What is DFSS?
DFSS stands for the term Design for Six Sigma. It is a sub-methodology used when one wants to build a new process that aims to have a process capability meeting customer requirements.
DFSS is one of the sub-methodologies of Six Sigma, the other one of which is DMAIC which is more popular because most improvement projects simply focusing on improving existing process by making consistent output, less variation thereby creating less defects.
But sometimes no matter how much you improve an existing process, its technology is such that even reaching its best or its “entitlement” it still would not suffice to meet the customer’s requirements. In which case the alternative is to invest in a whole new process.
Imagine you are running sachet filling process that is done manual. No matter how could your manuals are, given that it is a manual process, variation will be high that it will not meet your customer requirements if their specification limits are tight. In this case it might be a wiser alternative to invest in a machine that operates at a high precision. Setting up this new process falls under DFSS.
DFSS is sometimes used interchangeably with DMADV because this is the sequence of phases used for a DFSS project. DMADV stands for Define, Measure, Analyze.
