Quality during Design

What are 2 lessons about remote work, coming out of the pandemic? We talk about a couple of perspectives that can apply to design engineering: Feedback from our friends that were remote pre-pandemic Being intentional about gaining a frame of reference Have you done a lessons learned about your communications, coming out of the pandemic? What are you carrying forward into the next phase of your eng...

We don't just rely on the numbers - we always plot the data! We review how we use plots to look past the numbers, and to be aware of common gotchas. Visit the podcast blog to comment. Related, previous QDD episodes: How to Handle Competing Failure Modes - Quality During Design   Discrete Data vs. Continuous Data - Quality During Design   Send us a message Work with Dianna I help product devel...

Supplier control plans and design specs can go hand-in-hand in the quest for quality.  Control plans aren't just for quality professionals! Learn how partnering with suppliers for a simple control plan can benefit your design process. Visit the podcast blog for a list of benefits. Want to explore controls a little further? Try these other QDD episodes:  Prevention Controls vs. Detection Contr...

Our manufacturing friends are approaching us with a problem. They want to test the product during manufacturing. The way the product is currently designed doesn't let them do this, or not easily. Can we make a design change so they can test?   Imagine that they're coming to us with this question before we've completed the design. Can they really see the future? Perhaps, with strateg...

We're heading into pilot production, where some initial parts might be made. We've got to finish those design specs and engineering drawings! Manufacturing wants to start cutting steel for molds.  Suppliers want to work out the specs on their end.  QA is asking what they should inspect.  Before you pass it along, have you identified what features are critical? Does it align with managing...

We can get stuck when trying to discover a solution to a problem. We talk about a Nine Windows tool and TRIZ - more thought-provoking methods that we can use to get unstuck and move on to the next step. Visit the podcast blog for graphics and lots of helpful links. Send us a message Work with Dianna I help product development teams build quality into the front end when it's cheap and easy, no...

We can get stuck when trying to discover a solution to a problem. Sometimes it helps to expand our thinking into other avenues. We can reframe our problem within its contradictions. What is it not? We review an Is/Is-Not Matrix: how it's built, its purpose, and how it can help us. Visit the podcast blog for the matrix.  Send us a message Work with Dianna I help product development teams build...

We're uncovering risks during our new product development, about our design. How do we manage risks? What options do we have? There are at least 5 options we can take to manage risks. We talk about each, and how quality and reliability methods and techniques may help us with the next steps to be able to make decisions with our team. Visit the podcast blog for links to episodes that explore co...

As a design engineer, you’re tasked with translating vague customer statements into something technical and measurable. And you also need to identify what requirements are important: filtering the “must meet” requirements against the “should have” requirements. And, finally, you need to do this with your cross-functional team.   What if you miss something important?  It’s difficult. There is a met...

If you have quality friends, you may have heard of Gemba. What is Gemba and can it help with product design?  Gemba is an ideology.  And, yes, it can help with product design! We explore how and talk about why you might want to adopt the term "Gemba" for Product Design Engineering. Visit the podcast blog for links and other QDD episodes that explore these ideas more. Send us a message Wo...

"A Chat with Cross Functional Experts" is a Quality during Design interview series. Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team for new product development. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they're involved and work with product design engineering te...

Reliability Engineering isn't just about assessments. It's about providing information to make decisions. How does reliability engineering affect design?  We answer all the questions from the classical Kipling Method: What kind of design inputs can we expect from a Reliability Engineering working relationship? Why is their point of view important? When should we get them involved in the...

FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is a tool we can use to help us investigate complaints from the field. The FMEA is the collective team knowledge about the risks of this product, so it’s a valuable source in our investigation about what’s going on in the field. We talk through how to go about using FMEA for complaint investigation and what we can do with the information. Visit the QDD Blog...

Many presentation books and guides seem to focus on presentations that we see at conferences, for sales pitches, or for executive meetings about business topics. They don't seem applicable to the technical design reviews that engineers host. But they do relate. We talk about just 3 ways that we can change how we can plan technical design reviews, using some of the principles of presentations....

"A Chat with Cross Functional Experts" is a Quality during Design interview series. Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team for new product development. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they're involved and work with product design engineering te...

FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is a super-tool for a team, especially when developing concepts and requirements. Done early, iteratively, and treated as a "living" analysis helps teams throughout development and beyond. Some people seem to either love it or hate it. I don't have a strong reaction like that, but I do think it can be a valuable option for teamwork and design...

When defining design inputs and specifications, what does a design engineer need to consider about the test and measure capability? What are the typical ways that we assess the variability that a test or measurement introduces into our result? Visit the website for additional links and a Venn diagram. https://www.qualityduringdesign.com/qdd/design-input--specs-vs-test--measure-capability Watch thi...

 Reliability engineers may suggest environmental stress tests. There are many types of tests in an RE's toolbox. We compare two types of commonly known tests that are used for design: ALT vs. HALT. What are the important distinctions between these two methods? What value do they each bring to design engineering? And how do they fit into other reliability test methods? Visit the website for ad...

Viewing Quality as a strategic asset to new product development can help us create those products that others love, for less. We talk about some challenges with new product development, the ideal state, and how we can use quality to get there. Use quality engineering and reliability engineering to P.R.U.N.E. the development process so we can develop the best products that we can. Visit the blog fo...

This fourth episode of the "QDD Versus" series focuses on concepts relating to Design for Manufacturability. Understand how design specs fit into process control, process capability, and SPC and where they typically don't fit at all. We talk about things to think about when setting limits on design features. And, when defining controls for potential failures, knowing how processes a...

 We talk about customers of design information. It takes many people to realize a product design into something that can be sold and used. Those people need design information to ensure that they're performing their tasks to produce a high-quality product, and to be able to use our product appropriately. We review who our customers are and what type of information they need from design engine...

Once we've decided to control something (think of our prevention and detection controls), we then need to decide how to measure it. Different controls may need different measuring requirements, which can give us discrete or continuous data. We treat these data types differently when collecting it, determining sample sizes, and analyzing it for results. Tune-in to learn more about how to take...

Not all controls are equal, and we don't have to wait for something bad to happen to start designing with them. We compare different types of controls in product development and design engineering: Prevention Controls vs. Detection Controls. We review concepts, uses for controls, risk-based controls, and how to prioritize design efforts for the right controls. Visit the podcast blog for a Ven...

Your team is faced with a complex decision. Maybe it's complex because you have a lot of options or maybe it's complex because it's technically challenging and requires some testing. You may want to consider a structured approach: DMRCS. Define Measure Reduce Combine Select Learn more about this approach by statisticians Dr. Anderson-Cook and Dr. Lu. Check the podcast blog for their...

 We’ve identified safety concerns about our product design. How concerned do we need to be about quality while we’re determining root causes? There is an intersection of quality, reliability, and safety. We talk about how they fit together. Visit the podcast blog at QualityDuringDesign.com for a graphic that shows how they fit together. Send us a message Work with Dianna I help product development...