1. Lean 6 Sigma @
New Product Development
Tiago Lopes, Industrial Engineer/Executive MBA, March 2015
A personal view into tools and
methodologies

2. What is NPD – New Product
Development
• In business and engineering, new product
development (NPD) is the complete process
of bringing a new product to market
- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• We should add that a “Service” can also be
considered as a “Product” and it’s availability
is also the result from a specific development
process

3. Why Lean 6 Sigma @ NPD ?
• Inspiration alone will not be enough for a new product to ever
“see the light of day”
• Very bright, creative and strong minded (somewhat
temperamental) people are normally at the center of
development work but they also need to be guided in order to
deliver “value”.
• How to make that work, without opposing their character and
stifling their creative sparkle?

4. L6S applied to NPD!
• I think of the NPD as a process that needs to deliver an output
and thus it make sense to use the same L6S techniques
• Communication becomes easier and focused, removing some
of the emotional content we are sometimes entangled in
• Go back to the basics – how can we “construct the house”?
Does the process makes sense? Is the process delivering value
to the customer?
Just – In –
Time
• Single piece
workflow
• Pull
• Takt
Jidoka
• Autonomation
• Built-in Quality
• Stop at defect
System
People
Process
Purpose
Heijunka
• Level loading
• Sequencing
• Stability

5. Where to start?(1/2)
Just-in-
Time
Single Piece
Flow
Eliminate batch build up
before start working on
solution. Decompose work
monoliths into simpler tasks,
so that it can be addressed in
a sequence of steps rather
than a complete "lock down"
of some times unique
resources, until solved.
Differentiate between expert services
and standard services. Have triggers
and levels of service to guide you
through the decision gates.
Understand why batches build -
normally mismatch between supply
and demand. In Engineering it
happens to try to maximize the use
of a scarce resource such as
availability of an expert. So, we must
ask the question - if it is an expert
service, why is it building up to mass
production of service?
Pull
Production
Work out solutions by pulling
constructed knowledge, not
by re-inventing the wheel
every time
"Distil" knowledge into models, tools,
templates that allow calculations and
sharing information even to other
processes.
The secret will be to use those
models to quickly answer to
customers and work on the
knowledge to improve the model so
that the reliability of the model
guarantees satisfaction - both
internally and to the customer.
TAKT Time
Production
What are the services
requested? What is their
frequency? How much time
to deliver the service
requested? How will this
then translate we the
resources available?
Make the distinction between
"product families" according to the
resources needed, then apply all
manufacturing techniques as if a
physical product would be realized -
TAKT, VSM, Lead time improvement
by reducing batches, eliminating non-
value added, dividing capacity
through multiple resources
Applied to How to

6. Where to start?(2/2)
Jidoka
Autonomation
Understand business
processes and escalation
procedures
Set standards, communicate and
review accordingly
Built-in
Quality
Understand products,
materials and technologies
as well as their performance
characteristics
Built-in indicators that will alert for
non-conformities
Stop at defect
Poka-yoka on processes,
models, templates
Present quality targets and
confidence limits to evaluate
against KPI's
Heijunka
Level loading
From the VSM, actual
demands and resources plan
the deployment of work
Use Kanban to pull resources,
Pacemakers to harmonize
resources
Sequencing
Priority and visibility of work
being done
Use visual management
techniques to indicate flow speed
and intensity
Stability
Set your management skill to
provide a stable environment
able to deal both with
standard work or exceptions
Daily reviews of indicators, conflict
resolution, empowerment,
communication - GEMBA walk
Applied to How to

7. Just-in-Time conceptual example
Analyse Define Solve
Requirements Engineering Costing Pricing
Lead time
…cannot fit!
As an example, when answering to a consultation to develop a new
product/service, the traditional approach would be to take the necessary
time to design a concept and then cost and pricing it!
But we cannot afford this anymore otherwise we become uncompetitive not
due to our offer or technical expertise but because the lead-time is not
suitable to very dynamic markets

8. AnalyseDefineSolve
Just-in-Time conceptual example
Requirements Engineering Costing Pricing
Same Lead time
…perfect fit!
Focused scientific work
without the stress =
incredibly better results
Solve
Providing the required result
in JIT = What is needed,
when it is needed!

9. End note
Dear readers,
My goal is to share a fresh and different view on a
probably much discussed theme…
I will only know if I achieved my purpose if you are
able to provide me feedback.
Thanks in advance!

10. Who am I?
• I’m an Industrial Engineer and exec. MBA
• Experienced in
– Management: Plant Management, Business management,
Project Management, VA/VE and other special projects
– Operations: Supply chain, Industrial footpath & Green field
operations, Lean process installation & Ergonomics, Lean 6
Sigma continuous improvement
– Finance: P&L, Business plans, Cost calculation
– International footpath,
– Passionate for sci-fi and strategy