Background
Lean Manufacturing, as the discipline and way of invoicing of JIT (Just In Time) is known in the West, was developed between Taichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo around the 40s, when they were working in the Toyota car company.
The principle of Lean lies in implementing improvements to the processes with what is at hand, without the need to acquire or invest more.
By bringing this technology from the East to the West, one of the companies that began to apply it was Motorola. An engineer at Motorola, Bill Smith, realized that the granularity of defects had to be changed to 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
In 1995, Jack Welch, the then CEO of GE (General Electric), began to apply this methodology and came to generate savings for GE of 16 billion dollars.
Introduction
The Six Sigma methodology consists of a sequence of steps that help develop a solution to a problem. Given its nature, this methodology can be used not only for the manufacturing area, but it can be used in other areas of the industry and even in other areas that do not have to do with industry, such as hospitals, in construction., in logistics, even in Formula 1.
For our particular case, we are going to exemplify how to use the methodology to develop a new product or tool.
Development
Application of the Six Sigma methodology for the development of a new product or tool.
The steps of the Six Sigma methodology are DMAIC. Each of these steps for the development of a new product will be defined below.
Define
This is the most important part for solving a problem or creating a new product, since the whole project depends on this. It consists of seeing what problem we want to solve, and seeing why we want to solve that particular problem. The definition of this must be clear and that it can be expressed in a few sentences, since if not, it means that there are still things that we can be mentioning more.
To size
Once we have the problem defined, we must get data to be able to verify the veracity of our idea. For this, if it is a completely innovative product, the appropriate market study must be carried out to obtain information from the client. The information that you want to obtain from him would be if it is something that he would buy, basically.
If the product is something innovative but that already exists in some other presentation or format, a comparative study of the product should be made according to that of the other competitor (s), to see if there is a niche that can be served, or against how many would have to compete.
Analyze
This part consists of reviewing the information obtained from the market analysis or comparative study against competing products, and first verifying if the product is something viable to be acquired by the customer.
If the case is the second, verify how strong the market is in that field, and see, as previously mentioned, what would be the niche that could be supplied or what strategy should be used to differentiate itself from the others and take part in that competitive market.
To get better
This part consists of seeing if the product has the minimum necessary that the client asks for, and if there were aspects that the client takes as common or basic and they do not have, incorporate them. This is for the case of a product that is going to compete with something that already exists on the market.
If the product is something completely innovative, if there is a particular opinion of the customers that they put a lot of emphasis on, such as in some aspect of the design, now is the time to modify it to fit the needs of the customers.
In addition, if there is a safety issue that had not been considered and it is essential so that the customer does not have an accident with the product, it is now when this modification has to be added.
Control
For the control phase, it basically consists of verifying that the product is being made according to the original design or the one already redefined in the "Improve" part. Apart from the fact that the design is being produced as is, the necessary studies must be made here to see the durability of the product. If there is any aspect of the product that must be reinforced so that a failure or rupture does not occur, it should be incorporated here.
Six Sigma Methodology
Figure No 1. 6σ scheme. Own elaboration.
Study Example: Hövding Inflatable Bicycle Helmet
Background
Hövding is a company that manufactures inflatable helmets. The idea came from the creators of the product, when they were doing their doctoral thesis. The problem arose due to a new law in Sweden in which children up to 15 years old would have to use a helmet. This created a debate whether it should be mandatory for everyone to wear a bicycle helmet or not. The creators saw an opportunity in this.
Define
The problem consisted of the following: Are people happy wearing a bicycle helmet? Is there a way that you can make a helmet that people are happy to wear, whether they had to wear it or not?
In their thesis, the creators defined the possibility of using a helmet that was inflatable.
To size
A market study was carried out to check how happy people were wearing their bicycle helmet, and if they preferred to use a helmet that was not uncomfortable for them to use and that at the same time offered them the same protection as a helmet.
Analyze
The results were analyzed and it was seen that there was an opportunity to create a helmet that provided comfort and that people used it more for wanting to use it than for needing it. The inflatable case option was presented to them and people reacted positively to it.
To get better
Since the idea was accepted, it was necessary to make the helmet actuate automatically when the bicycle rider made a movement in which he was falling or simply separated completely from the bicycle. To do this, a sensor was created that when feeling this, it was activated and automatically released the air bag that covered the head.
Control
To test the entire product so that it did not explode from the force of the impact and the weight of the user, studies were carried out to verify that the product worked properly, that is, that it was activated when it should and that it was released, inflated and covered the user's head before impact.
With this, it was verified that at 25 km / hr, the helmet not only effectively protects the user's head, but also, based on the impact studies carried out by the Folksam company, for a helmet to be approved in Europe, you need the force when impacting the head to be 250 g. The lower the value, the better it protects. In the case of the Hövding inflatable helmet, the value was 65 g, being at a protection difference of 131 g from the nearest helmet.
Results
The Swedish brand of inflatable helmets, Hövding, is already a registered trademark and the product is also already registered throughout the European community by the creators Anna Haupt and Teresa Alstin.
Due to the innovation they have developed, they have managed to raise approximately $ 10 million from investors to finance their work.
Currently the company has 17 members on its team. Their offices are located in Malmö, Sweden, and they have a small branch in Kungälv.
Hövding relies on suppliers such as the Swedish airbag manufacturer Alva, which makes the last assembly of the product.
The product already has several patents around the world, and it has stores that sell it around Europe in the following countries: Germany, Denmark, Finland, England, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Conclusion and discussion
As could be seen, the Lean Manufacturing methodology, DMAIC, can serve as the theoretical basis to develop a new product, not only as a method to generate savings in any area of the industry, be it manufacturing, security, human resources, maintenance.
By following the steps of this methodology, it may be able to help create a new product; It can even help you determine from an early stage the viability of the product or not.
Next, it will be discussed how the DMAIC methodology applied to create a product develops or needs to evaluate the following impacts:
Environmental impact
When a new product is going to be created, it must be considered how this product is going to end its useful life, to create a plan to recycle the material, or as much as possible, with the aim that it does not become a contaminant to the environment. Here the DMAIC methodology could be reapplied to create a containment and recycling plan. Also, depending on the type of product it is, if it is a material, the necessary security measures must be observed to use it, if there is any.
Scientific impact
Depending on the product or tool, if it is viable in your case, the scientific impact that it generated should be considered. Generally, this type of impact must be analyzed when the product is an innovation.
Academic impact
The academic impact is reserved for the products that have as their final objective some teaching or propose a new method, through the product, of how to better publicize educational material.
Economic impact
The economic impact must be analyzed for products that generate economic savings. This type of product can be both industrial and non-industrial.
Products that generate industrial savings are products that present one or both of these issues: time savings and financial savings.
Non-industrial products also generate savings of both types, but for the most part, these reflect an economic impact rather than a time impact.
Bibliographic references
- Hövding. (nd). About Us. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from Hovding.com: http://www.hovding.com/about/Minot, MJ, & Wood, L. (2003, October 21). New Product Development in the Lean Six Sigma Environment. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from Les wood Associates Management Consultants Web Site: www.lwassoc.com Pzydek, T. (2003). The Six Sigma Handbook: Revised and Expanded: A Complete Guide for Green Belts, Black Belts amd Managers at All Levels. New York: McGraw-Hill.
