Improving systems by combining axiomatic design, quality control tools anddesigned experiments

This paper presents an approach for solving design problems in existing des igns. A design analysis with Axiomatic Design, called Design Object Analysi s, describes a product or a system in terms of Customer Needs (CNs). Functi onal Requirements (FRs), Design Parameters (DPs) and Process Variables (PVs ), as well as their associated Design Matrices (DMs). In this paper, the de sign analysis is combined with a thorough investigation of possible problem s within the design, utilizing the seven quality tools, noise factor analys is, and designed experiments to form an approach for quality improvements a nd problem solving. The Design Object Analysis helps secure valid input-fac tors to the designed experiments, and the designed experiments correct or i mprove the assumptions made in the Design Object Analysis. Thus, a combinat ion of product modeling by Axiomatic Design and designed experiments overco mes short comings of the two methods. The benefits of performing a Design O bject Analysis, as compared to other methods, become clear when it comes to evaluating the results from the designed experiment, and preventing the pr oblem. Once the critical parameters are confirmed, and the design matrices are updated, suggested design improvements can then be checked against the design matrices, and the system effect of a design-change-order can be esti mated The approach described in this paper was successfully applied and, ve rified in a case study at a large automotive company.