As a company begins its journey to implement DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) it will encounter challenges along the way. This article discusses one potential issue we have observed in our consulting work. Whether you have already implemented DFSS in your product development process or are just getting started, budgeting for focused project coaching after formal training is important for success.
The application of DFSS tools, methods and best practices to projects and day-to-day work can putter along after the DFSS instructors have finished in the classroom. Some companies find themselves ready to go deeper and really put it to work on projects with a focus on the more challenging tool-task applications. For example, there are four areas where PDSS is often asked to work "hands-on" together with a company's teams on actual projects after DFSS has been otherwise successfully deployed. We have cited resources to help with each area. They are:
1. Proper and balanced integration of DFSS tools, methods and best practices into a "leaned-out" version of the product development process.
Resource: See Six Sigma for Technical Processes by Creveling and Six Sigma for Marketing Processes by Creveling, Hambleton & McCarthy.
2. NUD-based VOC gathering and processing followed by NUD-based QFD to translate customer requirements into technical requirements, especially for platform and modular design strategies. Note: "NUD" stands for requirements that are New, Unique and Difficult.
Resource: See Chapters 3, 6, and 14 in DFSS in Technology & Product Development by Creveling, Slutsky & Antis.
3. Critical Parameter Management that is truly focused on what is critical; the NUD requirements and functions that fulfill them.
Resource: See Chapters 8 - 13 in DFSS in Technology & Product Development by Creveling, Slutsky & Antis.
4. Robust Design at the sub-assembly, sub-system and integrated system level. The real issue here is system integration, interface sensitivity analysis and product robustness vs. part conformance to spec.
Resource: See Engineering Methods for Robust Product Design by Fowlkes & Creveling.
It's not uncommon to experience these challenges. The learning curve can be steep. After the formal training program is complete, and your teams are starting to use DFSS, one of the issues listed above, or a similar roadblock, will occur. This does not call for a repeat of the training sessions. Rather, consider hiring an expert to provide focused project coaching with the team on their actual project to get them over the hump. Your team will be stronger for it, and will be ready to help from within the organization on the next projects.
Hiring an outside expert for focused project coaching has the following benefits:
- Better results, or perhaps a breakthrough, on the target project,
- Increased competency and experience for the project team,
- Avoid re-allocating internal resources onto the target project; and
- Prepares project team members to become internal coaching experts, if that's your goal.
If you are just starting on your journey to DFSS, realize that formal classroom training should represent only about half of your total budget for outside resources, with the remainder for expert coaching on actual projects. Of course, when you are starting out, you don't know where your projects will stall, but stall they will without some project coaching. Be sure to include it in your plan.
For those who are well on their way with DFSS, are there opportunities that focused project coaching could tap further into the full benefits of using it?
In future articles, we will discuss other issues that affect the success of your DFSS deployment. Let us know if you have particular questions or how you responded to an implementation challenge on this topic and we will try to include them in a future article.
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