DFSS Methodology for the Service Industry at Samsung Group

Purpose: Six sigma has been developed in manufacturing environments and is rapidly expanding to the service area. However, while a number of successful cases for DFSS projects have been reported in the manufacturing industry, there has been a lack of studies that consider the DFSS methodology for non-manufacturing sectors. This paper introduces a DFSS methodology, developed and being used in Samsung Group, for the service industry. Methodology/Approach: This paper compares DFSS methodology with DMAIC and presents a DFSS roadmap for the service industry that consists of five macro phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify. We also provide a real industry case to illustrate the usage of the methodology. Findings: In the service companies of Samsung Group, such as Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the proposed methodology in this paper has been applied to thousands of projects for several years and it is found that the proposed methodology is very useful for developing new processes and service products. Originality/Value of paper: Although there have been rich research efforts to study the Six sigma model, the majority are about DMAIC projects in manufacturing industry. The key result of this paper is development of a DFSS methodology for non-manufacturing industry and it is quite unique.