Design for Six SIGMA

A tightly written, high-level summary of working with Six Sigma in the product development and commercialization area. The book is particularly relevant for consumer product businesses. That said, if your firm deals with the FDA, there are a number of aspects in the book that correlate perfectly with the FDA's Quality by Design initiative to encourage pharmaceutical and medical device companies to build safety and efficacy into their products from Day One on the drawing table rather than toward the end in clinical trials. Specifically, you'll find the PIDOV (Plan, Identify, Design, Optimize, Validate) methodology helpful, as well as the CtQ (Critical to Quality) concept. If your firm already uses Six Sigma in manufacturing and operations, this book will give you enough information to make the decision if you want to implement Six Sigma earlier in your product development cycle. As an overview, this book is targeted at managers and senior executives, and should not be mistaken for a "how-to" manual. J. Avellanet, Cerulean Associates LLC

Very readable and applicable to new product introduction success. I liked the use of sidebars and icons for definitions,tools, cautions, tricks of the trade, examples and smart managing tips. Management checklists at the end of each chapter were good for summarizing and action planning. Generous use of references for more detailed information on specific tools and methods allowed focus on main topic of DFSS methodology and organization/management issues of implementation. Left me with desire to get more involved with DFSS in new product development to improve a company's growth.