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Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is the application of Six Sigma principles to the design of products and their manufacturing and support processes. Whereas Six Sigma by definition focuses on the production phase of a product, DFSS focuses on research, design, and development phases. DFSS combines many of the tools that are used to improve existing products or services and integrates the voice of the customer and simulation methods to predict new process and product performance.

DFSS can be compared to DMAIC (Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and often the acronym DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) is used to describe the strategy of DFSS. The precise phases or steps of a DFSS methodology are not universally defined. Most organizations will implement DFSS to suit their business, industry, and culture. DFSS methodology, instead of the DMAIC methodology, should be used when:

* A product or process is not in existence at your company and one needs to be developed
* The existing product or process exists and has been optimized (using either DMAIC or not) and still doesn’t meet the level of customer specification or six sigma level
DFSS is a way to implement the Six Sigma methodology as early in the product or service life cycle as possible. It is a strategy toward extraordinary ROI by designing to meet customer needs and process capability. DFSS can produce the same order of magnitude in financial benefits as DMAIC. But it also greatly helps an organization innovate, exceed customer expectations, and become a market leader.

DFSS is the Six Sigma approach to product designnamely, designing products that are resistant to variation in the manufacturing process. Using DFSS means designing quality into the product from the start. You are preventing wasteful variation before it happens, thus being able to identify and correct problems early when the solution costs are less. A successful DFSS implementation requires the same ingredients as any other Six Sigma project: a significant commitment and leadership from the top, planning that identifies and establishes measurable program goals and timeline, and the training and involvement of everyone.

Planning for DFSS requires collecting the necessary information that will allow for error free production of defect-free products and processes that satisfy the customer profitably. DFSS attempts to predict how the designs under consideration will behave and to correct for variation prior to it occurring. That means understanding the real needs of your customers and translating those needs into vital technical characteristics of the product and ultimately into critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics of the product and process. You can then use design of experiments (DOE) to develop a robust design that optimizes efficiency and reduces defects.

Valid and reliable metrics to monitor the progress of the project are established early in the project, during the Measure phase if using DMADV. Key inputs are prioritized to establish a short list to study in more detail. With a prioritized list of inputs in hand, the DFSS team will determine the potential ways the process could go wrong and take preemptive action to mitigate or prevent those failures. Through analysis, the DFSS team can determine the causes of the problem that needs improvement and how to eliminate the gap between existing performance and the desired level of performance. This involves discovering why defects are generated by identifying the key variables that are most likely to create process variation. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD) can be used for both the design of the product and the design of the process.

DFSS provides a structured way to constructively use the information learned from these analyses. Armed with real data produced by the DFSS process, you can develop competent manufacturing processes and choose processes that are capable of meeting the design requirements. Further analysis can verify and validate that the product design will meet the quality targets. This can be accomplished through peer reviews, design reviews, simulation and analysis, qualification testing, or production validation testing.

The benefits of DFSS are more difficult to quantify and are more long-term. It can take over six months after the launch of the new product before you will begin to see the true measure of the project improvements. However, the eventual return on investment can be profound. This is especially true when the organization can use the DFSS project as a template for fundamental changes in the way it develops new products and processes across the organization.

Peter Peterka is the principal Six Sigma Consultant in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has over 15 years experience including implementation ofSix Sigma in Healthcare.

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It seems that every manufacturing company is now trying to adapt the Lean Philosophy, invented and mastered by Toyota Corporation. Lean manufacturing has also spilled over into non manufacturing industries. Unfortunately, many companies don’t completely understand the true meaning of Lean Manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing, simply put, is “continuously improving your processes to eliminate waste”. This sounds simple, but many companies will fail to become truly Lean because they don’t have an environment to implement and maintain Lean.

Most people believe Lean is just a set of tools (One Piece Flow, JIT, Kan-Ban, 5S, Six-Sigma, Kaizen Teams, Push / Pull Systems, etc.) that can be used to cut waste. However, Lean is not only a set of tools, it is a culture. If a company has severe issues with employee turnover, employee morale, product quality, product delivery, equipment uptime, plant housekeeping, etc., it will be extremely difficult to shift the employees to a new way of thinking and conducting business. In other words, if your employees are in constant fire fighting mode, they will not be able to properly implement Lean.

Fix the obvious problems first

To prepare for Lean, you must “fix the obvious problems first”. Many times employers will know exactly what the problems and solutions are. They just don’t have the time, resources, or incentive to fix them. If you have an automobile that is constantly breaking down because of a bad transmission, then fix it! Repair or replace the transmission. Do not implement a Lean Strategy to fix the car. Just fix it. Lean is not used to fix broken processes. Lean is used to continuously improve working processes to eliminate waste. When all the obvious problems are fixed on that vehicle, it’s then time to fine tune it to become more efficient. It’s time to look at ways to cut waste (cost) to ultimately save money!

A Word about Six-Sigma

Some companies now mandate that Six-Sigma be used to fix problems. Unfortunately, Six-Sigma isn’t always used correctly. Six-Sigma is intended to solve complex problems that have numerous variables that cause variation in a process, which ultimately cause defects. Six-Sigma uses statistics to systematically identify what the different variables are doing in the process and points to potential solutions. It eliminates guessing as to what’s causing the variations. Again, fix the obvious problems first. Many problems don’t have to be analyzed to detect solutions. In many instances, the solutions are obvious: i.e., If the light bulb is blown, then, change the light bulb.

Value Your People

Society generally refers to companies as entities. We speak of IBM, GM, and Microsoft as entities; however, they are really groups of people. GM doesn’t build cars, the employees of GM build cars.

To develop that culture as successfully as Toyota Corporation has, companies must first realize that they have to develop, nurture and value their employees. In order to build a culture of people wanting to continuously improve, people have to be engaged in their jobs. They have to feel valued by the company. They have to feel they are noticed and rewarded for their contributions. Ultimately, the company has to value having low employee turnover to create consistency. A company with high employee turnover cannot maintain a successful Lean environment.

To foster this type of environment in today’s business world isn’t easy. There is low loyalty between U.S. companies and their employees for a variety of reasons. Some companies look at employees as an expense rather that an asset that can be easily cut. If employees of a company do not feel the company values them, they will find other jobs. With today’s business world, it’s difficult to implement a long term Lean strategy. Yes, a company can dictate to it’s employees to use Lean tools to cut waste, however, to sustain that ideology long term require an engaged, loyal, consistent, work force.

Develop and Retain Strong Leaders

Good managers are coaches, poor managers are dictators. A good manager will believe in the team concept where every member of the team is important and his/her opinions are valued. A good manager will value his/her employees and realize that for him/her to be successful, the team has to be successful. A poor manger will dictate to his/her employees, which creates havoc! A good, efficient, business unit with high employee morale will fall apart within weeks if a poor manager has taken over. Poor managers fail because they don’t have strong leadership skills. They lack people skills, communication skills, decision making skills, and delegation skills necessary to develop and maintain effective teams. A strong leader must sell the Lean Strategy and realize that ultimately the employees as a team are the ones to make it happen.

Think and act World Class (even if not there yet!)

To become Lean is to become World Class. When walking into a facility that has an unclean, unorganized work environment, one knows he/she haven’t walked into a World Class facility. There is no need to look at the productivity numbers to determine whether or not the facility is World Class. If a plant is World Class, it looks World Class as soon as you walk into the door.

A Lean facility is thoroughly organized. Every process is clearly defined via standards. Production is operated via very clear Visual Management. A true World Class facility has the discipline to sustain organization. Outside auditors, potential customers and employees will be turned off if the work environment isn’t clean and organized. Keeping a work area clean and organized is simple; however, many companies overlook this simple task.

Make Decisions Based on Logic and Not Politics

Most of the time decisions made senior management are implemented without questioning regardless if the decisions make sense or not. Too many times, decisions are made by senior management without them fully understanding the process and issues. Lower-level managers ultimately implement ideas and strategies that are not based on logic but politics. They will implement ideas even if they themselves do not believe in them. This can create numerous problems which makes implementing Lean Strategies difficult.

Decisions should be made throughout the organization through effective communication. Senior management should not just mandate, but sell their ideas and be open to questioning and suggestions from lower-level managers. Senior management should fully understand the issues and processes by effectively communicating with the managers at the different levels. Major decisions whenever possible should be made as a team vs. an individual.

by - Patrick Birmingham - Mechanical Engineer, MBA, Six-Sigma Green Belt, Web Master (www.mzeus.com, www.insuranceforeverything.com and www.cellphonedigest.net)

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Team Building is about character - yours! The plethora of information disseminated throughout the western world provides a smorgasbord of choices for business.

Theories are fine but I have found the practicalities another issue and so will you!

Team building takes work but the results are worth it. The essential ingredient is time and patience.

If you really want to build a team that will achieve outstanding results you can.

The Hype

Over the years team work has been the flavor of the day with many businesses spending considerable money in trying to achieve a positive and harmonious team structure.

Some have found the results they looked for but many have not. Consultants would have you believe that if you follow a set of principles or guidelines then it will all work out. Not so as you cannot put all human beings in a box and expect likeminded consistency.

Why?

Team building has a number of foundation building blocks that are essential for a team to function.

Commitment of the Manager or Owner

Some managers and owners get excited about team possibilities only to weary over time where the pressures of business and day to day life grind them down.

Your commitment by way of your action and time are critical to your team’s success.

Time

It takes time to build teams. Trust and respect need to be earnt and there are no short cuts. Make a decision to pay the cost and demonstrate your commitment.

Patience

Life sometimes throws us a curve ball and not all of our plans go according to the script.

Make a commitment to be patient and as long as you see incremental progress realize progress is progress.

Celebrate Success and do not condemn failures

Learn to celebrate your successes as a team as you go along and learn from failure. Failure is a fantastic teacher if you look at it that way. If you own the business or are a manager realize that you are particularly under scrutiny of your team more so when failure occurs.

Your reaction to change and failure will ultimately determine the amount of buy in you achieve from your team.

Learn to Delegate

As business owners we are sometimes afraid to delegate. Start with small things and as your team gets confidence and does the right thing increase the responsibility.

Be quick to learn

Be quick to learn from each other. The most unlikely team member may be sitting on the very solution you have been looking for in your business.

Listen

Many managers and employees are terrible listeners. Learn to hear what people are really saying and don’t devalue their contributions.

Encouragement

It has been reported that children need 7 compliments to counteract 1 negative statement.

How much more important then is it to encourage your team. Anyone can condemn however a good manager and team member knows how to give genuine encouragement. Show genuine interest.

An Example

Before starting Biz Momentum I once took over an organisation that was almost beyond repair. By applying these principals by listening and resourcing employees I took the company from a damaging loss to a substantial profit within 1 year. This was a complex business with complex people and serious mistrust issues.

The cost to me was emotional commitment to change and to listen - it worked.

There is a price to pay for success and no short-cuts. The effort you put in will determine the results.

Visit www.biz-momentum.com for more information.

You can do it - apply some of these principles and you will achieve results.

Don’t adopt a herd mentality and be a follower. Pay the price be a pioneer, a trail blazer and show some character - its worth it. Nothing worth having is gained or appreciated by little effort.

Philip Lye is a human resource practitioner and business coach. He is the CEO of Biz Momentum. Philip can be contacted on Brisbane 617 33495662 or phil@biz-momentum.com.

Visit www.biz-momentum.com for additional helpful and free articles.

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“No men can act with effect who do not act in concert; no men can act in concert who do not act with confidence; no men can act with confidence who are not bound together with common opinions, common affections, and common interests.” Edmund Burke, 18th-Century British Statesman

During the 1980s, when I was co-founder and leader of The Achieve Group, we worked with California-based Zenger Miller and Tom Peters to implement a culture-change process based on Peters’ and Bob Waterman’s book, In Search of Excellence. Adding to, and building upon, the work of their McKinsey & Company colleagues, Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, Peters and Waterman showed that the cultures of excellent companies are grounded in core values.

The idea of clarifying core values was new for many management teams at the time. We helped hundreds of teams in centering their change-and improvement-effects around their vision, as well as a set of three to five core values that best defined the culture they were trying to reinforce, change, or improve.

Today it’s a rare organization that doesn’t have a set (most often a laundry list) of values. In fact, values have become one more item added to the requisite organization checklist (Organization chart? Check. Strategic plan? Check. Budget? Check. Vision statement? Check. Values? Check). Frequently when we ask about the organization’s values, a dusty old piece of paper is produced. Quite often is followed by a debate about whether or not this is the right version of the organization’s values.

Many organizations can point to a list of values. The real question is how the values are lived. Have we just done our “values thing” during a planning session or are they actively used in our daily operations? Do they have a high “snicker factor” to be greeted with rolled eyes when they are occasionally brought forward? As a manager have I “Dilbertized” my workplace by going through the motions of periodically referring to vision, values, and purpose when the leadership spotlight is turned on us or when it is annual planning time again?

A key test of whether core values are alive and real in an organization is to ask team members at random to recite those values. If they can’t do it without referring to a piece of paper, there are either too many values (ideally they should be no more than three or four words or short phrases - five if you really stretch it) or they aren’t being used in daily operations.

Here are some examples of how highly effective leaders keep core values alive:

• Make “values fit” a key criterion in hiring. Most effective leaders know that you can improve a person’s skills and experience with training and development, but it’s much harder to train for attitude and almost impossible to change a person’s core values.

• Replace rules and policies with values and trust. Effective leaders treat team members as responsible adults who want to do the right thing for the team or organization. They know that with good support, training, and examples to follow, most people will exercise good judgment. The exceptions can be dealt with on an as-needed basis. This principle can also extend to customers. For example, we know of one courier company that automatically sends customers up to $300 for any damage claims. Experience has shown that customers are dishonest less than 1% of the time.

• Promote only those people who are role models for the organization’s values. Promotions are the clearest indication of whether values are lived or simply espoused. All too often, a manager will declare the values of teamwork, customer service, and trust, but then promote someone who is the meanest SOB in the place, manages by email, rarely sees customers or team members, and “snoopervises” rules like the Gestapo - simply because he or she gets the job done. In such cases, it becomes evident just how important (or unimportant) lived values really are.

Excerpted from Jim’s bestseller, The Leader’s Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success. View the book’s unique format and content, Introduction and Chapter One, and feedback at http://www.theleadersdigest.com. This book is a companion book to Growing the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal, Career, and Family Success. Jim Clemmer is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. His web site is http://www.clemmer.net/articles.

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In today’s hectic world, time management cannot but be emphasised. It is the fundamental defence you have against the innumerable diversions that are available, diversions that take you away from your goals. Every goal necessarily involves putting in the required effort, both physical and mental; that means finding and allotting the necessary time towards these requirements. You have to fit in the activities with in your available time.

Remember, a day has only 24 hours. Out of this nearly 14 hours is taken away by your need to sleep, eat, commute to work etc., spending time with your family and other routine activities. That leaves you just about 10 hours to earn a living as well as fit in any other activity you may contemplate for your growth in desired spheres. You may at the most be able to squeeze in another couple of hours, with difficulty. This shows you how important it is to manage your time is you harbour any ambition to break out of your rut and grow to reach your full potential.

Ask yourself the following questions.

Is what you are doing adding value to your life?

Are the actions you contemplate taking essential?

Is there anyway to spend less time on those actions?

Can those actions be combined with some others or, better still can they be delegated to someone else?

How much time is required to complete the work?

What is the best time of the day and week to attempt those actions?

These are just a few of the check list that managing time entails. Some of the common time wasters are,

a. Telephone interruptions
b. Unannounced Visitors
c. Lack of Objectives and Aims
d. Unforeseen emergency
e. Lack of Discipline

This list can be built upon. One gets the drift. Manage your time and spend it wisely and you are more likely than not to be a success in anything you attempt.

As a well known saying goes,

20% of activity gives 80% of results and 80% of activity gives 20% of results. It is the latter kinds of activity that needs to be curtailed. If the first 20% can be pushed upto 25% you are assured of 100% results.

Paramesh

Exciting Lessons, Free Mentoring and more at http://www.InternetProfitMentor.com 12+ Hours of Video coaching and invaluable tips

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A great leader is able to inspire his/her workers to work harder. Instead of firing workers, great leaders know how to fire his/her worker up to do their best.

Your leadership skill will determine the size of your business, company and even your position at your work place. I read the book of 1st Samuel and 2nd Samuel from the Holy Bible, from those books; If you have the chance to read them, please read them, they are not that long to read, and what you learn from the books will change the way you relate to other people.

These are qualities of a great leader. Read them, remember them, apply them, teach them and you will remember them.

A great leader is open toward learning. He/she usually loves to read. When you ask a great leader about how he/she is doing in their in life today, usually they will tell you that “They are just getting started.” A great leader will constantly aim toward improving his/her self daily. They will seek wisdom and knowledge from every challenges and trials that they are going through.

A great leader knows how to inspire other people around him/her to do their best.

A great leader has no fear to do what’s right and knows to use the right words at the right time. He/she is masterful with his/her words, because he/she knows that what comes out of his/her mouth matters.

A great leader knows how to appreciate differences. Instead of fighting over people’s differences, a great leader knows how to utilize different people’s strength and talent to strengthen his/her organization.

A great leader is willing to take the first step into battle or challenges and others then will follow. He/she doesn’t wait for other people to throw the trash for him/her, he/she usually takes the trash out by him/her self without any body else telling him or her what to do.

A great leader knows how to motivate him/her self. One of the main reasons why so many people are not successful in what they do, it’s because they are unable to motivate themselves. Life is full of challenges and trials, but our ability to deal with our disappointments and to motivate ourselves when we have been knocked down will determine the level of success.

A great leader treats other people as they important. Every body wants to be treated with respect and they want to be appreciated. People want to know that their self-worth is important and a great leader knows how to show a genuine appreciation & complement toward other people.

A great leader will do his/her best at his present position and situation in spite of the challenges, trials and difficulties he/she is facing at the present time. He/she will do his/her best without complaining about their difficult situation. Joseph is a great example of a great leader. You can read it in the book of Genesis.

A great leader knows that there is a beginning in everything. There will be time of preparation, and there will be time for performing. Those who have great preparation usually will do better than those who don’t have preparation. He/she is patient, and he/she is willing to wait during the time of preparation. A baby must learn how to crawl, stand up, walk and then run.

A great leader knows how to teach his/her knowledge to other people. He/she doesn’t mind to teach what they know to other people who are willing to learn what he/she knows. Usually a great leader becomes a great mentor to his/her students.

A great leader is not self-centered. He/she cares about the interest of others. He/she is usually a great servant. Even though he/she is in a high position, he/she doesn’t mind to serve other people.

A great leader writes down his/her goals, so he/she knows where to hit them. You can not hit a goal that doesn’t exist. When you see your goal written out, you will be able to see it and to reach for it. Can you imagine a game of basket ball without the baskets to aim the ball? Even a great shooter needs a target so he/she can hit it. People know that they are great shooters, because they know how to hit the target accurately. Without the target, how can they tell whether they have hit their target accurately? You must have a clear, definite and written out goals of your life if you want to become a great leader!

A great leader is not lazy, he/she is willing to do what ever it takes to grow his/her self to become a better leader.

I believe with all my heart my friends that you also can be a great leader. No body is born a leader, but a great leader is made! You also can choose to grow to become a great leader. Start today in your daily life. Apply these principals in your life and you will see a big difference and change in your life. Take small step each and every that will take you where you want to go, it’s better than standing still and doing nothing.

© Copyright 2005, Pebden.com, Author: Entjik Jeffrie, All Rights Reserved.

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