Define, Measure, Analyse, Design and Verify (DMADV)

There are certain situations where the project team members may feel that a process needs to be replaced by a new process rather than simply improving the existing process. The demands of the customers with regard to quality cannot be satisfied by the existing process. At times, an organization may decide to launch a new product or service to grab a new busi­ness opportunity offered by the environment. In all such situations, the last two steps in the

DMAIC, namely, “improve” and “control” have to be replaced by “design” and “verify” so that it becomes DMADV. The design of new processes or redesign of existing processes using DMADV is known as “Design for Six Sigma” (DFSS) or “Six Sigma Design” (SSD). The map of Six Sigma project flow⁵ is given in Figure 7.5.

Thus, the very essence of Six Sigma lies in the following four factors:

1. Proper definition and scope of engineering or management problems
2. Conversion of an engineering or management problem into a statistical problem
3. Seeking a statistical solution to this problem
4. Conversion of the statistical solution into business or engineering solutions

Box 7.3 Mumbai’s Dabbawalas and Six Sigma

Mumbai’s 5,000-plus dabbawalas who deliver lunch everyday to hungry Mumbaikars have become world-famous for their impeccable service standards. They have been featured in a Harvard Business School case study and even had an audience with Britain’s Prince Charles.

The majority of the dabbawalas are almost illiterate. They face the same crowded pavements, on-road dense vehicular traffic and overloaded suburban trains that normal office goers often give as excuses for getting late to work. They also do it with minimal technology, processes or structure.

The dabbawalas deliver 175,000 lunches everyday and take the empty lunch boxes back. The dabbas are collected by collecting dabbawalas usually from homes. All the dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them such as a color or symbol. The dabbawala then takes them to a desig­nated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort the lunch boxes into groups. The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). The markings include the rail station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered. At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, who delivers them. The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses.

They make one mistake in 2 months. This means there is one error for every 16 million transac­tions. This 99.99999 per cent accuracy qualifies them to join the ranks of Six Sigma companies such as Motorola and GE, which are world-famous for their quality.

Source: Poornima M. Charantimath (2017), Total Quality Management, Pearson; 3rd edition.