Key Points

• The IDOV methodology is just one approach to designing your production to meet Six Sigma standards.
• IDOV utilizes four phases which mirror the phases contained in MAIC.
• Each phase has its tools and criteria, ensuring quality and communication throughout.

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) can be accomplished using any one of many methodologies. IDOV is one popular methodology for designing products and services to meet Six Sigma standards.

IDOV is a four-phase process that consists of Identify, Design, Optimize, and Verify. These four phases parallel the four phases of the traditional Six Sigma improvement methodology, MAIC – Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. The similarities can be seen below.

Meeting the Grade

Designing for Six Sigma enables quite a bit of flexibility and also maintains communication and milestones throughout. Part of what makes IDOV so powerful is that you’re gathering data and acting upon it every step of the way.

Identify Phase

The Identify phase begins the process with a formal tie of design to the voice of the customer (VOC). This phase involves developing a team and team charter, gathering VOC, performing competitive analysis, and developing CTQs.

Crucial Steps:

• Identify customer and product requirements
• Establish the business case
• Identify technical requirements (CTQ variables and specification limits)
• Roles and responsibilities
• Milestones
  

Key Tools:

• QFD (Quality Function Deployment)
• FMEA (Failure Means and Effects Analysis)
• SIPOC (supplier, input, product, output, customer product map)
• IPDS (Integrated Product Delivery System)
• Target costing
• Benchmarking

Design Phase

The Design phase emphasizes CTQs and consists of identifying functional requirements, developing alternative concepts, evaluating alternatives and selecting a best-fit concept, deploying CTQs, and predicting sigma capability.

Crucial Steps:

• Formulate concept design
• Identify potential risks using FMEA
• For each technical requirement, identify design parameters (CTQs) using engineering analysis such as simulation
• Raw materials and procurement plan
• Manufacturing plan
• Use DOE (design of experiments) and other analysis tools to determine CTQs and their influence on the technical requirements (transfer functions)
  

Key Tools:

• Smart simple design
• Risk assessment
• FMEA
• Engineering analysis
• Materials selection software
• Simulation
• DOE (design of experiments)
• Systems engineering
• Analysis tools

Optimize Phase

The Optimize phase requires the use of process capability information and a statistical approach to tolerancing. Developing detailed design elements, predicting performance, and optimizing design, take place within this phase.

Crucial Steps:

• Assess process capabilities to achieve critical design parameters and meet CTQ limits
• Optimize design to minimize sensitivity of CTQs to process parameters
• Design for robust performance and reliability
• Error proofing
• Establish statistical tolerancing
• Optimize sigma and cost
• Commission and startup
  

Key Tools:

• Manufacturing database and flowback tools
• Design for manufacturability
• Process capability models
• Robust design
• Monte Carlo methods
• Tolerancing
• Six Sigma tools
  

Validate Phase

The Validate phase consists of testing and validating the design. As increased testing using formal tools occurs, feedback on requirements should be shared with manufacturing and sourcing, and future manufacturing and design improvements should be noted.

Crucial Steps:

• Prototype test and validation
• Assess performance, failure modes, reliability, and risks
• Design iteration
• Final phase review
  

Key Tools:

• Accelerated testing
• Reliability engineering
• FMEA
• Disciplined new product introduction (NPI)

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking for other tools to supercharge your production design? Learning about how DFSS differs from DMAIC can be instrumental in making the most of your production design. While similar in concept, these are vastly different principles that you’ll want to take note of.

Further, you might want to look into how to incorporate Agile into your design process. Agile is a software methodology that is making big strides in industries outside of tech. We’ve got a guide focused on the subject that you’ll want to look over.