Sigmetrix LLC, based in McKinney, Texas, develops CETOL Six Sigma software for mechanical tolerance analysis and optimization. The software had a devoted core of users around the world at the highest levels of industry, where innovative concepts of Design for Six Sigma quality and virtual prototyping were taking root in product engineering practices. The next move for Sigmetrix was to reach the section of the design market that had not yet understood the advantages of analyzing part tolerances early in order to improve product manufacturability and quality.
Taking an educational approach, Parker Group created a low-cost program of focused outreach to the trade media to explain the benefits of tolerance optimization and a Six Sigma approach to product design. We interviewed the company CEO and wrote a 6-page Q&A “white paper” for distribution to editors. The paper described how tolerance analysis had been performed in the past and how software for automating statistical computation was opening new applications for improving product development. The Q&A also explained the relationship between tolerance optimization and the Six Sigma quality movement, among other topics.
To bring the highly abstract subject of statistical analysis down to earth and demonstrate its importance to design, Parker Group and Sigmetrix created a step-by-step picture essay of tolerance optimization in action. Over a dozen screenshots of the company’s software, accompanied by an explanatory byline text, were published in Machine Design. Other articles on Sigmetrix software have appeared in Appliance Manufacturer and Quality. These articles, which cover complex topics in a straightforward, educational way, complemented Sigmetrix marketing efforts to expand the installed base of CETOL.