Overview of DFSS

Prerequisite : Six Sigma

DFSS :
DFSS stands for Design For Six Sigma. Six sigma is a strategy for improving the quality of products and customer experience through defect elimination of the product.  

The Six Sigma strategy is all about collecting the business data and measuring the success of the business. After that, it focuses on reducing the defects and variations in the process for improving quality and customer experience.  

All right. Now, what is Design For Six Sigma (DFSS)?  
DFSS is one of the two methods followed by Six Sigma projects. It has five phases that are shortly known as DMADV.  

The phases are,  

• Define
• Measure
• Analyze
• Design
• Validate

Well, you now understand why it’s known as DMADV.  

Let’s understand the phases in detail.  

• Define –
  In this first phase, the goal of the project, schedule, action plan, resources and budget have to be defined clearly. Team members need to be chosen aptly and carefully. This phase should include the project charter. The project charter helps organize the important information about the product to be developed.  
  So, this phase focuses on clarity and preparation.  }
  
• Measure –
  In this phase, customers’ requirements and expectations are understood and translated into measurable design requirements. Risks involved in the process are identified and customer information is gathered through various ways such as website visits, customer surveys, historic data and so on.  
  
• Analyse –
  After the successful completion of phase II, design requirements are clear and multiple designs are created. Each of the designs is evaluated by various assessment tools such as benchmarking to identify how well the designs meet customer needs and business requirements. With careful analysis, the best design is chosen for implementation.  
  
• Design –
  In the design phase, the team has chosen the best design and has begun the work of detailed designing. The team evaluates the product, manufacturing, locations, resources and packages through various techniques, analysis tools and computer simulation. By the end of the design phase, the team has a solid design and validation plan at hand.  
  
• Validate –
  Validation is the final and one of the vital steps of DMADV. Here, the team performs the validation testing on the solid design to ensure whether the design meets the customer requirements and performance requirements. Before building the actual product, a prototype or pilot build is created and tested thoroughly. The team should develop a detailed process map, practices and documentation.  

Eventually, the design, prototype and production process implementation must be submitted and also the result needs to be shared.  

Once all the phases are successfully completed,  the team should not forget to celebrate the project completion.  

Types of DFSS Six Sigma :
There are three types of DFSS Six Sigma. They are,

1. DMADV – Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Validate.
2. IDOV – Identity, Design, Optimize and Validate.
3. DCCDI – Define, Customer, Concept, Design and Implementation.

All these types render more or less the same results in subtly different ways. Well, let’s understand why and when DFSS should be implemented.  

Why to implement DFSS?
DFSS helps businesses to be more successful by improving the quality of products to the standard that meets the customer’s requirements and expectations. It helps to improve the process and decrease the market time of a company. With design tools and measurable data, the DFSS approach improves the chances of success.

When should DFSS be used?
DFSS should be used while designing completely new products or processes, not when updating existing products or processes. And when the objective of a company is to enhance the design to customer’s needs and wants,  shorten marketing time by providing a high-quality product.  

Benefits of DFSS :

• Improving the quality by minimizing the defects or the variations
• Risk factors or issues are identified and avoided.
• Identify Critical To Quality (CT2) that results in client’s satisfaction.
• Ideal design to meet clients and performance requirements is needed.
• In a nutshell, DFSS helps companies to provide high-quality products with minimal or no defects with measurable data and design tools to satisfy the customers and increase the success of companies.