Page 355 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)
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Design and Improvement of Service Processes—Process Management  315

        may be included in computing the life cycle cost for a product. Some
        companies even include the costs due to pollution during the production and
        use of the product as part of the holistic analysis of the life cycle cost.
        Product development has a particular vested interest in keeping the life
        cycle cost for any product as low as possible.

        On a longer time scale, product development lead time, efficiency, robustness,
        and life cycle costs will contribute a great deal to the level of customer satis-
        faction, market share, and revenues that the company will have. These will in
        turn translate into profitability and influence the organization’s long-term
        business viability.

        Product Development Process Analysis

        Typical activities in product development start from the initial step of
        market research, where the needs and wants of the market are determined,
        to production launch, where the product manufacturing can start in earnest.
        Product development activities include

          • Market research
          • Conceptual design
          • Detailed design
          • Prototype development
          • Prototype testing and validation
          • Process and tooling design
          • Production launch

        The common problems in product development process include
          1. Excessive time to market
          2. Excessive resources used to develop products
          3. Chaos and confusion in the product development process
          4. Market rejection of new product
          5. Excessive product cost
          6. Poor product quality and reliability

        These common problems are often caused by
          • Poor tradeoffs between product features, functionality, and cost
          • Excessive complexity of product
          • Poor understanding of the market
          • Poor product and technology knowledge
          • Poor coordination actions and decision making
          • Excessive information flow delays
          • Poor decision-making process
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