Design Manual for first time right product

Challenge and Selection

Working in an Automotive design and development firm, designing and building a first-time

right product was emphasized for cost and time saving. We have commercial vehicle that ranges from  1ton payload to 55ton payload. In-order to achieve the cost and less product development time,  components commonization needs to be done. i.e., vehicle will be made as per the user requirement of  engine capacity, vehicle length, cabin type, payload carrying bays etc.. The challenge came on the  designing of aggregates / components such as steering system, change speed operator, powertrain,  exhaust and intake systems which needs to be optimized for flexible integration in any type of vehicle  with the concept of first time right.

Selection

The scope of work includes closely working with various aggregates design, vehicle integration,

benchmarking and validation teams, for generating and implementing design and integration  procedures. For this with the vast availability of previous validation database, design procedures,  integration methods need to be consolidated and a huge database needs to be maintained for various  vehicle performance to that of aggregate performance. From these database, the design and  performance characteristics can be distinguished clearly for the aggregates and design manual can be  developed for each aggregates/system.

Application

We started to build a design manual for each aggregate from scratch. At first, we focused on the

performance benchmarking of various competitor vehicles. All the parameters were carefully  monitored. A subjective and objective data was captured. All dimensional parameters of the vehicle and  its performance were characterized. Finally, a matrix is made for all the benchmark vehicles. For this  activity, each design aggregate team takes the responsibility of their cluster. In this way, a detailed  performance characteristics is captured. In parallel, the products in our portfolio were also monitored in  a similar way. The characteristics and its performance were captured in detail and is listed along with  the benchmark products. The measured data gave us a new insight as though how our products were  performing with respect to the benchmark vehicles which has a similar build configuration. The matrix  gave us a detailed insight about these performances. Based on the study, Design Manual was prepared  which had details about how the product needs to be designed, and how it performs when it gets along  with the vehicle etc., A thumb rule / handbook format of these guidelines for aggregates were made and  circulated across clusters and integration teams instructing them to adhere for these rules when a  product is made.

We discussed with design team and explained about how to use our new design guidelines to improve  the product design so that the product meets the validation requirements first time right. We also  improved the way the product validation is performed by new validation procedures, which included  prioritization of tests. All the validation activities were performed with in the stipulated time frame and  new product was ready to be launched. Prior to launch we showcased the product to the experts and  jury, which had members from different departments and customers. Through this subjective  assessment, it was found that the product performance was meeting all the requirements.

Insight and approach

With the new learnings and a ready reckoner from the design manual, we could develop a

product with a shorter lead time and less errors. The number of protos built for the validations were  reduced by 50%. The cost involved also came down by 30%.  Since the design manual has reached all the  design clusters and integration team, the first-time right design concept was also achieved. Customers  were happy with the shorter lead time in delivering the well validated product. The market penetration  of the product was also good.

Since this design manual worked well in design and integration teams, a testing manual of

similar kind will be developed for seamless and faster validation.

