Six Sigma For Technical Processes

Use Six Sigma to achieve and sustain excellence in product development and commercialization! To sustain growth and profitability, companies must tightly align product development and commercialization to fast-changing customer requirements. In this book, Clyde Creveling identifies the four process areas most crucial to doing so–and shows executives and managers how to optimize each of them. Creveling introduces a Six Sigma-enabled workflow that encompasses strategic product/technology portfolio definition and development, research and technology development (R&TD), tactical design engineering processes for commercialization, and operational production and service support. He presents tools, methods, and best practices for selecting the right projects, prioritizing them, and executing them rapidly, consistently, and successfully. Integrate all key technical processes so they work together in harmony Create Phase/Gate control plans for delivering products with minimal risk Establish scorecards for risk management in technical processes Use Six Sigma tools, such as Monte Carlo and FMEA, to improve project management Bring discipline to your product and technology portfolio renewal processes Systematically optimize your commercialization processes Define stripped-down “Fast Track” processes for commercializing high-risk, high-reward opportunities Provide effective operational support after you launch your product Preview the future of “lean” and Six Sigma in technical processes Use lean techniques to streamline repeatable processes such as R&D, product design, and post-launch production engineering support Learn how to manage the risk of doing a fast track commercialization project when you really must cut corners to get a product out into the market before your opportunity evaporates Foreword by John Boselli xiii Preface xv About the Author xxi Chapter 1: Introduction to Six Sigma for Technical Processes 1 Chapter 2: Scorecards for Risk Management in Technical Processes 21 Chapter 3: Project Management in Technical Processes 35 Chapter 4: Strategic Product and Technology Portfolio Renewal Process 51 Chapter 5: Strategic Research and Technology Development Process 95 Chapter 6: Tactical Product Commercialization Process 163 Chapter 7: Fast Track Commercialization 275 Chapter 8: Operational Post-Launch Engineering Support Processes 293 Chapter 9: Future Trends in Six Sigma and Technical Processes 317 Glossary 323 Index 351

In the new millennium the increasing expectation of customers and products complexity has forced companies to find new solutions and better alternatives to improve the quality of their products. Lean and Six Sigma methodology provides the best solutions to many problems and can be used as an accelerator in industry, business and even health care sectors. Due to its flexible nature, the Lean and Six Sigma methodology was rapidly adopted by many top and even small companies. This book provides the necessary guidance for selecting, performing and evaluating various procedures of Lean and Six Sigma. In the book you will find personal experiences in the field of Lean and Six Sigma projects in business, industry and health sectors.

Maximize the quality and efficiency of your organization If you want to make your organization or team more productive, you have to change the way it thinks. Combining the leading improvement methods of Six Sigma and Lean, this winning technique drives performance to the next level. But the jargon-packed language and theory of Lean Six Sigma can be intimidating for both beginners and experienced users. Whether you want to manage a project more tightly or fine-tune existing systems and processes, Lean Six Sigma For Dummies gives you plain-English guidance to achieve your business goals. Lean Six Sigma For Dummies outlines the key concepts of this strategy and explains how you can use it to get the very best out of your business. You'll discover lots of tools and techniques for implementing Lean Six Sigma; guidance on policy deployment; information on managing change in your organization; useful methods for choosing which projects to tackle; and much more. Gives you plain-English explanations of complicated jargon Serves as a useful tool for businesspeople looking to make their organization more effective Helps you achieve business goals with ease If you're a project manager or other businessperson looking for new and effective ways to improve your process, Lean Six Sigma For Dummies has you covered.

The world’s largest and most profitable companies – including the likes of GE, Bank of America, Honeywell, DuPont, Samsung, Starwood Hotels, Bechtel, and Motorola – have used Six Sigma to achieve breathtaking improvements in business performance, in everything from products to processes to complex systems and even in work environments. Over the past decade, over $100 billion in bottom-line performance has been achieved through corporate Six Sigma programs. Yet, despite its astounding effectiveness, few outside of the community of Six Sigma practitioners know what Six Sigma is all about. With this book, Six Sigma is revealed to everyone. You might be in a company that’s already implemented Six Sigma, or your organization may be considering it. You may be a student who wants to learn how it works, or you might be a seasoned business professional who needs to get up to speed. In any case, Six Sigma For Dummies is the most straightforward, non-intimidating guide on the market. This simple, friendly book makes Six Sigma make sense. With a compelling foreword by Dr. Stephen R. Covey, the internationally recognized leadership authority and bestselling author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit, and an afterword by Roxanne O’Brasky, President of the International Society of Six Sigma, Six Sigma For Dummies is the most complete and objective book in the market today. Unlike most other works that are either graduate-level statistics treatises or thinly-veiled autobiographical success stories, Six Sigma For Dummies teaches the reader all the foundation principles, methods, and tools of this magnificent problem-solving system. Intended to help readers understand Six Sigma and how they can use it to improve their performance, this no-nonsense guide explains: What Six Sigma is all about and how it works The benefits of Six Sigma in organizations and businesses The powerful “DMAIC” problem-solving roadmap Yellow, Green and Black -- how the Six Sigma "belt" system works How to select and utilize the right tools and technologies Speaking the language of Six Sigma Knowing the roles and responsibilities Mastering the statistics skills and analytical methods Six Sigma For Dummies will become everyone’s No. 1 resource for discovering and mastering the world’s most famous and powerful improvement tool. Stephen Covey is spot-on when he says, “Six Sigma For Dummies is a book to be read by everyone”.

Lean Six Sigma is the global standard for organizing the design, data-based improvement and control of business processes. Well-designed and controlled processes are key in achieving and sustaining operational excellence. They ensure the quality of service and care, the reliability and safety of work that is done, and a timely processing with short waiting times. High quality processes will at the same time improve the operation’s flexibility. Thereby allowing one to adjust to changes in demand and other circumstances. An organizational capability to harness data-based process improvement, finally, facilitates organizational learning and is foundational for the fruitful implementation of ever increasing digitization and automation opportunities. Lean Six Sigma offers a complete model for shaping modern continuous improvement programs in organizations. The methodology is built on principles and methods for fact-based process improvement that have proven themselves over the last decades, and will continue to do so in the decades to come. Having emerged in manufacturing, the approach continuously evolved and gained tremendous momentum in the services and healthcare industries. This book offers a thorough and pragmatic account of Lean Six Sigma project- and programme implementation with a special focus on applications in services and healthcare organizations.

This book addresses many new topical areas for the development of 6 Sigma performance. The text is structured to demonstrate how 6 Sigma methods can be used as a very powerful tool within System Engineering and integration evaluations to help enable the process of Critical Parameter Management. The case studies and examples used throughout the book come from recent successful applications of the material developed in the text.

Lately there's been a great deal of talk around Lean execution. But, some people speak of Lean, some speak of Six Sigma and some use a combination of the two. But, what's the difference? How do you know what's right for your organization? As the market place tightens and companies are fighting for every dollar of revenue, they need to adopt innovative methods to create more efficient processes that will give them a competitive edge of their closest rivals; this is the basis for Lean Six Sigma. Unlike traditional Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma uses some of the methodology from lean manufacturing along with the Six Sigma approach. Many organizations see Lean Six Sigma as the evolution of the Six Sigma methodology rather than a modification. Lean Six Sigma takes the fundamentals of Six Sigma and incorporates the cost reduction principles of Lean Manufacturing.

This hands-on book presents a complete understanding of Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma through data analysis and statistical concepts In today's business world, Six Sigma, or Lean Six Sigma, is a crucial tool utilized by companies to improve customer satisfaction, increase profitability, and enhance productivity. Practitioner's Guide to Statistics and Lean Six Sigma for Process Improvements provides a balanced approach to quantitative and qualitative statistics using Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma methodologies. Emphasizing applications and the implementation of data analyses as they relate to this strategy for business management, this book introduces readers to the concepts and techniques for solving problems and improving managerial processes using Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma. Written by knowledgeable professionals working in the field today, the book offers thorough coverage of the statistical topics related to effective Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma practices, including: Discrete random variables and continuous random variables Sampling distributions Estimation and hypothesis tests Chi-square tests Analysis of variance Linear and multiple regression Measurement analysis Survey methods and sampling techniques The authors provide numerous opportunities for readers to test their understanding of the presented material, as the real data sets, which are incorporated into the treatment of each topic, can be easily worked with using Microsoft Office Excel, Minitab, MindPro, or Oracle's Crystal Ball software packages. Examples of successful, complete Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma projects are supplied in many chapters along with extensive exercises that range in level of complexity. The book is accompanied by an extensive FTP site that features manuals for working with the discussed software packages along with additional exercises and data sets. In addition, numerous screenshots and figures guide readers through the functional and visual methods of learning Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma. Practitioner's Guide to Statistics and Lean Six Sigma for Process Improvements is an excellent book for courses on Six Sigma and statistical quality control at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a valuable reference for professionals in the fields of engineering, business, physics, management, and finance.