Design Approval by Dave Harris
Entry Date: 200809
This document has and no doubt always will confuse me, the reason is that it is signed off after concept, a little feasibility maybe, some parts made up in an office and the designers are happy so a drawing is devised and sent round for approval. At this point nothing else can go wrong, tooling will be manufactured, maybe some jigs and fixtures, a test machine too. The product is then produced and we sell it and make lots of money, simple really it is not?
Now, every now and again, at the first stage of sampling we found mating parts may not fit together due to a tolerance stack up as an example, this must have happened millions of times over the world, so what are the first words out of the Design Manager, “The design approval form was signed off by you”
This is where I get a little confused, the design approval to me is a document to say design is feasible for producing, in most cases from CAD, it is not an sign-off to release into the market, it is a start point to which change, modifications, and in some cases re-design can and always will occur, please forward comments to me if you have a difference of opinion, it’s good to talk. On a final note, if this document is so important and MOST be read and understood, how many of you get asked to sign it off at the coffee machine or in the corridor?
About the author:
This article is submitted by Dave Harris, European Business Improvements founder Contributor and Moderator of the Business Improvement forum. You can reach Dave by clicking the link below:
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