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Subject:Re: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers From:TechComm Dood <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:05:39 -0400
> I would ask (demand?) that engineers to spend a few weeks on the
> production floor, assembling the products they expect others to assemble.
Do you do the same?
> I would ask engineers to stop designing complicated mechanisms that are
> often impossible to assemble. In one version of the Palm VII Wireless
> PDA, the antenna had far too many parts, and the product was almost
> impossible to build.
Was this made known as a design flaw? What was the result of that discussion?
> I would ask engineers to design using standard parts, not custom parts.
> For example, use standard size screws that can be ordered by the ton, not
> screws that are custom made and impossible to install without damage.
Assuming that this is concerning microelectronics, many times to meet
product functional specifications the design must involve custom
parts.
> I would ask engineers not to be too specific about things like label
> placement. Having thousands of PCBs rejected because the label was a few
> millimeters too high was ridiculous, and there was no need to reject the
> boards.
Is that an engineer thing or a TQM thing?
> I would ask engineers not to be so critical about cosmetic criteria and
> to understand that what they consider to be a flaw that forces a product
> to be rejected, is almost always overlooked by the customer. For example,
> scratches that take a 10X loupe to see on the plastic frames of a PCMCIA
> product.
Huh?
> I would ask engineers to design assembly fixtures so the assembly
> technicians do not have to use a micrometer or a guess. Most (in my
> experience) techs will either read the micrometer incorrectly or perhaps
> not really care.
Isn't that a problem with the techs then? Provided the design was from
spec and not an engineer's whimsy?
> I would also ask engineers not to automatically dismiss suggestions that
> come from outside their group. Some of these suggestions can be quite
> brilliant.
What are the channels for suggestions and are you following the correct ones?
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