Applying Design for Six Sigma to Software and Hardware Systems

This book provides a clear roadmap and guidance for developing products - not only simple products, but also high tech, information age products and systems involving both Software and Hardware development. The book provides real and realistic examples, so that the reader will have exactly what he or she needs to successfully apply DFSS to systems, software and/or hardware development projects. The scope encompasses the development project from the development, justification and prioritization of the business case and the associated project schedule, through the developing of customer-driven requirements and consequent efforts to fulfill those requirements with high confidence.

Eric Maass has thirty years of experience with Motorola, ranging from research and development through manufacturing, to director of operations for a $160 million business and director of design and systems engineering for Motorola’s RF Products Division. Dr.Maass was a cofounder of the Six Sigma methods at Motorola, and was a key advocate for the focus on variance reduction; his article on a “Strategy to Reduce Variance” was published in 1987, the year that Motorola announced Six Sigma. He codeveloped a patented method for multiple response optimization that has resulted in over 60 first-pass successful new products, and most recently has been the lead Master Black Belt for Design for Six Sigma at Motorola. He coauthored the Handbook of Fiber Optic Data Communication and a variety of chapters in books and articles ranging from concept selection to augmentation of design of experiments to multiple response optimization to advanced decision-making methods. Dr. Maass’s other accomplishments include driving the turnaround of the Logic Division from “virtual chapter 11” to second-most profitable division (of 22 divisions) in two years, and he also won the contract for Freescale Semiconductor’s largest customer, Qualcomm. Dr. Maass has a rather diverse educational background, with a B.A. in biological sciences, an M.S. in chemical and biomedical engineering, a Ph.D. in industrial engineering, and nearly thirty years’ experience in electrical engineering. Dr. Maass is currently consulting with and advising several companies and institutions including Motorola, Arizona State University, Oracle, and Eaton.

Patricia McNair is the director of Motorola’s software Design for Six Sigma program and a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. She served as cochair of the Software Development Consortium and program director of the Motorola Six Sigma Software Academy. She travels internationally to various countries including France, England, China, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Brazil, and many others for consulting and training of Motorola engineers.
    She spent more than twenty-five years in software and systems engineering roles including systems engineering manager, design engineer manager, architect and requirements lead, senior process manager, certified SEI instructor for the introduction to CMMI, certified Six Sigma black belt, and authorized SEI CBA IPI lead assessor for various companies such as Motorola, GE Healthcare, and IBM Federal Systems, where she worked through and managed all phases of a software development life cycle, from requirement gathering, design, development, and implementation, to production and support.
    She has served as an adjunct professor at De Paul University in Chicago, the State University of New York at Binghamton, and at the University of Phoenix.
    She holds an M.S. in computer science from the State University of New York at Binghamton and an MBA from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.