Six Sigma: Evaluating your options (DMAIC, DMADV)

DMAIC and DMADV and two different methodologies of the Six Sigma approach. Both methods are used to drive defects to less than 3.4 million instances. DMAIC and DMADV both are data intensive solution approaches that are implemented through Green Belts, Black Belts, and Master Black Belts. The process owner or champion is in charge of implementing the method in order to meet the business/financial bottom-line numbers.

While both methods sound similar, they are quite different. The DMAIC methodology should be used when a process or product is in existence but is not meeting customer specifications or performing adequately.

DMADV on the other hand should be used when a product or process is not in existence and needs to be developed. The other reason for implementing DMADV will be if your existing product or process has been optimized (using DMAIC) and is still is not meeting customer specifications.

In order to gain a better understanding of the processes, we will look at each one individually.

The DMADV methodology

The DMADV methodology is geared towards creating new products and business practices. Many steps are taken within the process to meet the customers' needs.

There are five steps involved in the DMADV methodology.

D - Define. Define the project foals and customer deliverables.

M - Measure. Measure and determine customer needs and specifications.

A - Analyze. Analyze the process options to meet the customer's needs.

D - Design. Design the process to meet the customer's needs.

V - Verify. Verify the design performance and ability to meet the customer's needs.

The entire process of DMADV will rely on the company's ability to understand the customer's needs and to determine which needs are not met. Most companies do not know where to begin when they are determining what their customer's needs are and do not know which needs would be unmet.

Many manufacturing organizations will implement the Six Sigma method to help them design and develop new products, services and processes. You will begin by drawing up a business strategy that will include the improvement of products and systems and will ultimately result in overall customer satisfaction. DMADV differs slightly from the overall Six Sigma approach because it starts at the beginning of the design phase of a new product, service or process. DMADV is about new, not fixing what is already completed.

Each of the steps in the DMADV process represents something completely different. Starting with the Define step, you spell out the purpose of the project, the importance, scope, deadlines, and available resources. This may seem tedious as you will have numerous meetings to discuss planning for future products and services. During the Measure process you learn to understand the voice of the customer. This includes customer research, benchmarking, and technical research to arrive at CTQs (Critical To Quality Characteristics). Data collection, planning, and translating customer requests into designs are essential.

The Analyze step will look back on the CTQs from step 2 and use them as your cornerstone for new ideas and design. Each idea or concept is evaluated and the best concept or design will be chosen. During the evaluation it is important to have customer feedback and input. During this phase there will be a lot of creativity, prototyping and support from the design team. The actual Design phase includes several people and teams. Development, testing, building, budgeting and many others will be included. During this time you will be involved in reviewing simulations, process modeling, risk analysis, and process charts. Finally, you have reached the Verify stage. This last step helps all teams involved transition the product, process, or service to the customer.

The DMAIC methodology

The DMAIC methodology is about solving a problem with an unknown solution. This method is typically used when a product or process is not meeting customer specifications or performing accurately.

Similar to DMADV, there are 5 steps that define DMAIC:

D - Define. Define the project goals and customer deliverables.

M - Measure. Measure the process to determine current performance.

A - Analyze. Analyze and determine the root cause of the defects.

I - Improve. Improve the process by eliminating defects.

C - Control. Control future process performance.

When you implement the DMAIC method, you must create a Six Sigma team. Your goal is to come as close to perfection as possible. Staring with the define phase, your team must come together to define your business objectives and the customer of the process as well as their needs and requirements. Six Sigma uses CTQs (critical to quality characteristics). The CTQs impact quality and create the roadmap for you to review the process and improve it. When you reach the measure phase, you will start with proper metrics. The success of the project will be identified and determined in order to establish a measurement baseline. During this phase 3 different metrics are established; input, process and output indicators. The process is then studied and a plan is defined to measure the indicators.

After you have the measure phase in place, you will analyze your current processes to determine what causes problems and what need improvement. This phase focuses on finding solutions to eliminate the gap between existing performances and the desired performances. The improvement phase is often the most difficult for many people. During the improvement phase you will take the results from the analysis phase and find ways to improve them. Determine what improvements are needed and what will happen to your manufacturing organization if it takes too long to find ways to improve them. During the improvement phase, you will begin implementing your findings and then measuring the results after they have been implemented.

All the tools will be put into place during the control phase. Your key variables must remain the same within a given amount of time to ensure the process improvement gains are properly maintained. To end the process, your Six Sigma team will identify what the future steps can be to continually improve the process.

DMAIC has one additional tool that you should add to your process, it is synergize. This step basically helps to ensure the gains the team has shared and has made. This will help your manufacturing organization keep clear communication. The overall Six Sigma process is a team effort, not individual.

In order to implement the DMAIC method, you must have several roles laid out for success.

1. Executive leadership. This includes top management such as CEOs.

2. Champions. They are responsible for implementation.

3. Master Black Belts. They devote 100% of their time to the method.

4. Experts. In charge of business decisions and incorporate lessons throughout the company.

5. Black Belts. They work under the Master Black Belts and also devote 100% of their time to DMAIC.

6. Green Belts. Operate under black belts and are key in achieving results.

7. Yellow Belts. They have been trained but are not involved in the implementation.

Six Sigma methodologies have been implemented with several different organizations such as; health care, call centers, industrial, software firms, manufacturing companies and many other fields.

Six Sigma proponents claim that its benefits include up to 50% process cost reduction, cycle-time improvement, less waste of materials, a better understanding of customer requirements, increased customer satisfaction, and more reliable products and services.

DMAIC, DMADV or any other method of Six Sigma will yield results if implemented as required. Six Sigma and the DMAIC and DMADV methods go hand in hand in improving the way your business runs. Motorola developed the Six Sigma methodology. Motorola defines Six Sigma as a "management philosophy that emphasizes setting extremely high objectives, collecting data, and analyzing results to a fine degree as a way to reduce defects in products and services."

Motorola developed Six Sigma for the following reasons:

• To address major performance flaws in requirements and architecture
• To improve on-time delivery and reduce defects
• To improve robust design and performance benchmarking
• To employ metric-based decision making for product development
• To utilize templates and criteria to support rigorous gate reviews
• To enable leadership to realistically set high expectations and demand evidence
• To provide tools, tasks and deliverables that clarify and support meeting those high expectations

Motorola believes in employing Six Sigma, an organization can be saved by cutting out waste and repetition, improving efficiency and saving money. The first step to improve quality in the organization is to identify the quality issues you may have. You should always look for defects and question areas that you think need improvement. You should also look for flaws in the process and measure and collect data you actually use. All other data is a waste of time and money.

The only way to obtain results from DMAIC and DMADV or any other Six Sigma approach is to define the right data to measure. If you select the wrong data, you can wind up with inadequate results that will not help your company get as close to perfection as possible. Discuss your defects and narrow those down to individual processes and then you can start to find ways to achieve performance.