Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Six Sigma and Goal-Directed Design (20 Feb 2006) Six Sigma started as a manufacturing process quality improvement initiative at Motorola in the early 80's and was soon adopted by other major companies including GE and Honeywell. Because Six Sigma's methods focused on quantifiable improvements, project results could be tied directly to dollars saved. Corporations flocked to the process, initiating company-wide Black Belt programs and launching a new industry of Six Sigma consultants to lead Six Sigma initiatives and train more Black Belts. In the 90's, Six Sigma methods were adapted for use in non-manufacturing applications including software development and financial services. Companies asked, "if Six Sigma methods are so successful to improve an existing process, why not use the same methods to design a new product that takes customer CTQ's into account at the start?" Originally intended for manufacturing processes improvement, Six Sigma concepts have now been adapted to design new products and services. To support this new product design focus, recent trends in Six Sigma include Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), Voice of the Customer (VoC) and the introduction of new methods to collect customer intelligence including market research, focus groups and ethnographic research. Add this article to Del.icio.us Article URL: http://www.cooper.com/content/insights/newsletters/Issue_31/Six_Sigma_and_Goal-Directed_Design.asp Read 84 more articles from Cooper sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Usability for Rich Internet Applications          Books about Usability | Information Architecture | Information Visualisation | Technology History This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy

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