Application of Design for Six Sigma Methodologies to Design Automotive HVAC System 2010-01-0401

In a very competitive environment, product development in automobile industry needs to be fast paced with best in quality to stay ahead in the race. Therefore a clear understanding of customer requirements is essential in successful design and development of systems. Failure in any system development step can result in costly design and tooling changes, schedule delays and ultimately, customer dissatisfaction. A team was formed to design and develop an automotive system by applying Design for Six Sigma Green Belt methods and tools. The hypothesis of this study was that a substantial opportunity exists to increase project efficiency while providing what customer wants, by following a standardized statistical work practice for managing requirements throughout the life of product development using the methodology of Design for Six Sigma DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify).

In this paper an automotive HVAC system is designed following DFSS methodology. The application process of DFSS tools like Kano analysis for Voice of Customer, Monte Carlo Simulation for project duration calculation, Measurement System Analysis, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Triz- contradict problem solving technique, Pugh matrix, Design of Experiment (DOE) strategies and process capability for HVAC system development is discussed.

The paper will also present how the DFSS process can improve project performance, cost and time while delivering quality products to the customer.