SDI Tools is a set of commercial software add-in tools for
Microsoft Excel developed and distributed by Statistical Design Institute, LLC., a privately owned company located in
Texas,
United States.
SDI Tools were first developed in 2000 by Dr. George Chollar, Dr. Jesse Peplinski, and Garron Morris as several Add-Ins for Microsoft Excel to support a methodology for product development that combined elements of
Design for Six Sigma and
Systems Engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...
Today, SDI Tools are split into two main
Microsoft Excel Add-Ins called Triptych and Apogee.
Triptych
Triptych is a Microsoft Excel Add-in that provides support for documenting and clarifying the voice of the customer (VOC), identifying and flowing down requirements, and generating and selecting design alternatives. Triptych includes functionality for:
*QFD: Captures the voice of the customer and translates it into engineering requirements using
Quality Function Deployment methods.
*Affinity Diagram: A Tool for sorting large number of ideas or concepts into logical groupings using the
Affinity diagram method.
*AHP (Importance): Prioritizes (or ranks) Items by performing pair-wise comparisons of Items against each other in terms of relative importance using a one-level
Analytic Hierarchy Process.
*TRIZ: Generates ideas for solving technical contradictions using the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving
TRIZ.
*Pugh Matrix: Qualitative
multi-criteria decision analysis
Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) or multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making (both in daily life and in settings ...
using
Pugh Concept Selection
The decision-matrix method, also Pugh method or Pugh concept selection, invented by Stuart Pugh,S. Pugh (1981) Concept selection: a method that works. In: Hubka, V. (ed.), Review of design methodology. Proceedings international conference on engin ...
method.
*TOPSIS: Goal-based
multi-criteria decision analysis
Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) or multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making (both in daily life and in settings ...
using Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodology.
*SDI Matrix: Quantitative
multi-criteria decision analysis
Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) or multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making (both in daily life and in settings ...
developed by Statistical Design Institute using Value Assessments for product specifications.
*FMEA: A risk assessment technique for systematically identifying potential failures in a system or a process using
Failure mode and effects analysis.
Apogee
Apogee is a Microsoft Excel Add-In that integrates the capabilities of sensitivity analysis, Monte Carlo analysis, allocation, and multi-objective optimization into a single easy-to-use toolset. Apogee works with functions Y = f(x) that you create freeform in Microsoft Excel workbooks. Its functionality includes:
*Sensitivity Analysis: Assesses the magnitude of response variation caused by the variation of the parameters using a
Sensitivity analysis.
*Monte Carlo Analysis: Assesses the magnitude and shape of response variation caused by the variation of the parameters using the
Monte Carlo method.
*Allocation: identifies the allowable amount of parameter variation that will improve response variation to a desired level. (Often referred to as statistical
tolerance analysis
Tolerance analysis is the general term for activities related to the study of accumulated variation in mechanical parts and assemblies. Its methods may be used on other types of systems subject to accumulated variation, such as mechanical and elec ...
or requirements flowdown.)
*Optimization: searches for new parameter values that will drive multiple response values to desired targets using statistical,
multi-objective optimization driven by a custom
genetic algorithm
In computer science and operations research, a genetic algorithm (GA) is a metaheuristic inspired by the process of natural selection that belongs to the larger class of evolutionary algorithms (EA). Genetic algorithms are commonly used to gene ...
.
Application of SDI Tools
SDI Tools are typically used in
Six Sigma training, industry, and academic research
[P. Hart, “A PLM Implementation for Aerospace Systems Engineering-Conceptual Rotorcraft Design”, Master Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, May 2009]
See also
*
List of Six Sigma software packages
References
External links
Statistical Design Institute Home page
{{Statistical software
Microsoft Office-related statistical software
Windows-only software