The Effect of Design For Six Sigma on the Bottom Line
Each and every business process presents an opportunity for a variation to occur. The likelihood for the occurrence of a deviation is especially high when the process involves human operations. It goes without saying that each deviation can potentially become a defect, one that would need additional costs for it to be corrected. It is because of this that the Design for Six Sigma – DFSS is important for every business.
Six Sigma is the statistical level of having a minimum of 3.4 Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO) present. The six sigma methodology therefore is a set of practices meant to help an organization or business improve its overall performance. This it does through the methodological enhancement of its business processes. The main reason why companies today implement this method is to reduce defects, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of products.
Theoretically, the six sigma status would mean less than 3.4 failures per a million attempts. Although this is a very low failure rate, it has been proven achievable when the tenets of the Design for Six Sigma – DFSS are implemented as required. There are two main aspects to this approach, managing company resources and meeting customer expectations by delivering superior quality products. DFSS is a formal set of project management techniques and theories that need to be applied to the business management operations of a company. The techniques are simply guidelines for how a company ought to manufacture its products and create its services in a perfect world.
Client management is a key aspect when it comes to the design for six sigma. It is easily accomplished by ensuring verification and quality measures are taken into consideration right from the inception of a service or product development, to see to it that customer needs and expectations are met. This is what is referred to as Quality Function Development (QFD), a formal way of transforming a business need into a practical process.
The term failure is clearly defined within each of the industries where this formula for success is applied, and in every product line. Failure simply means a fault that consumers consider critical. There are two major methodologies used today. The first one is the DMAIC process, which stands for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. DMADV is the second process, and stands for define, measure, analyze, design, and verify.
The first methodology, DMAIC, is applicable in processes that are already implemented but do not meet the specifications recommended. It is used to help upgrade the already running processes up to the recommended threshold. The second methodology, DMADV, is applicable in the development of new services or products, to help ensure they meet the recommended levels of quality.
The values of the Design for Six Sigma – DFSS are straight forward and very useful and practical for companies and businesses of all sizes. By relentlessly channeling all efforts towards quality and reducing defects and variations in the consistency of services or products, the values recommended guarantee a better business, one that is able to achieve its best possible bottom line more easily.
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