CREATIVE PHASE | Six Sigma and Beyond: Design for Six Sigma, Volume VI

The creative phase requires the use of your imagination to develop alternative solutions to the functions defined in Phase I. The systematic value control approach makes use of "brainstorming" as a principal technique; however, the "blast-create-define" technique must frequently be used in conjunction with others.

Brainstorming is defined as the combined effort of two or more people to determine all possible methods for performing the required functions. There is no attempt at evaluation; this will come later. The requirement is to develop any and all ideas that may include the outstanding alternative to satisfy the required functions.

It is necessary to become free from the constraints of past habits and attitudes and apply thought needlers ” see Table 12.2 ” to increase the ideas when they begin to slow down. Refer to specialty processes, products, or materials for ideas. Apply the use of standards. Seek ideas from plant specialists and supplier representatives. Use catalog files such as Thomas Register and Sweets. Remember:

Ideas come from every place and anybody. Do not restrict your thinking!
Conduct a brainstorming session on each required function. List all ideas.
Try to eliminate or combine functions. Be as flexible as possible.

Table 12.2: Idea Needlers or Thought Stimulators
How much of this is the result of custom, tradition or options? Why does it have this shape? How would I design it if I had to build it in my home workshop? What if this were turned inside out? Reversed ? Upside down? What is this were larger? Higher? Wider? Thicker? Lower? Longer? What else can it be made to do? Suppose this were left out? How can it be done piecemeal? How can it appeal to the senses? How about extra value? Can this be multiplied? What if this were blown up? What if this were carried to extremes? How can this be made more compact? Would this be better symmetrical or asymmetrical ? In what form could this be? Liquid, powder, paste, or solid? Rod, tube, triangle, cube, or sphere? Can motion be added to it? Will it be better standing still? What other layout might be better? Can cause and effect be reversed? Is one possibility better than the other? Should it be put on the other end or in the middle? Should it slide instead of rotate? Can you demonstrate or describe it by what it is not? Has a search been made of the patent literature? Trade journals? Could a supplier supply this for quicker assembly? What other materials would do this job? What is similar to this but costs less? Why? What if it were made lighter or faster? What motion or power is wasted ? Could the package be used for something afterward? If all specifications could be forgotten, how else could the basic function be accomplished? Could these be made to meet specifications? How do competitors solve problems similar to this?

There is no end to change. Change is in fact necessary to survival; therefore, people must constantly advance. Our concern in value control is advancement in engineering and manufacturing in a creative and productive sense.

Although we would all readily agree with the comments in the preceding paragraph, the individual effort necessary to expand our creative contributions is not automatic but rather requires concentrated effort and deliberate practice.

There are several stifling factors that prevent creative productivity from being as free as it could be. For one, customs and traditions that have become a part of our everyday life bind us whether we realize it or not. Second, habits that can be good or bad, depending on the situation, can limit creative productivity. One way to control habits is to first realize that much of what we do and observe in others is determined by habit, and then make a conscious effort to appraise the value of our problem solving habits and attempt to discard those that minimize creative thinking.

Unless we progress in this effort, we can become enclosed in a prism of complacency. Inappropriate habits in problem solving can also build a wall of pride about the way we are currently doing things and completely smother our will.

In addition, factors that stifle our own creativity are present in those around us. The attitudes of others can be encouraging and stimulating. On the other hand, the attitudes of associates can be stifling when our creative efforts are met with complacency or defensive reactions .

Some individuals who have presented good original ideas and then encountered dogma, inertia, minimizers, rationalizers, complacency, apathy, negativism, autocracy, or other stifling conditions will "freeze" creative thought. Others will transfer their creativity to other parts of their lives: home, church , recreation, any place but the job.

If we are to encourage creative productivity, we must eliminate any idea that the instant an idea is proposed it must be bitten, broken, or kicked. In order to break ineffective habits and overcome stifling environments, a technique that is helpful is to firmly commit ourselves to a goal to our associates, superiors, or even the general public. In actual process, this technique resolves itself into the establishment of firm deadlines and numerous subdeadlines in the course of a project. You will experience that process during every value control experience.

Another technique is the inversion technique. It is used to solve the what-causes-it type problem. This technique concentrates on inverting the problem. For example, if the problem is how to cut cost, the technique would ask how you increase the cost effectively.

Yet another technique for breaking through our judgment controls of creative expression is that of "blast, create, and refine." This technique is extremely helpful in reaching value objectives. For years , we have been trying to reduce cost by 5, 10, or 15% through normal cost reduction procedures (material, fabrication methods, etc.) This has become more and more difficult.

If we try to take out a larger percentage, say 50%, we are immediately forced to take a new approach to the problem. The blast, create, and refine (BCR) technique combines the function approach with creativity and evaluation of ideas in order to find new, more effective ways to accomplish the required function in products, processes, or procedures. There are several reasons to use the BCR approach; however, the three major ones are:

It makes possible more creative problem solutions by eliminating details of the existing product and freeing the mind for thought that could lead to more productive solutions.
It directs thinking to basic considerations.
It provides a mechanism for building on these basic considerations to develop a final product satisfying all necessary requirements.

Intense study of any product shows that it is, to greater or lesser degree, the result of a chain of happenings (evolution). Even the new products that value engineering may bring forth will, to some extent, also exhibit this type of evolution. Therefore the search for better value requires that we ask the following vital questions: How can this chain of influence be stopped ? How can we objectively look at a function? The technique of blasting, creating, and then refining is especially directed toward accomplishing these objectives. Its application is in three phases, which are:

PHASE 1. BLAST

This phase consists of specifically identifying that portion of the problem under study that does, in fact, perform the basic function (or part or most of it). Next, we blast that portion out of the problem (isolate it) so that we can think about it clearly and specifically . The basic function is the first block in the FAST diagram.

PHASE 2. CREATE

In this phase we try to answer the question: What do I have to add to that which I isolated, in the blast phase, to make it capable of performing the required functions or to have it work and sell? Alternatives are developed and costs are put on each one. Make no attempt to evaluate alternatives at this time.

PHASE 3. REFINE

We evaluate the ideas developed in the create phase and through an objective process of refining, develop an approach which will meet all the performance, cost, and delivery parameters required.