Design for Six Sigma in Technology and Product Development

Rating:
Summary: Designing for Six Sigma
Review: Disclosure: I'm a competitor of Skip's in the Design for Six Sigma field.

Skip obviously knows his stuff - he's written one of the most detailed descriptions of DFSS around. His differentiation of a methodology for technology development and product development is an important concept. The book provides a detailed step-by-step description of how to design a product for Six Sigma performance.

However, the book is really a tough read. I've been working in the DFSS field for the last 7 years and I found it a tough go. The methodology descriptions, while detailed, suffer from a lack of examples or a case study.

My other critique is that Skip describes the DFSS "nirvana" - if your development process is a bit informal, you'll start asking yourself "How in the world will I ever get to DFSS?" Some thoughts around how to transition from a typical development process to a DFSS-based approach would have been helpful.

Finally, one of my clients handed this book out to virtually all their engineers at the beginning of their DFSS iniative. When, a year or two later, I'd ask the engineers if they had the book, the answer was invariably "Yes." When I'd asked if they'd read the book, however, the answer was just as invariably "No."

If you already know about DFSS, its a great reference. If not, go buy one of the introductory books first.