The Role of Design for Six Sigma in Successful Product Development

Successful product development (PD) includes understanding and delighting customers, anticipating and avoiding failures, and delivering products efficiently. While Design for Six Sigma may be most naturally applied to avoid failures, it has been applied to all three of these areas with varying degrees of success. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using DFSS to bolster these key elements of PD. Example projects along with successes and shortcomings related to overall PD effectiveness are presented. Whatever form DFSS takes, organizations should make explicit the decision of how to deploy DFSS as part of an overarching quality plan.