Surviving the present and the future

Citation

De Feo, J.A. (2002), "Surviving the present and the future", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 6 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2002.26706cab.005

Surviving the present and the future

Everyone wants optimal quality in every product, service and process. But think how competitive you could be if you had a single coordinated effort that would:

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  stimulate inventive thinking;

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  solve insolvable problems;

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  reduce the costs of poor quality; and

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  design next-generation products, services and processes.

Does achieving these capabilities and extraordinary productivity gains seem impossible? There is a new combination of methodologies that in one synergistic operation can create new or modified designs capable of higher levels of performance more quickly than is possible with other processes individually.

Called Innovative Design for Six SigmaTM (I-DFSS), the new approach combines innovative thinking with the analytical tools used for designing products, services and processes. The total endeavor is one coordinated effort that reduces development and cycle time, targets zero-defect process delivery, evolves systems for the future, and produces better overall results.

More frequent technological advances are increasing retooling and development efforts, which make reducing design cycles an imperative.

The I-DFSS methodology can be applied whether the issue is organizational; involves products, services and customer needs; or the goal is to improve processes. It can produce results regardless of the state of the economy.

The dynamics of I-DFSS are driven by two established methodologies: design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and I-TRIZ, an advanced version of the theory of inventive problem solving (TM).

Design for Six Sigma

DFSS is an established, data-driven methodology based on analytical tools that provide users with the ability to prevent and predict defects in the design of a product, service or process.

Making significant reductions in cost and cycle time requires a major departure from traditional design methods. Each DFSS project begins by identifying customers and doing a full analysis to understand their needs.

Focused on creating new or modified designs that have improved levels of performance, Design for Six Sigma:

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  drives the customer-oriented design process with Six Sigma capability;

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  predicts design quality at the outset;

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  matches top-down requirements flow down by capability flow up;

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  integrates cross-functional design involvement;

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  drives quality measurement and predictability improvement in early design phases;

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  uses process capabilities in making final decisions;

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  monitors process variances to verify that customer requirements are met.

DFSS methodology follows a define-measure-analyze-design-verify (DMADV) sequence:

I-TRIZ (ideation/TRIZ methodology)

A highly structured methodology, I-TRIZ (pronounced "i-trees") stimulates inventive thinking while taking users step-by-step through a systematic process designed to help resolve intractable problems, eliminate technological barriers, create new product features or services, and evolve systems (i.e. products, processes, services) to a successful next-generation level. Unlike other tools for enhancing creativity, which are based on psychological techniques, I-TRIZ is based on extensive research of more than two million patents and other sources of innovative achievements.

I-TRIZ is built around the following competencies:

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  Inventive problem solving. Applied to improve systems and overcome technological roadblocks.

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  Failure analysis. Applied to determine the root cause of a failure or other undesired phenomenon occurring in a product, process, or service, and to correct it in a timely manner.

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  Failure prediction. Allows users to develop an exhaustive set of potential failures in a product, process or service, then prevent or eliminate them.

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  Directed evolutionTM. A methodology for developing successful next-generation products, services or processes.

Inventive problem solving

Inventive problem solving uses analytical and knowledge-base tools to help analyze a problem situation and develop innovative solution concepts. The process is organized into five steps:

1. 1.

   problem documentation and preliminary analysis;

2. 2.

   problem modeling and formulation;

3. 3.

   selection and prioritization of "directions" for solving the problem;

4. 4.

   development of solution concepts;

5. 5.

   evaluation of results and revealing/solving problems that might arise during implementation.

The inventive problem solving method can also be used to improve a product, process, or service – i.e. when there is no recognized "problem" at hand.

Failure analysis

I-TRIZ failure analysis is a powerful process for revealing the root causes of an error, unsuccessful action, manufacturing failure, or accident; for developing effective approaches to eliminate associated problems; and for investigating unclear mechanisms related to any phenomenon or event. Instead of asking the traditional question – "Why did the failure occur?" – the team asks instead: "How can we make the system fail?" By using this approach, failure analysis becomes an inventive task that can be addressed using the wealth of information and tools available to help inventors create a particular function, action, process, etc.

Failure prediction

Failure prediction is a systematic process for identifying beforehand – and preventing – all dangerous or harmful events that might be associated with a product, process, or service. Instead of "guessing" what failures might occur, the task is inverted to an inventive task of finding all possible ways to produce a failure in a given system.

Directed evolutionTM

Directed evolution provides the means to proactively control innovation and growth without relying on the guesswork associated with traditional technological forecasting. Used to analyze and evaluate a system against current technological and marketing trends, the process allows users to develop a comprehensive set of possible scenarios for the future evolution of a system, establish a decisive course of action, secure intellectual capital, and define a plan to create next-generation products, processes, services and technologies.

Six Sigma's basic philosophy

More than just formal programs or disciplines, all forms of traditional Six Sigma methodology represent an operating philosophy and a culture that can be shared by customers, shareholders, employees and suppliers. Widely different organizations adopt Six Sigma in its basic and more advanced forms for the same compelling reasons: it is customer-focused, drives out waste and cuts costs, raises levels of quality in products and customer services, creates career opportunities for employees, and has a favorable impact on the bottom line.

The tools and techniques of Six Sigma represent a product and process improvement methodology that identifies and improves the efficiency and quality in virtually everything an organization does throughout its operations worldwide.

Our future will be different. What serves a business well today may have little to do with what happens tomorrow. To survive in tough markets that are increasingly global, a business must do more than grow. Organizations have to be innovative and efficient. You must know the needs of your customers on a continuing basis. If those demands are not met, sooner than later you will be a follower or fail altogether.

Joseph A. De FeoPresident and Chief Executive OfficerJuran Institute