Abstract
In the present competitive environment, more and more enterprises are aware of the fact that their success (and sometimes their continued existence) depends on their ability to develop betterproducts than their competitors, at a lower cost and in a shorter time. This is especially true for the small motorcycles market, where it necessary to develop a new model every twelve months. In this context it is not possible to base the quality and reliability of new products on extensive experimental and quality control programs. Instead, quality and reliability must be introduced into the product at each stage of the design and development process, and everyone in the company must be involved in this. Our objective at DERBI, therefore, is to achieve reliability through design. In this way, experimental validation becomes the final approval of a design process that should be correct from the start.
To reach this high standard, a year ago DERBI began a major organisational project called
FICAT in collaboration with the consultancy firm ST Mecánica Aplicada, S.L. The aim of this project was to ensure the quality and reliability of the product from the very beginning of the design process, making it compatible with a Concurrent Engineering approach.
Four goals were set for the project: a) to improve the product specifications generation process; b) to achieve greater reliability from our Product Development Process (PDP) in accordance with the ISO 9001 standard; c) to document DERBIs know-how systematically; d) to promote the work in a C.E. environment, both inside our enterprise and with our suppliers.
The success attained by FICAT in its first year is evident. DERBI now has the structure required to continue this improvement process. The main goals achieved so far are: the definition of a Design Control Process; optimisation of the process of obtaining the design inputs and establishing technical specifications; documentation of the design outputs (providing feed-back for subsequent designs) and integration of all the design functions from the beginning of the project. The challenge facing us is to continue along the path FICAT has marked out.
The intention of this communication is not to present new theoretical advances in modern product design and development. Our aim is rather to explain our practical experience in this field in carrying out the FICAT project.