Determining Requirements by Listening to the Voice of the Customer in Six Sigma
Customers are at the heart of all Six Sigma initiatives, and this focus on customers is what makes Six Sigma an outstanding organizational performance improvement program. The voice of the customer (VOC) is a Six Sigma strategy used to capture requirements and feedback from customers in order to meet their requirements. Voice of the customer is a critical input at every stage in the Six Sigma DMAIC process, particularly at the Define stage. At this stage, critical customer requirements concerning quality, cost, process, and delivery are collected and translated into measurable, actionable project goals using a number of tools. Using VOC begins with defining Six Sigma goals for collecting and analyzing customer requirements. It is imperative that Six Sigma leaders determine the critical to x (CTx) requirements concerning quality, cost, process, and delivery requirements of customers and the organization. Then the team needs to identify and select the most effective methods for collecting customer feedback and requirements. From there, customer requirements are translated into measurable, actionable project goals. This course examines how an organization uses the voice of the customer to define the problem at hand and to set the direction of its Six Sigma efforts. It discusses some common customer data collection methods – such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups – and looks at how to ensure validity and reliability in data collection. In addition, the course illustrates how tools such as CTx, SIPOC, Kano analysis, critical-to-quality (CTQ) analysis, and quality function deployment (QFD) are used to translate customer data into critical customer requirements and actionable goals for the Six Sigma team. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft’s ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
