design for six sigma

For most of us, a book on quality management in manufacturing is something to be avoided as assiduously as root canal work, an IRS audit or a midnight call from an ex-spouse. The concept of Six Sigma quality is neither the most glamorous of topics, nor is it one we nonmanufacturing folk find ourselves involved in very often. Out of every fertile puddle of business mud, however, grows a lotus of possibility for improving a business.

Let us define our term: Six Sigma is the process of eliminating defects in the making of products that, at its pinnacle, causes no more than 3.4 defects for every million produced. For a person who makes about 3.4 errors for every 10 words created on my keyboard, this is a staggering achievement. The three key concepts within Six Sigma that make for successful operations are a rigorous focus on customer behavior, a relentless drive to develop the best possible data in the production cycle, and a highly individualized and structured method of statistically measuring and analyzing what you do, which in the vernacular is called having good metrics. For example, last season Barry Bonds had very good metrics.

Author Chowdhury's point of view is that many of the manufacturing defects companies experience today are actually designed into the processes used to create products, leaving manufacturers with a list of inevitable blunders and Tylenol moments from which to recover. The problem is that recovery from mistakes is very expensive, It drains human capital and looks lousy on the balance sheet.

Hence, designing for Six Sigma, when well-managed, can result in cost savings in product development, manufacturing and post-sales service and support; improved time-to-market cycles; greater quality, reliability and durability; more satisfactory customer opinion; and perhaps most important, more rapid innovation. We in the service sector can learn a lot from the noble intentions outlined in this fine book.