Design for Six Sigma - the Basics

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In this post I’ll be referring to the discipline known as Design for Six Sigma (DFSS): A systematic methodology using tools, training, and measurements to enable the design of products, services, and processes that meet customer expectations at Six Sigma quality levels. DFSS optimizes your design process to achieve six sigma performance and integrates characteristics of Six Sigma at the outset of new product development with a disciplined set of tools. Although I’ve already discussed DFSS before in these posts it’s an important part of Six Sigma success and worth mentioning again.

Robert G. Cooper states in Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch,

“only about 60% of new products launched are actually a success and that for every seven new product ideas, only four make it to development— and then only one succeeds.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

The concept of Six Sigma is to eliminate defects. Six sigma is the goal, but it’s less important than the objective of pursuing continuing process improvement. Sometimes the Six Sigma implementation team needs to set more realistic goals, depending on customer requirements and expectations and the complexity of the product or service. Smart managers know that the six sigma quality level is an idea; what’s real is the focus on identifying defects and eliminating their root causes.

The new product cycle is definitely not operating at a six sigma level. In fact, it’s closer to the average four sigma quality level at which many companies operate today. Plus, even as manufacturing problems are corrected by deploying Six Sigma methods, newly developed products often are the source of new problems. So, an organization practicing the methodology in various functional areas and attaining Six Sigma status may well be far below that level in developing new products or services.

Once you’ve mastered the essentials of Six Sigma, you may well be ready for the essentials of DFSS, to carry that improvement into the development and design of your new products. DFSS is based on the notion that when you design quality right at the outset of new product development, it’s probable that you’ll sustain that gain as customers accept that product.

By incorporating DFSS, you’re virtually assured that the product or service you’re launching will perform dependably in the marketplace, thus setting it up for very positive acceptance. Like its parent Six Sigma initiative, DFSS uses a disciplined set of tools to bring high quality to launches. It begins by conducting a gap analysis of your entire product development system. A gap analysis, finds the gaps in your processes that are negatively affecting new product performance. It also addresses a highly significant factor, the voice of the customer (VOC). Every new product decision must be driven by the VOC; otherwise, what basis do you have for introducing it? By learning how to identify that voice and respond to it, you’re in a far better position to deliver a new product or service that customers actually want!

Once the gap analysis is done and the VOC is identified, DFSS goes to work with its own version of the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) of Six Sigma, a five-step process, known by the acronym PIDOV:

1. Plan—enable the team to succeed with the project by mapping all vital steps
2. Identify—hear the voice of the customer to select the best product concept
3. Design—build a thorough knowledge base about the product and its processes
4. Optimize—achieve a balance of quality, cost, and time to market
5. Validate—demonstrate with data that the voice of the customer has been heard and that customer expectations have been satisfied.

Some Six Sigma people equate DFSS with another five-step process—DMADV:

1. Define—determine the project goals and the requirements of customers (external and internal)
2. Measure—assess customer needs and specifications
3. Analyze—examine process options to meet customer requirements
4. Design—develop the process to meet the customer requirements
5. Verify—check the design to ensure that it’s meeting customer requirements

Others use only the IDOV steps listed above. Design for Six Sigma is relatively new, so we can naturally expect some inconsistencies and evolution of the models as companies and consultants apply them.

The success of this Six Sigma offshoot requires the active participation of management. You and upper management must monitor its progress regularly to keep it on course. DFSS can be a very useful tool to companies as they get comfortable with Six Sigma and look to grow its benefits in other areas. Ultimately, DFSS is not that different from the Six Sigma work you’re undertaking. In fact, it’s a natural progression to continually—and relentlessly—root out defects and route hidden dollars to the bottom line.

Because of the similarities between Six Sigma and DFSS, people frequently talk about DFSS as the logical extension of Six Sigma at the manufacturing and service level, DMAIC. This may be true, but it’s important to realize the initiatives are tremendously different. Here are the basic differences between the Six Sigma DMAIC and DFSS:

• DMAIC is more focused on reacting, on detecting and resolving problems, while DFSS tends to be more proactive, a means of preventing problems.
• DMAIC is for products or services that the organization offers currently; DFSS is for the design of new products or services and processes.
• DMAIC is based on manufacturing or transactional processes and DFSS is focused on marketing, R&D, and design.
• Dollar benefits obtained from DMAIC can be quantified rather quickly, while the benefits from DFSS are more difficult to quantify and tend to be much more long-term. It can take six to 12 months after the launch of the new product before you will obtain proper accounting on the impact of a DFSS initiative.
• DFSS involves greater cultural change than DMAIC, because for many organizations DFSS represents a huge change in roles. The DFSS team is cross-functional: it’s key for the entire team to be involved in all aspects of the design process, from market research to product launch.