Design for Six Sigma



DFSS, or “Design for Six Sigma”, involves a variety of techniques and an alphabet soup of acronyms. In each case, the goal is to design “something” using Six Sigma principles. Usually that “something” is a manufactured product, but it could be a service such as preparing tax returns for families, or a process such as a manufacturing step or an accounting procedure.

Several specific road maps are available to achieve a Six Sigma design process, including:

The DMADV Approach to Six Sigma Design

This approach starts by defining goals from two viewpoints. What does the customer want? What is our organization’s strategy?

Then, measure the CTQ (Critical to Quality) characteristics. If the customer wants a widget, what are the important features: size, shape, weight, cost or durability? Does the product perform a function? If so, what are those specifications? For the manufacturer, what is the production capacity for building such a widget?

Analyze the alternatives. This involves a high-level design for each, leading to a review of whether the CTQ characteristics would be met.

The “design” step addresses the details of the surviving candidates. At this stage, one design should become the “winner”. Optimize the details to meet both the manufacturing capabilities and the customer’s CTQs.

Verify that the design works, at the level of doing a pilot implementation and measuring the actual yield and quality of the product.

If the organization provides a service rather than a product, similar steps are applied. What service will we supply? What does the customer consider critical for this service – speed, accuracy, completeness? Analyze how we could produce and deliver the service – by software or by near-shore or off-shore staff? Will the process take place in person, by e-mail or by telephone? Design the process: draft the forms, write the software, or train a few staff members. Verify the process by doing sample work, and determine whether it meets the customer’s requirements within our organization’s cost estimates.

The IDOV Approach to Six Sigma Design

This approach starts by identifying the customer’s needs and wants. Many of the details are similar to a Six Sigma project’s Define phase , or the DMADV “Define” and “Measure” steps.

The IDOV “Design” step is much like the DMADV “Analyze” and “Design” steps. Determine the functional requirements, and follow through to a fairly detailed level. However, IDOV defers the “Optimize” step, whereas DMADV includes optimization in its “Design” step.

The IDOV “Optimize” step measures, or usually estimates, the process capability of the design. Any deficiencies must be addressed; if a process or tool can be optimized beyond the CTQ, and is a net benefit, it should be included also. (For example: it may be worth investing in a more robust metal-stamping tool with a longer mean time between failure, as compared to a less expensive machine).

The IDOV “Validate” step is, of course, similar to the DMADV “Verify” step. The IDOV process may explicitly allow tweaking the process during this step. DMADV seems less likely to permit changes during its “Verify” step.

Oskar Olofsson, 2011









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I am a Swedish-based Lean consultant, and the owner of the World-Class-Manufacturing.com web site.

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