Design for assembly - a strategy for right first time design

摘要

Customer demands and intense competition have resulted in the need for shorter vehicle development lead times. The problems with shorter lead times have been well documented. Mistakes are costly and the need for a sustainable and efficient newproduct development process has become paramount to a successful product.Vehicle Manufacturers (V.M.'s) have had their choice of a variety of tools and philosophies to assist in reducing lead times. Amongst others, the use of Quality Functional Deployment (Q.F.D.), C.A.D./C.A.E., Cross-functional teams and SimultaneousEngineering have each been mooted as being the panacea for efficient design and development.The authors argue the need for a Right First Time (R.F.T.) Design Policy and state that this can be delivered through the "Hoshin-Kanri" method of the policy deployment The resultant strategies are achieved through the tactical use of the most appropriate tools, integrated into the new development process. Performance is measured against agreed targets.A worked example of this theory, where one of the strategies for R.F.T. Design is to reduce assembly errors in a Simultaneous Engineering Environment, is discussed. It will also show that further enhancements can be derived through the use of C.A.P.E.(Computer Aided Production Engineering) in a Virtual Manufacturing Environment.