An application of design of experiment in DMAIC projects : Comat srl case

From it is birth in late 80‟s; The Six Sigma methodology has evolved and become a corporate philosophy. Nowadays, it is an industrial fashion, since it provides a systematic approach to process improvement projects. The following work is aimed to show the practical advantages of Design of Experiment in Six Sigma project. Since the Design of Experiments significantly reduces the necessary time and effort of testing phases, it provides important support in the Measure and Analysis phase of the DMAIC project. As an application, the Design of Experiments tool has been used in a product improvement project of a small sized Italian enterprise, Comat srl. To achieve competitive advantage, a product development project with the aim of reducing „the total costs of ownership for customers‟ has been executed. The total costs of ownership, The Design of Experiments significantly reduced the number of necessary experiments, which increased the effectiveness of the project. Finally, the findings of the analysis have been discussed and the improvement options have been argued both financially and technically. Also the organizational and motivational problems faced trough the project have been listed and discussed to lead the possible future works.