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There are several reasons why it can be daunting to apply Six Sigma to product creation. Foremost among them, the functional performance of new technologies is unknown prior to starting a project. Although, Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) was developed to overcome this difficulty, a lack of applicable in-class case studies makes it challenging to train the product creation community. The current paper describes an in-class project which illustrates how Six Sigma is applied to a simulated product creation environment. A toy construction set (TCS) project is used to instruct students how to meet customer expectations without violating cost, packaging volume and design-complexity constraints.

Deficiencies in understanding port flow have created an elongated design process involving computer automated engineering tools and empirical results. Analytical flow models could solve the problem however the error in existing algorithms often exceed ten percent. These discrepancies come from the fact that the flow direction relative to the outflow area has not been properly treated. The current paper describes how Design For Six Sigma was used to develop a new transfer function based upon a finite set of empirical results and the port geometry. The error between the volumetric flow rate transfer function and the observed result is less than ten percent. This accuracy is high enough to bypass the computer automated engineering process and its associated week-long delays.