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Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) has become one of the most important tools for innovation project development. It has been used for several companies and good results are being reported as effect of the methodology. This paper aims to present an application of DFSS on an automotive technology development process. It was possible to listen to the “Voice of customer”, translate it into measurable parameters, generate potential concepts and finally identify the most adequate technology. The use of Design for Six Sigma methodology was shown very efficient to technology prospect. The structured frame work and focusing in two main points (being them first “Get the right design” and then “design right”) are the strengths of the methodology.

This paper aims to present an application of some quality tools focused on best concept identification process to meet defined customer requirements in activities of process development in an industry of automotive sector. First of all it was done a literature review in order to clear establish the concepts of the following tools: “voice of the customer”, “affinity diagram”, “pair wise comparison”, “quality function deployment (QFD)” and “Pugh matrix”. After it is presented the application of these tools in activities of technology research of advanced engineering department. The first task was to identify all customers related to the process in study. After this, some interviews were scheduled with them and the entire “voice of customer” was collected. With all this information it was used “affinity diagram” to summarize the inputs and used “pair wise comparison” to prioritize customer needs. To translate voice of customer into measurable parameters it was used QFD.

Miniaturization is an important trend in many technology segments, once it can enable innovative applications generating new markets. This trend was begun in electronics industry after World War II and has spawned changes into automotive sector also. For Automotive Wiring Harness, miniaturization is clearly presented in most of the components, mainly because of its benefits like the potential of mass reduction, cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Furthermore the main voice of customer points to cable gauge reduction that represents a considerable challenge for connection manufacturing process due to quality control limitations presented by conventional crimp process for 0,35 [mm₂] cables and smaller. According to that, the scope of this article is to present, in details, a manufacturing process optimization for an alternative and more robust technology of joining copper stranded cables to tin brass terminals used on automotive wiring harness, Resistance Welding.