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Quality Improvement and Statistics The quality of products and services has become a major decision factor in most businesses today. Regardless of whether the consumer is an individual, a corporation, a military defense program, or a retail store, when the consumer is making purchase decisions, he or she is likely to consider quality of equal importance to cost and schedule. Consequently, quality improvement has become a major concern to many U.S. corporations. This chapter is about statistical quality control, a collection of tools that are essential in quality-improvement activities. Quality means fitness for use. For example, you or I may purchase automobiles that we expect to be free of manufacturing defects and that should provide reliable and economical transportation, a retailer buys finished goods with the expectation that they are properly packaged and arranged for easy storage and display, or a manufacturer buys raw material and expects to process it with no rework or scrap. In other words, all consumers expect that the products and services they buy will meet their requirements. Those requirements define fitness for use.

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Control Charts The concept of control charts is one of the most powerful techniques for on-line capability of a process and in making continuous improvements in the process. Recall the ref ill length problem mentioned above. We can use control chart technique to effectively solve this problem. But, firstly, let us see how a control chart is constructed. Typically, a control chart is a two-dimensional graph in which x-axis represents the sample numbers and y-axis represents a quality characteristic. It has a solid center line (CL) and two dotted lines called upper control limit (UCL) and lower control limit (LCL) (see Fig.).

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Statistical Quality Control The field of statistical quality control can be broadly defined as those statistical and engineering methods that are used in measuring, monitoring, controlling, and improving quality. Statistical quality control is a field that dates back to the 1920s. Dr. Walter A. Shewhart of the Bell Telephone Laboratories was one of the early pioneers of the field. In 1924 he wrote a memorandum showing a modern control chart, one of the basic tools of statistical process control. Harold F. Dodge and Harry G. Romig, two other Bell System employees, provided much of the leadership in the development of statistically based sampling and inspection methods. The work of these three men forms much of the basis of the modern field of statistical quality control. World War II saw the widespread introduction of these methods to U.S. industry. Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Joseph M. Juran have been instrumental in spreading statistical quality-control methods since World War II. The Japanese have been particularly successful in deploying statistical quality-control methods and have used statistical methods to gain significant advantage over their competitors. In the 1970s American industry suffered extensively from Japanese (and other foreign) competition; that has led, in turn, to renewed interest in statistical quality-control methods in the United States. Much of this interest focuses on statistical process control and experimental design. Many U.S. companies have begun extensive programs to implement these methods in their manufacturing, engineering, and other business organizations.

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Introduction: Control charts may be used partly to control variation and partly in the identification and control of the causes which give rise to these variations. Capability:

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Introduction: Control charts may be used partly to control variation and partly in the identification and control of the causes which give rise to these variations.

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The p chart: For each sample (subgroup) the failure proportion (p) is calculated and charted in the control chart. The failure proportion is calculated as shown below:

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Process Capability Analysis Supposing that QC manager has corrected the process so that the mean is as desired, do you think that the refills will conform to their length specifications? The answer is NO.

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INSPECTION Inspection is the most common method of attaining standardisation, uniformity and quality of workmanship. It is the cost art of controlling the product quality after comparison with the established standards and specifications. It is the function of quality control. If the said item does not fall within the zone of acceptability it will be rejected and corrective measure will be applied to see that the items in future conform to specified standards. Inspection is an indispensable tool of modern manufacturing process. It helps to control quality, reduces manufacturing costs, eliminate scrap losses and assignable causes of defective work.

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Stages of Inspection (1) Inspection of incoming material (2) Inspection of production process

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Inspection Procedures There are three ways of doing inspection. They are Floor inspection, Centralised inspection and Combined inspection. 1. Floor Inspection

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Statistical Quality Control (SQC) A Quality control system performs inspection, testing and analysis to conclude whether the quality of each product is as per laid quality standard or not. It’s called ‘‘Statistical Quality Control’’ when statistical techniques are employed to control quality or to solve quality control problem. SQC makes inspection more reliable and at the same time less costly. It controls the quality levels of the outgoing products. SQC should be viewed as a kit of tools which may influence related to the function of specification, production or inspection.

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Total Quality Control Total Quality Control defined as an effective system for intergrating the quality development, quality maintainance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organisation so as to enable production and service at the most economical level which allow for full customer satisfaction. It may be classified as a ‘‘Management Tool’’ for many industries outstanding improvement in product quality design and reduction in operating costs and losses.

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Methods of Inspection There are two methods of inspection. They are 100% inspection and Sampling inspection. 1. 100% Inspection

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External failure costs. These costs would also disappear if there were no defects. They are disguished from the internal failure costs by the fact that the defects are found at the shipment to the customer. They include : Complaint adjustment : All costs of investigation and adjustment of justified complaints attributable to defective product or installation.

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4. Condition Monitoring Method Thermography – Infrared Testing - IR Thermography enables the thermal profile of an item, machine or building to be presented in a graphic form which allows a working temperature assessment to be derived. From this, variations in the material or component temperature are identified, enabling working limits or corrective actions to be identified.

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INTERFERENCE FIT This is a fit which always results in the minimum shaft size being larger than the maximum hole size for all possible combinations within their tolerance ranges. Relative motion between the shaft and hole is impossible. The minimum interference occurs at the minimum shaft size and maximum hole size. The maximum interference occurs at the maximum shaft size and minimum hole size.

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APPLICATION OF TOLERANCES TO DIMENSIONS Tolerances should be specified in the case where a dimension is critical to the proper functioning or interchangeability of a component. A tolerance can also be supplied to a dimension which can have an unusually large variation in size.

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Accuracy Accuracy of the instrument may be defined as its ability to respond to a true value of a measured variable under reference conditions- In other words, it can also be explained as (he closeness with which an instrument reading approaches the true value of the quantity being measured. Moreover, the accuracy of measurement means conformity to the truth. The accuracy of an instrument may be expressed in different ways, viz., in terms of the measured variable itself, span of the instrument, upper-range value, per cent of scale length of actual output reading.

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Standardisation It is an activity, the essence of which is finding the solutions for repeated tasks in spheres of science, engineering and economics, directed to obtaining the optimal level regulation in a certain brunch. Standardisation is a planned activity to establish obligatory rules, norms and requirements, performance of which ensures economically optimal quality of products, increase of labour productivity and effective use of materials and capital equipment at observation of safety regulations.

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Introduction Process capability is an important concept for industrial managers to understand. The challenge in today’s competitive markets is to be on the leading edge of producing high quality products at minimum costs. This cannot be done without a systematic approach and this approach is contained within what has been called “statistical quality control” or “industrial statistics.” The segment of statistical quality control (SQC) discussed here is the process capability study. So why is process capability so important? Because it allows one to quantify how well a process can produce acceptable product. As a result, a manager or engineer can prioritize needed process improvements and identify those processes that do not need immediate process improvements. Process capability studies indicate if a process is capable of producing virtually all conforming product. If the process is capable, then statistical process controls can be used to monitor the process and conventional acceptance efforts can be reduced or eliminated entirely. This not only yields great cost savings in eliminating nonvalue added inspections but also eliminates scrap, rework and increases customer satisfaction. The benefits of performing process capability studies are certainly worth the effort in the long run.

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Limits Fig. explains the terminologies used in defining tolerance and limit. The zero line, shown in the figure, is the basic size or the nominal size. The definition of the terminologies is given below. For the convenience, shaft and hole are chosen to be two mating components.

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Definitions Process: Process refers to any system of causes; any combination of conditions which work together to produce a given result.

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STANDARD TOLERANCES There are 18 standard grades of tolerances as specified by BIS with designations ITOI, ITO and IT to IT 16.

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Accuracy vs. Precision The accuracy of the measurement refers to how close the measured value is to the true or accepted value. For example, if you used a balance to find the mass of a known standard 100.00 g mass, and you got a reading of 75.95 g, your measurement would not be very accurate. Precision refers to how close together a group of measurement actually are to each other. Precision has nothing to do with the true or accepted value of a measurement, so it is quite possible to be very precise and totally inaccurate. In many cases, when precision is high and accuracy is low, the fault can lie with the instrument. If a balance or a thermometer is not working correctly, they might consistently give inaccurate answers, resulting in high precision and low accuracy.

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Process Capability Indices Calculating the Process Mean (Xbar)

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Non destructive Evaluation (NDE) Techniques NDE technology refers to an array of non destructive techniques (NDT) and processes to monitor, probe and measure material response. The measured response is related to a desired material property or test object attribute by interpretation. The main NDT methods are:

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SELECTION OF FITS Hole basis system is the most commonly used system because due to the fixed character of hole production tools, it is difficult to produce holes with odd sizes. Commonly used types of fits are given in Table 4.3. Shafts ‘a’ to ‘h’ produce clearance fit, ‘j’ to ‘n’ transition fit, and ‘p’ onwards interference fit with hole.

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SYSTEMS OF FIT A fit system is the systems of standard allowance to suit specific range of basic size. If these standard allowances are selected properly and assigned in mating parts ensures specific classes of fit. There are two systems of fit for obtaining clearance, interference or transition fit. These are : (i) Hole basis system

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Basic concepts and definitions Interchangeability (complete) is a property of independently produced parts or assembly units to provide state of operability and reliability of mechanisms and machines under conditions of fittingless assembling or at repair. State of operability (operability) is a state of an item, at which values of all actual parameters correspond to the requirements of technical specifications or normative technical documentation.

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Types of interchangeability: - complete (functional); - incomplete (restricted).

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Introduction Acceptance sampling by Attributes is the most common type of sampling. A predetermined number of units (sample) from each lot is inspected by attributes. If the amount of defectives is less than or equal to the prescribed minimum the lot is accepted, if not the lot is rejected as it falls below standard. A single sampling plan is determined by a lot size (N), the sample size (n) and the acceptance number (c). For example consider a sampling plan having N = 9000, n = 300 and c = 7. This means that a lot of 9000 units has 300 units inspected and if 7 or less defectives are found in 300 units of sample, the lot is accepted. If more than 7 defectives are found in the sample of 300 units the lot is rejected.

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Sampling Error Sampling error has occured if the sample statistics differ from the population statistics after the entire population has been examined. There are two types of sampling error: bias and dispersion. Bias or “lack of accuracy” occurs when the sample mean is different than the population mean. Bias can result from factors such as: The result of a bias error is illustrated in Figure. Dispersion or “lack of precision” occurs when the measurements taken and recorded vary around the true measurement. Dispersion error is the result of variability in the sample standard deviation (see Figure). This type of error is typically due to improper reading or use of an instrument or an instrument that cannot read to the specified precision. The key to eliminating dispersion error is to choose the proper measuring instruments and make sure that the people using them are adequately trained in their use. The key to eliminating bias error is to make sure the instruments are calibrated and that the sample chosen accurately represents the population.

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Sampling Plans A “lot,” or batch, of items can be inspected in several ways, including the use of single, double, or sequential sampling.

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The above can be only achieved by 100% inspection. Therefore the sampling inspection carries a risk of rejecting a good lot and accepting a bad lot. The producer risk (α) is the probability of rejection of good lot. The risk is frequently given as 0.05. But it can range from 0.01 to 0.1. Since α is expressed in terms of probability of rejection, it cannot be located on the OC Curve unless specified in terms of probability of acceptance. Thus the probability of acceptance = 1 – α (where α = 0.05). Curve is for N = 4000, n = 300, c = 4. The Pa is 0.95.

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Producer’s and consumer’s risk With acceptance sampling, two parties are usually involved: the producer of the product and the consumer of the product. When specifying a sampling plan, each party wants to avoid costly mistakes in accepting or rejecting a lot. The producer wants to avoid the mistake of having a good lot rejected It bears repeating that sampling always runs the danger of leading to an erroneous conclusion. Let us say in this example that the total population under scrutiny is a load of 1,000 computer chips, of which in reality only 30 (or 3%) are defective. This means that we would want to accept the shipment of chips, because 4% is the allowable defect rate. But if a random sample of n = 50 chips were drawn, we could conceivably end up with zero defects and accept that shipment (that is, it is OK) or we could find all 30 defects in the sample. If the latter happened, we could wrongly conclude that the whole population was 60% defective and reject them all.

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Comparison between attribute and variable sampling plans

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Acceptance sampling attributes In acceptance sampling by attributes each item tested is classified as conforming or non-conforming. (Items used to be classified as defective or non-defective but these days no self respecting manufacturing firm will admit to making defective items.) A sample is taken and if it contains too many non-conforming items the batch is rejected, otherwise it is accepted.

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Note that the shape of the operating characteristic is a reflection in a vertical line of the typical shape for an attributes scheme. This is because, in this case, the good batches have large mean values whereas for attributes good batches have small proportions of non- conforming items.

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Double Sampling Plan A double sampling plan is a plan in which a maximum of two samples are checked before deciding upon the acceptability of the lot.

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Sequential Sampling Plan Sequential sampling is similar to multiple sampling except that the sequential sampling can theoretically continue indefinitely. In practice the plan is truncated after the number inspected is equal to three times the number inspected by a corresponding single sampling plan. Sequential sampling, which is used for cortely or destructive tests, usually has a subgroup size of 1, thereby making it an item-by-item plan. Item-by-item sequential sampling is based on the concept of the sequential probability ratio test, (SPRT). Figure illustrates the sampling plan technique. The “stepped” line shows the number detective for the total number inspected and is updated with the inspection results of each item. If the cummulative results equal or are greater than the upper line, the lot is rejected. If the cummulative results equal or are less than the lower line, the lot is accepted. If neither decision is possible, another item is inspected. Thus, if the 20th sample is found to be defective, the cummulative number of defective will be five. Since the five defectives exceeds the rejection line for 20 inspections, the lot is rejected, as shown by the dashed line in figure.

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Zone 1 — Early Failure Period It is characterised by a high initial failure rate, gradually dropping off to a low failure rate. By the end of the failures in this zone are due to one or more of the foll assignable causes :

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Introduction to Reliability In the previous chapters, we discussed the concept of quality management during the manufacture of products or the delivery of services. We used the concepts of subgroup statistics and control charts to measure or monitor quality at a specific moment in time. The question we were unable to answer was, “Will the product continue to perform its intended function as prescribed over the course of its life?” Reliability is a measure of the extent to which the product will retain its quality over time. Rather than look at a snapshot of time, we consider the concept of quality over the long run. Reliable products are products you can depend on to function the way they are supposed to. Everything an organization does (from raw materials to design, manufacture, packaging, and shipping) can have an important effect on the reliability of the product over time. The concept of reliability has some implications in the service sector as well. Everything a travel agent does (from creating the vacation package, understanding the needs and expectations, negotiating rates, checking the quality of accommodation, food, etc.) can have a profound impact on the quality of the service experienced by all the members of a family during their vacation. When the product does not perform optimally during its life, there is a tremendous cost to the customer, and warranty costs to the manufacturer.

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Spectral Line Broadening As pointed out before (Laser Diode Absorption), the profile of a spectral line (width and shape) can also reveal information about the plasma. The profile is determined by several processes. The most important ones are Doppler Broadening and Stark Broadening. From the (Gaussian) Doppler profile, the temperature of radiating atoms can be determined (c.f. the width of a Thomson profile). The (Lorenzian) Stark profile can provide information about the electron density in the plasma. In general, the line profile will thus be a Voigt profile, which is a convolution of a Gaussian and Lorenzian profile. The Gaussian and Lorenzian halfwidths can be determined from a fit, which can then yield the heavy particle temperature and the electron density. The experimental setup for the measurement of the spectral line profiles is the same as that used for ALI. The Gaussian and Lorenzian contributions to a measured profile of a spectral line.

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Relationship between the failure rate and the mean time between failures (MTBF), MTTR (Mean time to repair), MTTF (Mean time to failure) MTBF (Repairable systems only) is defined as the mean time interval between successive failures. It is denoted by θ. Related to the MTBF is the failure rate, which is denoted by λ. The failure rate is the reciprocal of MTBF.

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Implications for Design 1.
The simpler the design, the more reliable it is. 2. The fewer the number of components, the higher the reliability of the system.

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Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) Reliability is quantified as MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) for repairable product and MTTF (Mean Time To Failure) for non-repairable product. A correct understanding of MTBF is important. A power supply with an MTBF of 40,000 hours does not mean that the power supply should last for an average of 40,000 hours. According to the theory behind the statistics of confidence intervals, the statistical average becomes the true average as the number of samples increase. An MTBF of 40,000 hours, or 1 year for 1 module, becomes 40,000/2 for two modules and 40,000/4 for four modules. Sometimes failure rates are measured in percent failed per million hours of operation instead of MTBF. The FIT is equivalent to one failure per billion device hours, which is equivalent to a MTBF of 1,000,000,000 hours. The formula for calculating the MTBF is

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Defining Cost and Value Any attempt to improve the value of a product must consider two elements, the first concerns the use of the product (known as Use value) and the second source of value comes from ownership (Esteem value). This can be shown as the difference between a luxury car and a basic small car that each has the same engine. From a use point of view both cars conduct the same function – they both offer safe economical travel (Use value) – but the luxury car has a greater esteem value. The difference between a gold-plated ball pen and a disposable pen is another example. However, use value and the price paid for a product are rarely the same, the difference is actually the esteem value, so even though the disposable pen is priced at X the use value may be far less. It is important for all managers to understand the nature of costs in the factory and for any given product. Whilst there is no direct relationship between ‘Cost’ (for the factory) and customer ‘Value’ in use and esteem, this education process is important. A shocking figure, that is often used as a general measure, is that typically 80% of the manufacturing costs of a product will be determined once the design drawing has been released for manufacturing. The costs of production are therefore ‘frozen’ and determined at this point. These costs include the materials used, the technology employed, the time required to manufacture the product and such like. Therefore, the design process creates many constraints for the business and fixes a high degree of the total product cost. It is therefore a process that demands periodic review in order to recover any ‘avoidable’ costs that can be removed throughout the life of the product (by correcting weaknesses or exploiting new processes, materials or methods) and lowering the costs of production whilst maintaining its Use value to the customer.

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Types Of Value Analysis VA for Existing Products One of the best approaches to VA is simply to select an existing product that is sold in relatively large volumes. This product, or product family, will tend to have a great deal of the basic information, and documented history, which can be used quickly as opposed to a newly introduced product where such a history is not available. An existing product unites all the different managers in a business, each with an opinion and list of complaints concerning the ability to convert the design into a ‘saleable’ product. Therefore any team that is created for the purpose of VA will understand their own problems but not necessarily the cause of these problems across the entire business. These opinions regarding poor performance (and documented evidence of failures) are vital to the discussions and understanding of how the product attracts costs as it is converted from a drawing to a finished product. These discussions therefore allow learning to take place and allow all managers to understand the limitations to the scope of product redesign and re-engineering activities. These issues include:

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If a system consists of 3 components A, B, C in series, then the reliability of the system, R_S = R_A . R_B . R_C

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WHAT IS VALUE ANALYSIS This report provides a management overview of a ‘process’ known as Value Analysis. Value Analysis (VA) is considered to be a process, as opposed to a simple technique, because it is both an organized approach to improving the profitability of product applications and it utilizes many different techniques in order to achieve this objective. The techniques that support VA activities include ‘common’ techniques used for all value analysis exercises and some that are appropriate under certain conditions (appropriate for the product under consideration), . The VA approach is almost universal and can be used to analyze existing products or services offered by manufacturing companies and service providers alike. For new products, the Value Engineering (VE) approach, which applies the same principles and many of the VA techniques to pre-manufacturing stages such as concept development, design and prototyping. At the very heart of the VA process review is a concern to identify and eliminate product and service features that add no true value to the customer or the product but incur cost to the process of manufacturing or provision of the service. As such, the VA process is used to offer a higher performing product or service to the customer at a minimal cost as opposed to substituting an existing product with an inferior solution. This basic principle, of offering value at the lowest optimal cost of production, is never compromised. It is the principle that guides all actions within the VA process and allows any improvement ideas to be translated into commercial gains for the company and its customers. The VA process is therefore one of the key features of a business that understands and seeks to achieve Total Quality Management (TQM) in all that it does to satisfy customers. For many of the worlds leading companies, including names like Hewlett Packard, Sony, Panasonic, Toyota, Nissan, and Ford, the VA process of design review has provided major business returns. The key to realizing these returns is knowledge, of the customer requirements, the costs of the product, and an in-depth knowledge of manufacturing process and the costs associated with failures due to poor or inadequate product design. All these inputs to the VA process are vital if decisions regarding product and process re-design are to yield lower costs and enhanced customer value.

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Introduction to Condition Monitoring Condition monitoring and diagnostics of machines – according to ISO, Sub-committee 9ISO/TC/108/SC5. The scope of this Sub-committee – Standardisation of the procedures, process and equipment requirement uniquely related to the technical activity of condition monitoring and diagnosis of machines in which selected parameters associated with an operating are periodically or continuously sensed, measured and recorded for interim purpose of reducing, analysing, comparing and displaying the data and information so obtained and for the ultimate purpose of using this results to support decisions related to the operation and maintenance of the machine (Rao, B.K.N.). Condition monitoring attempts to detect symptoms of eminent failure and approximates time of a functional failure. It utilises a combination of techniques to obtain the actual operating condition of the machines based on collected data such as vibration analysis, oil and wear debris analysis, ultrasound, temperature and performance evaluation. The specific techniques used depend on the type and operation of the machines.

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Design for Maintainability Maintainability: Probability that a failed component or system will be restored or repaired to a specified condition within a specified period of time when maintenance is performed in accordance with prescribed procedures

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Diagnostic Techniques In the diagnostic techniques that we use, two different classes can be distinguished: passive techniques (spectroscopy) and active ones. In the former case, the radiation from the plasma is studied. This is a very old technique, and technically relatively simple. Interpretation of the results, however, can be complicated. In the latter case, some interaction with the plasma takes place, for example, a laser beam is pointed at the plasma. This can offer much more direct information about the plasma, but is more demanding on the experimental setup. A short introduction to a number of diagnostic techniques that are used in the polydiagnostic lab is given below.

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Reliability based design Objectives •Learn formulation of reliability design problem. Understand difference between reliability-based design and deterministic design

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Let (1 – R) = Q,

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Introduction to Condition Monitoring Techniques Maintenance is the management, control, execution and quality of those activities which will ensure that optimum levels of availability and overall performance of plant are achieved, in order to meet business objectives - The British Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) (Rao, B.K.N.). Maintenance strategies can be characterised as a) general purpose, b) essential and c) critical (Scheffer and Gridhar).

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APPLICATION OF VALUE ANALYSIS Value analysis can be applied universally, i.e., to everything – materials, methods, processes, services, etc., where it is intended to bring about economics. One should naturally start with items where the maximum annual saving can be achieved. This immediately suggests that items whose total annual consumption in Rupees is high should receive top priorities in the application of Value Analysis. In the same manner, scarce materials, imported materials, or those difficult to obtain should also receive the attention of the value analyst. Bearing this in mind, Value Analysis can be systematically applied to categories of items, such as those listed below in order to bring about substantial cost reduction. 1. Capital goods – plant, equipment, machinery, tools and appliances;

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The Focus of Value Analysis The key focus of the VA approach is therefore the management of ‘functionality’ to yield value for the customer. Let us emphasize this point a little. Not that long ago, consumers of electric kettles were offered a variety of different types of metal-based boiling device. The value of a kettle is derived through heating water and therefore its functionality can be determined (temperature, capacity, reliability, safety etc.). Now faced with the same functionality (to boil water), designers would probably look towards a kettle made of plastic. Plastic has the same functionality as metal in terms of containing and boiling water. The action to boil water is conducted by the same part - known as the element. However the switch from metal to plastic does not impair this value and functionality with the customer –they still want to boil water - but it does result in a cost saving for the manufacturing company. If a company that traditionally made metal kettles did not review its design process then it would be severely disadvantaged when attempting to compete against the lower cost plastic alternative. This is a simple example used only to provide an illustration of the VA concept but it does demonstrate the point of maintaining value whilst reducing costs. If a company seeks to reduce the costs of producing a product then it must seek out costs that are unnecessary or items of the product that provide no functional value to the customer. If you adopt this approach then the VA process is concerned with removing a specific type of cost. This cost is one that can be removed without negatively affecting the function, quality, reliability, maintainability or benefit required by the customer. As such, the target for all VA activities is to find these costs as opposed to simply re-engineering a product design with no real purpose to the re-engineering exercise. The VA approach is therefore formal and systematic because it is directed towards highlighting and dealing with these ‘recoverable costs’ of production. The objective is to create value for money as opposed to creating new products that do not provide customer satisfaction but are relatively inexpensive.

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Why Use Value Analysis In reality, a complex number of reasons exists that necessitate the structured approach of value analysis as a means of logical cost reduction. These reasons can be divided into two key sources, those that lie within the business and secondly those that are stimulated by the market for the product or service. Within the business

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Related Tools and Techniques This section briefly describes tools and techniques that have been identified by this report. These references may provide useful ‘signposts’ for companies that are considering which tools to use during the process of VA. Product Platforms