Implementing Six Sigma in Electronics Design and Manufacturing

Product creation is the correct mix between technology advancement, market conditions, consumer trends, and competitive factors. Planning is the key to developing a coherent product introduction stream that anticipates the market mix. Otherwise, product creation becomes a reactive process, with the subsequent risk of developing a product too late to capture a significant presence in the market or lowering the existing product prices to protect market position.

The worst-case scenario is the scheduling a of new product with un. realistic expectations in quality, cost, or timeline. It; resets in undue strains on the organization in general and the development team in particular. In addition, marketing plans that are set in motion based on false schedules will be undermined for existing as well as new products.

Product creation should be a team-centered activity. The balance of the mix between technology and market input can be determined best by practitioners of both crafts. The inputs from marketing and sales organizations, the research laboratories, the advance development group, and the current development organization should be evaluated and a collective decision reached for the timing of the next product rollout. A risk-benefit analysis should be made of the trade-offs between rushing a new technology or idea to market versus properly investigating the development and manufacturing problems. Six sigma is good tool for reducing the uncertainty of using new technologies in products by allowing for an independent and systematic method of evaluating the readiness for adopting the technology in terms of product quality and cost.