The DMADV methodology can’t be
better explained than by comparing it with DMAIC methodology despite their
fundamental differences. Take for example, the case of a traveling salesman who
convinces a customer to buy at the best price. After invoicing and collecting
the shipping details, he discovers that there is a problem with the packaging
department which is unable to reduce the shipping volume as desired by the
customer. The salesman now remembers that nowadays, more and more customers are
demanding that their shipments’ volumes be reduced when packaged.
Now, the packaging department
has a problem on their hands which they are unable to resolve unless their rule
books are rewritten. What should the project team evaluate now; DMAIC or DMADV
methodology?
What is DMADV Methodology?
The acronym DMADV sounds pretty
much similar to DMAIC. The similarity ends after the first three letters DMA.
1.
Define: You
will define the goals of the project and that of the customers (both internal
and external)
2.
Measure: Here
you will quantify the customer needs as well as the goals of the management
3.
Analyze:
Analyze the options, existing process to determine the cause of error
origination and evaluate corrective measures
4.
Design: Design
a new process or a corrective step to the existing one to eliminate the error
origination that meets the target specification
5.
Verify:
Verify, by simulation or otherwise, the performance of thus developed design
and its ability to meet the target needs
There is a new viewpoint in Six
Sigma circles that DMADV is for designing new products and services and that it
may not be successful on existing business processes and products. Although the
argument is valid to some extent, you would do well to notice that the I of DMAIC is not far removed from the D of DMADV. You can easily say that
design is an extended concept of improvement.
Difference Between DMADV And DMAIC
The difference, as one can see
now, exists only in the way last two steps are handled. In DMADV, instead of
the Improve and Control steps which focuses on readjusting and controlling by one
way or other, deals with redesigning the process to fit customer needs.
Can You Use DMAIC In Place Of DMADV?
Let’s simply put it the other
way around. You can implement DMADV when you don’t have an existing product,
which you are aiming to create from scratch. The second occasion when you can
think of using DMADV is when in actual practice, DMAIC hasn’t yielded the
result you were looking for despite best efforts to make improvements. In a
nutshell, the latter reason can be summarized as: use DMADV when process
improvement either fails or doesn’t deliver to your expectations.
There are occasions when planned
DMAIC has turned into DMADV ultimately. Black Belts must take credit for this,
in my view, as this reflects their in-depth subject knowledge.
Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.