The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance

CHAPTER 13Defining Customer Requirements(Roadmap Step 2)

Introduction

This chapter is all about what may be the most important new “core competency” your organization will need to develop in the 21^st century. Understanding what customers really want—and how their needs, requirements, and attitudes change over time—will require a combination of discipline, persistence, creativity, sensitivity, science, and, sometimes, luck.

Step 2 Overview

The “final” products of this Six Sigma activity include:

• A strategy and system for continually tracking and updating customer requirements, competitor activities, market changes, etc.—aka, a “Voice of the Customer” (VOC)¹ system.

• A description of specific, measurable performance standards for each key Output, ...