Structured Methodology for Product Design and Validation

The Design Phase Methodology

Market Analysis

Parametric Analysis: Determining the product's position relative to competition and price additions.

Matrix Comparison: Comparing the product against competitors regarding specific requirements.

Requirements Definition

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

QFD establishes the relationship between customer requirements and technical requirements. The steps include:

1. Identifying customer requirements.
2. Identifying technical requirements.
3. Defining the relationship between customer and technical requirements.
4. Establishing identity and relations between technical requirements.
5. Determining the weight of each item.
6. Evaluating the competition based on these factors.

Design Concept Development

1. Identifying design alternatives based on required product specifications.
2. Evaluating these alternatives and selecting the optimal concept.
3. Describing the required product specifications in detail.

Key Phases and Tools

1. Identification of Key Characteristics.
2. Identification of Key Resources and Tools.

Design Tools

• Black Box Scheme: Defines entry conditions, exit conditions, and feedback mechanisms.
• Morphological Matrix: A table linking functional requirements with design parameters.
• Ishikawa Diagram (Fishbone Diagram): Used for root cause analysis.
• Trade-Off Analysis: Analyzing design alternatives based on critical parameters.

Design Detail and Analysis

This stage focuses on the final product design to fulfill all requirements.

Design Analysis

Evaluates whether the design complies with specifications, forms a product configuration, prevents potential problems, and determines necessary corrective actions.

Synthesis Design

Uses descriptive methods to develop highly abstract physical representations of the design.

Testing and Validation

Prototypes and Modeling

• Prototypes: Physical models used to test and refine the design.
• Model: A simplified representation of a system used to evaluate its behavior.

Simulation

Experiments conducted with different design requirements. The steps are:

1. Defining the system and its environment.
2. Listing the unknowns.
3. Listing the effects.
4. Creating the simulation environment.
5. Verifying the simulation results.

Design Techniques

1. Finite Element Analysis (FEA): Mathematical tools used to predict the behavior of physical systems under stress.
2. Analysis of Environmental Stress: Assessment of product performance under specific environmental conditions.
3. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA): A systematic procedure to evaluate and reduce the effects caused by potential failure modes.

Quality Assurance and Review

• Validation: Ensures the design meets customer expectations and requirements.
• Verification: Ensures that the design and manufacturing processes can meet the specified design requirements (quality assurance).
• Design Review: Identifies potential problems and technical risks early in the process.

Ripe Design

A design is considered Ripe when its quality has been fully validated, verified, and evaluated.

Rules of Evidence

Perceived errors discovered should be documented, especially those resulting from unexpected conditions. It is important to know when sufficient testing has occurred, recognizing that a greater number of discovered errors often indicates a higher probability of more errors existing.