Robust Engineering & DFSS: How to Maximize User Delight and Function and Minimize Cost 2008-01-0361

Design for Six Sigma is the Process for delivering consistent product or process at the lowest cost, in any industry. This proactive process works to consider how the customer uses the product or process, from the start of the design, to deliver product that the customer wants to purchase. DFSS is not a set of tools, but rather a way of thinking to create Robust designs, ones that are insensitive to variation resulting from customer usage, not simply part to part variation. Robust Engineering, as developed by Genichi Taguchi, is the engine that drives successful DFSS. For automotive applications especially, Robust Engineering transforms DFSS into a competitive weapon by minimizing functional variation in the customers' hands at high efficiency (i.e., minimum cost and mass). This paper describes the phases of DFSS, namely Identify, Define, Develop, Optimize, and Verify (IDDOV), utilizing Robust Engineering. Included are details and key information necessary for obtaining the most useful technical information from each phase. Robust Engineering and DFSS can be used to implement good designs quickly, reject poor designs fast, and pinpoint where to take the cost out of automotive systems and subsystems, as demonstrated with a key case study. Lessons for making DFSS with Robust Engineering part of the corporate culture will also be discussed