How Does Lean Six Sigma Help You Run Projects in Product Engineering?
Let’s consider a few typical situations
σ LAUNCHING NEW BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCTS:
Your role as a PM is two-fold. First, of course, is to lead your project team efficiently through the development and qualification process and market launch.
Secondly, for top-performing PMs, upgrade your general management capabilities by identifying improvements to the product development and project management processes that can be implemented across your business unit.
σ INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCT CONFIGURATIONS:
In delivering a product set expansion via a product engineering project, one of the most critical PM tasks is closely managing project scope to ensure your ability to deliver on time. If your new configurations have a sponsoring customer, put processes in place to collaborate closely with those crucial stakeholders.
σ DELIVERING PRODUCT PERFORMANCE UPGRADES:
One of the biggest product engineering project challenges you may have encountered is to manage product design changes involving components which go end-of-life (EOL) before the end product is retired.
In long-cycle products (medical devices, industrial equipment, aerospace, others) microprocessor and memory chips will require mid-life upgrades, and frequently do not have drop-in replacements.
Program management must align with strategic supply chain management to anticipate component EOL and maintain a product roadmap to forecast upgrade requirements.
σ LAUNCHING NEW BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCTS:
Your role as a PM is two-fold. First, of course, is to lead your project team efficiently through the development and qualification process and market launch.
Secondly, for top-performing PMs, upgrade your general management capabilities by identifying improvements to the product development and project management processes that can be implemented across your business unit.
σ INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCT CONFIGURATIONS:
In delivering a product set expansion via a product engineering project, one of the most critical PM tasks is closely managing project scope to ensure your ability to deliver on time. If your new configurations have a sponsoring customer, put processes in place to collaborate closely with those crucial stakeholders.
σ DELIVERING PRODUCT PERFORMANCE UPGRADES:
One of the biggest product engineering project challenges I have encountered is to manage product design changes involving components which go end-of-life (EOL) before the end product is retired.
In long-cycle products (medical devices, industrial equipment, aerospace, others) microprocessor and memory chips will require mid-life upgrades, and frequently do not have drop-in replacements.
Program management must align with strategic supply chain management to anticipate component EOL and maintain a product roadmap to forecast upgrade requirements.
The work output and deliverables of product engineering code developers are nearly always in the critical path of new product launches and configuration upgrades.
LSS PM Experiences in Product Engineering Projects
σ σ BREAKTHROUGH SERVER PRODUCT planned to use a key supplier’s processor packaged in a new high-density CCGA package. System reliability is highly dependent on the solder attachment strength of the CCGA to the motherboard (MB). Action: Conducted proof-of-concept for the processor solder attachment to MB, testing several solder profiles, using LSS full-factorial Design of Experiments (DoE) in a thermal cycle accelerated life test to failure. Result: Quickly determined the optimal solder profile which produced the best reliability of the CCGA package plus board attach. Confirmed the processor supplier’s modeled reliability.
σ σ MEDICAL DEVICE OEM needed improved reliability of system alarm to resolve high field failure rate. Action: Using the LSS DMAIC method, determined actual failure rates by product configuration and time in service. Identified CTQ parameters. Constructed Fishbone diagram of possible causes, determined root causes of field alarm failures. Result: Design improvement rolled out to all devices in installed base reduced failure rate by 90% (that is, a 10X reduction in the defect rate).
One of the objections sometimes voiced concerning LSS is that “it’s too complicated – there are so many statistical methods and formulas to memorize. There isn’t time to learn them all, and know which ones to use in a situation.”
True, however – I could make the same argument about MS Excel®. It has hundreds of functions with a very specific and sometimes arcane syntax for each. It’s far more powerful than I need to run my business, and there’s no way I could learn everything about it in my lifetime. That’s not a reason to dismiss Excel® for business applications though, nor is it a reason to forego LSS in managing projects.
Choosing, learning, practicing, and mastering the most useful Lean Six Sigma practices and tools can be highly beneficial for the PM in managing product engineering projects.
Often, the hardest thing to do is to start. So start small. One way is to use the Plan-Do-Study-Adjust (PDSA) process to identify two or three procedural project management improvements you’d like to see regarding speed, cost, and/or quality. Then set up and run a kaizen improvement exercise and measure the results; you’re on the way!
Based on the statement above, you can now distill the hundreds of elements in LSS and determine that the best ones to study first are PDSA and kaizen. With an experienced Black Belt as a guide, your project team can be ready to tackle that by the end of the day.
Ping me, Dann@Lean6sigmaPM.com, to discuss your situation and issues, and how to employ LSS PM techniques and tools in your Product Engineering projects.
Product Engineering Case Study
Read about a product performance upgrade and rollout that almost derailed at the 11th hour, and how we used LSS practices first to discover and then to solve the complex problems at the source.