Product risk identification in product design : thesis work conducted for The Switch Engineering Oy

Abstract

Product reliability become a key aspect of the current competitive market, and industries are continuously working to improve the reliability of their products. The cost of reliability is logarithmically increased with the stage of design and product lifecycle. Design reliability is achieved by identifying the risk and failure mode of the product at the very beginning of the design stage. The goal of this thesis work is to identify a relevant framework to improve the risk identification process at the design stage. The project includes both theoretical and empirical investigation of the topic. Relevant theoretical aspects supporting risk identification at the design phase were distinguished from the literature. Further, the current process of risk identification at The Switch Engineering Oy has been investigated and compared with theoretical findings to improve its effectiveness. The results indicate that Desing-FMEA is the major tool used in this regard. Combining structural decomposition with a functional approach offers an effective systematic method for identifying failures. When prioritizing risks, the conventional risk priority method is not optimal, and a separate action priority mechanism is required. The companies should also carefully integrate DFMEA into their design process, and good practices such as pre-planning, effective brainstorming techniques, efficient meetings and adequate training need to be considered. However, the purely theoretical approach did not achieve the desired effectiveness in real design conditions. The Design-FMEA framework and its approach must be customized based on industry, product portfolio, customer and regulatory requirements, as well as the design culture.