A systemic methodology to manage variation in the product design so all customer expectations are met, and so the product can be produced with minimal risk. DFSS is a subset of LPD.

Benefits
Improved Product Development & Design Quality Measurement, Reduced Financial Risk, Optimized Design for Manufacturing and Reliability, Focus on Product Performance Priorities
 

DFSS Thought Process
The DFSS thought process defines the product based on internal and external customers needs. External customers participate in the initial solution by ‘voice of the customer’ and the 1st level quality function deployment matrix. Internal customer needs are accommodated by optimizing the design for value. A critical aspect of DFSS is maximizing analytical tools and designing by analysis rather than a trial & error test approach. Once the performance of the design is modeled, analytical design-of-experiments can be used to establish transfer functions and integrate the cost of producing the ‘critical “x”s into the equation. Other key aspects of DFSS include multi-level quality function deployment based on the ReqM system breakdown structure (determines key characteristics), and design for reliability.