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Check product designs
with regular product reviews and customer surveys.
Use
customer surveys for product reviews and improve product design.
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We continue to build the model and consider product design , redesign and products reviews. Our model includes product reviews as an important consideration of the over all effort, with customer surveys as a prime input. Most products or services that do not change and evolve will have limited success in the market place. The cycle time for each improvement is a critical measure of success. Without adequate customer surveys it is difficult to understand the product design features that are contributing to the product/service success or lack of success. On a regular basis product designs should be evaluated and regular product reviews conducted. Some such as the auto industry have locked themselves into a cycle of a new model every year. Frequently these are minor or just cosmetic changes. With Six Sigma Plus the redesign of Products and Services should be based on the Measured Value from the Customers and Supplier capabilities. If done correctly the Redesigned Product and Service should do a better job of meeting and exceeding Customer expectations than did the original product or service. When Six Sigma Plus is applied the economic return on investment should improve for the Business Unit involved. Better products with fewer defects, cost reduction projects, better understanding of the Customer, improved work flow, employee commitment, supplier involvement and reduced cycle times are but a few of the consideration in product reviews. Changes in product design should reduce complexity, have fewer defects, improve reliability, and offer the Customer functionality not in the original product design or service. When these objectives are met there is a direct cause and effect relationship to improved margins and larger market share. Once your customers have developed a low tolerance for defects, you have a unique marketing advantage over your competitors. This is true provided you continue to focus on the Customer Critical Criteria and improvement processes. In these areas mentioned, it is going to be very difficult for a competitor to match the level of performance your customers have learned to expect from your business organization. One of the interesting areas of competitive advantage, achieved by some organizations, is to improve their support functions and reduce the defect levels. One area that continues to amaze is the technical support from software vendors. The first problem is the obvious defect that has been allowed to get to the customer or there would be no need for the technical support. Yet the all too true joke is " If you want office music all you need to do is call technical support and put your phone on the speaker function". While many feel they must have the latest release of all software, there are a number of organizations that refuse to purchase the first release of any software. Correcting bugs may cause other problems, but usually by the second or third release most are suitable for designed use. Similarly many of us refuse to purchase the first model year of an automobile. The number of defects and recalls is generally pretty staggering based on our past experiences. Despite extensive market research, product design trials and numerous product reviews and other efforts, failure of new and re-designed products remains high. One source attached to this failure is often the customer surveys that are conducted as part of the product design. A common and often poorly designed activity is customer surveys. In a 1998 Quality Progress Article, Ken Miller asks ‘Are your surveys only suitable for wrapping fish?’ His answer in too many cases is yes. As Ken Miller writes, "The popularity of customer surveys is on the rise. You can't go anywhere without being asked to complete one. They are in most every hotel room and restaurant and on every airplane." Miller identifies the following common problems with customer surveys:
If you are counting on this kind of information to help shape the products design your products and services it is likely they do no better, or even worse than without the survey. According to Ken Miller most customer surveys could be vastly improved if they asked:
Six Sigma Plus focuses on the Customer Critical Criteria (the important variables) that drive a successful product design or service. Understanding what the voice of the customer is really saying is of vital importance. The product reviews or service reviews using customer surveys should do a better job of meeting the identified Customer Critical Criteria or address customer concerns and issues not met with the original product design or service. Among those to be considered are expanded functionality, reduced cost, improved reliability, more attractive design, etc. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and the resulting "House of Quality" chart is a tool that is can be used to balance the often-conflicting requirements. Multifunctional teams are used in the development, and the resulting matrix can serve as an important communication tool. The Customer Critical Criteria are listed and ranked. Usually a comparison between the existing design and competitors designs is included in the evaluation. Engineering requirements needed to meet the voice of the customer are compiled. The relationships between the customer requirements and the "engineering how" are shown in the relationship matrix. Objective measurements for each requirement are identified and technical difficulty assigned. Positive and negative relationships between design requirements are determined along with relative importance ratings. We should utilize this study to identify important issue(s) that can be sent forward in yet another iteration concerned with detailed design. Drawbacks to QFD include the amount of time and effort required, survey errors, and some of the subjective assessments that are made. It is generally for this reason many people choose to make a first attempt by using simpler approaches. A simple cause and effect matrix can often accomplish a good deal of the desired results with much less effort. The outputs of a process are assigned an importance value such as: 1-low 5-medium 9-high and the customers of the process are asked to provide the ranking. Important process inputs are ranked on the same scale for impact on each output variable. A team of process experts should achieve consensus on these rankings in a team meeting, independent of the customer rankings. When the two rankings are then placed in a matrix, with the process variables in the vertical column and the customer rankings in the horizontal row. The resulting product (multiplication of the row times the column) is placed in each cell. Next add cells in each row and create a Pareto Chart. This will let you know which input variables have the biggest impact on the customer. This sort of matrix can be carried down another level where the key process variable can be broken down into attributes and the process broken down into the individual steps. This allows for the process steps to be ranked according to the impact on the various attributes. We have found this sort of stepwise analysis which is easier for most team members to understand and accept than a QFD matrix, also it can be carried out at several deeper levels.
Quotes that Inspire
"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent." Arnold Schwarzenegger A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner. English proverb Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like
men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." "The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves." Herbert N. Casson {American Author} "It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning." *Claude Bernard {1813-1878 French Physiologist} "Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others." Jacob M. Braude "You can employ men and hire hands to work for you, but
you must win their hearts to have "Think you can, think you can't; either way, you'll be right." Henry Ford "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle
Cary W. Adams 10 A Bayou RD Lake Jackson, TX 77566 1-979-297-5198
Previous Newsletters Customer Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction. Distribution, Products, Services, Work Flow. Employee Development Empowerment Motivation. SWOT Analysis Business Plans Strategic Planning. Leadership Training Leadership Skills. Measure Value Customer Satisfaction.
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