Six Sigma improves both product and process quality, eliminating defects using a suite of tools that span: statistical; analytical; and collaborative domains. The six sigma nomenclatures cross over different languages and cultures with improved understanding and exactness. Six Sigma improves our every day processes. The Six Sigma process has been extended to take the initiative in developing better designs that avoid problems rather than having to go back and correct them. This is the Design-for-Six Sigma (DFSS) initiative. It focuses on getting correct requirements; communicating these effectively across the team; examining and managing the design and environment anomalies; and flowing down tolerances from the system level to the component levels (also known as critical parameter management). Recently, the practices within DFSS have been further extended from Hardware Reliability to Software Quality and Reliability, and for that matter, to other aspects of product development including: Portfolio and Marketing Analysis; Technology Research and Development; Product Commercialization; Supply Chain and other support functions. These processes have been shown to deliver products with as few as 3-4 defects per million opportunities, such as seen on space shuttle software or commercial aircraft flights in the US. |