Page 69 - Six Sigma Demystified

50 Six SigMa DemystifieD

satisfied nor dissatisfied) should be expected when the quality has risen from
the basic quality level to the level expected for the given product or service.
Basic quality levels tend to produce dissatisfaction, and satisfaction is
improved above ambivalence only as customers become excited about the
quality of the product or service.
Competitive pressures tend to move the expected quality line in an upward
direction. There are countless examples of this phenomenon, including phone
service, home building, computer technology, car safety, and so on, especially
when viewed over the course of a generation or more. In each case, a product
or service that was once exciting quality became expected quality and then
basic quality. Competitive pressures continue to “raise the bar.”
The Kano model moves the focus from specifications to real customer needs.
When the focus is on specifications and defects, only expected levels of quality
will be met, which soon become basic levels of quality in a competitive market.
When the focus is on customers, their businesses, or even the needs of their cus-
tomers, exciting levels of quality can be delivered through innovation. Consider the
lessons of Polaroid: While the company focused internally to become more efficient,
its customers switched to digital cameras in place of Polaroid’s (once award- winning)
products. Lessons such as these were not lost on Jack Welch, who remarked that
the “best [Six Sigma] projects solve customer problems” (Slater, 1999).
Welch was not suggesting that companies merely reduce defects delivered to
the customer or improve the perceived quality of a product or service delivered
to the customer. Instead, Welch said that a Six Sigma project should investigate
how the product or service is used by the customer and find ways to improve
the value to the customer of that product or service.
This clearly demands involving the customer in the business needs analysis.

Customer needs must be defined in larger terms than simply product specifica-
tions. Understanding how the customer uses the product or service can produce
breakthrough changes in design or delivery. While initial design of a product or
service process may have considered this, changes in the customer’s business
may not have been communicated effectively, leaving an unaddressed opportu-
nity. As additional aspects of the customer’s business are understood, changes
in that customer’s business climate or market that could upset your business
are appreciated, if not anticipated.
In this way, maintaining customer focus is an ongoing activity. Processes for
serving customers must be identified, and mechanisms must be maintained for
real- time feedback from customers to these internal processes. The metrics and
dashboards discussed earlier are integral to this strategy.