Design for Excellence (DFX) Methods

GA.

It show your maturity and experience.

_{But I miss lighter comments (an usual) in these posts.}

So. Whats wrong with sending a prototype that as near the final prduct as possible. Of course a product can be over designed, maybe. I've been told a time or two, "It's time to shoot the engineer and build the part". To some degree it's true. I think a balance can be reached to prototype a part/product as close to what the costomer wants and go from there. I believe that we must use all the CAD/CAE tools we can to make certain that we get the part/product as close as possible.

Whats wrong with sending a prototype that as near the final prduct as possible?

Nothing at all...

It's just that in my experience, something that is done entirely on paper or CAD often misses out something which becomes apparent when the design is visible in the flesh.
How many times have you made something, been really pleased with it at first and then realised after a while...I wish I'd done it slightly differently, or you could have done it better?

'Right first time' is a myth...It's simply a matter of defining what you mean by 'first'.

This is just my experience...I'm not charging for my opinion or experience.
Anyhow as I said, it's tongue in cheek, what I'm really saying is that it's virtually impossible to consider all the factors before you see the product...we always add in contingency for 'unforseen problems'.
Why don't we pick them up first?
Because when we do they aren't unforseen! And there is something else that is unforseen.... so I think get some sort of prototype ASAP and you'll find the unforseen problems quicker.

After all, isn't that exactly why we have rapid prototyping?
My last diy project was an Asiatic style bow. I made mistakes, but there's no way I could have anticipated the final design, because there isn't the information/analysis available, but by building it I learned enought to do it better next time should I decide to.

Del

As one who spent 3 years as an application/sales engineer selling 3D Systems StereoLithography (TM) systems, I couldn't agree more strongly.

I can't tell you the number of times I handed a potential customer a part or assembly we built in a few hours and watched their amazed faces when the stuff didn't come out like they thought it would, or amazed because the prototype could be turned around so quickly, shortening their design cycle.

I saw a lot of: "This needs to be changed straight off", and (on esthetic prototypes) "that doesn't look at all what I envisioned", and "That's gonna be a (tooling, maintenance, or logistic) nightmare".

Even here where I work in the aviation industry we manually prototype most everything because most of the stuff we put on airplanes is too big for rapid prototyping. Our CAD system is being touted (by the vendor) as a conceptual design tool but until I can handle the parts and look at assembly interactions with a tactile feel I don't feel comfortable. And that's after 30 years in CAD.

Hooker

cheers...
Nice to have your take on it.
Del

While there always comes a point when it is time to shoot the engineer - this is what PMO does.

But one trend you want to watch for in general- that is redesigning some else's job.

Very popular at all times, but especially since we invented the consultant (_{like me})

But I do not go in and tell software how to do software based on my jackass opinion, I tell them how to comply with a set of regulations. I guess what I am saying - the source of the change is validated.

That said, despite the unfortunate title, I am not familiar with DFE in specific. May be terrific - I'd go ask an expert in the field it is targeted at and see the field of the guy that came up with it.

Our company is practicing this currently. The one bit of advice to you is to involve all parties involved completely throughout the process. When you perform voice of the customer activities, mocking up concepts, building mules and prototypes, releasing pilot runs to the floor and finally throughout production ramp up and launch.

We have the production side of the house fully involved soon after the projected is approved in all the activities listed above

You will find your product launches will be more successful and happen in a shorter leadtime.

I like the stakeholder concept, another to watch for - bound the problem/solution space.

Teams have a tendency to (to their credit) find best solutions, but sometimes these are outside the space management has defined.

In a more cynical vein, if there is a predetermined solution/agenda - find out what it is. Almost lost a good job when the team solution differed - no one told me the entire process was gamed.