The Six Sigma Handbook, Revised and Expanded, 2nd Edition

19.1. PRELIMINARY STEPS

DFSS projects begin with the creation of a project charter. However, a bit of fact-finding is required prior to the creation of the charter. If a process already exists, the Black Belt needs to become familiar with the way the existing process operates to determine if the DMAIC approach or the DFSS approach should be used. An excellent way to do this is to observe the operation firsthand. If a product or service is involved, observe its use by customers. For example, if the process were a call center, have real customers contact the call center and observe what happens on both ends of the call.

If no process exists, consider whether similar processes exist elsewhere and, if so, arrange to observe them. Perhaps subprocesses ...