Six Sigma and the Product Development Cycle

Six sigma is an effective and important management approach particularly used by multinational companies with manufacturing bases in the Asian and Pacific rim. One of the key issues facing businesses today is how to eliminate the high cost of developing new products. This is an area where the potential of six sigma has not been widely appreciated before. Six Sigma and the Product Development Cycle brings the six sigma approach up-to-date and explains it in a way that appeals to today’s management teams. It makes the concept of six sigma easy to understand and accessible with the statistics necessary for its implementation clearly explained. Six Sigma and the Product Development Cycle covers the integration of quality function deployment with Taguchi’s methods of experimental design and statistical process control. These tools gather detailed insights into customer needs, optimize the products or services to meet these needs at the lowest practical cost, and ensure that this performance is maintained. It is a book about both six sigma and product and service development. Through this approach an organization can gain greater flexibility, shorter timescales, and the ability to react more quickly to changes or new demands in the marketplace. The approach is illustrated with practical examples from the nuclear industry, motor manufacturing, inland mail, ‘emergency response’ organizations and financial services.