Defining manufacturing processes: From good idea to great product

Accurate, precise, and unambiguous specifications bring physical and process definition to an otherwise vague manufacturing idea for a new product. A well-specified idea has a high probability of becoming an affordable, quality manufactured component with minimal waste and scrap. Getty Images

“Honey, let’s paint the living room!”

If you live with someone else, these words can strike fear in your heart. Let’s say you decide to paint your room blue. When you walk into your favorite paint store to select a color, the variety of what we call blue can become overwhelming. Blue is seen as the color that occupies the wave spectrum between 450 and 495 nm. The variety of shades seems nearly infinite. Add to this that only one of you will understand what periwinkle and cornflower mean. Then, of course, there are blue-like colors like teal, azure, and maybe a cool shade of taupe. Suddenly the word “blue” seems to have no meaning.

You start to narrow your selection with questions:

• What matches our furniture?
• What matches our window treatments?
• Can I live with this color for six months? A year? Three years?
• Will it be acceptable if I need to sell the house?
• Do I like it?
• Do we both like it?

Once you select a shade you can both live with, you must answer more practical questions before you buy:

• What color is our wall now?
• Will I need to prime?
• Do I want a paint that cleans easily?
• Matte, gloss, semigloss, eggshell, or satin?
• Do I try a new brand?
• How many coats will I need?

So now you selected your paint and it’s in the shaker. You aren’t quite done yet. You need to figure out your plan for applying the paint:

• Is my wall smooth or rough?
• What rollers do I buy?
• Do I need new brushes?
• Will I tape the corners?
• How do I protect my floors and furniture from drips?

Congratulations! You now have paint, tools, and a plan. The simple statement of “Let’s paint the living room” has taken on a physical form. You completed the hardest part. Now you can paint and hope for a color both you and your wife can enjoy for several years.

Defining Your Project

The process of choosing paint and materials is similar to what procuct designers encounter when faced with a new component. Components begin their lives as an idea and a need. “Let’s paint the living room” becomes “We need a new oil pan.” Just as with painting, your designers must define what “oil pan” means.

The questions become:

• How many quarts of oil does it need to hold?
• How rigid should it be?
• How does it mount to the engine block?
• What kind of seals will be needed?
• How does the oil pump interface with the pan?
• Is it visible to the customer?
• What are its service requirements?
• Will it be exposed to rocks, road debris, and tree stumps?
• What are the allowable limits for its mass?
• What is its form factor? Will nearby components need clearance?

Once these and other questions have answers, you can begin diagraming your oil pan. Your new oil pan design and service requirements will define such things as bend radii, flanging, piercing, draw ratios, surface properties, and hardness. Once you understand the service and forming requirements, your designers will identify an appropriate grade of sheet metal.

Just as there are many shades of blue, there are also many available properties of sheet metals. Even within a grade, mechanical properties can vary widely. The designer must define an acceptable range of mechanical properties for incoming coils. Important properties may include minimum and maximum values for elongation, ultimate tensile strength, and yield strength; surface properties, and hardness.

The Language of Specifications

At this point, the designer is defining the specifications for the component, its materials, and the forming process. Specifying the forming process includes defining the interaction between materials and tooling and lubrication. It should also specify the optimal process for forming the component. It may include definitions of hot, warm, or cold forming; stamping variables; tooling steels, lubrication; and number of restrikes.

Specification is the language spoken among designers, suppliers, and manufacturers. Specifications bring physical and process definition to an otherwise vague idea. Effective specifications must be accurate, precise, and unambiguous. A well-specified idea has a high probability of becoming an affordable, quality manufactured component with minimal waste and scrap.

Designing and manufacturing components is a process of converting an idea and a need into a physical product. Doing so properly is a deliberate and disciplined activity. The decisions you make, your knowledge of materials and process, and your ability to communicate precisely all influence your success in building quality components. Your specifications provide the controls against which all your materials, tooling, and processes are measured.

Just as with choosing a paint and a color, you must talk to those involved with your component, know all the influencing variables, and be able to communicate effectively. When done properly, whether a room color or a component, you can ensure your pleasure with your decisions and a satisfying project.