Articles tagged Product development

Making the Connection

Why do so few product development programs make that connection between the product specification document content and the released product? It seems to be such a common thing that these two don’t connect that organizations don’t even bother to review or analyze this after release.

The mindset at that point seems to be:

We did the best we could with the resources we had
All product change from their original specifications
It transformed into a product that better fits our updated understanding of what could be made to satisfy the market

[Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg 2 Comments

Taguchi’s 3 Fundamental Concepts

Taguchi may be best known for the variation of design of experiments that bear his name. Yet the impact of his work is felt across the product life cycle and all of the quality field.

Building on Deming’s observations that 85% of poor quality is due to faulty processes and only 15% due to the worker, Taguchi focused on creating robust processes.

A robust system is one that tolerates the daily and seasonal variations of the environment, machine wear, and equipment part-to-part variation, etc. A robust system operating in the range of real world conditions. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg 3 Comments

Introduction to the Quality Triangle

Priorities and Balance

Have you ever worked on a project with no deadlines, unlimited resources, and boundless scope? Probably not.

Quality Triangle-1 — The Quality Triangle

You may have worked under the guidelines of a quality triangle, also known as a project management triangle, iron triangle, or project triangle.

Why is that? Why the limits to our ability to create a product or improve a system?

First, the world we work and live within has limits. We have only so much time for work, only the available resources, and limited knowledge. We do our best with what we have to work with at the time.

Second, as I once was told while working on an accelerated test design, ‘if there isn’t a deadline, you’ll happily tinker with the plan and get the testing done.’ My boss was right of course.

The set of constraints shape our projects and products. By understanding the set of constraints, specifically how they frame decisions, then we can complete complex projects. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Reliability in Product and Process Development

A product or system’s actual reliability performance is a function of the design, assembly, and use.

Decisions made during design predominately create the inherent reliability capability performance.

The selected components, manufacturing, transportation and installation all can add variability and errors to the product, often reducing the actual reliability performance.

The use conditions and maintenance add another layer of variability, again reducing reliability capability. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg 1 Comment

Software Defect Phase Containment

The software element of products continues to grow.

Likewise, the number of field failures due to software issues continues to grow. Writing code is relatively straight forward, and some may even say it’s fun.

The process of debugging, or finding and fixing software defects, is not fun. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg 2 Comments

Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Reliability

The purchase price of a product may be the start of the cost of ownership.

Maintenance and repairs may cost many times the initial purchase price. An efficient maintenance process and low-cost spare parts may help minimize cost, yet a design that optimizes the total cost of ownership is the most effective method. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Types of Risk

Creating a product or maintaining equipment is actually about our ability to manage risk. The various risks are outlined below, and there are more to consider. This summary covers the basics related to reliability. [Read more…]

by Fred Schenkelberg Leave a Comment

Reactive and Proactive

Do you let events happen to you, or do events follow your designs and expectations? Are you a spectator or actor? Do you wonder about your product’s future or do you control your product’s future? Are you reactive or proactive?

Every reliability and maintenance program is a system. Every program has inputs, such as product testing results and field returns. Every reliability program has outputs, such as product design and production. In the most basic terms, a reliability program includes product specifications for functionality including expected durability. The program includes some form of design, verification, production and field performance. Given this basic lifecycle description, it is possible for two types of approaches to executing the product lifecycle. [Read more…]