Design Best Practices

Quality costs money. Poor quality costs more! Most people look at quality activities as a cost: inspections, audits, training, documentation, supplier evaluations, FAI, control plans, etc. But the real cost comes from situations when those activities are skipped: rework, scrap, line stops, delayed shipments, customer complaints, expedited freight, warranty claims, lost trust, and loss of future business. That is why it’s important to evaluate your Cost of Quality early in the

Ergonomics (designing to fit humans) is fundamental to product design – after all, what good is a product if it doesn’t fit the user? Performing a ‘human factors analysis’ helps us figure out how people interact with the products and systems in their work environment. From there, we can solve real-world problems based on the needs of the user. And it isn’t just about comfort, safety, and knowing our limits. Good ergonomic design maximizes human capability, making users happy

Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) is used to stop failures before they happen – and cost you! It determines all the possible ways a design could fail, then prioritizes the risk level of each. Think of it as putting your design under the microscope. Whatever you do, don’t enter production without performing a DFMEA! Here is the process: 1. Start by defining your parts, their function, and specs. 2. Identify a failure: What would result in a loss of function? 3.

Feature creep, also known as featuritis, happens when stakeholders add too many features to a product.