New Design of Offerings – Products or Services

            Design for Lean Six Sigma + Toyota Product Design Process: Most are familiar with the Toyota Production System (aka Lean) but are not aware of the Toyota Product Design System and the parallel design process routines associated with it.  The result is a new product or component which is only released when all aspects are above threshold measures. The Design for Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools work well to complement the TPDS and give superlative products with the desired functionality and durability in reasonable time.

            Quality Function Deployment: QFD is a structured method for gathering the Voice of the Customer (from any or all of the 4 phases: development, production, utilization and disposal) and converting it into terms that engineers and technicians understand, can measure and design to.  QFD enables design of products and systems which meet customer expectations in the initial design.  This reduces the amount of re-engineering and re-design needed for a successful product/system introduction…results in greater, on-target output from a given design team, plus a rational system of metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the design.

            FMEA / Risk Mitigation / Elimination: The ISO9001:2015 standard has brought a new emphasis on risk reduction and mitigation.  Due to that emphasis, harmonized methods for performing Failure Mode and Effects Analysis have been introduced, making improved analysis and decision-making possible.  The result is a greater ability for design engineering to develop a superior design in a shorter time with greater assurance that all key elements of risk have been addressed.

            Design for X: Design for Manufacturability, Design for Maintainability, Design for Durability are just some of the Design for ‘X’ methodologies which can be used selectively to standout in a crowded marketplace.  It results in a product design which competes in a new way that is different and superior from the other offerings.

            Rationalize Product Lines, Reduce Complexity of Offering, Shrink Concept to Cash Cycle Time: The “Stage Gate” Design and Development Process’ success and productivity can be enhanced by reducing the number of design projects being worked at one time, modularizing the product, and rationalizing the product families such that the entire set of target markets can be serviced well with a limited number of distinct models.