribute their departmental cost by function. Cost-function
work sheets were filled out. One portion of a cost-function work sheet is
illustrated in Table 7.23.

A partial FAST diagram is illustrated in Fig. 7.19. As we can see in the
FAST diagram, 43 percent of the available funds went to confirming the
design and only 14 percent went to creating the design. This is considered a
poor distribution of funds. Team members thought that this lopsided fund
distribution was a major source of the problem and across-the-board budget
cuts would likely create a big problem in new product design.

It was recognized that confirming the design was a required function.
However, changing the way that this function was performed would offer
opportunities to make a major improvement in productivity and could
improve the overall engineering operation and obtain more efficient use of

Table 7.22 Partial List of Functions in Engineering Operation

Verb Noun Verb Noun

Create Design Prepare Plan
Transmit Information Negotiate Alternatives
Evaluate Information Evaluate Capabilities

Confirm Design Allocate Resources
Model Concept Appropriate Fund