Page 26 - Six Sigma for electronics design and manufacturing

Preface
Six sigma is becoming more important as companies compete in a
worldwide market for high-quality, low-cost products. Successful im-
plementations of six sigma in different companies, large and small, do
not follow identical scripts. The tools and methodologies of six sigma
are fused with the company’s culture to create a unique and success-
ful blend in each instance.
This book is intended to introduce and familiarize design, produc-
tion, quality, and process engineers and their managers with many of
the issues regarding the use of six sigma quality in design and manu-
facturing of electronic products, and how to resolve them. It is based
on my experience in practicing, consulting, and teaching six sigma
and its techniques over the last 15 years. During that time, I confront-
ed many engineers’ natural reservation about six sigma: its assump-
tions are too arbitrary, it is too difficult to achieve, it works only for
large companies, it is too expensive to implement, it works only for
manufacturing, not for design, and so on. They continuously chal-
lenged me to apply it in their own areas of interest, presenting me
with many difficult design and manufacturing six sigma application
problems to solve. At the same time, I was involved with many compa-
nies and organizations whose engineers and managers were using
original and ingenious applications of six sigma in traditional design
and manufacturing. Out of these experiences came many of the exam-
ples and case studies in this book.
I observed and helped train many engineers in companies using
tools and methodologies of six sigma. The companies vary in size,
scope, product type, and strategy, yet they are similar in their ap-
proach to successfully implementing six sigma through an interdisci-
plinary team environment and using the tools and methods men-
tioned in this book effectively by altering them to meet their
particular needs.
I believe the most important impact of six sigma is its use in the de-
sign of new products, starting with making it one of the goals of the
new product creation process. It makes the design engineers extreme-
ly cognizant of the importance of designing and specifying products
that can be manufactured with six sigma quality at low cost. Too
many times, a company introduces six sigma by having manufactur-

xxv

Copyright 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use.