Browse Topic: Quality function deployment
The work performed for the Adaptive Resilient Engineered Structures (ARES) program sponsored by the U.S. Army constitutes a trade study and resulting proposal for a structural demonstrator platform. The trade study was conducted using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) process and a subsequent Artificial Intelligence (AI) exercise to find clusters of technologies for structural efficiency and resilience from Boeing's internal research activities. From a selection of approximately 150 technologies at different TRLs, Boeing subject matter experts (SMEs) for structural technologies identified several characteristics that could potentially determine the development of ARES structural demonstrator. Through the QFD process, the list of technologies was down selected about 50 unique technologies for consideration. The next stage of the QFD process entailed in identifying 37 different attributes or criteria long which each of these technologies would be assessed. They were grouped under two different categories: vehicle performance criteria and program performance criteria. Importance scores were provided by the SMEs independently and then a statistical approach for AI was used to distill them to 9 significant ones (labeled as 'Pillars') and a further distillation to 3 significant features (labeled as 'Super Metrics'). Clustering algorithms were then employed to group the set of technologies that could provide the resiliency targets sought for the demonstrator platform. The clusters were compared a hypothetical ideal platform to determine suitability and finally, 12 technologies merited attention toward the stated goals of the demonstrator platform.
This paper introduces a wholistic approach for design and development of a turbo-charged four-cylinder engine system using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology for target setting. Additionally, an exhaustive comparison is conducted between the current product’s NVH performance and that of the target product to design the required countermeasures to reach the desired performance. The proposed process consists of subsequent phases; starting with the voice of customer collection and organizing customer clinic, definition of strategic target to reach, specifying the gap between the current product’s performance, and setting the desired target levels to design and develop the required enablers to close the gap. The final phase is the demonstration of the current product with emulated enablers to the stakeholders.
Paddy farming in India requires extensive water use. Due to the rapidly declining groundwater and ever-increasing monsoon uncertainty, there is a significant drive on water conservation for paddy farming through sustainable agriculture practices. The wide depth variability of irrigation water in Indian rice fields, as much as 160 mm, necessitates an extra 100 mm of water in the field to provide complete water coverage. This is primarily due to the inaccurate manual land leveling often practiced in Indian paddy farming. However, accurate laser land levelers have been created by integrating low-cost electronics, hydraulics and global positioning system (GPS) technology. This paper provides an overview of current practices and suitable operating procedures to meet the future demand for land leveling. The presentation compares the laser land leveler with GPS land-leveling solutions, examining technical differences and individual merits and limitations. In addition, a stakeholder analysis evaluates the various technology solutions for agricultural practices. Of the world's available cropland, paddy accounts for more than 11%. It is imperative-for agricultural and environmental sustainability, food and water security and greenhouse gas emissions-that paddy rice agriculture is monitored and mapped in a timely and efficient manner. Meanwhile, water-resource management is a major concern because rice paddy is grown in flooded soils. More than 80% of the fresh water in most cases, and as much as 95% in some cases, is used for irrigation in the Asian study area. This degree of irrigation raises concerns about the maintenance and potential contamination of the water supply. Also, greenhouse-gas methane is a byproduct of seasonally flooded rice paddies, contributing to more than 10% of the total methane flux to the atmosphere. In India, rice is grown over a large area and a broad range of landscapes; a wide variation of climatic conditions exist in such a varied landscape. Thus a variety of unique paddy farming techniques have evolved, based on water source (irrigated, rain-fed, deep-water), crop management (single-crop, multi-crop) and seasonality (wet season, dry season).
Evading traffic congestion by personal flying vehicle is still a far fetched dream. Recent advancements in predicting divergence speeds of slung loads using the Continuous Rotation Method (CRM) of airloads measurement has made is possible to obtain complete aerodynamic load maps of objects. In turn this enables on-the-fly system identification and dynamics predictions to ensure safety and smooth rides with slung loads. A concept is proposed for an air-lift service which can transport people with their personal road vehicles over congested areas. QFD and OEC analyses are used to compare different VTOL options for such a system. A pure conventional helicopter with internal or external carriage, a quadrotor, a lighter-than-air (LTA) platform with a quadrotor, and an LTA with cycloidal rotors are compared. The last two are found to be feasible, with only the LTA-cycloidal meeting all requirements when downwash and noise constraints are imposed. A streamlined carriage concept with aerodynamic control surfaces is suggested. A HUMVEE is used as an example where aerodynamic load mapping has been done, and the data used in predicting dynamics. This shows how to estimate the speed constraints to keep oscillations below specified levels, and verify the safety of the flight envelope.
An automotive vehicle should be designed to satisfy the wants of customers. The key is how to convert voices of customers into engineering languages. In other words, transfer the wants of customers into the right technical characteristics of a vehicle. A questionnaire of customer wants for a CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle) is created and processed. Using QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and modified KANO model, the relative important degree is obtained from the original relative important degree of customer wants surveyed. Since some information gained is uncertain and the questionnaire sample is limited, a gray correlation analysis method is introduced, which calculates the competitive important degree of customer wants, then the final important degree of customer wants is gained by integrating the relative important degree and the competitive important degree. In order to solve the correlation degree of the wants of customers and the vehicle technical characteristics, Six senior auto experts are investigated through a special designed questionnaire. According to the survey results, a correlation matrix of customer wants and technical characteristics is built up, thus the technical correlation degree of the wants of customers and the vehicle technical characteristics is calculated. Utilizing the final important degree of customer wants and the technical correlation degree, in other words, combining QFD with modified KANO model, the weight factors of the CUV's technical characteristics are set up finally.
Many high risks of failure in developing and applying new technologies exist in the recent automotive industry because of big volume of selling cars in a global market. Several recalls cost companies more than $ 100 million per problem. New technologies always have uncertainty in performing intended functions at various given conditions despite the fact that engineers do their best to develop technologies to meet all the requirements. Uncertainty of new technologies put companies into danger of failing in their business. Therefore, many companies tend to take interest in reducing risks from the uncertainty in technologies, but the increasing complexity of modern automotive technologies make it difficult to develop complete technologies. A new engineering methodology called SPEED Engineering was introduced to reduce the risks of new technology applications and to facilitate engineers to conceive innovative ideas dominating the market in the future. Also it is used to help engineers solve engineering problems caused by system conflicts or complex factors. It consists of 3 modules: 1) generating new ideas, 2) finding out problems in technologies which ideas were realized into and 3) solving the problems discovered. Engineering methods such as QFD, FMEA, TRIZ and Robust Engineering which are proven to be excellent in many cases are fully or partially used to conduct each module. SPEED Engineering is not simply a mechanical assembly of these methods but a chemically integrated one. Wastes which engineers suffer from in innovation activities like DFSS, Six Sigma and FMEA can be eliminated and more values can be added through this engineering process. Especially, SPEED FMEA, one of the modules of SPEED Engineering, played an excellent role in preventing failures of 407 new technologies from occurring and gave Hyundai Motor Company 1 billion dollars of financial benefits for 2 years.
Long periods of sitting occur during our day to day life. It has been estimated that up to 80% of our active non-sleeping time is spent in some sort of sitting position during work, recreation, entertainment, commuting, resting, and exercising. As a result, several health effects like numbness, nerve/circulation occlusions, pressure sore, low back pain, and vein thrombosis have been associated with protracted sitting. Numerous researches have been conducted in the area of seat comfort that depended on conventional methods of testing physical prototype of seat model for comfort. The implementation of the seat comfort results are implemented in the next cycle of the design which may take up to three years. Recent advances in new technology, available after the prototype seat comfort testing, may not be incorporated in the next new seat design. This research work is geared towards developing a technique, tool and metric for seat comfort prediction. The approach stems from using System Engineering by Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to inculcate the understanding of the consumers' wants into designing comfort into the seat design process. The resulting QFD and other factors affecting seat comfort such as seat features, anthropometrics, seat design parameters, and sitting time are used to develop a computer model for predicting seat comfort. The model is designed to predict the level of comfort associated with a seat based on sitting time, seat material properties and features before the production of physical seat prototype.
The exhaust valve plays a role of reducing the mechanical noise and vibration of vehicle by smooth discharging of the vehicle emissions after combustion process in exhaust system of engine. The torsion spring is one of the most core components in exhaust valve, which generates variable torque for control of opening and closing angle of exhaust valve. Its performance represents all over the performance of exhaust system of vehicle. As it were, the failure of torsion spring means the failure of all exhaust system. So, as well as performance, the reliability of the torsion spring is very important. To secure the reliability is same to secure the security and comfort of passengers including driver. This paper proposed two methods for improvement of torque and reliability characteristics of torsion spring. One is improvement of heat treatment condition for getting of more constant torque characteristic of torsion spring. The optimal heating cycle for heat treatment is newly introduced, which is time and temperature concept based on related references and author's empirical knowledge. The propriety of this method is verified through comparison of torque characteristics between before and after heat treatment using the new condition. Another is inducement of design equations for theoretical design and decision of the design parameters. The design equations composed by combination of the manufacturer's opinion, references, and empirical knowledge. The correctness of the design equations are shown by similarity of the torque values between theoretical design and experimental results of prototypes. In addition, we also developed some kinds of failure analysis documents as like FMMA(Failure Modes and Mechanisms Analysis), FMECA(Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis), FTA(Fault Tree Analysis), and 2-Stage QFD(Quality Function Deployment) for reliability assessment of torsion spring. These offer important failure information like major failure cause and effect, life time, test items, and accelerated life factor of torsion spring.
This document addresses robustness of electrical/electronic modules for use in automotive applications. Where practical, methods of extrinsic reliability detection and prevention will also be addressed. This document primarily deals with electrical/electronic modules (EEMs), but can easily be adapted for use on mechatronics, sensors, actuators and switches. EEM qualification is the main scope of this document. Other procedures addressing random failures are specifically addressed in the CPI (Component Process Interaction) section 10. This document is to be used within the context of the Zero Defect concept for component manufacturing and product use. It is recommended that the robustness of semiconductor devices and other components used in the EEM be assured using SAE J1879 OCT2007, Handbook for Robustness Validation of Semiconductor Devices in Automotive Applications. The emphasis of this document is on hardware and manufacturing failure mechanisms, however, other contemporary issues as shown in Figure 1 need to be addressed for a thorough Robustness Validation. A Pareto of contemporary issues is shown in Figure 1. Although this document addresses many of the issues shown, however some are outside the scope of this document and will need to be addressed for a thorough RV process application. Examples of issues outside the scope of this document are system interactions, interfaces, functionality, HMI (Human-Machine Interface) and software. At the time of publication of this handbook, a system level Robustness Validation handbook, which addresses these issues, had been initiated.
The importance of reliability in design engineering has significantly grown since the early 1960’s. Competition has been a primary driver in this growth. The three realities of competition today are: world class quality and reliability, cost-effectiveness, and fast time-to-market. Formerly, companies could effectively compete if they could achieve at least two of these features in their products and product development processes, often at the expense of the third. However, customers today, whether military, aerospace, or commercial, have been sensitized to a higher level of expectation and demand products that are highly reliable, yet affordable. Product development practices are shifting in response to this higher level of expectation. Today, there is seldom time, or necessary resources to extensively test, analyze, and fix to achieve high quality and reliability. It is also true that the rapid growth in technology prevents the accumulation of historical data on the field performance of their products. Unfortunately, some reliability methods have depended upon the availability of historical data, other experiential information, or learning through extensive and time consuming tests. The new realities require innovation and creativity in the selection and use of reliability methods, and teamwork and collaboration in the management of product development programs. There must be a shift from seeking to eliminate complaints in products, to eliciting praise for them. To enable this transition, reliability efforts must be directed toward anticipating problems and designing-in features that assure the achievement of quality and reliability, concurrent with the development process, instead of trying to assess quality and reliability downstream. The gains in time-to-market and cost savings from such an approach can be significant. More recent reliability programs tend not to prescribe reliability tasks or methods to be performed by suppliers. Rather, suppliers are considered equal partners in the effort to produce a reliable product and work with the companies in deciding which reliability methods provide most value in achieving objectives. Nevertheless, developing reliable products and achieving reliability goals often requires different approaches for various product sectors. For example, in the defense/aerospace sector, the number of customers is relatively small. The product development cycle may span several years, while the product life cycle may last from mere minutes to as long as decades. Furthermore, it is not unusual for several design iterations of technologically different hardware and software to be developed before the final version is incorporated into the production product. Production volumes may range from rates of less than ten to hundreds per year. Also, the reliability discipline in this sector is generally a separate activity from the design discipline. The commercial sector, in contrast to the defense/aerospace sector, usually has a higher number of different customers. Development cycles could range from months to a few years while life cycles are often measured in years. Production volumes may run up to thousands per day. The reliability discipline is treated usually as an integral part of the up-front design process rather than a separate activity. Thus, developing a reliability implementation guide to meet the needs of all industry sectors is a formidable challenge. It recognized that this Guide will not strictly apply to all situations or industries. The suggestions made in this Guide must be interpreted in the context of the industry, its accepted practices, and unique company policies. The following statement will be repeated several times in this document to emphasize its importance: “The selection of methods is a highly individualized process. This point cannot be overemphasized and this document does not attempt to prescribe any given method or set of methods. There is no right answer that will apply across the board to every organization or every product development. Suppliers and customers need to determine which methods are most applicable to their specific product developments.”
The Common System Requirements Analysis (CSRA) method in the avionics system design domain was presented in this paper. The CSRA method was improved from the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method. The basic principle and the analysis steps of the CSRA were depicted. A practical case of the common avionics system requirements analysis and three proposals assessment was executed by adopting the CSRA method and its results. The case application showed the feasible and capability of the CSRA method on the design procedures of common avionics system of a multisystem, such as the Series Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial System (SRUAS), which have several independent systems for different types of missions. The CSRA can enable the higher quality, lower cost, and shorter development period of the common avionics system.
This document provides information to help the reader view maintainability in the context of an overall systems engineering effort. The guide defines maintainability, describes its relationship to other disciplines, addresses the basic elements common to sound maintainability programs, and describes the tasks and activities associated with those elements.
An existing pass by noise data acquisition system was upgraded to provide the sophisticated data analysis techniques and test site efficiency required to comply with the current and future drive by noise regulations. Use of six sigma tool such as voice of the customer helped in defining the customer requirements which were then translated into the desired engineering characteristics using QFD. Pugh concept matrix narrowed down the best option suitable for the test site modifications taking into account the critical constraints such as test complexity, system cost & transparency to the existing drive by noise setup. Features of the new system include data telemetry, frequency analysis, portability and efficient data management through the use of advanced data acquisition system. Wireless mode of the data transmission helped significantly avoid most of the test site modifications, which in turn helped to reduce the overall system implementation cost. The benefits of the improvements included providing suitable platform to share test results with internal and external customers (OEMs) with improved data quality. The system generates accurate, dependable data in a final test report at the conclusion of each test minimizing manual data entry and driver subjectivity in validating the test runs.
Recent development in automobile industries has seen increased customer attention for good door slamming noise. One of the constituent which plays major role in building brand image of vehicle in terms of NVH performance is door slam noise quality. Hence it is very desirable to understand how different door elements radiate sound during a door-closing event and how to optimize a door structure to achieve specific sound target in order to ensure the door closing noise quality, NVH engineers needed to look at contributions from different door subsystems. The use of statistical tools like Six Sigma can further help them to ensure the consistency in results. This paper explains the systematic approach used to characterize different element of door which contributes to the overall door slam noise quality through QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and contribution analysis. The different mechanisms contributing to door slam noise were studied. NVH characteristics (Acoustic transfer Function and Point Mobility) of the door structure and mounting locations were captured for correlating with the time - frequency spectrum of door slam event. Wavelet analysis was performed on door impact event to determine the critical frequency band contribute to noise. DOE (Design of Experiments) was constructed based on the analysis of results. Prototype modifications were conducted, the results of which are discussed in the paper together with their relative importance to work improvement in door closing noise. Finally the design intent solutions were developed together with component supplier and are validated on vehicle.
The paper presents a development strategy for a Low Cost Vehicle (LCV) concept set at a target MSRP of $8000 (USD) for the U.S. market. Tata Nano, currently the world's cheapest car in production, is developed on similar principles of the Ford's Model T concept. This paper adopts a similar methodology behind the development of the Tata Nano and is considered as the starting point for the LCV development. It gives an overview of the unique product development process of the ‘Tata Nano’ and shows the possibility of applying similar methodologies, based on systems engineering principles, for future low cost vehicles which will be suitable for the American market. The major automotive systems were assigned specific cost targets based on the set target cost of $8000 (USD) for the LCV. The specifications of the systems were derived based on customer needs and the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) using analytic tool Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and by comparing and benchmarking current vehicles sold in US for its specifications. System level modifications necessary to comply with the FMVSS are considered. Adhering to the Systems Engineering principles, sales volume, target customers, manufacturing & assembly factors are discussed to realize the importance of integrating all aspects of vehicle product development, to achieve the final target.
In a very competitive environment, product development in automobile industry needs to be fast paced with best in quality to stay ahead in the race. Therefore a clear understanding of customer requirements is essential in successful design and development of systems. Failure in any system development step can result in costly design and tooling changes, schedule delays and ultimately, customer dissatisfaction. A team was formed to design and develop an automotive system by applying Design for Six Sigma Green Belt methods and tools. The hypothesis of this study was that a substantial opportunity exists to increase project efficiency while providing what customer wants, by following a standardized statistical work practice for managing requirements throughout the life of product development using the methodology of Design for Six Sigma DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify). In this paper an automotive HVAC system is designed following DFSS methodology. The application process of DFSS tools like Kano analysis for Voice of Customer, Monte Carlo Simulation for project duration calculation, Measurement System Analysis, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Triz- contradict problem solving technique, Pugh matrix, Design of Experiment (DOE) strategies and process capability for HVAC system development is discussed. The paper will also present how the DFSS process can improve project performance, cost and time while delivering quality products to the customer.
Motorized closures support the comfort in vehicles to an increasing degree. In the past the use of indirect sensors was an effective low-cost solution for anti pinch [1,2]. The demand for a reduction of the forces affecting the user and for minimized closing times leads to direct sensor solutions. A new aspect is the protection of moving vehicle parts, which we call collision avoidance. This paper deals with system aspects securing the movement area of motorized closures. An analysis is made for sliding doors, trunk lids and tailgates, pointing out the danger zones and the use cases. The result of a QFD (Qualitiy Function Deployment) with respect to the demands of the customer is shown. This leads to a rough description of the requirements for the technical solutions. A technology benchmark is conducted separately for anti-pinch and for collision avoidance. The two applications have distinct requirements; therefore different technological solutions are identified. As an example, the tailgate is examined in detail and a solution for securing the danger zones is presented. A Lab car is equipped and tested. For anti-pinch, a capacitive sensor system is selected and designed. Collision avoidance is realized by adopting a series automotive ultra-sonic sensor. Environmental influences are examined and described. Special integration problems and their solutions for both sensor systems are discussed. The topology of the electronic components is described and an outlook on the future is given.
This document provides information to help the reader view maintainability in the context of an overall systems engineering effort. The guide defines maintainability, describes its relationship to other disciplines, addresses the basic elements common to sound maintainability programs, and describes the tasks and activities associated with those elements.
Aluminum alloy heat exchangers use chromium (VI) compound for their surface treatment to prevent white rust. The use of chromium (VI) compound is restricted and will be banned worldwide in view of environmental concerns. Therefore, we need a timely change to the non-chromate type treatment. Considering this trend, we have developed and released non-chromate type heat exchangers. In addition to high corrosion resistance, these heat exchangers feature a good hydrophilic ability, antibacterial activity, and smell preventing property. With simultaneous development activities at the development and design divisions, as well as making good use of the quality function deployment (QFD) method into the total process from design work to production we have completed the project in a short time.
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