Quality has been the illustrious word of the 80s and 90s as we speak organizations are chasing quality problems through the engineering teams and into production. Taskforces of workers in white coats are being sent on to the production line to furiously check components, monitoring process capability in an attempt to improve product quality.
Unfortunately it's only after several years of production that the first “real” data gets back to the engineering teams, when it is often too late to remove the causes of these quality problems. The organization is left kicking itself over the same old catch twenty-two situations, “If only the team knew this process data before they decided to engineer it like that!”
The challenge set to the integrated product teams (IPT) is “How does the IPT effectively develop its knowledge of the portfolio of manufacturing processes available for a particular program in time to impact product design in order that a quality product is developed at an affordable cost?”
This paper provides an overview and examples of a practical approach to developing this knowledge within the IPT. It covers the following topics:
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The identification and capture of product requirements with relationship to assembly and part features in the early phases of Integrated Product Development (IPD).
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The application of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) to these features and its impact on location, manufacturing and inspection methodologies.
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The development of “up front” generic process parts to initiate the flow of process capability data.
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The interpretation of this information within the IPT to support product development