Seisan! ... Ichi ... Ni ... San! : the kick of Design for Six Sigma in the automotive industry

Abstract

In today's aggressive business environment, many manufacturing firms are searching for new strategies or methodologies that will provide some type of competitive advantage. Recently, in order to address that issue, the automotive industry has adopted the process of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). Based upon the philosophies of Six Sigma quality management, Design for Six Sigma focuses on the design and research phases of product design, as its name implies. Consequent to accurately identifying the customer requirements, the Design for Six Sigma process insists upon data-driven design decisions coherent with the consumer defined quality metrics. While the concepts of Design for Six Sigma and Six Sigma in general have been very successful for a number of large manufacturing firms such as General Electric and Motorola, it is not clear whether it will offer the same benefits for the automotive industry. Using the Parallel Hybrid Truck Program at General Motors Corporation, the largest US automotive manufacturer, as a case study, the implementation of Design for Six Sigma within the automotive industry is explored. It is obvious Design for Six Sigma will provide both advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, in order for Design for Six Sigma to be successful in the automotive industry, the following insights need to be captured and delivered upon. Leadership must be strong and demonstrate a consistent commitment to the process. Both the technical and cultural elements of the process need to be implemented successfully. Integration of Design for Six Sigma needs to occur with current improvement efforts, and coordination of efforts between various groups in the organization needs to exist Interestingly, these are classical problems facing the automotive industry for many years now, and they require a complete paradigm shift from the current automotive practices in order to be successful. Furthermore, to better substantiate the impact of Design for Six Sigma, the following improvements to the standard Six Sigma practices and strategy are recommended. A high level manufacturing position should be created to compliment the product engineering representative for the DFSS process. In addition, DFSS projects should be encouraged from the Manufacturing Organization to create buy-in and to leverage their day-to-day understanding of the product issues. Finally, like product specifications, Design for Six Sigma specifications should follow a product through the design cycle.