SymphonyTech Articles Archive
Something you can take with you and use…These articles are focused on Popular Quality & Productivity issues. It is our constant endeavor to publish simple, basic, informative and insightful articles about all aspects of Quality &
Productivity…something that you can take with you and use.
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Articles on FMEA AIAG-VDA Edition
Failure Mode & Effects Analysis: the AIAG-VDA way
Failure Mode & Effects Analysis was practiced by Automotive manufacturers and component makers since Quality Management Systems became a prevalent practice. There were two reference standards used by the automotive industry..
FMEA Made Easy
This short article is aimed at providing a quick insight into how to use the FMEA method to make FMEA easier to practice and deliver better results. We shall look at Process FMEA based on the AIAG-VDA Harmonized handbook.
Make AIAG-VDA FMEA Simple & Effective with FMEA Executive software
The new AIAG-VDA FMEA Harmonized Standard integrates the best practices from AIAG and VDA, providing a structured and collaborative approach to failure prevention—but many find it complex to implement and overwhelming at the first sight. Implementing FMEA using spreadsheets is outdated, inefficient, and prone to errors. A software like FMEA Executive is the only way to make the process faster, more reliable, and fully compliant with the AIAG-VDA standard.
Articles on FMEA
Failure Mode & Effects Analysis: A Technique to Effectively Mitigate Risks
1. Understanding the FMEA Process
FMEA helps you identify and reduce failures in your products and processes. It is a scientific way to ensure that things don't fail and work gets done the way you want it. FMEA thus assures you failure-free products and processes...
2. The Structure of FMEA
This is the second article in the series of articles on FMEA. FMEAs represented in a spreadsheet format can be misleading due to the Failure Modes, Causes and Effects written in a Row-Column format. For an effective implementation FMEAs need to be organized in a tree format...
3. FMEA Priorities and Actions
This third article in the series of articles on FMEA discusses ways to evaluate and prioritize risks and take appropriate action.
Articles on Process Capability
Process Capability Evaluation - Looking beyond the obvious
This article touches on basic Process Capability calculations with bilateral and unilateral tolerances. It also discusses various approaches that may be taken when the data are not normally distributed. These are: Box-Cox Transformation, Johnson Transformation, and Data analysis by fitting Pearson curves.
Measuring Your Process Capability
Process capability is the long-term performance level of the process after it has been brought under statistical control. It is the ability of the combination of your 5 M's to produce a product that will consistently meet the design requirements and the customer expectation.
Dr. Nosh Kapadia explains: How to calculate Cp, Cpk, Cpl and Cpu indices, Why should You know the Capability of Your and your supplier's Processes, The difference between Capability indices and Process performance indices, The relation between Process capability and defect rate and Some assumptions and precautions while calculating process capability indices.
Articles on Design, GD&T
Designing with GD&T to achieve functional goals
The article explores the techniques of designing with GD&T. It goes out to show the methods of delivering functional goals through appropriate design calculations.
Concepts of MMC, LMC, Worst-Case Envelope and Virtual Conditions are explained through flash animations.
Appropriate Tolerancing for Improved Profits
The techniques of Scientific Tolerancing based on analysis of the effects of variation on the output, lead to lowering of costs, improvement of Quality, and Robustness of Application, for products and processes. This can be achieved without incurring extra costs.
Articles on Simulation
Dr. Deming's Funnel Experiment
The funnel experiment is a visual representation of a process. It shows that a process in control delivers the best results if left alone. The funnel experiment shows the adverse effects of tampering with a process through the four setting rules.
Simulation - A powerful technique to improve Quality & Productivity
Simulation is an important and useful technique that can help users understand and model real life systems. Once built, the models can be run to give realistic results. This provides a valuable support in making decisions on a more logical and scientific basis. Ravi Khare, in this article makes a simple introduction to the techniques and methods of simulation, and explores the various applications where people have used simulation to improve Quality and Productivity.
Articles on Statistical Process Control
Technique Review - Short-Run SPC
With consumers' tastes changing frequently, companies are forced to adopt small batch production schedules. To conduct SPC studies on these short runs, where the batch may get over before sufficient data is collected, is a new challenge. We need to focus on the actual Process Parameters that produces the part rather than the traditional method of measuring a part characteristic to control the process. This technique review is based on Thomas Pyzdek's famous book - The Six Sigma Handbook.
The Power of PRE-Control
PRE-Control technique helps shop operators to control the process so that defective parts are not produced. Although simple to understand for even the shop operators, PRE-Control is statistically robust. Unlike SPC where we need 25 subgroups before we can draw control limits and conclusions, PRE-Control starts giving feedback about the process from the very beginning making it highly responsive to the process signals, that too without charting!
Other Articles
Measurement Systems Analysis - A management perspective
An introductory article on what is MSA and why it is so important in all quality initiatives, how it differs from calibration, and what are the components of measurement system variation.
The Balanced Score Card
Shree Phadnis, in his article on Balanced Score Card shows how it is important to get an Enterprise view of the organization's performance by integrating Financial measures with other key performance indicators. In this technically fine, yet easy to read article, the author delves into the objectives that every organization tries to achieve viz. Customer satisfaction, Internal business processes and Organizational growth, learning and innovation.
Articles on Customer Satisfaction Measurement
Measuring Customer Satisfaction: The Nuts & Bolts
This article explores Scientific Methods of measuring Customer Satisfaction. Includes a free online statistical calculator to determine the sample-size required for conducting satisfaction surveys.
Customer Satisfaction Measurement
The new standard ISO 9000:2000 is increasingly being looked upon as a sound business practice rather than just a Quality Standard. Among the major changes from the earlier standard are greater emphasis on Management Responsibility, the Process Approach and Measurement of Customer Satisfaction. In this article, the author has tried to demystify the concept of Customer Satisfaction and methodology of its measurement.
Articles on Six Sigma, DOE
Three Romeos and A Juliet: Our early brush with Design of Experiments
This is an entertaining story about how three young students discovered the power of DOE trying to win over the heart of the damsel of their dreams! Ravi Khare narrates this episode out of his youthful days, and how it related to his training in DOE in later years.
Also featured on iSixSigma Website.
The Six Sigma Approach
Six Sigma is a system that combines the continuous improvement tools, which are on hand to Focus on our processes, Analyze and compare them, and Objectively assign resources to those processes requiring the most attention.
This article discusses Six Sigma approach right from its evolution at Motorola and GE in the early '90s. Specifically, What exactly is Six Sigma Approach, The Six Sigma Methodology and the four phases of a Six Sigma Project, Strategies to be adopted for introduction of Six Sigma in different types of organizations and Criticism of Six Sigma.