Six months to three years.What the designer should be aware of from product planning to mass production | Newswitch by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun

The road from the start of the design to the commercialization is long. In the case of general home appliances, the derived products that use ready -made and ready -made parts are less than half a year to one year, and most of the new products are new and new, but new technologies are new. Products using newly developed parts will be commercialized over a couple of years. This period varies depending on the size and difficulty of the product. During this period, the designer will work as the determined schedule. Design, prototype, test / evaluation, specifications / drawings creation, mass -produced parts, various applications, and mass production, etc. are all packed in this period, and your vacation is included in the schedule. I have a lot of designs for about a year and a half, and during this period it was like a marathon. After that, the process of such commercialization is divided into four blocks.

Main flow of commercialization process

Figure 1 shows the main flow of the commercialization process.It is roughly divided into four blocks.The first is a concept.It is a block that determines specifications, schedules and costs, thinking about what kind of product you want to create and what you can make.The second is "prototype design".The design is performed, a prototype is produced, the test / evaluation is performed, and the extracted problems are designed.This block may be repeated multiple times depending on the design difficulty level.The third is "mass production design".When the problems caused by the test / evaluation of the prototype are cleared, mass -produced parts are prepared.Finally, the product and the parts used for it are "mass production".

The designers are mainly mechanical designers, electrical designers, and software designers.Of course, depending on the product, there are optical designers who are in charge of the lens, and in the case of printers in the ink in charge of ink.These designers are planning separately, but everyone needs to match the schedule at the * mark event.Therefore, it is necessary to proceed with the dates strictly.

In addition, since the schedule is adjusted only with only the seal event, the highly difficult partial module can be designed ahead of the schedule and the number of prototypes can be performed more.

Many designers, departments, and partner companies are involved in the schedule.It is a cooperating company, including designers divided into each category, quality assurance departments related to test / evaluation, key devices to be purchased, mold manufacturers, parts processing manufacturers, and printed board manufacturers.Creating a schedule is an important task that should be considered for all of these.

In addition to the four -blocks in Fig. 1, there are events such as creating design -in, selecting mass -produced parts manufacturers, applying for laws and regulations, and exhibiting at exhibitions.

Concept

The concept includes "planning", "principle prototype", and "design concept".The project is to propose the main specifications, dates, and costs based on the will of "I want to create such a product to create such a world (market)."Speaking of Walkman, he says, "I want to create a portable product integrated with boombox and headphones to create a world where music can be taken out and listen."

However, in reality, they already have good technologies and ideas, and have started a venture company to commercialize it, and some entrepreneurs are intended to start a business, regardless of technical seeds.The former pattern is more common in Japan, and sometimes succeeded in thinking about aspirations after retrofitting.The Walkman mentioned above is a typical example.

The most common venture companies that already have technical seeds at the start of a business are that they are determined to be "specifications", but they are working on the cost. The cost is to calculate profits by subtracting fixed costs and material costs from the total sales that calculate how many years (units) you want to sell. Even if you can get to mass production, you should avoid spending more costs due to immediate cost reduction or significant design change. Also, unless you decide the material cost, you will not be able to start the design. Many products around us have a large price range, even if their performance and quality are almost the same. Since the designer wants to have a high safety rate, if the design is promoted without cost consciousness, the cost will generally be expensive parts, materials, and structures, and the cost of material will increase. Therefore, the consciousness of "designed with the material cost of XX yen" is necessary for commercialization.

The design plan is to present a "product that can be created" from a real perspectives by the designer in response to the content of the plan (Fig. 2).A realistic perspective is material costs, schedules, design power, technical trends, available devices and parts, and designers' skills themselves.In consideration of these, the designer presents more detailed specifications, schedules, and costs.

It is also recommended to add the designer's challenge to this design concept.For example, it can lead to an image of the product, such as "the lightest in the industry" or "using biomass plastic material", and "reduction of parts score by 30 % compared to ready -made products" and "manufacturing methods have been simplified so far."It may be possible to increase the motivation of the designer, such as.

The principle prototype is a simple prototype for checking the feasibility before the design concept when introducing a new component, device, or mechanism in the product.Perform if necessary.

Prototype design

The main flow of the prototype design is as shown in Fig. 3.This block can be repeated multiple times depending on the difficulty of the product.Also, a module that is partially new or difficult may repeat it multiple times.Recently, since the simulation tools are substantial, the number of prototypes can be reduced.

In the case of a mechanism design, the “design screening” is to confirm the validity of the completed 3D data and two -dimensional data.The content is not only whether or not the specifications presented in the design plan, but also about the safety, reliability, manufacturing, cost, service, mold manufacturing, in -house design standards, in -house design standards., Check where you can judge only by data.I would like to check in advance for the designer themselves for just design mistakes and interference between parts.Regarding reliability such as strength and durability, the simulation results conducted will be confirmed.However, it is difficult to find problems even if you look vaguely, and it takes time.Regarding each item, it is better to restore the contents that can be confirmed only with the data in advance and check it according to it.

Generally, the more the design correction is postponed, the more time and cost of the correction will increase (Figure 4).Immediately after this design screening, only the data is corrected, which is completed in a few minutes, but after ordering the prototype, it is necessary to confirm the processing status and send an email for the correction request to the prototype parts manufacturer.be.If 50 prototypes have been completed, for example, additional work is required.In the latter half of the commercialization process, after the mold is completed or after mass production is started, it may cost a few days correction period and several million yen.Therefore, this design screening is a very important event.

Just because there were few problems extracted in this design screening, the designer should not be relieved that the degree of perfection was high.You need a humble attitude to think that there are few problems that you have not found any problems and have carried over.

Many prototypes will be ordered from a prototype -specialized parts manufacturer.If you place an order from a parts manufacturer who is working on both prototypes and mass production, you can point out problems in mass production at this stage.The degree of perfection of parts is higher.

"Assembly" can confirm the manufacturing properties.It is a good idea to have a department that assembles the product or a cooperating company, and get advice on manufacturing.With this advice, the shape of the parts can be corrected in a better direction.

“Exam / evaluation” is to check the contents confirmed in the above -mentioned design screening in the actual prototype.Prototypes are expensive, so there are many types of tests but not many prototypes.Of course, it is reused, but depending on the content of the test, the prototype may be large damage, and the evaluation of another test may not be appropriate.Therefore, it is necessary to devise the order so that the test and evaluation can be efficiently evaluated with a small number of prototypes.

The last is "design correction".If it is a mechanism design, it will be corrected 3D and 2D data.If the product composition configuration and the number of members change, the BOM (parts table) will be corrected accordingly.

Mass production design

The flow of mass production design is basically the same as a prototype design.The big difference is that "the parts to be mass -produced are produced."In the prototype design, only several parts were made once in a single time, so even if it has a slightly impossible shape, it will be made if it is devised.However, mass -produced parts need to be made regularly with the same quality during the specified period after mass production has been started, so it must be shaped suitable for mass production.Therefore, manufacturing technology and quality control are important.Because Japanese parts manufacturers have excellent in this field, the quality of Japanese parts and the quality of the products are said to be the top class in the world.

Manufacturing technology is a technology that efficiently manufactures specified quality parts.Therefore, it is necessary to make it corresponding to it.Quality control is to manage manufacturing with certain variations.Therefore, it is necessary to first determine the variation.If the variation is too small, parts will not be able to be manufactured efficiently, increasing the failure rate, which will increase costs.If the variation is too large, it will be a part that will not be a product.Therefore, it is necessary to determine that the product can be manufactured efficiently within the ranging range that can be established as a product, and that range can be guaranteed during the mass production period.

Parts that have a large number of mass -produced molds need to be made and designed to take into account it.Of course, from the prototype stage, the designer is working on the design in consideration of the mold, but there is a difference in the range that can be considered depending on the designer's skills.The design method differs depending on the mold manufacturer.Therefore, the design correction may be necessary after the mold meeting.

In the assembly of mass -produced parts, the order of assembly and its work method are determined, and the QC process table required at the time of mass production and the manuscript of the work standard book are created.If there is a specialized manufacturing engineer, it will be decided by the person in charge, but if there is a design request, it is necessary to convey it.Many of the assembly work is performed by hand, but the manual work is varied.If the variation may affect the quality of the product, make a jig.

In the production of parts, the parts manufacturer will create a QC process table, a standard work standard, and a jig.These are created by parts manufacturers, but if there is a design request, it is necessary to convey it.

Mass production

Before mass production, mainly confirm the following two.One is checking mass -produced parts, and the other is the confirmation of the manufacturing site.Confirmation of mass -produced parts is a manufacturing method equivalent to mass production, which covers all the corrections of mass -produced parts and are components that satisfy 3D and 2D data.It is to check with parts.If it is judged that there is no problem, multiple approval parts will be created, and the same ones will be shared by designers, parts manufacturers, and finished products (factories that assemble products) along with dimension data.Parts other than the approved parts are defective products.

The confirmation of the manufacturing site is to check the QC process table, work standards, and jigs of parts manufacturers and finished product manufacturers (Fig. 5).The designer's request is reflected, and the designer should be confirmed by the designer's eyes that the manufacturing process is satisfied with the intention of design.After the start of mass production, the designer visits the manufacturing site of parts manufacturers and finished manufacturers is nothing but defective.Therefore, these three confirmation, which includes the will of the designer left at the manufacturing site, is essential.And these are the basis of the quality of parts and products after mass production.

Mass production後の品質

When mass production is started, the work of maintaining and managing the quality of subsequent parts and products will move to the quality assurance department of the finished manufacturer.However, the main role of this department is to maintain the quality at the start of mass production of parts and products.Because it is a constant maintenance of a certain variation, it is assumed that the designer has confirmed that the QC process table, work standard, and jigs are ensured before the start of mass production.The designer must not forget it.

Author abbreviation

ロジ　小田　淳（おだ　あつし）製品化のイロハコンサルタント。上智大学理工学部機械工学科卒。ソニーに29年在籍し、プロジェクタなど15モデルを製品化。ベンチャーを支援する中で、材料費が高すぎ売っても損する、輸送中に壊れる、法規制がわからないなど、製品化のハードルを越えられない企業に出会う。企画から設計〜試作〜検証〜Mass productionの全プロセスにおける、安全性（法規制）・信頼性・製造性・コスト管理などの手法をコンサルと研修で伝える。

Magazine introduction

Magazine name: Machine design May 2021 issue type: B5 discrimination price included price: 1,540 yen

Introduction of content

The screws and bolts are positioned as the key to the machine elements, and the members concluded as the "screw tightening body" are tightened and used.From the basics of these screws tightening, we explained safety design, reliability management methods, maintenance methods, etc.

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