An analysis of designing for quality in the automotive industry

The paper is based on the authors' experiences in devising and conducting continuing education courses on Designing for Quality for design, development and manufacturing engineers in a large automotive company. Participants in the courses brought forward a wide range of quality problems encountered in their day-to-day professional activities. Methods for classifying and defining these problems are developed as a prelude to examination of the product development process and its management to fulfil quality objectives. The technique of quality function deployment which has recently received wide publicity in automotive engineering is investigated in the context of established design theory. Conclusions are drawn relating to the practice of engineering design in industry and the need for the effective dissemination of the work of design researchers.