Quality = More Profit

In its simplest term, Profit equals Revenue minus Expenses.  In order to improve profit, one must either increase revenue or reduce expenses.  While either method can be effective, and certainly the most prevalent in the US is to reduce expenses, arguably the best method is to do both; increase revenue while decreasing expenses.

One of the best ways to accomplish this is to improve the quality in your product.  Better quality will lead to higher customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty and referrals.  Better quality in your product will also result in lower manufacturing costs.

“I did improve the quality in my product, it did lead to more sales, but it cost me a fortune,” you say.  Yes, you can pay for quality in materials, inspections and improved manufacturing systems.  That certainly does not reduce your expenses.

So how does one improve quality of a product and lower expenses at the same time?  The key is to improve the quality in the “Design” of your product.  Improving the quality in the design of your product should generate better customer delight, lower manufacturing costs and lower warranty cost.  This article discusses some factors to consider to improve the quality of the “design” of your product.

When measuring the cost of quality (or Q-burden) of a design, there are two aspects to consider; 1) the cost to attain or assure a level of quality – cost of conformance, and 2) the cost for remedies when things don’t go right, either at the factory or in the hands of the customer – cost of non-conformance. 

For example, a design calls for the assembler to hold a heavy part up against another part, line up three holes and insert three bolts and fasten three nuts.  Examples of costs of conformance that you could incur in this example may be a fixture that holds the part in place, additional labor to fasten nuts while another operator holds the part, inspection to make sure the part was installed correctly, and/or medical costs for the operator due to ergonomic issues.  Examples of costs of non-conformance may be additional labor for dropping the part or bolts or nuts, wasted nuts or bolts due to cross threading, rework of the operations because the holes were not aligned right, warranty claims because the bolts came loose, and/or warranty claims because the part was bent or scratched when dropped at the factory.

To achieve a better design, the design team must consider all the possibilities of incurring Q-burden for each and every factor of your design.  When weighing the possible Q-burdens, the design team can change the design to eliminate Q-burden, starting with the highest.  In the previous example some remedies at the design would be to use welded studs, design in self alignment tabs or features, specify nuts that have high reliability to stay tight during usage, and/or design a snap fit.  Better still, eliminate the part all together.

Here are some items for your design team to consider to reduce Q-burden.

Simplify – Reducing the complexity of a design will typically result in easier assembly and better long term functional quality.

Consider “Total Accounted Cost” – Piece or part cost is not everything.  Labor and Q-burden can make part cost insignificant.

Eliminate Fasteners – Fasteners invariably come un-fastened.  If you absolutely can’t get around having one – make sure it’s the best you can find.

Design for Mutli-function – Combine and/or eliminate parts where ever you can.

Buy Quality Material – Again, part cost can be misleading.  Remember, “Cheap Always Loses.”

For more information on Q-burden please click here

For information on Lean Design®, click here