An Approach to Avoid Quality Assembly Issues Since Product Design Stage

Abstract

Even poka-yoke is a useful technique to avoid fabrication and assembly issues by means of product and process design changes, it is commonly used in later stages of product development when fabrication and assembly issues had been already faced during mass production or even worst in the product operation stage. The final purpose of this research is systematize the poka-yoke technique to make possible apply this technique since early stages of product development to assist designers to avoid specific assembly quality issues during design process. In order to comply with this purpose a classification and characterization of assembly issues was developed based on design within the framework of Guideline VDI 2221 as part of the life phases of a system. Then seven questions were formulated to be asked by designers during design process to support them identifying product design characteristics that require modification to avoid assembly issues; also seventeen design requirements were defined which have to be considered since early stages of product development to develop product design with specific characteristics that allow a poka-yoke assembly, this was possible by analyzing the causes of assembly issues associated to product design by using sources such as i) literature, ii) applying interviews and surveys to industry and iii) several examples of poka-yoke redesigns observed in literature and product development study cases in industries. As results of this paper it was developed an approach titled “Product Design Method for Poka-yoke Assembly (PDMPYA)” to avoid quality assembly issues since product design stage.